THE APOCALYPSE OF ST JOHN WITH COMMENTARY BY AF

PROLOGUE

We live in momentous times as we witness the Jewish orthodox Lubavitch movement announcing the imminent arrival of Moshiach the name given to the Jewish messiah. Christians of course already have their chosen messiah in Jesus Christ whose life and work is seen clearly in the role of the suffering servant. Those of us who are curious by the Jewish phenomenon look on bemused as we witness the birth of a red heifer, the weeping wall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the tomb of the patriarch Joseph, ‘signs’ the Jewish orthodox movement believe that signal the arrival of a messianic figure from the house of David. Though for some the Jewish hope is in vain, wishful thinking of a people that have rejected their true messiah over two thousand years ago while others are visibly nervous believing any appearance of a Jewish messiah would for them represent the anti-Christ described in the Revelation of St John as we witness the Catholic Church distancing themselves by giving recognition to the Jews that they should be entitled to their own messiah even though it is claimed that he is sent not only for the redemption and salvation of the Jews but for all the nations of the world. In turn we also see Christian fundamentalists expecting the imminent arrival of Jesus Christ in his second coming indeed almost every religion in the world is awaiting a saviour, teacher, king. Which poses the questions are they not all waiting for the same person? How would we recognise this messianic figure if he/she appears, what would he/she represent. We must look for our answers in the book that closes the bible, which is called the Apocalypse or the Revelation of St John, a work that deals with the future destiny and judgment of man a prophetic work in whose form the following interpretation takes its structure.

Rev 1:3: Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 10:11:And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

Rev 19:10: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

We are the heirs to this Christian prophecy indeed it is given to us to understand nevertheless its images and symbols have remained a mystery to theologians and scholars alike for the best part of two millennia. As we shall discover the Apocalypse of St John is a celestial revelation, which deals with the unseen spiritual forces that pervade our universe and how they have played themselves out clearly visible to all men and women on the earth.

Chapter 1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Revelation 1:1-3

The “Time Is At Hand”

St John says the “time is at hand,” an inference to count the hands and to direct us towards a symbol universally found in the Gnostic scriptures, the hermetic wisdom literature and in the Chaldean Oracles. A shape Pythagoras knew as the tetractys while in the Jewish Kabbalah it is known as the Tetragrammaton. The ten digits of the hands, which geometrically represented forms an equilateral triangle a shape that in ancient cosmology was believed to contain ‘the whole number’ (Cosmology in Antiquity. M.R. Wright. Routledge1995.) This symbol encapsulates the whole book of revelation because it reveals a blueprint of a time to come when ‘The Kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ’ Rev 11:15. The wisdom of this is given to us in the last of Christ parables, the parable of the ten virgins, which he spoke as a symbol for the end of the age ‘Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.’ Matthew25: 1-2. The bridegroom in this context is the heavenly Christ and the lamps are symbolic for the number of celestial spheres apparent at the end time, which will total ten (10) a number, which through numerology we can derive the Holy whole number found within the great law of the Torah ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord ’Deut 6:4.


“John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

Revelation 1: 4-6

Seven Spirits

John begins the apocalypse with a trinity of greetings from God, the seven spirits and Jesus Christ the faithful witness. The focus is on Christ but the message is essentially an eternal one from a Christian point of view. But the question arises who or what are the seven spirits before the throne? It appears they are specialised forms of this one life. We find them in the seven lamps of Zech 4:2 and the seven eyes of Zech 4:10 ‘which run to and fro through the whole earth’ symbolised in the seven-branched menorah and as we shall soon discover to be found in the seven Epistles and the Ten Commandments of God. In ancient mythology these seven spirits were recognised as the divine beings embodied in the luminaries of the sky – sun, moon, mercury, Venus, mars, Jupiter and Saturn. In ancient cosmology each of these seven orbs were seen to pass through twelve constellations known as the zodiac each of these signs were named and given an orb ruler through which the ‘spirit ’ or nature of its influence was obtained.

Numerology

John introduces the ancient practice of numerology the same numbers recurring time and time again adding Gods reassurance that what appears to be chaos is underneath all part of the divine plan ordered by number. The early Egyptians, Babylonians and Jews all recognised the power of numbers, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras 532BC establishing numerology in his school curriculum. John begins by using his favourite number the number seven the number signifying fullness which is frequently used throughout the apocalypse along with the number twelve, which is the product of three and four the sum of seven. A reference is made to both these numbers in Mark 8:19-21. Numbers were particularly important to the Jews as demonstrated by the Hebrew numerology system known as gematria where each Hebrew letter possessed a numerical value. The number of the Great name is expressed in the Tetragrammaton of the Jewish kabbalah containing the four letters IHVH whose values when added equalled seventy-two the number of powers of God see Luke 10:1. The magical use of numbers or numerology was no doubt a reflection of the times John lived in Acts 19:19. He uses the Alpha and Omega: the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which means the sum of all things as if to encapsulate the books underlining theme.

