Jihad and the Gospel

Well, good morning, brothers andsisters.It's uh it's a privilege to be standinghere before you on our religious libertySabbath. We'd like to give you onceagain a warm welcome.Um we are having a warm winter, itseems. And but uh we are delighted thatwe can worship God together here on thishis day in this his house as we aspeople.And umuh we our our Sabbath today is focusingon religious liberty.Um I'd like to invite our deacons. Umthey have some handouts to give as we'regoing through this morning's sermon.Uh they're actually some of my sermonnotes. And um because there are sometables there I just like you to look atas we're going through this morning'ssermon.You know, our religious liberty team, umyou saw most of them on the platformthis morning.

We have uh Harold andTammy Reese and uh Jim Judge, JohnJudge, uh John Jed, sorry, and JimKneible, and Jack Strazinsky, and NevinRice. And they're a great team to workwith.And uh it's a privilege to serve side byside with them.Uh this uh the the the sermons thismorninguh I I put together um just beforeChristmas and I've been kind of chewingon them ever since.And umI don't know if you know, when you havea sermon coming up, you feel under acertain amount of pressure. Everypreacher feels that.But I want to uh share this morning thatin the process of studying for thesesermons, I've just felt this increasingsense of urgency that Jesus is comingsoon.That Jesus is coming soon and I need towake up myself.And I need to take it seriously that ifJesus is coming soon, where are myvalues and what are my priorities?And so uh as I've gone through the thestudies on some of the prophecies of ofscripture, particularly in Revelationand the book of Daniel,umI've just found that my love for Jesushas deepened and I my devotion to himhas broadened and mymy witness for him has has brightenedand my hope in the second coming is isin is more there. I'm not sure what wordto use for that, but my hope is greater.And it's my prayer that as as we gothrough this religious liberty Sabbath,that our love for Jesus and our willgrow deeper, our devotion to him will bestronger and broader, that our witnesswill indeed bright uh shine brighter forhimas uh as we live here in BerrienSprings. And to those who are watchingonline, we give you a warm welcome aswell.Um before we open God's word, though, Iinvite you to bow your heads with me.And we'll ask for God's presence onceagain.So, heavenly Father, I thank you forthis religious liberty Sabbath.Oh God, we thank you that we indeed havethe liberty and freedom of ofconscience, freedom of association, andfreedom of speech.And God, we thank you that these areinalienable rights given to us by you,our heavenly Father.God, with these rights and with thesefreedoms, by virtue of being yourchildren,I ask that they will not remain unopenedgifts under the Christmas tree, but wewill open them and make use of them.So, Father, today I ask that you speakthrough me.I ask that you soften every heart whothat is present here today.That we will be willing to lead where wesense your spirit prompting.I pray, Father, that each one of us willdraw closer to Jesus as our Lord andSavior,the Lord of history, and the Lord of ourlives during these worship seasons thismorning.This I ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.So, our first sermon this morning isentitled Three Woes, Global Jihad, andthe Good News. And our second sermonthis morning is uh is focusing on whathappened in in Europe during the DarkAges and John Wycliffe, um how darknessdescended in the Dark Ages, how lightcame back into Europe during theReformation, and what is the everlastinggospel, and what is the pure gospel, andwhat is the relation of the gospel toreligious liberty.But this morning uh for our firstservice, we're going to focus more onthe three woes of the book ofRevelation. Uh we'll be going into thosein a bit more detail in a moment. And uhand jihad. And um so uh if if you lookback through Adventist history, yourealize that about 100 to 120 years ago,there was the so-called EasternQuestion.

The Eastern Question was amajor issue for Seventh-day Adventistsaround 1890-1900.People got to camp meetings eagerly tohear preachers talking about the EasternQuestion. And we ask ourselves, well, umhere's a quote from the Review andHerald. This is Sister White writinghere. Uh she said uh talking about acamp meeting in 1877,she said, "Sunday morning, the weatherwas still cloudy,but before it was time for the people toassemble, the sun shone forth.Boats and trains poured their livingfreight upon the ground, as was the caselast year.Elder Smith spoke in the morning on thewhat?The Eastern Question. The subject was ofspecial interest, and the peoplelistened with the most earnestattention.

It seemed to be just whatthey wanted to hear. And if we askourselves, well, what was that EasternQuestion?Um well, here's a definition of what wasthe Eastern Question. You see a mapthere of the Ottoman Empire.Uh the Ottoman Empireuh spanned the Eastern Mediterranean, umbased in in Istanbul, uh ancientConstantinople. Uh it covered um uh Iraqof today and um across into the Balkans,Greece, um Serbia, Montenegro, um formerYugoslavia. Those those territories allthe way almost up to Vienna.And it's uh went down the Nile andacross North Africa.

That was theOttoman Empire.And by the um late 1800s, the OttomanEmpire was known as the sick man ofEurope. But nobody wanted the OttomanEmpire to collapse overnight, and therewas a reason for that.Here's a definition of the EasternQuestion from the EncyclopediaBritannica. It says, "The EasternQuestion was a diplomatic problem posedin the 19th and early 20th centuries bythe disintegration of the OttomanEmpire,centering on the contest for control offormer Ottoman territories. Any internalchange in the Turkish domains causedtension among the European powers, eachof which feared that one of the othersmight take advantage of the politicaldisarray to increase its own influence."If you take a look at the map there, youwill see that the Ottoman Empire, theycontrolled all the way up north of theBlack Sea into the Crimea. And theCrimean War was fought um between theOttomans and the Russian Empire, whichwas pushing south, and the Ottomanswanting to hold onto the Crimea.

TheBritish Empire was concerned about theOttomans because they wanted accessthrough Cairo uh down to um their theirpossessions in India and thesubcontinent. And they didn't want theRussians or the French or the Prussiansgetting their hands on access to theEast Indies. And so all of the majorpowers of of uh the 1890s, the early1900s were focused on the OttomanEmpire. And nobody wanted the OttomanEmpire to collapse overnight becausethere would be a scramble for control ofthose Ottoman territories. As ithappened through history, the OttomanEmpire gradually shrunk and shrunk andshrunk.

