The Seven Trumpets

Wayne Matthews

September 7, 2021

Welcome, everybody, to this recording of the Feast of Trumpets.

The blowing of trumpets had great meaning to the Israelites after they had been freed from Egypt. So, when you look at that you realize that prior to that the Israelites never knew anything about Feast or Holy Days. So, once they had left Egypt God then introduced a system for the Israelites. This is all physical. But of course, we understand everything that is physical that we see in the Bible there is a spiritual connotation to it, and we’re going to look at some of that today.

That physical meaning to the Israelites can be found in Numbers 10:1-10, which his about the Israelites move through the wilderness for forty years. Trumpets were used to signal instructions, especially for the movement from one encampment to the other. Trumpets also were used at an appointed Feast time, and they also were used for a warning of alarm or for war. They’re the physical connotations of that.

It should be clear how the physical use of these trumpets by the Israelites bears meaning in the fulfillment of God’s plan and purpose.

The purpose of this sermon is to look at what will take place soon on this earth once the effects of all the Seven Trumpets takes place. There are various scriptures in the Bible that says, “Woe to those who desire (certain things),” because we look forward to the return of Joshua the Messiah. We look forward to that, which is the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet. But the other six, that if we are able to live through those, if that’s God’s will, we’re going to suffer along with the world. Therefore, six of the Trumpets have incredible meaning and we look forward to the start of that period.

But of course, we don’t look forward to the suffering, and even though we think we are ready and prepared; the reality is that unless someone has experienced this level of suffering we’re not ready. We might be ready in sense of what we can physically, but the reality of when it hits us, we are, probably some of us may struggle because it’s going to be much, much worse than what we imagine.

When we start seeing people around us dying and we have the truth and we know God, it’s still going to be very difficult. We can look to God and trust in God, but that doesn’t mean to say we’re not going to suffer, and possibly some of us may die in that period.

We’ll start today’s sermon by looking at Leviticus 23:23, which is the instructions that have been given through Moses – from God to Moses for the Israelites – and we’re spiritual Israel today.

Leviticus 23:23—Then the Eternal spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel saying, In the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall have a Sabbath, a memorial. Now, what’s a memorial? A memorial is a remembering. So, this Holy Day is about us remembering something.

Now, we understand that God uses Trumpets for a reason, and we’re entering a period soon where we’re going to see the beginning of the Seven Trumpets (and we’re going to look at other scriptures). But the number “seven” means a lot. Seven is about being compete.

So, we’re going to see a period once the First Trumpet is sounded on this earth as far as the effect of that trumpet (because they’ve already sounded), but the effects take place, and it will bring shock to us even though we look forward to it. Because all of a sudden things are going to change so dramatically for us that we’re going to go back and say, “Oh, it’s started.” Ever how long it’s going to be, we don’t know, but it’s started. And knowing that, and knowing there is an outcome, that we’re looking for the Seventh, for the solution. We want the Seventh! But what period in between and all the things that are going to take place is going to be horrendous.

How much food we have, well, we may have enough supply to last four months and it may be all gone on the first day or the second day or the third day, or the first week. Because you just don’t know how humans will react with human nature. Now, the view of the world, once a tragedy happens, people will rally to support. So, the expectation is if someone had a supply of food (this is from a carnal mind), if you had a supply of food and I used my carnal mind, I’ll think you should be sharing it!

Now, we would share. So if it all goes in the first day, it all goes in the first day, because we’re going to have to trust in God. So, the Church, if you read the website (the Topics have been removed at the moment), but if you look at the website it’s very clear that if we have God’s spirit the thing we would want to do is share with other humans. Because imagine if that person comes up and says, you know, “Will you share?” and the Church of God – PKG, “No! I’ve got my stash!” And you belong to God? You belong to God, and you won’t share? They’ll be resurrected at some point and remember this day they had this encounter with God’s people. So, we share.

So, what we’re facing, we can’t prepare for in some ways, but in other ways we can. The best way to prepare is the spiritual preparation because we’re going to have to be close to God, because our life is in God’s hands.

This memorial of remembering, which is what we’re going to cover today, of blowing of Trumpets (more than one), a holy convocation. So, we know it’s a holy gathering, it’s a Holy Day, and we would not earn a living in this period of time on this Day of Trumpets.

Verse 25—You shall do no customary work, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal. It’s a very short, when you look at all the Holy Days, it’s a very short Holy Day as far as wording. There’s a lot in this and God has revealed a lot about this period of time, the blowing of Trumpets and what it means on a spiritual level as well as a physical level.

The title of today’s sermon is The Seven Trumpets.

We understand in God’s Church that all Seven Trumpets were blown on the 14th of December 2008, but the effects have not yet taken place. That’s something we’re waiting for.

We understand that the prophesied effects of the Seven Trumpets are yet to be fulfilled. So, we’re aware of some of it but we’ve not experience it yet, which is something different.

The first four Trumpets are about an attack on the United States of America which will see the collapse of the USA, but also it will affect the British Commonwealth, which is, we understand, Ephraim and Manasseh.

We understand that the Fifth Trumpet is about a united Europe consisting of ten nations. Now, that understanding was given by God to Mr. Armstrong, and it exists in the Church today.

We understand the First, we understand the Four in that period, like what happened in the Apostasy, which was a rapid thing that happened when we saw the Seals, you know, the seven, we saw the Seal and then we saw what actually happened in that period of time. So, we understand that, that it happens quickly. And you know what it was like? If you aren’t aware of what it was like, but it was confusion. We were looking for something, but we weren’t sure really. It was just confusion everywhere. Everyone had a view or an opinion. Some were going here; some were going there.

Well, the Trumpets are going to be the same. There’s going to be confusion because people are going to say, “What do you mean United States of America collapsing?!” “What do you mean British Commonwealth collapsing around it?” Because once you cut one off the others are going to be affected. So, we might think we’re ready.

It was like thinking about the Apostasy. I look back at it and I heard sermons about the Apostasy, and I thought I was ready. Didn’t have a clue! I was not ready in any way, shape, or form even though I knew about it. Didn’t even know what had happened until ten years later when I was awakened, and Chris was awakened as well.

So, it’s the same thing, what’s going to happen, the Trumpets. We’ll know, but are we really ready? Well, on a physical level there is no real way to be ready. There’s just not. But on a spiritual meaning to it all there’s a way to be ready and it’s about a relationship with God now while the time is there to have it. Because we don’t want to get into a state of confusion. Because once the first one goes off there will be confusion in the world. But within the Church of God, God’s people should not be confused about what follows. Because we know. We know that end result is the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet and the return of Joshua the Messiah and 144,000! We know it. The world will not understand any of that until probably deeper into it, that they’ll begin to even want to know about it.

Now, we understand about this united Europe. We understand it, and if you tell people now that Europe is going to join together, you know, “Sure.” You can’t see it until the first four Trumpets go off. Then people might think, “Well, now, hang on a minute.” And what they do and how they do it? No one is really ready for it.

