Strong Man Of God Blog

          One of the many advantages we mocked “born again” Christians (John 1:12-13, 3:1-8, NKJV) enjoy comes into clear focus during the fifth trumpet warning judgment of God presented in the second installment of last week’s two-part post.¹  Born again Christians and remnant Jews marked out by the Holy Spirit as belonging to God will not suffer being repeatedly stung by creatures He permits to do this to those without Him!  So painful are the stings and the torment from them, “men will seek death and will not find it…desire to die, and death will flee from them,” (Revelation 9:1-12, NKJV).  The tormented will not forget how those with God’s mark escaped the experience.²

          God’s elect remnant Jews are specially marked out for protection during all of His judgments and wrath (Ezekiel 9:1-11; Joel 2:28-32; Revelation 7:1-8)!  While as the Lord Jesus taught, “the world cannot receive” the Holy Spirit “because it neither sees Him nor knows Him,” by virtue of having received Him upon their repentance and faith in the Gospel, believers come to “know Him” through experiencing new spiritual birth and His abiding presence “with” and “in” us (John 14:16-17, NKJV)!  Though since He is Spirit we do not see Him with our natural eyes, His glorious presence with and in us marks us out as belonging to God and is seen by all in the spiritual realm (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)! 

          For this cause, the angel king over and controlling the stinging locusts is able to distinguish those with God’s living seal upon them from those without Him and by His command, restricts the creatures from touching them (Revelation 9:4).  For the record, rather than bitter resentment in the aftermath of their unimaginable agony, those that suffer the five months of painful torment had the prior opportunity as every born again Christian to believe the Gospel and receive the Holy Spirit and should now, be filled with repentance!³  However, their choice to be embittered leaves them open to more intense satanic influence and the evil decision to embrace violent persecution as revenge.

          Extremely greater than at this hour widely filled with suffering and martyrdom throughout many nations,⁴ as the Lord foretold, hatred of born again Christians at that time reaches the point where they are “hated by all nations for” His “name’s sake,” (Matthew 24:9, NKJV).  In their reprobate thinking, hurting and killing Christians (whose numbers had swelled during the revival the Holy Spirit freshly sparks when marking out the Jewish remnant--Acts 2:1-21) will be striking back at God for the stinging creatures and every plague of His warning judgments through the time of His “two witnesses,” (Revelation 11:3-6, NKJV).  But the sovereign God is in control (Revelation 6:9-11)!

          As the Lord led me to write in a previous post this year,⁵ toward the end of the witnessing of His two witnesses by prophesy and plagues, God’s holy angels led by Michael war against Satan and his angels in Heaven and prevail.  They are cast out and down to the earth that have been and are behind the persecution of Jews (the elect is protected) and faithful Christians who overcome through their faith in and love for Christ!⁶  To be sure, “the devil” comes down “having great wrath because he knows that he has a short time,” (Revelation 12, NKJV).  At this precise moment the Holy Spirit ceases His restraint preventing the coming of Satan’s “lawless one,” (2 Thessalonians 2:6-12, NKJV).

          He rises up “out of the bottomless pit” to “war against” God’s two witnesses, “overcome” and kill them;” leaving “their dead bodies…in the street” and allowing the whole unsaved world to celebrate their deaths “three-and-a-half days” until God resurrects and calls them up to Heaven.  After the “great earthquake” that follows, Satan and his “beast” go forth to rally the world to their quest for exaltation, worship, destructive dominion and warfare against God through killing Jews and Christians--the beast taking up the revenge cause of those without God’s mark who were tormented (Romans 8:31-39; Revelation 11:7-13, 13:1-10, NKJV).  This ushers in what the Lord Jesus first describes as “great tribulation,” (Daniel 7:1-8, 19-25, 9:27, 11:31-45; Matthew 24:15-22, NKJV).