And the Eastern Questionwas intimately linked for our earlyAdventist pioneers to the three woes ofRevelationand the second coming of Jesus Christ.So, why would I say that? Well, if youhave in your handouts here on the frontpage there, there's a first boldheading. It says the seven trumpetswithin Revelation.And if you break down the book ofRevelation, if you look through it thisafternoon, you will see there are fourtimes in the book of Revelation whereJohn references the fact um that he wasin vision. In Revelation chapter 1 andverse 10, he says, "I was in the spiriton the Lord's day."In Revelation 4 and verse 2, he says,"At once I was in the spirit."In Revelation 17, not 13 verse 3, but 17verse 3, John says, "So, he carried meaway in the spirit into a wilderness."And Revelation 21:10, it said, "And inthe spirit he carried me away." You see,there are four visions in the book ofRevelation. And if you look at thechapters associated with those fourvisions, that there's a beautifulmessage.

The Revelation of Jesus Christis not about war world war and jihad. Itis a revelation of Jesus Christ and hisglory and his beauty. And at the firstvision, Revelation chapters 1 through 3,Christ is portrayed as the light of thechurch.Christ is present among his church. Andyou know the imagery of thecandlesticks?Um if you put a candle under under awhite ceiling, what happens to the whiteceiling after a while?Yes, a candle gives out light, but acandle also gives out smoke and soot.No church gives out just light. Everychurch is a maybe a smoky candle.

ButJesus is still the light of his church.Then you the second vision is chapters 4through 16, and this portrays JesusChrist as the Lord of history. Andthat's good news, is it not?That history may seem to be out ofcontrol, but Revelation from chapters 4through chapter 17 portrays Jesus Christas the Lord of history. Then you findfrom chapters 17 through 20, in thethird vision, that Jesus is the friendof the oppressed.That Jesus knows when a sparrow falls tothe ground. He knows the hairs on ourhead. He knows when we sufferpersecution.

He knows when we sufferridicule. And he is the friend of thosewho are oppressed for his name's sake. Isay amen to that, do you?He is the friend of the oppressed. Andthe final vision of Revelation chapter21 and 22 parallels the first vision. Inthe first vision, Jesus was the light ofthe church.

In the second vision, thelast vision, chapters 21 and 22, Christis the light of the New Jerusalem wherethe church of of history is gatheredtogether.And so the story begins with Christ asthe light and it ends with Christ as thelight. And in between, Christ is shownas the Lord of history and as the lightof the New Jerusalem. And so when welook today at the seven trumpets withinRevelation, which are in chapters 8 and9, we see they fall in the second visionof the book of Revelation and with thesection where Jesus is the lord ofhistory. So whatever we discover in thetrumpets, no matter how bloodthirstythey may appear to be, the underlyingmessage is Jesus is still in control.And I say praise God for that. Jesus isstill in control.

My grandfather was apreacher in World War II and when thebombs of the Blitz, the Nazis weredropping bombs on Britain in 1940,Britain was the only nation stillfighting Germany. All rest of Europe hadhad given up.My grandfather was 40 when Hitler'slegions were massed in the north coastof France. He was saying Hitler will notwin the Battle of Britain, which hedidn't by the way. And why did mygrandfather say that?He said because Daniel 2 says Europewill never be united again. AndCharlemagne tried and he failed andNapoleon tried and he failed and Charlesthe Great child tried and he failed andHitler will try but he will fail as wellbecause Christ is the lord of history.And so we can have confidence in theword of God and the seven trumpets areseen within the context of Christ aslord of history.

Now, what does atrumpet signify in in the scriptures?Joel chapter 2 verse 1 has a famousfamous verse. It says there, "Blow thetrumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in myholy mountain. Let all the inhabitantsof the land tremble for the day of theLord is coming for it is at hand." Theday of the Lord would be the judgment ofGod on Judah but pointing to the end oftime it is got it is the second comingof Jesus Christ, God's judgment on thisworld. And the the trumpet is to callpeople to let them know that the day ofjudgment is coming. The day of the Lordis at hand.

Joel goes on to say, "Nowtherefore sayeth the Lord, when you hearthat trumpet ringing,don't just turn over and sort of switchchannels or turn to another book."Joel says, "Now therefore sayeth theLord, when you hear that trumpetringing, turn to me with all your heart,with fasting and with weeping and withmourning." So when we hear the trumpetsringing through history, God is nottrying to deafen us with the sound ofthe trumpets. God is calling uspersonallyto a renewed and restored in a rightrelationship with him. When you hear thetrumpets calling, is God telling youthat you're not lost. That if you turnto me you will be saved.God is a merciful God and we hear thetrumpets ringing through history, themessage is I'm the good shepherd and I'mcoming after you and I want you part ofmy flock.When we look atSo rend your heart, says Joel,garments, turn to the Lord your God.So then we come to the seven trumpets ofRevelation 8 and 9 and I think there areseven angels with trumpets there, yes? 12 3 4 5 6 Yes, there are seven trumpets,good.

There are seven angels with seventrumpets there up on the screen.And when we look at the the concept oftrumpets from the book of Joel talkingabout the coming of the day of the Lord,we we we we approach these trumpets withthe understanding that they are God'scall of mercyto a dying world.And as such, they actually representgood news because we serve a graciousGod.So if you look in the second table inyour front sheet there,I'm just going to run through the firstfour trumpets quickly. We're not goingto focus on those today. Um I just be upfront. Uh I believe in the historicistapproach to prophecy. I don't believe inpreterism or futurism or figurativeapproach.

Um I believe that these thesetrumpets run through history and can beidentified with real human events. Andwhat we have down here, those first fourtrumpets, this would be umuh there may be general consensus amonghistoricist Adventist interpreters as tothe first four trumpets there. The firstin Revelation 8 verse 7 would be thedestruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 whenGod brought judgment first upon hispeople and the temple was destroyed. Thesecond trumpet we find in Revelation 8verses 8 and 9 was the overrunning ofRome and the Western Roman Empire by thebarbarian tribes such as the Franks andthe Angles and the Saxons and theVandals and the Heruli and the Huns andso forth. And Rome was defeated by 476AD.

Then the third trumpetwas it was the true religion of JesusChrist was corrupted by Satan and by theteachers of the Roman Catholic Church asas history entered the Dark Ages ofCatholic supremacy. Then the fourthtrumpetwas the Catholic Church not just rulingon earth but obscuring the plan ofsalvation with a false priesthood andthe adoration of Mary and theintercession of the saints and and themass itself. We'll be talking more aboutthe mass, the sacrifice of the mass inour second service today. But that thenbrings us to the final three trumpets,trumpets 5 6 and 7 which are woes, woe 12 and 3, okay? So the final threetrumpets, the fifth trumpet, the sixthtrumpet and the seventh trumpet arelabeled the first woe, the second woeand the third woe.