We’ll turn to Daniel 2:40. Daniel 2:40—And the fourth kingdom… Now, this is talking about, goes through the revivals of what’s going to happen—shall be as strong as iron. Now, we know what iron is like. When you get hit with an iron bar it hurts because it doesn’t bend easily; it’s really quite strong.

…insomuch as iron breaks in pieces. So, if you hit something with a piece of iron, like a potter a bit of pottery, it’ll shatter it. That’s what it’s talking about. Something really strong and shatters everything, so it breaks it apart.

And like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all others. So, it’s going to crush everything else around it.

Verse 41—Whereas you saw the feet and the toes, partly of potters clay and partly of iron… So, they’ve got this mixture now. We know they don’t mix together which means this union is not really… You know, there’s different agendas. We know you’ll see ten nations join together; they’re going to have different agendas. Just like today in politics, everyone has got an agenda. So, if you ever see interviews on the news or whatever, you can tell because no matter what party it is it’s called, the other mob is called “the opposition.” Now they’re in opposition.

Even if it’s logical and practical, there’s someone going to get up and have a different view because they’re in opposition to what was just said. Even though it’s right! Even though it’s accurate! That’s their job. They’re called the opposition so they will always try to belittle, pull down no matter what it is; even if it’s true, it doesn’t make any difference. That applies to every party. So, if the other one is in there, the opposition is there to undermine them any chance they’ve got.

Whereas you saw the feet and toes partly of potters clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. Now, that’s interesting. Division. Because, you see, even if countries come together they’re still their country. It’s like nationalities. Once a person is in a country, that’s their homeland. Like, often here in Australia people will say, “I’m going ‘home.’” And you say, “What do you mean you’re going home? You were born in Australia. You’re an Australian.” But they’re going home, or back to their homeland. Because genetically, that’s the way people are. No different than an Australian or American or Italian, or whatever it is. Because that’s the personality.

Well, this is the same thing. Even though they’re united, they’re still going to look after their own country.

Yet the strength of iron shall be in it, because it’s going to crush, just as you saw the iron mixed with the ceramic clay.

Verse 42—And as the toes… Now, we understand from Revelation 17:12 (we won’t turn there), it’s talking about ten kings. So, as the toes, which is ten, of the feet are partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. So, there’s this union but within this union there’s division within that union, which we should understand fully because that’s the way human nature is. Because no matter what it is in nations and colors or whatever, even though they’re united, they’re still divided. It’s no different than like, you take a white nation, they war against each other. You take a dark nation; they’ll war against each other. Tribe against tribe, they’ll still kill each other. But at a certain point in time, they may all join together to fight a common cause. But underneath there is still division because they still hate each other. Doesn’t matter what color or race you are, that’s the way man is.

Verse 43—As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. So, it’s going to be a temporary thing. They’re going to have a common cause, and therefore, they’ll come together because of that, but underneath they’re actually quite divided about things and they’re obviously going to come to an agreement for a period of time and then regret it.

Verse 44—And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed. Now, this is what we look forward to, the Seventh Trumpet. This Feast of Trumpets is about remembering. We can read God’s word and we can remember what we’re looking forward to. So, when it starts we can remember how it ends, and this is how it ends.

“That will never be destroyed.” Joshua the Messiah is going to return with 144,000 in power, and what follows? Destruction, mass destruction across this earth in ways that people can’t even imagine. And we’re going to look at one particular story where, you know, people had to go in and kill woman, man, child, animals. And most people get upset with the child and animals, so-called innocent. But what’s going to take place, you’re going to see mass destruction. So much so, as we know from scripture, that the blood is going to run at the depth of a horse’s bridle, you know, up to there.

We’re not geared for that, but this is what God says is justice. That’s what man deserves. Because this is the only way to bring in a new Kingdom.

So, what is going to happen when the First Trumpet goes off is death and destruction, and it ends in the Seventh with death and destruction. Because that’s the best thing for mankind to bring him to humility.

It’s interesting watching various things at the moment. When you see the pride of mankind, no matter what age it is, the pride. We were talking to a thirteen-year-old girl, and you realize you may as well talk to the wall, because they’ve already made up their mind at thirteen what’s right and wrong and what they’re going to do. Even if you said something that would be positive toward improving something, it doesn’t make any difference. And that’s what man is. Man is not going to listen. It’s going to take a lot for man to listen.

It shall break into pieces these other… Everything is going to be destroyed. It’s going to break all these other governments. All these political parties, all going to be crushed. They’re going to love it, of course.

If someone has grown up for forty years with one way of thinking about the way it should be governed, and then someone turns up and says, “Ah, no.” And someone says, “I’ve got an opinion.” You say, “Um, I don’t want to hear your opinion.” This is going to go down so well. Human nature is not going to be easy to break.

So, it’s going to break all these other governments into pieces and consume all these kingdoms. And it shall stand forever. That’s what we look forward to. That’s our hope. We look forward to this. But we don’t look forward to the bit between the First and the Seventh because it’s going to be difficult.

Insomuch as you saw the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands. In other words, it’s something spiritual. Something spiritual is going to happen. It’s not something that man has made. It’s not a man-made government, it’s something that is spiritual. It’s not made with human hands. …and, this is talking about the stone, that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, and the clay, the silver and the gold. In other words, it’s going to destroy all of man’s governments, anything that exists.

Now, there’s all different types at the moment, and because we grow up in a western world we think that the western world, the best way of government is what we have, a democracy. We know a democracy doesn’t work. It’s so obvious democracy doesn’t work. And everyone in the democracy, the same party even, all disagree. They’ve all got a view or an opinion, but let’s have a vote. But if you’ve got ten in the room, you’ve got problems, because five and five makes ten, and that’s the way they vote. So, in other words, there’s division.

I remember once I was asked to go on to a publication group and to join a committee, and I said no. And they said, “Why not?” And I said, “I don’t want to be on a committee of people and you all vote one way and I disagree totally, therefore, my opinion is worthless and I’ve got to shut up and say nothing – even though I disagree strongly – because I’ve been outvoted. Therefore, I’m not joining any committee.” That went down well. They hounded me about it.

But that’s the reality. True? What would be the point of joining a committee when you’re going to get outvoted about something that’s spiritual you believe in and be overruled? I was told I had to be quiet and not say anything if I join the committee, if I got outvoted. Well, what a stupid exercise that would be. Why would you want to do that? I think I was inspired at that point in time not to join a committee.

The Great God has made known to the king that will come to pass after this. So, what’s going to happen is going to come to pass.

Now, this is what today’s sermon is about, is this last part here. The dream is certain. The Seven Trumpets is certain. And it’s interpretation is sure. So, Christ is going to return with 144,000 and that is at the time of the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet, and the dream, that saying, is certain and it’s definitely going to happen. Yet mankind knows nothing of it.

I want to read Truth #44:

44 (23) The captivity of the United States and the British Commonwealth will occur during the 5th Trumpet [Which we understand. It’s about that united Europe.] of the Seventh Seal [which we’re in], and not during the 5th Seal as previously taught in the Worldwide Church of God.

