50 Million Reasons to Turn Captions on.

Step 1
Turn on captions for one week – just seven days – and leave them on.

Step 2
Come back here at the end of the week and let me know how it went – positive or not.

I will try to remember to refresh this. Let me know how the challenge worked for you.

Take The Challenge

Revelation 9:1-12 KJV  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.  (2)  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.  (3)  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.  (4)  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.  (5)  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.  (6)  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.  (7)  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.  (8)  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.  (9)  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.  (10)  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.  (11)  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.  (12)  One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

Ok now on to verse 4

These locust beings will only cause hurt to men. And they will be very specific as to whom they will cause injury to. The only people they will not hurt are those that have been sealed back in chapter 7.

There are some people who say that they will wait until after the Rapture before they decide to follow Jesus.  But if you actually do accept Jesus after the Rapture, and you aren't killed by the antichrist, you're going to be facing these locusts unless you are a part of the 144,000. There are some people who hold the view that the Church will have to go through the Tribulation period, but God will somehow protect them.  Yet here in Revelation 9, the only people who are going to be protected are the 144,000. The 144,000 are NOT the church. They are Jewish followers of Jesus.

As these demons are unleashed they sting people like a scorpion, inflicting so much pain that they want to die. Here we will see people wanting to die and death takes a holiday for 5 months.  As much as people will want to die from the pain they have, they will not be able to, they will only suffer!  Why would God allow this?  Because, if you reject God then Satan and his demonic forces is the only other choice. God is giving them what they want! God gives abundant life, Satan abundant destruction and that is what we see here.

Revelation 9:7-10 KJV  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.  (8)  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.  (9)  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.  (10)  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

Here is a description of these demonic locust-like creatures, these demons.  Now do we take this literally, that they are horses and-so-on?  Please notice that John uses the word "like" 8 times here. These demonic creatures are like this, it is a comparison, and yes, they are very scary.

Revelation 9:11-12 KJV  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.  (12)  One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

the angel of the bottomless pit – I think John is referring to the "star" in 9:1 that fell from heaven and was given the key to the abyss.
Abaddon – Abaddon = "destruction" / Apollyon – Apolluon = "Destroyer"
This could be an angel that is known simply as "Abaddon", but I think it is probably a reference to Satan.
Satan is a "murderer" (John 8:44) and a thief who destroys (John 10:10). Judas and the antichrist are both called the "son of destruction" (or, "son of perdition") (John 17:12; 2Th. 2:3)

When we look at all the things that are going to happen in the Tribulation, we shudder and wonder how a God of love could do such things.  The problem is that we don't understand that God is also a God of righteousness and judgment.  God will one day judge sin.  God will one day right all the wrongs. The Tribulation is the time of God's judgment on a rebellious world. it is known in the Old Testament as part of the day of the Lord.

Isaiah 13:9 KJV Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Jeremiah 46:10a KJV For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries …

God has given man plenty of warning.

Joshua taking the Promised Land – it was actually a pretty gruesome war.  Over and over again Joshua records that they wiped out each city they conquered, not leaving a single person breathing.  Why did God want them to do this?  It was because God had become thoroughly disgusted with the Amorites, the people living in the land.  God had warned them through Abraham 400 years earlier, now it was their time of judgment (Deu. 9:3-4)

The Tribulation will also be the same kind of judgment against sin.

Eph 5:1-6 KJV  Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; {2} And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. {3} But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; {4} Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. {5} For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. {6} Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

It is because of these kinds of wicked things that God's wrath is coming.

We become desensitized to sin.  The world is going further and further from God and we are gradually getting used to it and things that are horrible no longer seem offensive to us.God has provided a way of escape, through Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross, He was dying in our place. He was taking the punishment that our sins required.

Romans 5:8-9 KJV  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. {9} Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

I would love to say to you that if you've ever prayed that simple prayer of asking Jesus into your heart, that you don't have anything to worry about. There's a sense in which I believe that to be true, but as I read Scripture, I'm not sure that saying a little prayer is all you need to be concerned with.

In the letters to the seven churches, Jesus gives a sincere warning to one of the churches, Thyatira:
Revelation 2:20-22 KJV Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. {21} And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. {22} Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

Perhaps these are people in the church who really don't know the Lord. But Jesus doesn't make the issue one of whether or not they've asked Him into their heart. He makes the issue to be whether or not they follow this Jezebel woman, commit fornication and eat things sacrificed to idols.

Fornication is a word that means any kind of sex outside the bounds of marriage. The American family is changing, and one of the ways it is changing is that more and more people are living together before getting married. And the statistics show that it doesn't help them in the end, they get divorced just as easily. Don't do it.

When the Tribulation hits, the people who haven't repented are still going to be resistant:
Revelation 9:20-21 KJV 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.

The Greek word for "sorceries" is pharmakeia, and it has to do with the use of drugs to reach some altered state of consciousness.

You need to turn away from your sin.