Soopen your Bibleswith me toI've got this text up on the screen butyou'll need to keep your Bibles openthis morning in the book of Revelation.Revelation 8 and verse 13and this is the angel flying through themidst of heaven announcing the finalthree trumpets, trumpets 5 6 and 7 whichare labeled woes 1 2 and 3. And this iswhat the word of God says, Revelation 8and verse 13. It says there,"Then I looked and I heard an angelflying through the midst of heavensaying with a loud voice,Woe woe woe to the inhabitants of theearth because of the remaining blasts ofthe trumpets of the three angels who areabout to sound." So those three finaltrumpets, as you look through the bookof Revelation, they lead up to the closeof probation.After which Revelation reveals theBattle of Armageddon in the sixth andfinal plague in chapter 16. And so thesefinal three woes, trumpets 5 6 and 7,are God's final call of mercy to an aworld that has turned its back on him.So let's come.This is a chart used by our pioneers.If you open your Bibles to Revelation 9,we're going to read the first of thosewoes. It's the fifth trumpet.

Uh followme in your Bibles. I didn't put this onthe screen because it's a lot of text.So Revelation chapter 9 verses 1 through12. This is what we read.And the fifth angel blew his trumpetand I saw a star that had fallen fromheaven to earth and he was given the keyto the shaft of the bottomless pit. Heopened the shaft of the bottomless pitand from the shaft rose smoke like thesmoke of a great furnace and the sun andthe air were darkened with the smokefrom the shaft.Then from the smoke came locusts on theearth and they were given authority likethe authority of scorpions of the earth.They were told not to damage the grassof the earth or any green growth or anytree but only those people who do nothave the seal of God on their foreheads.They were allowed to torture them for 5months but not to kill them and theirtorture was like the torture of ascorpion when it stings someone. And inthose days people will seek death butwill not find it.

They will long to diebut death will flee from them.In appearance the locusts were likehorses equipped for battle. On theirheads was what looked like crowns ofgold. Their faces were like human faces,their hair like women's hair and theirteeth like lions' teeth. They had scaleslike iron breastplates and the noise oftheir wings was like the noise of manychariots with horses rushing intobattle. They have tails like scorpionswith stingers and in their tails istheir power to harm people for 5 months.They have as king over them the angel ofthe bottomless pit.

His name in Hebrewis Abaddon and in Greek he is calledApollyon. That means destroyer. Thefirst woe has passed. There are stilltwo woes to come. AndI used to sit as a little boy in church,I'd read through these passages and I'dwonder what on earth is the Apostle Johntalking about here.

How do we interpretthoughts about this?Um you see up on you see where thelittle red dot is? Um they had the thethe angel calling out the three woes.The first woe they have with the theArab um jihad.The second woe they have the OttomanTurkish jihad. And the third woe is thepublishing house in Battle Creek. I'msure that's a printing error um whenthey put that thing together. Um whenthey're not suggesting that Battle Creekwas the third woe but we're going tofocusing on the first woe here for amoment.

Why did the pioneers say thatthe first woewhy did they put an image of of an Arabhorseman with a spear and a scimitar upthere? Well,from the time of the Reformation,Protestant interpreters have identifiedthe fifth trumpet, the first woe, as theinitial upsurge of of Islam.And you have there the darkest sectionof the of of the screen, you have thereumthat area that was under uh Muhammadthat he conquered. And then you haveduring the patriarchal caliphate here,the the the first four rightly guidedcaliphs such as Abu Bakr.Andthen you have the Umayyad caliphate whoconquered all the way across NorthAfrica. They conquered up into Spain andand across down into Pakistan andAfghanistan andthey were turned back by Charles Martelin 732 just southwest of Paris, theBattle of Tours. And if Charles Martelhad not won that battle, Europe wouldhave been an Islamic continent.These were not missionaries the Muslimswere sending out, they were armies.

Andthey conquered their way across thisportion of the world. Why do theProtestant interpreters hold that thisfifth trumpet, this first woe, is thefirst Islamic jihad? Well, I've listedfor you in in the sheet there some ofthe identifying factors and how they'reinterpreted. So, if you look at thebottom the sheet the the table on thebottom of your first sheet says therethe star that had fallen from heaven toearth. Left hand column is taken fromthe scripture.

The interpretation isa fallen angel, possibly Satan, who isthe only angelic being specificallynamed as having fallen down from heavento earth.The bottomless pit or the abyss is usedin Revelation chapter 9. Well, this isused seven times in Revelation. I'vegiven you the references there. Normallyto represent the domain of Satan.Physically interpreted as the wastelandsin the abyss of the Arabian Peninsula.Then the phrase they are like locusts onthe earth. Well, in the scriptures thephrase the name locust are used torepresent the children of the east andthe Midianites and the Amalekites.

AndI've given you the reference there,Judges chapter 6:5 and 7:12. Thechildren of the east are the descendantsof Abraham's union with with Hagar, thatis Ishmael, and the descendants of hisunion with Keturah, the children of theeast. Nowadays interpreted by byby most most people around the world asbeing the Arab peoples.And so the spread of Islam in the firstglobal Jihad, as you see upon on the maphere,this this area here also representspretty much the geographical spread ofthe desert locust when it's in when it'sin its roving season.Then the the word of God says thatwith this fifth trumpet they theyrelease smoke that darkens the sun andthe air.Well, Jesus is the son of righteousness,Malachi 4:2.And so in this fifth trumpet Satan is ispermitted to release into the sky truthand error which obscures the true gospelof Jesus Christ. So, whatever this forceis, it is one that obscures the light ofthe gospel.The the prophecy says they were not todamage the grass or any green growth orany tree, but only those who do not havethe seal of God on their foreheads.Well, when Muhammad died, most of theMuslims followed a guy called Abu Bakrand he led them on many in manycampaigns. He was the first of thecaliphs.