Now, I, as some of you here and others listening, grew up believing that and understanding about the four horsemen of the apocalypse. But it was about the Seals. We didn’t know—we thought it was physical, four horsemen of the apocalypse—we thought that was the case. But the reality was it was spiritual. It was about the Church of God and the Apostasy, 1994. But never knew that until I was awakened to see it.

So, that’s something that we understand now, something we’re looking forward to because all the Seals have been opened.

This understanding came as God revealed that the first four Seals of Revelation were about the Church and not about the world.

Now, that’s something that is major. Now that we understand that we can see it. So, now we understand about Seven Trumpets. The world has no idea. It’s like going up and saying, “We’re going to the Feast of Tabernacles.” They’d say, “What?” “And by the way, there’s going to be Seven Trumpets and they’re already blown, and the effects are going to come.” “Sorry, what did you say?” They’re not interested, and they can’t understand anyway, and we shouldn’t expect them to understand, because they don’t.

But how exciting it is that we do? And that’s what we’re waiting for, true? We’re waiting for that first one, which we know is being held back because of a sealing.

We know that the Sixth Trumpet is about Russia and China and what they will do in this war during this third world war, which is a third of mankind is going to be destroyed. Now, prior to that there’s going to be millions and millions of people that die. Millions! Because you can’t have four Trumpets without an effect. We know that Europe operates for a period of time before Russia and China come together to fight against Europe.

This says here, this union of Russia and China will kill a third of mankind. Are we ready for that? Do we even understand what that really means? My view is that we don’t. We have it in knowledge, but we don’t have understanding. The reason we don’t have understanding is because we haven’t experienced it. But experiencing it is something different.

The first six Trumpets announce about war. So, all the Trumpets that we’re looking at are all about war. When the First one goes off, it’s about war. It’s about death and destruction. So, all seven Trumpets are about the one thing, death and destruction, including the Seventh. Now, the first six are all before Christ’s coming, and of course, we know what the Seventh is. We also understand that the Seventh Trumpet is about the return of Joshua the Christ with a spirit army of 144,000.

Now, can we comprehend that, really? No. We understand it, not really because we haven’t seen it, we haven’t witnessed it. We don’t know what it’s going to be like. Now, will the armies try to destroy this spirit army? Yep. They’re going to let go and try to destroy it.

Because mankind has been educated, which is something that was taught within the Church at different periods, mankind has been educated by most of the movies, which aliens come from outer space, out of a spaceship and come down and destroy. True? And mankind always, you know, all the movies show mankind there’s always one hero and he always comes together and he ends up beating the alien invasion.

But the good news is they can’t. Because shooting a spirit being isn’t going to make any difference. Blowing them up is not going to make any difference. So, all those movies are inspired to show something that’s absolutely false. They’re good entertainment for some. Some like them. Some don’t. But they’re entertainment. But that’s as good as they are because they’re actually based on a lie. Because what is coming cannot be destroyed as God said in Daniel. It’s set up forever. It’s never going to be beaten.

So, are we ready for that? Well, we think we are. But there’s millions are going to die; millions are going to die after the spirit part of the 144,000 is revealed. We don’t understand it all. We don’t know. We understand there’s a manifestation of some type; and what they actually do and how, we just don’t know. We know certain things about bodies being crushed and melted and all sorts. We know there’s going to be a lot of death and destruction through Europe and Russia, and China, those armies that are come together. We know there’s two-hundred million. On the Sixth Trumpet there’s about two-hundred millions of them.

All these events are yet to be fulfilled, but we know we are close to this starting. So, it’s exciting in one day, this day, Feast of Trumpets. Very exciting because we’re remembering what God has told us in the Church. It’s very exciting when it starts. But once we know the First one’s started, we know we can go to a count. True? Think, “Well, okay, we know it ends in the Seventh.”

So, here, exciting, but then there’s another part of us that’ll go, “Whoa! What does this really mean for me?” We generally don’t focus on everyone else, what does it mean, so then you go, “What’s it mean to me?” Because that’s normal. That’s what we’re going to do. But it’s going to be difficult. I know that deep down the first thing that we will do when we see it or hear it, we’re going to fall on our knees and turn to the only one that can save us from everything if it’s in our spiritual good. Because that’s the issue.

Everything that happens to us, even though it’s physical, we look at it and think it’s, “Oh, this is not good.” It’s the best thing that could happen to us because it’s something that God is trying to build in us, in our thinking, to be set. Best thing for us is we’re going through the trial we’re going through. But we don’t see it that way until we get out the other side often.

The Feast of Trumpet’s primary focus is about the events that lead up to include Christ’s coming to establish the Kingdom of God, His government on this earth. So, it’s God’s government through Christ. The Feast of Trumpets also includes events within the Seventh Trumpet by announcing it and the events that follow.

We do understand certain things that once the return of Christ has happened, that certain destruction is going to take place. But we don’t know a lot about it, about how it’s going to happen, really. We’ve got an idea, yes, there’s going to be a lot of people die. We don’t know how many. But it would indicate that there’s millions and millions of people that are going to die. This Seventh Trumpet also includes events that work to establish God’s government after Christ returns with 144,000 because it is about this establishment of the government.

Now, when you look at other scriptures it talks about that once Christ has returned and things are starting to take place on the earth, that there’s people that won’t keep the Feast. Remember it talks about in scripture, talks about “they won’t come up,” and therefore, they’re going to be told, and then there’s a plague that follows. So, it looks like—and it’s going to take years to establish—because once Christ returns there’s going to be people that don’t even understand what’s going on. When there is no food, there’s no water, there’s nothing, there’s no electricity, there’s no mobile phones, there’s no facetime, there’s none of that. It’s all gone. It’s just humans trying to survive for a period of time and it’s going to be very difficult.

So, once Christ returns there is a lot of death and destruction because mankind just refuses to listen, as we know.

Now, we’re going to look at Joshua 6. You can be turning there. Now, in Joshua 6 there is a lot of symbolism about the downfall of Jericho. Now, we understand at this point in time that this world’s system, Babylon, is a system of confusion. So, we understand that what the Israelites went through on a physical level, there is some spiritual benefit to us that we can take out of this because this is about a collapse of a system.

This is about the destruction of Jericho, and it points to a coming destruction of this world’s system of greed.

In Joshua 6:1—Now, Jericho was securely shut up because… Now, why did they block it all up and why are they all behind this wall? Because of the children of Israel. So, the rumor gets out from the scouts or whatever, “Hey, there’s a big group of people that have come across the Jordan and they’re on this side and the reputation is that this is not good.” So, they’ve locked themselves up behind the walls. They were afraid.

None went out and none came in. So, they were terrified of what’s going to take place. Now, we often can mistakenly think that Jericho was the size of San Francisco, for example. Everything was a lot smaller in those days because remembering that the Israelites had to march around each day. They got up early in the morning and they went around each day. So, it’s only a day’s journey of walking at the most. True?

