Revelation 9:13 ¶ And the sixth
angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar
which is before God, 14 Saying to the
sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the
great river Euphrates. 15 And the four
angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month,
and a year, for to slay the third part of men. 16 And the number of the army of the horsemen
were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and
them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and
brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of
their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three was the third part of men
killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out
of their mouths. 19 For their power is
in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents,
and had heads, and with them they do hurt. 20
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet
repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils,
and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither
can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 Neither
repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their
fornication, nor of their thefts.
There are now said to be four
angels bound in the Euphrates. When they are loosed they will kill a third part
of mankind. This is effected by an army of, again, strictly spiritual or
visible, a question we need to consider, creatures numbering two hundred
million. The destruction does not make mankind repentant. They still worship
their idols and do not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their
fornication, or their thefts. So we have five things here of which mankind is
guilty.
Idolatry literally here referring
to worshipping actual physical idols might include in our modern understanding
the veneration of religious statues or icons. Murder, we know, is to kill
innocent persons who have not harmed or are not harming you.
Job 24:14 The murderer rising
with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
Psalm 10:8 He sitteth in the
lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the
innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
I point these verses out to
underscore murder because of contextual issues as the poor are mentioned here
and the third seal was applied to the food the poor needed but not the luxury
items the rich used while I am about to show that thefts can be applied to
labor. There can be a pattern here if one looks for it. Although a more general
application of the verse is understandable.
Sorceries, in Revelation only, is
a word that comes from the root for our modern word pharmacy. In other places it is translated from a word for magical arts. It is important to
understand the use of hallucinogens in ancient rites of magic. A study of
Central America is very helpful in understanding how such drugs were used in
the practice of magic.[1] A study of the use of drugs in ancient magic
rites will expand our understanding of the use of pharmacological drugs in the
end time, perhaps as modern medicine uses them today, to control behavior and
make people more compliant. The Soviet Union was known for this as is America
where many children are drugged for being considered hyperactive, a nuisance. I
look for the use of drugs for control to expand greatly as history moves
forward.
Fornication is any sexual activity
outside of a marriage between a man and a woman and it is important not to
confuse a government sanctioned license with an actual Christian marriage. You
are not married before God just because you bowed to the state’s authority to
get a license if there is no commitment before God in a covenantal relationship
with your wife or husband for life. It is translated from the word from which
we get pornography, porneia. It is
linked with lasciviousness, uncleanness, and adultery.
Galatians 5:19 Now the works of
the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness,
Theft, stealing other people’s
material possessions, can also include stealing their labor.
James 5:4 Behold, the hire of
the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by
fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the
ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
This also applied under the Law
given to Moses.
Leviticus 19:13 Thou shalt not
defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall
not abide with thee all night until the morning.
Of course, our traditional use of
the word, theft, is outright
stealing.
Exodus 22:1 ¶ If a man shall
steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen
for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2
If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall
no blood be shed for him. 3 If the sun
be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full
restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the theft be certainly found in his hand
alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.
Consider how powerful men in the
past have preyed on the poor from the ancient world through the feudalism of
medieval times, to the early days of capitalism’s abuse of the working poor,
and into socialism where capitalists are just given government authority and
power to back them up and the powerful men are also government, as in Red China
today. God has always remarked heavily against the oppression of the poor, not
the sluggard or slothful, but the working poor, as any eyes-open reading of
Proverbs will show.
[1] Albert Hoffman, “Teonanácatl and Ololiuqui, two ancient magic drugs of Mexico,” Bulletin
on Narcotics, Issue 1, 1971; 3-14 quoted on The Vaults of Erowid, https://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/references/other/1971_hofmann_bulletin-narcotics.shtml. (accessed 12.30.2015).
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