And before the Muslim troopsinvaded Syria to conquer it, Abu Bakrgave them specific instructions whichhistory has recorded. The Muslim troopswere to cleave the skulls and give noquarter to those of the synagogue ofSatan, those with shaven crowns. Wewould I'm sure interpret those as beingmonks. But they were to leave alonethose who served God, non-CatholicChristians such as Nestorians. They werevalued by the early Muslims for theirschools.

They were allowed to exist,albeit with poll taxes for beingChristian.The word of God says thatthis thisthe characters in this this fifthtrumpet, the first woe, they had longhair and iron breastplates. Well, theArab Muslims rejoiced in their longflowing hair for their men and they worebreastplates. They rode on horsesequipped for battle. Well, the Muslimsdid not conquer using infantry, theyconquered using cavalry.They sting like scorpions.Well, scorpions sting with their tails,do they not?And Isaiah 9:15 says this, the ancientand the honorable, he is the head, andthe prophet that teaches lies, he is thetail. So, the Muslims sting through thefalse teachings of their false prophet,for which I may be beheaded for saying,tormenting men by obscuring the gospelof Jesus Christ.They are led by Abaddon or Apollyon,which means destruction or destroyer inGreek.

And they are allowed to tormentmen for five months. That is twicestated in verse 5 and in verse 10. Andfive prophetic months in in prophecyequals 5 * 30 days to a month equals 150years. And so what we find is thatthere is certain repetition in the fifthtrumpet. In verses 1 and 11 it talksabout the bottomlessIn verses 1 11 it talks about theleader.

In verses 5 and 10 it talksabout the scorpion sting. And then ittalks about the time period, fivemonths, on two occasions, in verse 5 andin verse 10. And so we ask ourselves,how do we is it possible to date a 150year period for the fifth trumpet or thefirst global Jihad?Well, in 612 Muhammad started preachingin Mecca.And exactly 150 years later in 762 AD,after 150 years of conquest, the caliphmoves the capital of the caliphate fromDamascusacross to a new city built between theTigris and Euphrates. We call that cityBaghdad.There was a period of 150 years ofinitial conquest from 612 to 762 AD.But then when we look at the the end ofthe first woe,we find that on 27th of July, 1299,something happened.And what happened on that date? Well,you've heard of the Ottoman Empire.

TheOttomans were founded by the leader of aTurkic group of peoples called Ottoman.And in 27th of July 1299, he invadedeastern Turkey, of what we call today,leading the Turkic Muslim peoplesagainst the Byzantine Empire, which wasa Christian empire or at least in name.And then on 27th of July, 1449, exactly150 years later,with Ottoman armies outside the walls ofConstantinople,the last Byzantine emperor was crownedwithin the walls of Constantinople. Butbefore he was crowned, he had to askpermission of the Ottoman Sultan justoutside the walls, may I take this crownor not? And when he asked permission, itsymbolized the fact that whoever reignedin Constantinople did not reign byvirtue of their own strength, but it waswith the permission of the OttomanSultan. And so we have therethe beginning of the first Jihad and atthe end of the first Jihad, we have a150 year period.So, the first woe, the fifth or thefifth trumpet or the first Jihad wasfrom 612 AD, the starting of thepreaching of Muhammad, through to 1449,when the last Christian emperor ascendedthe throne of Constantinople, but heonly did so with the permission of theOttoman Sultan.Book of Revelation then goes on to say,one woe is past. Behold, still two moretill still two more woes are comingafter these things.

That first woe was atraumatic experience for the Christianchurch.UmWe talk about ISIS today.Umbutchering and killinginnocent civilians.And taking as many women as you want foryourself is nothing new in Islamichistory.We think about the the the the haremsthat the Turkish Ottomans sultans wouldhave. Do you think those hundreds ofwomen were there by choice?I don't think so.Not a lot has changed in our worldtoday.So, then we come to thethe second Jihad or the the the secondwoe.And there up there says the first woefrom our prophetic charts of ourpioneers, they have there an Arab on aon a on a sword with a with a scimitarand a spear. But by the time you get tothe second woe, the rider has changedbecause now he has a primitive gunpowderlike aarquebus or kind of primitive shotgun.Because with the second woe we have theonset of gunpowder and the onset ofguns. So, turn to keep your Bibles opento Revelation chapter 9. We're going tobe reading from verses 13 through 21.This is the second of the three woes.The first woe was the upsurge of theArab Islamic caliphate that lasted for150 that lasted from 612 through 1299AD, but then we have thethe second woe.And the second woe begins in verse 13.It says there, then the sixth angel blewhis trumpet, and I heard a voice fromthe four horns of the golden altarbefore God saying to the sixth angel whohave the trumpet, release the fourangels who are bound at the great riverEuphrates.So, the four angels were released whohad been held ready for the hour, theday, the month, and the year to kill athird of humankind or mankind.

Thenumber of the troops of cavalry was 200million.Literally 200 myriads myriads. I heardtheir number.And this is how I saw the horses in myvision. The riders wore breastplates thecolor of fire and of sapphire and ofsulfur. The heads of the horses werelike lions' heads and fire and smoke andsulfur came out of their mouths. Bythese three plagues a third of mankindwas killed by the fire and smoke andsulfur coming out of their mouths.

Forthe power of the horses is in theirmouths and in their tails. Their tailsare like serpents having heads and withthem they inflict harm.The rest of humanity who were not killedby these plagues, talking about apostateChristendom, did not repent of the worksof their hands or give up worshippingdemons and idols of gold and silver andbronze and stone and wood, which cannotsee or hear or walk. And they did notrepent of their murders or theirsorceries or their fornication or theirthefts.And so we ask ourselves,the first JihadProtestant interpreters have almostuniversally identified as the upsurge ofof the Islamic world, the first Jihad.The second woe,the early Adventist pioneers applied tothe second Jihad, which was the OttomanEmpire. The Ottoman Empire was a vastempire. It was a brutal and a corruptempire.

But let's just look for a momentat the bottom of your secondback side of the front sheet here. I'vejust given you so you can take home withyou some of the key identifiers of whydo we interpret that the second woe isbeing the Ottoman Empire? Well, thefirst thing is the text says that thefour angels who are bound at the greatriver Euphrates.And there were four principal sultanswithin the Ottoman Empire located aroundthe Euphrates but river basin. They werebased in Aleppo, in Iconium, inDamascus, and in Baghdad.Then the text talks about the number ofhorsemen. And literally it's 200 myriadsmyriads, and a myriad is 10,000 *10,000,which is why some translations say 200million horsemen.