So, it wasn’t that big. Archaeologists and everyone, there’s all different views on it, but they’re saying that the walls could have been anywhere between 4m high [13.12’] to 9m [29.51’] high. They were about 1.5m [5’] thick, so they’re big walls. They had out towers on them and the towers were up to 28’ [8.5m] tall so that they could see what was coming. The population, this varies, but you’re not talking millions of people, you’re talking thousands of people in there. But you’re not talking millions, you’re talking thousands of people in there.

Now, you’ve also got to remember that they’re quite terrified. The people are inside and there’s an army around the walls. As the children of Israel march around—you’ve got to remember it’s all physical—they’re marching around. We’re going to go through the order of how they marched around each day. That there would have been a period of time that after a while they march around so many days, you’d sit there and go, “You’re a mob of idiots. You’re blowing these trumpets and you’re walking around and then you go to bed, and you go to sleep, and then you get up in the morning and you walk around.” By day four you’d be yelling, “Hey!” You’d be mocking them. You think, “This is ridiculous. You’re a mob of weirdos.”

Then on the seventh day you go around and after the fifth time around you know they’d be going, “What are they doing?” It’s understandable. You’d be saying, “What are they doing?” The children of Israel did not know why they were doing what they were doing. They didn’t. They just did what they were told. So, we have the advantage of what this is about because it wasn’t for them; it’s for us and the future because it’s about Trumpets. It’s about destruction. You know, there’s a reason why things happen.

So, let’s read this and see what we can glean from it. So, it’s not a massive population. It’s actually unknown how big it was, but it’s not millions of people.

Joshua 6:2—And the Eternal spoke to Joshua, See, I (Yahweh Elohim) have given Jericho into your hand. God had determined this, that this is what’s going to happen. God knew when He was going to have the walls collapse, when it was going to come down. He knew it because He had already determined it, and whatever God has determined will happen because God is almighty.

…its king and the mighty men of valor. So, this would have been encouraging for Joshua to know, well, this is set, it’s going to happen.

Verse 3—You shall march around the city, all the men of war. So, you see these men of war. Now, there would have been in Israel a certain age and that had weapons, they were men of war. You shall go around the city once. This you will do for six days.

Now, I’m sure Joshua would have thought, what do you get out of that? You’re going to walk around the city. Seems like a big waste of time. Why not just do it once? But God’s got a special meaning for this about Seven Trumpets.

Then verse 4—and seven priests shall bear seven trumpets. Now, we know they didn’t have a clue. Why would you pick out seven and why would you say they had to be priests and they have to march around the city blowing a trumpet?

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to blow a trumpet, after five minutes all the back of your throat will burn, and you’ve got to know how to blow a trumpet. So, it wasn’t going to be walking around the city for 24 hours or whatever, because you can’t do it physically. It’s very draining blowing a trumpet.

But you’ve got seven priests—Why seven?—will bear seven trumpets. Well, we know it’s about Seven Trumpets. Today the Feast of Trumpets is a memorial, a remembering. We’re to remember this because it’s something that we’re looking forward to. They’re doing it on a physical level, we’re looking for something spiritual happening. Physical to begin with but the Seventh is something fantastic that we’re looking forward to.

Verse 4—the seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of horns (‘yobel,’ I think it’s pronounced, which is y-o-b-e-l) before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times. The priests shall blow the trumpets. We understand this is about the symbolism that’s pointing to something which is about being complete.

So, what God is doing here is something complete. Now, we understand that the Seventh Trumpet completes something, the destruction of man’s ways at this point in time. It’s going to see it collapse.

Verse 5—It shall come to pass when they (the seven priests) make a long blast with the horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet that all the people shall shout with a great shout. Now, we understand that when Christ returns with 144,000, we’re going to be rejoicing too. This is going to be enormous for God’s Church, God’s people, and those that understand what’s happening, whether they’re being called or awakened, whatever. It’s going to be such an exciting time because freedom, freedom at last!

…that all the people shout with a great shout. Then the walls of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight before him. Now, the estimation was that to walk around the city would take anywhere—because it’s not a Los Angeles or Melbourne, it’s a walled city—it would take anywhere from 45 minutes to probably a couple of hours at most to walk around the city once, knowing that on the last day they did it seven times and they still have to go and ransack the city. So, it’s probably the lower end of it because walking around seven times, might have been 45 minutes to an hour, it’s possible, because otherwise it’d be dark again. It’d be the next day.

We look at the rejoicing of when Christ returns, you know, that shout of joy which is going to be fantastic. Some of the great meaning of the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets is in the final trumpeting or heralding that proclaims the coming of the King of kings who is to reign over mankind as the prophesied Messiah. That’s what we look forward to. That’s our hope there.

If you’d like to hold your place in Joshua 6 and turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:13. But I, Paul speaking here, do not want to you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep. This is somebody that has died in the faith before the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet. …lest you worry (sorrow) as others who have no hope.

So, those in the world, when somebody dies, they’re not waiting for a resurrection into Elohim. They think they’re up there looking down and you know, they’re going to help other physical things. It’s just a different belief system. But they have their belief system, and they sorrow because there is no hope. Some think they’re going to be, you know, something else and others think your dead forever, others think they’re going up to heaven, etc.

But we’re not like that, brethren. We’re not like those in the world because we look forward to something. We look forward to a resurrection into Elohim.

Verse 14—For if we believe… Now, this is talking about those in this period of time within the Church. For if we believe that Joshua died and rose again, which we do, even so God will bring with him, with Joshua, those who sleep in Joshua. The 144,000. Those who have died in the faith and have been chosen, set and then chosen by God, they’re going to be part of the 144,000.

Now, sometimes try to reflect and think, what would that be like? Well, reality is we don’t have the mind capacity to know what it’s like to be a spirit being with that level of power and how the communication goes in the mind. We don’t really know a lot of that type of thing. I know that personally, deep down, I often think about the only thing I really want is to be in Elohim at some point in time because if you’re not, what does that mean? Nothing. Gone forever. So, my desire is I want to be in Elohim to be with a spirit family forever, never to stop thinking, never to sin. That’s my desire. That’s what drives me and motivates me.

What’s it going to be like? Don’t know, but I really want in that. And I mean, I really want to be in that at some point in time. That’s what I want. Because the alternative theory, what is there after that? If that’s all there is there is nothing else. I think I’ll choose that using God’s spirit and logic (which is a bad word to use, human logic). But one or the other. Interesting thing, the choice is ours, what we want to do about it, really. Because God’s given us the opportunity, not others at this point in time.

Verse 15—For this we say to you, by the word of the Lord, talking about Christ, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord (Christ), will by no means precede those who are asleep. So, what it’s saying is that the dead in Christ will rise first, and if there is anybody of the 144,000 that is left alive at that point in time, they will not precede. In other words, they’re going to have to wait. How long? Might be half a second, or a second, whatever it is, but they’re afterwards. So, the 144,000 will be all resurrected, but there is an order that is going to take place.

For the Lord himself, talking about Christ, will descend from heaven with a shout. We understand the shout. Seventh Trump, it’s about a shout. …with the voice of an archangel and with the Trumpet of God, which is the Seventh, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Now, this is exciting! This is what we look forward to. We look forward to this, a blowing of Trumpets. We want to see them all completed, including the Seventh.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air, talking about Christ, and thus we shall always be with Christ, be with the Lord on this earth in that period of time.

