The Second Trumpet — Revelation 8:8-9

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

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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Five Reasons Why Forgiving Another Seems So Difficult

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

1. Pride. Pride I think is the main reason why it’s so hard to forgive. Pride makes it harder for us to trust God. We say to ourselves, I don’t want to forgive, and I don’t have to!  And so in our pride we cut off God’s help to us.

2. Fear. Fear also keeps us from His help. We say to ourselves, I’m afraid; forgiveness is too hard. Here again we are not looking to God for help; we are instead looking at our weakness, the giant who hurt us, and the huge problem ahead of us.

So pride and fear I think are the real reasons why forgiveness is so difficult and why we don’t forgive.  But I also want to give you three of the reasons (or excuses) we will give as to why forgiveness is too hard for us—so we can take a look…

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The First Trumpet — Revelation 8:7

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

The seven trump judgments will be revealed in the breaking of the seventh seal, and are judgments of much greater intensity. Whereas the seals were each opened and revealed by the Lamb of God, the trumpets are announced by angels when they blow their trumpets.

The first four trumpet judgments are much like the plagues of Egypt as they are divine judgments on the earth. The next two involve devastation of earth’s inhabitants; and the seventh trumpet, like the seventh seal, announces all that will follow in the Tribulation: the bowl judgments, and all the events leading up to the millennial kingdom.

In the first trumpet judgment God brings hail and fire, mixed with blood; and the result will be that a third of the earth, the trees, and the grass (and probably also grains such as wheat, rice and oats) will burn up.

Now the Scriptures do not give…

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Forgiving Yourself

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

Forgiving yourself is what you will naturally do when you accept and receive God’s forgiveness.  When you are forgiven by Him, His forgiveness flows to you and gives you the strength you need to forgive yourself.

The reason why we don’t always forgive ourselves is because we fail to see that God loves us and cares for us and that He really wants to forgive us.  And so we fail to truly repent of our sins—thus the guilt of our sins remains with us.  Accordingly, because we are unable to trust the sacrifice of Christ for us, we feel the need to punish ourselves, to tell ourselves how dumb and stupid we are, to restrict ourselves from fellowship, and to wallow in our guilt.  Some have tried to starve themselves, and to cut themselves; some viciously mutilate themselves.  I think one of the more common ways people punish…

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The Seventh Seal (Revelation 8:1-6)

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

Since the events in chapter seven is parenthetical (or an interlude of time), this seventh seal should follow immediately after the sixth seal, with all of its cosmic disturbances.

Therefore, it must be our assumption that at some point during the end of the sixth seal, while men and women are hiding in caves for fear of the wrath of God, that suddenly, the skies will clear up and all the chaos will stop; that is, as Scripture says, “there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

Silence In Heaven

What is this silence all about? My first thought is that God will give those on earth a short break. He is not so wrathful that He will not provide any relief. He is a God of grace, and will give a time for people to rest, but also a time to prepare for what is to come…

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Why We Sometimes Don’t Feel Forgiven 

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God tells us in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  This verse doesn’t say anything about repentance, but I think it is implied; with true confession repentance will always be included.  But the point I want to make here is that God has promised that if we confess our sins—which implies that we also repent—He will forgive us and cleanse us.  So if we don’t feel forgiven after we say that we have confessed, I don’t think we should blame it on God, because He will always keep His promise.  The problem must be that we haven’t really, genuinely confessed and repented.

But you say, “I did confess; I did admit my sin.”  Yes, but did you repent?  Did you decide to change your life?  Did you decide not…

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Seeing More Birds

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I’m seeing more birds now. Robins are the easiest to photograph. But those little yellow birds are impossible. They fly away so fast. I’ve got a Robin nest on my living room window sill–with little chicks in it. Most of the time she is sitting on the chicks keeping them warm. I hope all the chicks make it. The weather here in Minnesota is colder than average, but not too bad.

The First Interlude: The Great Multitude (Revelation 7:1-17) – Part 3

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

After John sees the vision of the witnesses and the angels that will protect them, he next sees a great multitude of people standing before the throne in heaven and before the Lamb. They are clothed in white robes and they are praising God with palm branches in their hands. And many angels and the twenty-four elders and the four cherubim were also worshipping God saying,

Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever.

Then one of the elders asked John about the great multitude: “Who are they and where have they come from?” As if he didn’t know.

But he did know, and John knew it. So he said to him, “My lord, you know.”

Then the elder told John who they were.

1. They have come out of the Tribulation.They apparently were not saved…

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