There seems to be avast number of horsemen within the thesearmies. And if you read the histories,you'll discover that the Ottomans wereable to field some of the largest armiesin ancient antiquity. When theyconquered Constantinople in 1453,they had over 350,000cavalry, plus a vast horde of infantry,plus a large fleet.The text talks about fire and smoke andsulfur.Some versions say brimstone.Well, the Ottomans conquered using thelatest in military technology. They usedcast iron cast a bronze iron a cannon.And brimstone is sulfur, and sulfur isthe key ingredient in gunpowder.So, when the text says they'reconquering use and refers to sulfur in afew places, fire and smoke and sulfurcoming out of their mouths, there's avery good match with the the newgunpowder cannon which the Ottomans wereusing. And when they came to the wallsof Constantinople, which had withstoodsieges for over 1,300 years,they simply blasted them away with theircannon.

And those cannon, some of themwere about 30 ft long, and they couldhurl 100 weight more than half a mile.These are massive cannon. They didn'thaul the cannon from eastern Turkey toConstantinople. They brought the brassand the bronze and and everything theyneeded, and they cast the iron outsidethe wall the cannon outside the walls ofConstantinople, cuz they were so heavythey couldn't move them.But those cannon blasted the walls ofConstantinople awaywhen Constantinople wastaken in 1453.The text says that their clothingthe are colors of fire, hyacinth, andsulfur. Well, fire is red, hyacinth isblue, and sulfur is yellow. And thosewere the colors worn by Ottoman troops,recognized by Europeans in countlessbattles as the Ottomans pushed up intothe heartland of Europe.The text says they were to kill a thirdof mankind.

Well, they conquered almostthe entire Middle East, North Africa,the Balkans,and southeastern Europe almost up to thegates of Vienna itself, where they wereturned back.And perhaps more crucially, we have atime element. And the text saysthat I'll put it on the screen there.We have to date the second jihad. Said,"So, the four angels who've beenprepared for the hour and the day andthe month and the year were released tokill a third of mankind." And so, we askourselves, what does an hour, a day, amonth, and a year represent? And if youtake the the basic principle ofprophetic interpretation that one day inin propheticin prophecy equals 1 year of our time,360 days,this is what you get.One prophetic year equals 360 years ofactual time. One prophetic month equals30 actual years.One prophetic day equals one actualyear, and that should say one prophetichour is a 24th of a day, which is 30days.

That's 15 days.So, you follow the logic?It's written out for you there in yourin your notes.This gives a total for this secondjihad, thethe second woe, the sixth trumpet, atime period of 391 years and 15 days.That's the time period that we take fromthe text.So, we ask ourselves, does history showwhether this happened or not?Does history actually tell us anythingabout this? Was the prophecy accurate?Was John writing about 80 or 90 AD? Washe accurate in writing this down?Was this Was the Holy Spirit accuratewhen he took John into vision and gavehim these visions? Does God knowhistory? Well, absolutely he does.In 1840, Josiah Litch came to thefollowing understanding.And this was it.

In On the 27th of July,the ending of the first woe,that was the Byzantine emperor wascrowned with the permission of theOttoman Sultan. That was 27th of July,1449.So, if you take forward from there 391years and 15 days, you come tothe 11th of August, 1840, and would youknow it, something remarkable happenedon that day.In 1838,the Ottomans came into conflict fromTurkey with their rulers in Egypt.A guy called Mehmet Ali, who was thePasha of Egypt.And the Egyptians looked like they weregoing to overthrow the Ottoman Empire,and the European powers did not want theOttoman Empire to fall because they wereall jealous for the territories of theOttoman Empire.And so, Britain and Prussia and Austriaand Russia met in London in a conferenceto decide what to do about the Sultan ofEgypt attacking the Sultan in Istanbul.And on the 11th of August, 1840, theyissued a declaration basically tellingMehmet Ali to back off and go back toEgypt. And to reinforce the point,British gunboats reduced Beirut torubble in a few hours.Just let him know that this is what wecan do if you don't do as we tell you.As it happened, Mehmet Ali did withdrawto to Egypt. But the point is this, thatfrom the 11th of August, 1840, theSultan in Istanbul only ruled bypermission of the Christian powers. Itwas exactly 391 years and 15 days priorto that, the situation was reversed.

TheByzantine emperor was only crowned withthe explicit permission of the OttomanSultan sitting outside the walls ofConstantinople. The prophecy wasfulfilled to the day through history.And when the early Adventist pioneerswere preaching this,they identified 27th of July, 1449 to11th of August, 1840,that this time period of exactly 391years and 15 days was exactly asforetold in Revelation 9:15.And when the Millerites startedproclaiming this, multitudes of peopleaccepted the second advent messagebecause they realized that prophecy isaccurate. And when we see in the secondvision of Revelation that Jesus is theLord of history, the central chapters ofthe book of Revelation, not only is hethe Lord of history, but he reveals inadvance to his servants the prophetsexactly when these things are going totake place.And so, Sister White writing about thisin the book Great Controversy says this.This ispage 334.She said,"In the year 1840, another remarkablefulfillment of prophecy excitedwidespread interest.Two years before, Josiah Litch, one ofthe leading ministers, that is, in theMillerite movement, preached the secondadvent, published an exposition ofRevelation 9, predicting the fall of theOttoman Empire, and specifying not onlythe year, but on the very day in whichthis would take place. According to thisexposition, which was purely a matter ofcalculation on the prophetic periods ofscriptures, the Turkish government wouldsurrender its independence on the 11thday of August, 1840." That's exactlywhat happened, and multitudes joined theMillerite movement anticipating thesooner return of Jesus because historyhad been precisely fulfilled to the day.Can you say amen?We serve a great God. Jesus truly is theLord of history.