It’s an exciting time to be in God’s Church. Really is an exciting time. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. This should be encouraging to us because we know, the world doesn’t. And when it starts, the First Trumpet goes off, they will not know what’s going on.

There’s going to be a lot of people that say, “How could God do this to these poor little children and the animals, and all of these teenagers. They’re all dead! They’re all dying! Starvation! How can God do this?” A lot of people are going to blame God for this, but that’s not what it’s about. This is about something of a change of government, and we look forward to it.

Now, how do you feel that some are going to react when they hear something like, if I got up and said, “We’re looking forward to it.” They’re not going to understand that we’re looking forward to Christ’s return and a new government. They’re just not going to understand it. Some will. Some won’t. So, you can understand the reaction about God’s Church and being aware that, “Ah, you’re part of them, are you?” We are. We are with God. We’re with Christ. That’s who we’re with, and it may cost us lots of things, including our life.

1 Corinthians 15:51—Behold, I tell you a mystery. Now, this is a hidden truth, and it is hidden from the world. It’s not hidden from us. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. This is about from mortal to immortal, flesh to spirit.

Verse 52—In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Seventh Trump, at the last Trump. That’s when it’s going to take place. This was written, of course, the Church at that period. It’s a different situation for the Church today. Not all will be changed; some will be.

For the Trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. This is just so exciting. But if you told the world, they’re not interested. They’d think you’re crazy.

We’ll go back to Joshua 6. So, that’s our hope, brethren, and we look for the return of Christ.

Joshua 6:6, going back to the physical, Then Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant. Now, remember the ark of the covenant had poles going through, so we’re talking about four priests here, and there was going to be seven at the front blowing trumpets, pointing to the Seven Trumpets that we’re waiting for.

So, we’ve got the seven priests with the trumpets, then we’ve got the ark, which is four carrying that ark. And let seven priests bear seven trumpets of horns in the front of the ark. So, we can see that, we can picture that, seven, and then the ark with four. And then he, Joshua, said to the people, proceed and march around the city and let him who is armed (it’s talking about army) advance before the ark.

Here we see the warring component of the death and destruction that these warring people, the men of Israel, were ahead, they had weapons, they’re there at the front. Then you have the seven with the ram’s horns, then you had the ark, and then you had another group behind.

And so it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of horns before the Eternal advanced and blew the trumpets. And when the ark of the covenant of the Eternal followed them. We see that’s the organization of it. So, it’s organized. That’s one thing we know, it’s organized.

Verse 9—The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rearguard came after the ark, so there’s another group, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. Now, you can understand that it wouldn’t have gone all day and it would have been a certain period of time, because physically capable to blow (although God can give it, of course, to anybody to blow it longer), but these priests, the seven, they have to blow it. So, 45 minutes to an hour, hour and a half or so, was blowing the trumpets. Because if it had been six or seven hours your vocal cords would all be shot.

Verse 10—Now, Joshua had commanded the people saying, You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, you’re not to say anything, nor shall a word proceed from your mouth. Now, that would be difficult for a person like me. It’d be difficult for some people I know as well, not to single anybody out here. So, they’re not to say anything. Not allowed to say anything during this period of when this is happening, when this happened.

It’s going to be interesting because I’m sure there are analogies of why this is said this way, why this was to take place. We don’t understand everything about all these things.

…until the day I say to you, Shout! Then you shall shout. So again, this is about God’s Church, about instructions within God’s Church, about what is given. There are certain things are given and we’re to follow them. Now, you’ve got to think, well, what would have happened if somebody did break these instructions of Joshua? Well, Joshua said, “Don’t shout.” What about if somebody made a lot of noise when the marching was going on, the group, and they did start speaking out. What do you think would have happened?

Well, the consequences are there that God says what to do with people that won’t obey the leadership, and it often led to death in lots of examples, because of it. They just wouldn’t follow the instructions. But they were told to shout when they were told to shout.

Verse 11—So, he had the ark of the Eternal circle the city going around it once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. So, on day one you can imagine the people of Jericho in the area and there’s guards on the towers looking, and they’d be watching this, and it would have been really quite strange, really quite strange to see this going on. You think, “What is this about?” And probably the first time around you’d think, “Oh, that was a bit weird.” But still would be very afraid of what’s going on because all the rumors that they had heard about the Israelites coming and what destruction had happened.

Day two: Then Joshua arose early in the morning and the priests took up the ark of the Eternal. Then the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of horns before the ark of the Eternal. Now, one thing we can pick up from that is this is about God. Priesthood – seven trumpets – ark of the covenant – God. This is about God and that God is in control of all this that is taking place. …went on continually and blew the trumpets, and the armed men went before them, but the rearguard came after the ark of the Eternal while the priests continued blowing the trumpets.

Now, verse 14 is a review of basically what happened. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did for six days. So, this is taking a lot.

Now, did the Israelites know everything that was going to happen? No. Just like us, do we know everything that’s going to happen? No. We know there’s going to be seven Trumpets. We know what we’ve been told. Joshua, Joshua the Messiah is telling us through a prophet what’s going to happen, and here’s God’s word telling us what’s going to happen with seven Trumpets.

Verse 15—And it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day—remember, this is going to be a long day so they’re up quite early—and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. So, the same group, the armed men, you have the seven priests with the trumpets, then you have the ark of the covenant with four priests, and then you’ve got the rest following. So, they did that. And on that day only they marched around the city seven times. So, they’ve had to complete something.

Now, we understand seven means something complete, something has to be completed. So, on the seventh day, seven times. It’s like completely completed. It’s complete.

Verse 16—And the seventh time it happened, when the priest blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people, Shout! For the Eternal has given you the city.

Verse 17—Now, the city… Now, we understand that this is symbolic of Satan’s system, the world’s system that we’re currently in at the moment. Not part of, but we’re in it. …shall be doomed by the Eternal to destruction. So, it’s going to be doomed to destruction. It’s set. It’s done. It’s like when the dream happened, you see all these kingdoms are going to rise up, it’s guaranteed, it’s going to happen, there’s going to be a revival, it’s going to happen, ten nations are going to come up, Russia and China are going to come together, Christ and the 144,000. It’s set. It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen, but the world doesn’t know about it. But we know. It’s definite.

Verse 17—Now, the city shall be doomed by the Eternal to destruction, it and all who are in it. That’s quite incredible. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, and she and all who are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that went in. …we sent. Remember when they sent in messengers and that story? I’m not going to go over that.

There’s symbolic meaning in that that we don’t fully comprehend, but we understand what that’s really about, part of it. What did Rahab do? Rahab believed God, and therefore, believing God means protection. That’s something we can take out of it. Now, it’s not been fully revealed, all of it, but remembering this is all physical for spiritual reasons. So, when you look at it, yes, Rahab hid things, did things, but the big reason why was she believed God. She believed this was going to happen.