          During the three-and-a-half year great tribulation that is in fact the beginning of the “third woe” culminating in the outpour of God’s wrath and Second Coming of Christ (Revelation 11:14, NKJV), Satan’s beast will be aided in his ability to kill all, but especially faithful Christians who do not worship him by another resurrected deceitfully lowly, but malevolent figure.  He causes an image of the beast to live and kill any that will not worship it.  He also requires everyone to receive the beast’s “mark” on themselves showing that they belong to him in imitation of what God has done with His elect Jewish remnant and faithful born again Christians who refuse to take it (Revelation 13:11-18, 14:9-13, NKJV).  Consequently, they are shown victorious in glory thereafter (Revelation 7:9-17, 15:1-4)!

1 Read part two of Unbelief In God Near Dramatic End, posted October 16, 2022 under the category, Bible Prophecy.

2 See footnote seven in the post cited above as well as the two-part post that begins June 7, 2020, Days Of Separation, under the category, Bible Prophecy, for deeper
   spiritual insight into how God making a distinction between His elects and the unsaved fits into His larger separating activity already in progress.

3 Since  nowhere  in  Revelation  9:1-12  is  there  even a mention of repentance from among those tormented by the stinging creatures, we have no reason to believe
   there is in light of none in the far worse next plague in verses 13-21!

4 Visit https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/ for an overview presentation of what Christian persecution is, its growing scope and severity.  This Ministry
   is pleased to prayerfully and financially support our persecuted brethren around the earth through Open Doors USA and invites you to do so as well!

5 Read the two-part post beginning February 13, 2022, War Of The Ages End, under the category, Bible Prophecy.

6 Such  faith  in  and  love  for Christ (Revelation 12:11) fills the heart of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in His image I write about in my book, The
   Strong  Man Of God: Back To Basics.  Get it along with the companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study for
   the equipping of the saints in the home and churches in the Strong Man Store, at your favorite internet bookseller or brick and mortar bookstore.

          Faithful Christians will point out the events of the first trumpet have all happened exactly as God’s written Word foretells as does every calamity in the sounding of those to follow.  The second trumpet features “something like a great mountain burning with fire” hurled from the sky “into the sea.”  It results in “a third” of it becoming “blood” and the same fraction of “living creatures” killed along with “ships” that are “destroyed,” (Revelation 8:8-9, NKJV).  With the third trumpet, “a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and…springs of water” making them “bitter” (as it is named) with poison from which “many men died,” (Revelation 8:10-11, NKJV).

          The fourth trumpet heralds an event never before experienced by men: the sudden cutting of a “third of the day” and “night” time hours so that a full day is no longer 24, but 16 hours (Revelation 8:12, NKJV).  This is impossible men have scoffed for centuries and that is the point!  Yes, in the natural order of things Almighty God set at the beginning day and night are generally 12 hours each (Genesis 1:1-5, 14-19; John 11:9).  Only He could intervene to temporarily cut short the length of a day not only as a fitting judgment upon a world rebels against His order of mankind have thrown into chaos,⁵ but for the sake of His elect impacted by His judgments (Matthew 24:22; Mark 13:20). 

          Those still not ready to acknowledge Him will painfully receive more evidence (Revelation 8:13).  God will allow physically altered locusts as if from some genetic engineering experiment gone awry controlled by the angelic governor of “the bottomless pit” to torment men without His “seal” in the fifth trumpet “for five months,” (Revelation 9:1-12, NKJV).⁶  The living seal of God is the Holy Spirit that can only be received one of two ways.  The first way now, and to the end is to repent and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved from one’s sin (Acts 2:36-40; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22).  The second is exclusive to and for the protection of God’s future elect Jewish remnant (Revelation 7:1-8).⁷

          The sixth trumpet unleashes “four angels…to kill a third of mankind” using “horsemen” numbering 200 million riding some remarkably equipped “horses” that do their killing through “fire, smoke, and brimstone,” (Joel 2:1-17; Revelation 9:13-19, NKJV).  Never having seen anything like this army or the scale of death and destruction they bring you would think this would be enough for all the unsaved survivors to fall to their knees in repentance and glorify God who they absolutely know is behind it.  But this does not happen as with fully hardened hearts like Pharaoh of old, they obstinately refuse to repent even of idolatry among other transgressions and iniquities (Revelation 9:20-21)!