When we look in thebook of Revelation, it appears to bescary at times, but it tells us thatJesus is in control, and Jesus is comingback soon.So, the second woe is past. Revelation11:14.The third woe is coming very soon.Our pioneers were very clearabout this message.But the Millerite movement did notreally understand what the third woewas.So,in the Milleritecharts,you have the Arabs, the first woe,the Ottomans, the second woe, and thethird woe, there was nothing putunderneath it.Except that this came from Battle Creek,Michigan.No offense to those in the publishingministry.So, let's come to the final woe, shallwe?If you open your Bibles to Revelationchapter 9,I just want you to follow the flow ofscripture here.Just follow the flow of scripture.Cuz if you go to Revelation chapter 9,the next chapter is chapter 10, is itnot? It is at least it is my Bible.And Revelation chapter 10,it talks about the great disappointmentof 1844.It talks about the fact that the book ofDaniel, that scroll that was sealed upin Daniel chapter 12, that the prophetGabriel said to Daniel, "Seal it up. Itwill only be understood in the time ofthe end after the collapse of the papacyin 1798." That scroll has now been unfohas now been opened. Now Daniel is anopen book.And Daniel So, after the second woe,before we get to the third woe, thefirst thing we find is that God createsa people for himself.God allows his people who are studyingthe books of Daniel and Revelation to gothrough the great disappointment, theMillerite movement, and in the midst ofthe great disappointment, they receivethe command to prophesy again.So, between the second and the thirdwoe,the third woe is God's final call ofmercy to a dying world.

The first thingwe find in the flow of the book ofRevelation is that God creates a peoplefor himself, a prophetic movement. Andthen you come to Daniel Revelationchapter 11, uh which uh is the talksabout the the the two witnesses.Those two witnesses are symbolized hereas two olive trees and two candlesticks.And when we compare scripture withscripture and we compare Zechariah 4 andPsalm 119, which says your word is alamp to my feet and a light into mypath, those two witnesses are the OldTestament and the New Testament. Theywere overthrown for 3 and 1/2 days inscripture, 3 and 1/2 days in real timethrough the French Revolution, which wasthe upsurge of atheism. And the Frenchum National Convention said that thereis no God.They voted that there is no God. AndFrance for 3 and 1/2 years sufferedcataclysmic collapse.

And eventually indesperation, they recognized that anation that says there is no God willeventually die. And they allowed Godback in by vote of the national umconvention.And so in in Revelation chapter 10, Godcreates a people for himself. InRevelation chapter 11, before we get tothe third woe, we see that Godresurrects the role of the Old and theNew Testament together.We have the people and a book. Does thatsound familiar to you?Before the final woe,God creates for himselfa reinvigorated people, a movement ofprophetic people. And God restores thebook, the Old and the New Testaments,for their end-time role.And then you come to the third trumpet,the third woe and the seventh trumpetitself.And follow me in Revelation 11,verse 15.

This is the final woe.It says there,"Then the seventh angel blew histrumpet, and there were loud voices inheaven saying, 'The kingdom of the worldhas become the kingdom of our Lord andof his Messiah, and he will reignforever and ever.' Then the 24 elderswho sit on their thrones before God fellon their faces and worshiped Godsinging, 'We give you thanks, Lord GodAlmighty, who are and who were, for youhave your great power and have begun toreign. The nations raged, for your wrathhas come and the time or wrath and thetime has come for judging the dead, fora word rewarding your servants, theprophets and saints, and all who fearyour name, both small and great, and fordestroying those who destroy the earth.'And we may ask ourselves, when then doesthis third woe start? Because the secondwoe ends in um1840with the declaration by the Christianpowers in the declaration of London.And the Ottoman Empire existed bypermission of the Christian powers. Andthen we see that there is the 1844,there is the great disappointment, andGod creates a people for himself, andthe role of scripture is resurrected inour world.So when does the third woe begin? Well,the clue there is in verse 18.

It saysthe time has come for judging the dead.That is, the third woe begins with thebeginning of the pre-advent judgment.When Jesus comes again, he says,"Behold, I come soon, and my reward iswith me to give to every man accordingas his work has been." Which meansbefore Jesus comes, our eternal destinyis already known. Jesus does not come tosay, "Behold, I come soon to figure outwho's lost and who's saved."He says, "Behold, I come soon, and myreward is with me." That is, beforeJesus comes again, he knows who is lostand who is saved. Which means beforeJesus comes again, there is a pre-adventjudgment in heaven above.So this third woe began in 1844, theending of the 2300 prophet year prophecyof Daniel 8:13 and 14. And it extendsthrough to the close of probation. Whichmeans today we are living in the era ofthe third woe or the seventh trumpet.Does that you follow?We are living in the last call of mercyfrom God to a sinful world.

And what dowe know happens in the book ofRevelation during that last call ofmercy? Well, firstly, in heaven above,there is a judgment going on.Down here on earth, we find inRevelation chapter 13, uh the story of aresurgent papacy, after whom the wholeworld wonders,and who seeks to impose false worship ona false daythrough an alliance with the dominantUnited States of America.What I'm saying here is nothing new forSeventh-day Adventists, is it?No.We see in Revelation 13 during thisfinal woe, the third woe or the seventhtrumpet, there is a dominant a resurgentpapacy and a dominant United States. Wealso find in Revelation chapter 14,uh God's response. How does God respond?Well, the third woe is spoken in a bitmore detail, Revelation 14 and verse 6.You notice this. Revelation 14:6 says,"Then I saw an angel flying through themidst of heaven." Is that what the textactually says?Is that what the text actually says,"Then I saw an angel flying through themidst of heaven"?Look closely.It's another angel.

And I neverunderstood why Revelation says, "Then Isaw another angel flying in the midst ofheaven."If we talk about the three angels, butthey can't be three because this thethree start off then I saw anotherangel. So there must be at least oneother angel.Does that make sense?I never could figure this out. Why doesRevelation say, "Then I saw anotherangel flying in the midst of heaven"? SoI looked back to the first woe,Revelation 8:13.Then I looked,"and behold, I saw an angel crying withloud voices as it flew in the midst ofheaven."So the angel proclaiming the three woesis intimately related to the angelsproclaiming the three angels' messages.They are linked because they are bothangels that fly in the midst of heaven.You don't find any other angels in thebook of Revelation flying through themidst of heaven. And commenting on thisverse,Sister White writes,quoting from Revelation, she says, "Thekingdoms of this world are soon tobecome the kingdoms of our Lord and ofhis Christ.