Sammy's Big Catch
Sammy was a good-looking young boy who lived in the Deep South. His summer days were filled with times of walking through the woods, playing with friends, and fishing in the pond down the dirt road. Fishing was by far his favorite thing to do. Just about every day during his summer vacation, he would dig up some worms and head off, pole in hand, for a day of fishing.
This steamy hot day was like most others during Sammy's summer break. Waking early, he could hear the pond calling him to come fish. Sammy quietly walked out the front door, grabbed his pitchfork and worm pail from the porch, and walked into the woods to search for bait. He turned over old stumps and dug under leaves hoping to find worms. Under one old stump he hit the jackpot. The ground was writhing. In two minutes he had all the bait he needed, and in 15 minutes he was at the pond.
Reaching into his bait bucket, Sammy pulled out a big worm. He double hooked it and tossed it into the water. He noticed a stinging in his hand, but filled with the excitement of the moment, he paid no attention to it. Within 30 seconds, Sammy had a strike and pulled in a nice catfish. Wow, he thought, a fish in the first minute. This is unbelievable!
He put the catch on his stringer, hurried to re-bait his hook, and tried his luck again. Once again he felt a stinging sensation in his hand as he threw his hook into the pond. He didn't have time to worry about it. Within just a few seconds, he had another huge fish. He fumbled the next time he baited his hook—his hand felt numb and stiff. But Sammy was too excited about catching another fish to give it much thought.
At the end of only an hour of fishing, Sammy had caught eight large fish. This was definitely his best fishing day ever. He was so proud of his accomplishment that, even though there was plenty of day left to fish, he threw the heavy stringer of fish over his shoulder and dashed down the dirt road toward home to show off his catch to his mom and dad.
The local sheriff happened to drive up alongside Sammy and started to congratulate him on his catch of fish. With a smile and a victory whoop, Sammy held up the stringer. The sheriff gasped, parked his car and strode over to Sammy. His eyes hadn't deceived him—Sammy's arms really were red and swollen to about twice their normal size. Exactly where have you been and what bait did you use to catch all those fish?" the sheriff asked Sammy, already guessing the answer.
I found some special bait under an old stump," Sammy boasted. "These worms really wiggle good," he commented, handing up the bait bucket for inspection. After a close look at the worms, the sheriff went into fast-forward. Securing the bucket in his trunk, he then scooped Sammy and his stringer of fish into the backseat of his patrol car. Spinning a U-turn on the gravel road, he sped off to the hospital, but Sammy was already dead.
What the sheriff had discovered was that Sammy had been fishing with baby rattlesnakes. Sammy's deadly bait brought him a good morning's fishing but cost him his life. Had Sammy stopped fishing after that first sting, he could have been saved. One bite from a baby rattler won't kill a person who gets treatment in time. But Sammy was having fun and didn't bother himself with the small voice of pain in his hand. Then, as his hand grew numb, even that small voice was silenced.
Playing around with sin is like using baby rattlesnakes for bait. Sinning seems harmless to people who don't recognize sin and are unaware of its deadly consequences. The more sin you get into, however, the more numb you become to its sting. In the excitement of the moment, you ignore the still small voice of God warning you of danger and encouraging you to choose life instead of death.

I'm asking you to be honest with yourself. Are you right with Jesus?  If you aren't, you need to be.  If you are, you need to find comfort in knowing that Jesus is going to take us home someday to be with Him!

God bless

Hopefully this can help eliminate some of the unfortunate stereotypes associated with people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Revelation 9:1-12 KJV  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.  (2)  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.  (3)  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.  (4)  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.  (5)  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.  (6)  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.  (7)  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.  (8)  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.  (9)  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.  (10)  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.  (11)  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.  (12)  One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

The star uses the key he's been given, and opens up the abyss.

As this pit is opened we see this smoke come pouring out. This pit that has been closed for several thousand years is now opened and we see these demonic locust-like creatures come forth who will have a sting upon the earth's inhabitants like a scorpion!

Are they real locusts? One of the plagues in Egypt was with real locusts who demolished the fields of Egypt. But these aren't normal locusts, these have a king (vs. 11)

For some reason, Solomon tells us that normal locusts don't have a king:

Proverbs 30:27 KJV The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;

Though some would argue that these creatures are military weapons like Apache attack helicopters, I think that it's just possible that these are simply demonic creatures.

In Revelation chapter 12 we are told that when Lucifer or Satan rebelled against God, he took 1/3 of the angels with him. Folks, I believe these fallen angels are nothing more than demons.  But not all demons are locked in this pit, which is very obvious as you look at the work they are doing in this world right now!  But then, who are these angels that are locked up until this time of judgment?  In Jude 6, 7 we are told, "And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

I believe Jude is saying that these fallen angels violated the laws of God by not carefully guarding and maintaining their original position they were created for. Yes they did rebel against God and were punished for that, but there is something more going on here than just that. Specifically, these fallen angels invaded territory that was foreign to them and forbidden to them, namely the human race!  In fact, Jude likens their sins to that of Sodom and Gomorrah, who went after strange flesh.