We believe this is going to happen. The world doesn’t yet. Some are coming that are going to believe it, which is very exciting, and that belief, God says, is a protection, “Believe Me.” So, it depends on the person’s intent. I’m sure there’s people that their intent is to conform; there’s others that really believe it with all of their being.

Verse 18—And you, by all means, abstain from accursed things. Now, this has meaning too, which is to separate yourself from the sins of the world, which is now. But here we see what the Israelites were to do. They were to go in and plunder the city. Once the wall had fallen down, they all went in. Everyone was killed, children, women, men; everyone was killed. But they weren’t to take of certain things from that city.

Now, for us we can look at it and say, well, that’s right, Satan’s system, we shouldn’t be taking anything from Satan’s system now within God’s Church. We don’t want it. But in the future one of the big dangers will be that those that live through may desire to take with them accursed things. What are they? Satan’s ways of greed. Satan’s ways of get that if you’re not careful a person can take with them in their thinking something that God has tried to destroy, in a sense of not tried, has destroyed, got rid of it. But within the mind, mmm, there’s other things. So, God’s warning here on a physical level, abstain from the accursed thing. Things of this world, don’t take them with us.

…lest you become accursed. Which is, to be accursed is you’re set aside for destruction. So, it’s either going to be destroyed there or it’s later on. Now, we understand if you read the rest of the story someone did take something out of Jericho. Israelites are Israelites. Let’s be fair. Man is man. Mankind’s mankind. There’s always going to be somebody that’ll try it.

…when you take the accursed things and make a camp of Israel cursed. Now, because of that sin, we’ve got to be careful it doesn’t carry over and affect all of us within the Body of Christ today. There are things of the world that can carry over and can affect the Body. We have to be careful because this is the warning.

Well, it’s the warning for the future as well. The same thing can happen. There’s always going to be somebody that’ll want to have a nightclub and loud noise at 1 o’clock in the morning. Someone is going to try to want to do it. That’s just the way it is. Someone will want to drink excessively. That’s just the way humans are. It’s not just going to be all “a bed of roses” because man is man.

…and trouble it. So, we’re to be careful we don’t take things of Satan’s system today with us wherever we go.

Verse 19—But all the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated, which is set aside, to the Eternal. They shall come into the treasury of the Eternal. So, we realize that there are things of God that will carry on, that are righteous – God’s Church.

Verse 20—So, the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. Now, this is the seventh time on the seventh day of marching. …and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat. Now, this would have been an incredible thing to see, to see walls so high just go flat down, boom, the whole thing. Now, only God could do that.

And when the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. Verse 21—They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox, sheep, donkey with the edge of the sword.

Now, mankind, unless you have God’s spirit mankind is not geared for this. This is the “God of the Old Testament,” this “hard, cruel God” that you’d kill the donkey. What did the donkey do wrong? Because they don’t understand what God is talking about. It’s about a system. And if God wanted to resurrect the donkey, He’d resurrect the donkey. If God wanted to resurrect the man or the child, He’ll resurrect them, which He will. So, everyone is looking at it the wrong way leaving God out of the picture.

Now we can pick up the flow and see what happened. It’s about seven trumpets and at the final time of marching around the city, on the seventh time everything is destroyed. So, let’s pick it up now in Revelation 8:13.

Revelation 8:13. We understand that the first Four Trumpets are about a nuclear attack on the USA, and the downfall that follows of the British Commonwealth. So, we know of it, we think we’re ready for it. Reality.

Revelation 8:13—And I looked, and behold, an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the Trumpets, of the three angels who are about to sound. So, we know the first four. Now we’re going into the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh.

I have to tell you this. I might have told you before. Some years ago, I have heard the three “whoa’s.” We were driving back from a meal with brethren, and it was a rainy night and the light turned from orange to red and I slowed down reasonably quickly, but I slowed down, stopped, and the next minute I heard “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” And that person, who I won’t name, Jonathan, he was looking back and there was a car coming behind us and it had hit the skids and it was sliding along and it went “Bang!” into the back of the car. So, I’ve heard the three “whoa’s.” But I’ve got a feeling the ones that are coming are much worse than that, Jonathan.

Alright, so we’re now going to hear what it is, the remaining blasts, which are the three Woes. Now, the real meaning of a Woe really comes down to war and death. That’s what really a Woe is. It’s really about destruction that the mind can’t really grasp.

Revelation 9:1—Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven to the earth. To him was given a key to the bottomless pit (the abyss), and he opened the bottomless pit. Now, we understand this is symbolic language and it’s very important that we always remember that this needs a spiritual interpretation which only can be given by God’s Church. So, we can read these things and the first thing is we’ll always turn them into something physical. That’s just normal. That’s what we do. But this is symbolic language.

Now, this really is pointing to two things in particular. You’re looking at a united Europe, but you’re also looking at the cause of it, which is the release of Satan from his restraint. Now, Satan is on this earth with the demons, but they are in a condition of restraint at the moment because of their power is not able to be released at this time. But God at this point in time releases their ability so that a lot of the power that’s been taken from them is given to them.

This is about demonic world being released on the earth. And he opened the bottomless pit, in other words, Satan was released from his current restraints, and the smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. In other words, millions of demons are released from their current restraint.

Now, their ability is something that we don’t fully grasp either. We think we understand. Not that we have anything to fear, but we don’t fully understand what power they really have and what they’re able to do. You know, in times past when you had dinosaurs roaming the earth and giant creatures, they helped with the creation. So, we don’t know all the powers the demonic world has that now has been taken from them. We don’t understand the power that God’s angels have, we just don’t. We have, you know, vague things. So, there’s a lot for us to learn in the future. It’s going to be exciting, I’m sure.

So, here we see Satan’s released with all the demons on the earth at this time, and this is about a united Europe, which it’s main leader, of course, is actually Satan. Not seen. Not understood. Not even believed.

I remember, going to go off a little bit here, the prime minister of Australia mentioned, because he’s part of Hillsong, I think it is, or something, anyway, he mentioned the word, I think it was about, “There is evil forces out there,” and he was mocked by the current media, absolutely mocked that he believed that there was such a thing as evil forces. He was derided because of it! Because the average belief system is within the western world is that no one talks about it. Might hear bits in the ear, other people worship it, get involved in voodooism and other satanic things, demonic things. A lot of religions are based on those deceptions. But, you know, in the western world it’s not believed or thought of, but it’s real.

So, millions of demons are released from their restraints. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. So, this is symbolic but it’s talking about a release. Then out of the smoke locusts, which is a demonic army, came upon the earth, and to them was given power. So, here we see where they didn’t have this power, now this power. Because God can give this power or God can take this power.

This power has been given to them from God. …as the scorpions of the earth have power. So, what is a scorpion known for? Well, we understand, you see them in movies on the desert, well, their power is that they strike quickly and cause pain. It can be they can attack very quickly and it’s instant, “Oh!” There’s pain involved. So, we know there’s a lot of pain coming.

So, these following verses now are an insert, verse 4. Part of it is about God’s Church, part of it’s about the demonic world, and part of it’s about Europe. But remembering it’s in a symbolic-type language which needs God’s spirit to fully comprehend it.