The seventh angel sounded,and there were great voices in heavensaying, 'The kingdoms of this world havebecome the kingdoms of our Lord and ofhis Christ, and he shall reign foreverand ever.'" She's quoting there fromRevelationum chapter 11:15,which is the third and final woe. Andnotice her comment.She says, "There is to be a rapid and atriumphant spread of the gospel." Canyou say amen?And why is there to be a rapid andtriumphant spread of the gospel? BecauseGod in chapter 10, between the secondand third woes, carved a people forhimself out of the inhabitants of thisworld. We call that the Seventh-dayAdventist Church. And he resurrected theroles of the scriptures, the Old and theNew Testament, that we may actuallyunderstand the prophecies of scripture.Before the Advent movement, people werestumbling around.

What does Daniel mean?What does Revelation mean? MostChristians these days think they'reclosed books.But they're not.They're open.And Sister White says that during thisfinal woe, there is to be a rapid and atriumphant spread of the gospel. And wetry we normally refer to that as thethree angels' messages of Revelationchapter 14:6-12.She goes on to say in Early Writings,page 36, talking about this passage, shesays, "I saw that the anger of thenations, the wrath of God, and the timeto judge the dead were separate anddistinct, one following the other."So what we find is there is going to bea world convulsed by conflict and angerduring the final woe.So let's take a step back here, shallwe?Let's look at the similarities betweenwoes one and two.The first two woes involved attacksagainst powers or nations connected withan apostate Christian faith.The Arabjihad and the Turkish jihad.The first two woes result in divertingthe enemy's attention away from God'strue church, so they could fulfill theirmission of proclaiming the gospel. Doyou know in the second woe, during theProtestant Reformation, do you know whatkept the Protestants alive in southernGermany time and again?It was the arrival of Ottoman armiesover the borders, attacking Catholicterritories. And the Catholic armieswould have to go and defend theirterritories, giving the Protestants ofBohemia and southern Germany time toregroup.God saved the Protestant Reformationthrough the repeated attacks of theOttomans on the on the Holy Roman Empireof Charles V.The first two woes were redemptivescourges upon an apostate Christianreligion designed to lead men torepentance, indicating that the fifthand sixth trumpet sounded before theclose of probation.So what then do we expect of the thirdwoeor the seventh trumpet?You know, you can project forward.Do we see in the world today Muslimscalling for a new caliphate?Absolutely.

And why is a caliphate sosignificant? Because in Islamic law, itis only the caliph can declare jihad.And in 1924, when the Ottoman Empirecollapsed and Ataturk, the firstpresident, took over and he establishedthe secular Turkish Republic, theyclosed down the caliphate officially.There has been no caliph since 1924.And under Islamic holy law, it is onlythe caliph has the right to declarejihad.And in the first twocaliphates, the Arab and the Turkish,the Arabs were united and so were theTurks. The Muslim world was united, andthey conquered huge swaths ofChristendom.It was a period of military glory.And so across the Arabic world today,there is a yearningin the Muslim world for a caliph whowill lead them to world conquest.Because under the Sharia law, only thecaliph has the right to declare jihad.And that is why the Islamic State, thecaliphate in Syria, is so significant toso many Muslims.It's why San Bernardino happens. AMuslim there says, "Well, he's thecaliphate. I can now follow his commandsand declare war on these infidelChristians in southern California."Around the world today,I've just taken some headlines here.Turkish Prime Minister,"We will march to liberate Jerusalem."That was May last year.Sultan Erdogan, Turkey's rebranding intothe new the old Ottoman Empire.Uh there's some random pictures there ofwhat is going on in the Middle Easttoday.

Behead Behead those who say thatIslam is violent.Um Turkey rebranding into the oldOttoman Empire. You have some cartoonsin the Atlantic of uh the currentTurkish Prime Ministerdressed up as the last of the TurkTurkish Sultans. American thinker,Turkey and the restoration of thecaliphate.Here you have um Tunisians rejectinginter-party talks. They want acaliphate.Saudi Wahhabi leaders see Turkish threatover the caliphate. The Saudis want tolead the caliphate.

They don't want theTurks to lead the caliphate.BBC News just recently, some 100,000Islamists have met in the Indonesiancapital Jakarta to press for thereestablishment of a caliphate acrossthe Muslim world. And in a caliphate,your national identity means nothing.All that counts is your religiousidentity.Jerus- Palestinian Authority chiefjudge, Jerusalem will be the capital ofthe caliphate. Egyptian Israel sayEgyptians call for Sharia law andIslamic caliphate. Are you getting themessage, brothers and sisters?You don't have to follow the news verylong to find that people all around theworld are declaring allegiance to theIslamic state.There you have from Pakistan, Americans,we are your death.Uh just taken recently from the thirdjihad.A famous Islamic scholarwho died just recentlyand said this, Islam wishes to destroyall states and governments anywhere onthe face of the earth which are opposedto the ideology and program of Islamregardless of the country or the nationthat rules it.Islam requires the earth, not just aportion, but the whole planet.And so the book of Revelations talksabout this third woe and it says thenations are angry.The nations indeed are angry.And if you look at the uh the actualmagazine of the Islamic state, that'stheir magazine Dabiq.They talk about the return of thecaliphate, Khilafah.Dabiq is a city in northern Syriawhere they believe Muhammad prophesiedthe west will invade and will destroymost of the Muslims, but then uh Jesuswill return and wipe out all Christiansand Jews. That's the basic theology ofISIS.

They're spoiling for a fight withChristendom cuz they believe that in theensuing fight, Jesus will return anddestroy Christendom and kill the Jews.Can we flip forward screen back there?Okay. And here you have uh from the fromthe Islamic state from their newsmagazine.I hope you don't receive it. If you do,you're probably on the Homeland Securitywatch list.But what they talk about there, youcannot see it clearly, but what it saysthe world is divided into two portions.The camp of Islamand the camp of kufr, of disbelief andhypocrisy.The world is in two por- in two portionsaccording to the Islamic state. Theworld that is submitted to Islam and theworld they call the house of strugglethat is yet to submit to Islam. We livein the house ofstruggle, which means we have yet tosubmit to Islam in one way or another.scenarioin Revelation chapter 11 and 12 and 13.When we look at the world around us,we're seeing a global upsurge of Islamicattacks led by a newly resurrectedIslamic caliphate.It is easy to see the nations ofhistorical Christendom feeling underthreatanduniting under a a new Christian identityled by the papacyand the imposition of a Sunday law towin God's favor and as an expression ofloyal Christian identity.In the end times, brothers and sisters,identities will no longer be national.It will not matter whether you areAmerican or Hungarian or Guatemalan.What will matter will be yourrelationship with God.Are you true to himor are you not?Daniel 1145says this.Just that prior to the close ofprobation in Daniel chapter 11,we read this.