The word "strange" in the Greek is HETEROS or different flesh. You see, the men in these cities were involved in homosexual relationships, which went against that which was natural!  These angels invaded the realm of another nature, they co-habituated with women to pollute the human race and prevent the Messiah from being born of the seed of a woman!  God destroyed the world in a flood except for Noah and his family who were not affected by this!  It is as Peter tells us of these angels, "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment."  II Peter 2:4.  All the angels who rebelled against God sinned, but here something else is going on like I said, and these angels who co-habituated with women are chained for this day spoken of here, a day of judgment!

Now where in the Bible do we see this take place or do we see it in the Bible? I do believe we see this take place in Genesis chapter 6, where we are told, "Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. . . . There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."  Genesis 6:1-2, 4.

Now some like to say that this not speaking of angels here but that the godly line of Seth, being "the sons of God" married the ungodly line of Cain, being the "daughters of men." But the union of a believer and unbeliever does not produce some kind of mutation or strange manifestation – giants or Nephilim. The classical use in the Old Testament of the phrase "sons of God" or BAR ELOHEM is that of angels. You can find that used that very way in Job 1:6 and Job 38:7.  And so these fallen angels or demons that are locked in chains in the center of the earth are those wickedest of angels who co-habituated with women, and there may be others that the Lord has placed there, but they are not all chained in this pit.

I think John Phillips makes some interesting comments on these fallen angels as he wrote, "Picture what the world would be like if we were to open the doors of all the penitentiaries of earth and set free the world's most vicious and violent criminals, giving them full reign to practice their infamies upon mankind.  Something worse than that lies in store for the world. Satan, cast out of heaven, is now permitted to summon to his aid the most diabolical fiends in the abyss to act as his agents in bringing mankind to the footstool of the Beast."

Ok....I guess we will save verse 4 for tomorrow.

God bless you. Have a Marvelous Monday.

Revelation 9:1 KJV  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

We now are looking at the last three trumpet judgments. They are also known as the "three woes".

Revelation 8:13 KJV And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

fall - in the Greek it's a perfect tense, meaning has fallen, something that has happened in the past, with the results continuing on into the present.

We've already talked about several stars falling from heaven to earth:

Revelation 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

Revelation 8:10-11 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; 11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

In both of these cases, we talked about these events in terms of physical objects falling out of the sky onto the earth as the most likely possibility.

Is this the case now?

The difference between this star and the others falling stars is that this star definitely has personality, a characteristic of a person, rather than just being some kind of object.

It is given a key, it opens a pit …

That's not to say that the other stars couldn't also be persons as well.

There are places in Scripture where individuals are described as stars:

Genesis 37:9 (Joseph dreaming of his family)

Numbers 24:17 (the Messiah described as a Star out of Jacob)

Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

I think this could be a good description of Satan himself, since he is a fallen (already happened) angel -

Isaiah 14:12-15 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

bottomless – abussos – bottomless; unbounded; the abyss; the pit; the immeasurable depth; It has been suggested that this pit is "bottomless" because it might be located geographically at the center of the earth. If you were in the center of the earth, where would the "bottom" be? Every direction would be "up" from there.

It's a place of torment.

When Jesus encountered the demons of Legion, they asked not to be cast into a place called the abyss:

Luke 8:26-33 KJV And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. {27} And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. {28} When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. {29} (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) {30} And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. {31} And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. {32} And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. {33} Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.

It's a place of imprisonment.

Back in the days of Noah, it is believed that certain fallen angels (sons of God) produced offspring with human wives, which apparently contributed to the wickedness on the earth, and led to the flood of Noah (Genesis 6)

I think it's these angels that Peter and Jude talk about being imprisoned:

2 Peter 2:4 KJV For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Jude 1:6 KJV And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

They are bound in chains until the time of judgment, until Revelation 9.

Isaiah has an interesting verse that may apply to this:

Isaiah 24:21-22 KJV And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. {22} And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

It's the place of origin for the antichrist.

The antichrist, or at least the demonic spirit that possesses the man who will be the antichrist, will come out of the abyss:

Revelation 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Revelation 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

I wonder about the current craze of reincarnation thinking where people talk about their past lives. I've heard people claim to have knowledge about certain places or events that they wouldn't have known about by natural circumstances. I believe that some of this past lives stuff is none other than demonic spirits playing video tapes in the minds of these unsuspecting individuals. After all, the demons have been around for eons! I wonder if this will be something similar with the antichrist, as some person is possibly possessed by a demonic spirit that has been held in the abyss.

Satan will one day be imprisoned there for 1,000 years

Revelation 20:1-3 KJV  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  (2)  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,  (3)  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Next week we will look at the rest of chapter 9.

God bless you. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

My "half sister" had a baby boy named Hunter. He weighed 6
lbs. 12 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches

I hope that you will watch this video. It is done in a way that both deaf and hearing can understand. Please tell me your thoughts.

Thank you.