They were commanded not to hurt the grass of the earth… Now, we understand “grass” points to people, and any green thing, which is something young, or any tree, talking about people, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. So, in other words, they don’t have God’s holy spirit. Therefore, when we look at the future, we know the most important thing is not the water or the three months supply of food and all that. None of that is important compared to this, “the seal of God in their foreheads.” That’s the most important thing.

For us within the Body of Christ to have God’s holy spirit active and have relationship with God the Father is the most important thing anybody can do, anybody that’s called to that purpose. Because that is it. That’s where the protection lies. Because here we see a demonic force released during this time of the Fifth Trumpet that is going to affect mankind. The only ones they’re told they’re not allowed to touch and hurt is God’s people, those with God’s holy spirit.

Verse 5—And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In other words, pain and suffering.

Verse 6—In those days men will seek death and will not find it. They will desire to die but death will flee from them. In other words, it’s going to be a terrible time of torment. A lot of that torment can be in the mind. Because if you don’t know what’s happening or why it’s happening, it’s very tormenting to see. One thing leads to another; it gets worse and worse and worse. In the end the mind will… you go, “Whoa,” like, “How much more can I take of this?”

Verse 7—The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads were crowns of something like gold. Now, it’s something like. It doesn’t say what it is but remembering it’s something that we understand aspects of this. …and their faces were the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lion’s teeth. So, that’s very descriptive. But we know it’s pointing to something.

Verse 9—And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running to battle. Which, in other words, it’s a loud sound that’s going to be made. Well, we understand there’s a physical component to this and there is also a spiritual component.

Verse 10—They had tails like scorpions, and the stings was in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.

Verse 11—And they had a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrews is Abaddon, and in the Greek, he has the name Apollyon. Satan, the destroyer. So, Satan is released, he is the instigator of this, and it’s about death and destruction. Remembering, Satan hates God’s people, Satan hate’s mankind because of their potential. He doesn’t want to see anyone enter Elohim because of his pride and what he is.

So, the First Woe or the Fifth Trumpet is about death and destruction.

Verse 12—One Woe is past, behold, still two more Woes are coming after these things.

Now we’re going to move into verse 13 which is about the Sixth Trumpet which is about war that involves Russia and China and Europe, Russia and China fighting against Europe. So, all three are involved. We understand the mentality of man, which is about winning. You don’t get into a war unless you think you can win it. Or if you think you’re going to be beaten you go out in a blaze of glory.

Verse 13—Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God saying, The sixth angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates, talking about demons.

Verse 15—So, the four angels who had been prepared for/at an hour and a day and a month and a year were released to kill a third of mankind. A third of mankind will die during this period of time. Now, the number of the army of the horseman was two hundred million, and I heard the number of them. So, you’re talking about a massive army that is about war and destruction. This is about winning at any cost.

Well, when you go into war, as we were talking before, there’s a lot of mental anguish involved in war, in killing, a lot of mental distress and stress. It’s about, you know, being alive, staying alive. That’s what war is about. We have to win. That’s what it’s about.

Verse 17—And thus, I saw the horses in the vision, remembering it is a vision, those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. And the heads of the horses were the heads of a lion, and out of their mouth came fire, smoke, and brimstone. We’re talking about nuclear war.

Verse 18—By these three plagues, which is about the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone, nuclear war, a third of mankind was killed, by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone which came out of their mouths, which is pointing to what they say they will do. “Out of their mouths.” We know that nuclear weapons don’t come out of a human mouth or anyone’s mouth. We understand it’s about words or instructions that are given. So, there’s destruction; it’s time to destroy, it’s time to win, because, you know, otherwise we’ll be losers.

Verse 19—for their power is in their mouth and in their tails, and their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

Verse 20—But the rest of mankind, who are not killed by these plagues, which is the fire and the brimstone, and the smoke, did not repent. I bolded that because that’s quite interesting. Even when this is going on mankind will stick to their ways. They’re just going to stick to their ways. They will not repent. This army is about winning. It’s not about God. God is not in the picture in their life at all. This is about not repenting, not changing, not stopping and thinking, “Oh, hang on a minute. All this death and destruction; how will it end?” Well, fortunately, we know how it’s going to end. But for them they can’t, they don’t know how it’s going to end.

…of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons. Which most people, if you went up to most people and said, “You worship demons…” I was reflecting with my wife. We were in United and there was two people that were quite protestant at the time who had come to United, and we were walking in this nature park. I was back with the man and Chris was well ahead, about a hundred meters ahead talking to this woman, and Chris indicated to her that the religions of the world were demonic, basically. The knowledge they had was a lot of it is demonic and she high tailed it. I’ve never seen a person turn around and run straight… Why is she running? She was running. She came down and said, “Chris said that the protestant churches and all that, they’re all…it’s all demonic.” And I said, “Yes, it is. How to win friends and influence people.” Oh dear. I had to throw that in.

So, people don’t know they’re worshipping demons. The Catholic Church does not understand that they’re worshipping demons, the doctrine of demons. It is. It’s demonic what’s going on. It’s shocking. But you can’t tell them that because they’re not going to listen.

…idols of gold, silver, brass, and stone, and wood. Well, we know what the priority of mankind is. …which neither see nor hear nor walk. I love that scripture. Because when you think of it, it’s ridiculous that anyone would get in front of a statue of an obese person and pray. What? It doesn’t move. It does nothing. It’s just a bit of wood, a bit of clay.

Verse 21—And they did not repent of their murders. Which, now we look at this physical, but this is actually in the mind. It’s about a way of thinking. Because as we understand, what Christ said, murder is in the heart, it’s in the mind. It’s not about the physical act of adultery or murder. …their sorceries, in other words, the sorceries are really about what a person trusts in. They trust in something. They will die trusting that. Even though they’ll die, but they’ll trust it. They won’t repent of it, they won’t give it up.

…and their sexual immoralities or their thieves. Their selfishness. Because when somebody steals, it’s selfish. Every time we are selfish, we are stealing something from somebody. We just don’t see it that way but that’s what it is.

Revelation 11:14—The Second Woe is past. Which we understand was the Sixth Trumpet, Behold, the Third Woe, which is the Seventh Trumpet, is coming quickly. Now, this is the exciting part of Trumpets and Woes.

It’s exciting for us because we know the truth. It’s about a new government. But it won’t necessarily be exciting for the world at the beginning because of their inability to repent.

Now, we understand the start, the Seven Trumpets are blown, now we’re going to see what will take place when this Seventh Trumpet happens on a day of Pentecost. Which is something we know, but others don’t know. They just simply don’t. The Church that’s scattered doesn’t know anything about Christ returning on Pentecost unless they’ve read one of the Church literatures or documents.

Revelation 11:15—Then the seventh angel sounded. And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord. That’s talking about God, Yahweh Elohim. It’s God’s Kingdom. It’s the Kingdom of God. It’s just that Joshua the Messiah is the one who is the leader of that on earth at that time. But it’s God that’s doing this. …and His Christ. So, this is what’s come. It’s the Kingdom of God and Christ. …and He shall reign forever and ever! So, it’s not going to be turned away. It’s not from human hands. It’s that stone cut without hands. It’s exciting! God rules through and in Christ.