It said, "And he shallplant the trees of his palace betweenthe seas and the glorious holy mountain.Yet he shall come to his end and no oneshall help him.And at that time, Michael shall standup, the great prince who stands watchover the sons of your people. And thereshall be a time of trouble such as neverwas since there was a nation even tothat time.And at that time, your people shall bedelivered, everyone who is found writtenin the book."And uh as an Adventist, we interpretfrom verse 12, "At that time, Michaelshall stand up as the close ofprobation."The close of the pre-advent judgment,which means the verses before happenedjust before the close of probation inheaven above.As Adventists, we have normallyinterpreted that as we compare it withRevelation chapter 13.You see the glorious holy mountainbetween the seas, the text says theMediterranean and the Dead Sea, theglorious holy mountain.If you follow a literal interpretationof Daniel 11 all the way through,you come to the Mount of Olives.Uh sorry, to um Mount Moriah, which isholy to Jews,to Muslims, and to many evangelicalChristians today.A fight over the the holy mountainitself.So as we follow this interpretation,we can expect to see the papacy movingits headquarters to Jerusalemand imposing the mark of the beast. Andwe as Adventistsbeing forced to choose between aChristian identitywhich you show by worship on Sundayor being faithful to God.And this will be brought about by thecrisis that we're facing today, which isthe upsurge of radical Islam.Today, brothers and sisters, we'reseeing an upsurge of three forcesglobally. Radical Islam, a resurgentpapacy,and here in the west, intolerantsecularism. All three of those forcesdeny religious liberty and they seek towipe out those who claim freedom ofconscience.It may be that during the seventhtrumpets or the third woe, the time inwhich we are now living, when SisterWhite says there should be a rapid andtriumphant spread of the gospel, theloud cry can be given worldwide becauseradical Islam and the papacy areinvolved in a mortal ideologicalstruggle for control of the world.And perhaps more importantly, that loudcry will be given because proclaimingthe everlasting gospel and the soonreturn of Christ will not be ourpriority.

It will not be our toppriority, but it will be our onlypriority.So what do we say in conclusion today?First of all, brothers and sisters,let us listen to the trumpets.If there's anything in our lives todaythat we need to put away that comesbetween us and a holy God, then we needto put it away today.The trumpet sounds to call God's peopleto repentance, to a renewed and restoredin a right relationship with a lovingheavenly Father.And if you're sitting in the pew herethis morning and and you know the HolySpirit has been speaking to yourconscience during this past week, do notharden your heart,but respond to the voice of the spiritand turn to God with with repentance andconfession.Second, we respond to the trumpetsby looking at what the text says.Revelation 11:15, the third trumpet setthe third the third woe, the seventhtrumpet, "The kingdoms of this worldhave become the kingdoms of our Lord andof his Christ, and he shall reignforever and ever."So where does your loyalty lie?Are you first and foremost an Americanor a son and daughter of Jesus Christ?Am I first and foremost Britishor am I first and foremost a son ofJesus Christ and his child? Is he theLord of my life or is he not? Whosevoices do I listen to and whose voice doI follow in my life today? It's time forus today to recognizethat Western patriotism is going to leaddown a bad path.The only solution, the only safety forus is to be loyal to Jesus Christ firstand foremost and to his kingdom.And finally,because the angels proclaim that Jesusis coming again,I want to say today that beyond thewalls of China, beyond the veils ofIslam, beyond the mantras of Buddhism,the iPhones of secularism, or the holymen of Hinduism, there are souls who aresearching for a savior.The world is full of the unreached eventoday. There are people who like in thecity of Nineveh do not know their righthand from their left hand, and it's notjust around the world, it's here inBerrien Springs.So I want to encourage you today, ifthis message has meant anything to you,is join the fray.We have an evangelistic series coming upwith Pastor Tim Rosenberg.

Not Don'tjust come to it. Invite someone who isnot a Christian to come to that series.Invite somebody. Pray and say, "God,give me somebody who will come to thatseries." We have glow tracts out theback of the church. Take a pack of glowtracts and give them out.Give them away in the gas station. Givethem away in in Walmart.

Wherever youare, give away glow tracts. Do your partfor sowing the gospel. This church runsmission trips to Brazil and to India andto other parts of the world. If youcan't go on a mission trip, help sponsora young person who can go on a missiontrip. In so doing, you may turn thatyoung person into a hero of faith forthe next three generations.If you want to go overseas, we have outthe back there just by through the reardoors, little brochures from AFM.

If youwant to be a missionary, we'd love youto join us on the front lines somewhereamong the unreached.But don't sitand do nothing.God has a people. The gospel will beproclaimed.I don't want to read the news. I want tobe the news.It's my prayer that each one each andevery one of us will hear the trumpetsounding through history.We'll hear the trumpet sounding in ourown lives.And that through our lives and throughour witness, the good news of a soonreturning savior who died for allhumanity will be proclaimed loud andclear to all who may hear. That's myprayer for us. You may find in the backof the churchwe have some of these handouts fromAmazing Facts.

If If a lot of whatyou've heard today is kind of new toyou, I want to encourage you to startstudying the scriptures for yourself.These are free. We have 200 of them outthe back there. Please feel free to takeone, go home and start studying itbefore Pastor Rusenberg's series. Makeyourself familiar with these prophecies.And um we have there, if you'reinterested in religious liberty, littleum bookmark um dealing with persecution.I invite you to take a copy of that.They're also on just outside the reardoor there. Take one of those and startpraying for our persecuted brothers andsisters around the world.

Jesus iscoming soon. Let's not be shy about it.Let's tell people of a soon returningsavior. Amen.So our eyes are closed and our heads arebowed. Indeed, Father,we will be your children today.Father, we will be your movementproclaiming the everlasting gospel toevery nation, tribe, language, andpeople.Father, I ask that through each one ofus, feeble though we are as individuals,you will fashion something beautiful andamazingthat will echo through the annals ofhistory as your movement in these lastdays of Earth's history.Father, may each one of us be part ofthat movement by your grace. This we askin your name's sake.

Amen.