          After a delay, the last seven years of God’s prophetic timeline He gave to Daniel commence.⁸  He sends His two witnesses to ‘“prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth’” which occupy the first half of the seven years.  They consume those who would kill them with “fire” and bring “plagues” upon the earth “as often as they desire,” (Revelation 11:3-6, NKJV).  Since he “ascends out of the bottomless pit” immortal and is indestructible, “the beast” or Antichrist is able “to make war against” God’s two witnesses, “overcome…and kill them,” (Revelation 11:7, NKJV).  Still, men refuse to repent and glorify God during the multiple judgments of the sixth trumpet thus far.

          In fact, other than God’s Jewish elect and Christians, the whole world rejoices when His two witnesses are killed by the Antichrist; not allowing “their dead bodies” to be buried as they celebrate their demise and this apparent victory over God (Revelation 11:8-10, NKJV).  This despicable revelry shows how totally hardened into sin depraved humanity at this point is.  But my God will always have the last word and shows His greatness and power once again by raising His two witnesses from the dead then, summoning them up to Heaven by ascension in the sight of “their enemies,” (Revelation 11:11-12, NKJV).⁹  Certainly, they glorify God as God after witnessing these things--no!

          Instead, the pall of dread is suddenly interrupted and replaced with terror by a “great earthquake” that causes “a tenth of” Jerusalem to collapse and “seven thousand people were killed.”  Finally though in Israel, there are fearful hearts willing to humbly give “glory to the God of heaven” and the events of the sixth trumpet end (Proverbs 29:1; Revelation 11:13-14, NKJV).  Blowing of the seventh trumpet follows announcing in advance the victory of God and His Christ’s Kingdom, full-on “wrath,” judgment “of the dead,” “reward” of His “prophets…saints, and those who fear” His “name, small and great, and” the destruction of “those who destroy the earth,” (Revelation 11:15-19, NKJV).

5 Read the July 27, 2014 post, God Of Order, under the category, Instruction.  At last, God will vindicate me in standing with the relatively few other faithful Christians that
   have  maintained  He  has  not  changed  regarding  the  place of order in His creation including the family and His house!  Learn more about God’s unchanged order of
   mankind  from  the Bible in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics.  Get it along with the companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Wo-
   man Of God Women’s Group Study in the Strong Man Store, at your favorite internet bookseller or brick and mortar bookstore.

6 For  those  that take pleasure in scaring themselves at Halloween, the hideous appearance of these creatures will bring unimaginable real fear with pain to them and be
   no fun or laughing matter!

7 God  making  a  distinction  between  His people marked out as belonging to Him by the Holy Spirit and those that are not in this fifth trumpet warning judgment ought to
   make it very clear He is not only real, but knows and favors His people (Romans 8:9b).  This is the same God who did a similar thing with Israel when with great plagues
   upon  Egypt,  He protected them (Exodus 8:20-24)!  Let the saints watch out however, the unsaved (that plainly now, without the Holy Spirit includes Christian impostors,
   religionists and apostates) will be bitterly resentful.

8 See the January 30, 2022 post, The Right Side Of History, under the categories Bible Prophecy and Biblical Worldview to learn about the seventy sevens prophecy God
   gave  Daniel  the  prophet  and  The  Divine Delay, posted February 6, 2022 under the category, Bible Prophecy for insight into what is both the end of an in the moment
   and extended delay.

9 Resurrecting  to immortality His two witnesses and causing them to ascend to Him exactly “three-and-a-half days” after their death is itself a sign to the saints this similar
   experience is three-and-a-half shortened years away for them and warning to the entire world it has the same amount of time left before the Day of the Lord arrives!