Verse 16—And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give You (Yahweh Elohim) thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. Finally, man’s self-rule is over. Opinions, parties, political parties, selfishness, all going to change. All the court system is going to change. People, you know, hiring the powerful lawyer to get off, you know, to fight, doing a plea.

Watched a program the other day. Somebody who didn’t murder somebody, the police force wouldn’t agree unless, “We’ll release you from prison, even though we know you didn’t do it,” but after ten or twelve years, “We’ll release you if you will sign that you did it…and then we’ll release you.” Why? Because they won’t be able to sue us because we’ve got a document saying that you did it, because you signed it. The person has been in jail for all these years, innocent, but that’s man’s system because they’ve got to save face. So, there’s no lawsuits, you can’t do anything about it. You can’t do anything because, look, you signed it saying you did it. But the person didn’t. But the only way they could get out of jail was to sign it. So, people do it just to get out of jail. Crazy system!

All that’s going. There’ll be none of that because Christ with 144,000 will know whether the person did it or didn’t. Isn’t that exciting? No more lawyers, you know, at $400/hour if you ring them up. All that’s going.

Verse 18—The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, talking about the 144,000 who changed to spirit.

And those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. So, this is something that mankind has no idea about, that once Christ returns it’s not just peace and harmony, magic wand. No, this is about getting things set up so that a new government can take over.

There’s no use having a new government when there’s other governments already existing and being there and arguing about whether we’re going to have a red bin or a green bin or a blue bin lid. Like, it’s ridiculous! No, this is what it is and that’s what’s going to happen. Your opinion is irrelevant to this unless it matches to what God is saying. So, opinions are worthless from the human mind if they don’t agree with God. It’s going to be a hard lesson for many.

So, He should destroy those who are destroying the earth. So, Russia, army, European army and the China army that’s there are going to be destroyed, they’re going to be put down. As we talked before, the amount of blood that’s going to come out of these places and the destruction, the trampling of the winepress, you know, as it says in scripture. Horrendous things that our mind doesn’t really go there because, you know, we just can’t go that far to see it, what it’s like. But it’s going to be very difficult for a lot of people to understand that God could do this. It could be difficult for them, for a start.

Verse 19—Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, which is symbolic, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. Which we are. We are the temple of God. It’s a spiritual thing. And there was lightnings, and noises, and thundering’s, and an earthquake, and great hail. So, more destruction.

We’ll just turn quickly back, as we work towards a conclusion here, 1 Corinthians 15:52. You don’t have to turn there. I’m just going to read it again because it’s about this Seventh Trumpet on this Feast of Trumpets. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, or in the blinking of an eye. How quick is that? It’s quick! …at the Seventh Trump, or the last Trump, for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be incorruptible, and we shall be changed. It’s talking about that, when this is written, the Church. It’s exciting. It’s going to happen like that, and we know it’s going to happen on a day of Pentecost.

The Seventh Trumpet not only announces Christ’s return with 144,000, but it also announces a war that will continue after that return. That war is for the purpose of firmly establishing the government of God’s Kingdom over the nations.

So, everything has to be crushed so that when the 144,000 and Christ begin to rule, that they’ll know there’s a power there. And if you’re going to resist it, there’s one consequence. You know, you can’t afford to resist this government. It’ll be done out of love and concern for others, but they may not see it that way.

Revelation 19:11-16—Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war (wages war). His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. It’s figuratively speaking. In other words, he’s ruling over all the nations. He had a name written that no one knew except him.

Verse 13—And he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. Now, nobody sees Christ that way, “a robe dripped in blood,” like it dipped into blood. Everyone sees something totally different, true? In todays world of Protestants or Catholics, whatever, it’s just someone wouldn’t do that. But here, you know, God is saying here is Christ, because this is symbolic, but we know what that’s talking about. This is about someone who is going to rule with a rod of iron. There’s death and destruction to follow.

And he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name was called The Word of God, who is Joshua the Christ. And the armies (the 144,000) in heaven, which is in the atmosphere above the earth, clothed in fine linen… We know what that is, about righteousness which only God can give to us; deemed as righteous, because we’re not. …white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now, we understand this is symbolic.

Now, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, which is the word of God, and that with it he should strike the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress with the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And he has a robe, and on his thigh was name written KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Now, it’s at that time, of course, that we see that Christ rules. That’s why we look forward to the Seventh Trumpet. That’s what we’re remembering what the Trumpets are about.

We understand that the effects of the first Four Trumpets are being held back until the final sealing of those that make up the 144,000. The Seven Trumpets are about destruction that mankind has brought on himself (itself) because mankind has refused to listen to God. Mankind must be humbled. They have to be humbled.

If you’d like to turn to Isaiah 2:11 as we work to this conclusion. Isaiah 2:11—The lofty looks… This is about pride, the proud. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled. Now, God’s word is true. Mankind is going to be humbled. We within the Body of Christ can choose to humble ourselves, and we understand how we do that. Through fasting. We can choose to humble ourselves. If we don’t choose to humble our self, we will be humbled. That’s all there is to it. We have to choose to be humble. Because it’s a choice. It’s a free will choice.

Well, man’s going to be humbled because they refuse to humble themselves now. The haughtiness, or the elevation in the mind of men shall be bowed down. This is about something that is going to happen. Mankind’s thinking is going to be reduced where they realize what their life is really worth. It’s going to be terrifying for many of them.

And the Eternal alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon every proud and lofty – anyone that’s arrogant, anyone who refuses to humble themselves. Anyone who refuses to listen to God is going to be humbled. God’s word is true.

Upon everything lifted up—it shall be brought low. Isn’t that incredible? No matter what happens, what man thinks he can do and yes, if we do all this, and we can do that, and we’ll get back to normal. It’s garbage. They’re talking garbage, because what God says in His word is that man will be brought low through a process, but they’re going to be brought low.

We’ll conclude on Matthews 24:29—Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. Now, when it first starts it looks like it’s probably going to be an alien invasion, I’m sure, the average person. But there’s going to be, “Oh no!” When people mourn, “Oh no!” There’s going to be a dread when they see something. There’s a dread that’s going to overtake mankind.

And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. It’s going to be exciting to see this, absolutely exciting! And He will send His angels with a great sound of a Trumpet. Now, we know it’s the Seventh Trumpet. The Trumpets are going to sound. Now, whether it’s just the one at the beginning or there’s other trumpets going on, but it’s going to be an incredible event that takes place. …and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other.

Isn’t that exciting? That’s what it’s going to conclude with. That’s why we remember the Feast of Trumpets because it’s about this period of time that we’re looking forward to, Trumpets sounding so that we come to a conclusion about Christ’s return, because that is the solution to it all.

The effects of the Seven Trumpets will soon impact mankind, just as God has said in His word. Because it’s like the dream. It’s certain and it’s going to happen. There’s no debate or anything, it’s going to happen. It’s certain.

1. Chapter 1