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:7-8

Daniels Vision

The apocalypse was written so it could be read aloud to the congregations in seven churches in Asia Minor but no doubt to be studied in greater detail later like the letters of Paul for much of the work contains references to the Old Testament prophets. The words ‘Behold, he cometh with clouds’ is a refrain from the book of Daniel 7:13. At the trial before the Sanhedrin Jesus said ‘After this shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven’ Matt 26:64. This confirms the conviction that the understanding of the visions of Daniel 7:1-28 are indispensable to the interpretation of Revelation. Daniel like John speaks of four kingdoms that will arise from the earth, each following the other until they give way to a little horn with ‘eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.’ During his rule the saints shall be handed over to him for ‘a time, times and half a time’ (a cryptic number) after which he shall be destroyed. Then the authority, glory and sovereign power of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the saints the people of the most high. Because of Daniels importance to the genre of apocalyptic writing and the staggering similarities between his visions and those contained within the book of revelation it is the intention of this work to study them side by side. In this way it is hoped that clarity of interpretation can emerge from both these books.


“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”

Revelation 1:9-11

The Seven Letters

There is no evidence that the Isle of Patmos was a roman penal colony (Revelation J. Sweet 1990). It is more likely that it was a place of exile used by governors of the provinces to banish undesirables. John was probably sent there by the Proconsul of Asia on the evidence submitted by the authorities at Ephesus. Though the early church father Tertullian reports that the apostle John was brought before Domitian in Rome ‘after suffering no hurt from being plunged in boiling oil, was remitted to his island exile’ (De Praescriptione Haereticorum; Stevenson). If so John would have suffered from deportation, which was among the capital penalties, involving greater degradation, which was exacted only by the Emperor or the city prefect. Whatever the case may be it was here on the Isle of Patmos laying in the Aegean Sea 65 miles from Ephesus John wrote the seven epistles to the seven churches in Asia Minor (Turkey). The letters show familiarity with the geographical area of each church and the particular problems that each of the local Christian communities face in keeping the true faith. They are composed in the spirit of the risen Lord as if Christ himself were speaking asking for steadfastness, patience and the practice of true Christian doctrine.

The most unusual feature of the letters is why there are only seven there were many more churches in Asia. Why concentrate on the special needs of just a few communities to the exclusion of others, why did not John embody the teachings in just one covering letter to all the churches surely that would of sufficed. The answer is not far to seek if one ciphers the teachings in respect of a near eastern document of two thousand years ago. Careful examination of the letters reveals that each ‘spirit ’ or angel of the church is a character representation of one of the seven luminaries found in the ancient practice of “prognostication through astronomy” or astrology. The ancients believed that the sphere of mortality began with the seven planets. The same ideas are to be found in the mystery schools, the Pythagorean brotherhood and in Plato’s exposition of the theory of the universe (Timaeus). The Epistles are the systematic treatises on the subject inscribed with the doctrines of Christianity.


“And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”

Revelation 1: 12-20

A Vision Of Christ

The apostle is told to ‘Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be after this’ so here we are given the theme of the book a disclosure. John as a preliminary introduction to each of the letters uses each part of the vision as a starting point for all its other contents (F.J.A. Hort. The Apocalypse of St John 1908) The letter to Ephesus begins ‘These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands’ the letter to Smyrna ‘These things saith the first and the last, who was dead, and is alive’ the letter to Pergamos ‘These things saith he who hath the sharp sword with two edges’ and so on and so forth.

The apostle is told to explain the mystery of what he sees in the hand of Christ ‘seven stars’ if the seven stars are symbolic for the seven luminaries or planets known in John’s time then the purpose of the apocalypse will be to reveal the unfolding of the universe in ours. Throughout human history the planets were seen to have an influence on the affairs of men, the star in the east seen before Jesus was born was probably a recurring conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which the Magi (Persian astrologers) saw as signifying a king would be born. Similarly an eclipse of the sun and moon was recorded at the time of the Lord’s crucifixion. It is also well known that the priests of Solomon’s Temple in order to decipher future events used the observation of the cycles of the planets and stars along with the appearance of comets and other celestial phenomena.

The ancients believed that the sphere of mortality began with the seven planets the soul passing from the fixed stars (zodiac) down through the seven spheres where eventually it entered a body. This doctrine is expounded in the famous Egyptian text known as the Corpus Hermeticum circa 200 BC where the ascent of the soul is described in detail.

When the material body is to be dissolved, first thou surrenderest the body by itself unto the work of change, and thus the form thou hadst doth vanish, and thou surrenderest thy way of life, void of its energy, unto the Daimon. The body’s senses next pass back into their sources, becoming separate, and resurrect as energies; and passion and desire withdraw unto that nature which is void of reason. And thus it is that man doth speed his way thereafter upwards through the Harmony. To the first zone [sphere of the moon] he gives the Energy of Growth and Waning; unto the second [zone] [Mercury], Device of Evils [now] de-energized; unto the third [Venus], the Guile of the Desires de-energized; unto the fourth [Sun], his Domineering Arrogance, [also] de-energized; unto the fifth [Mars], unholy Daring and the Rashness of Audacity, de-energized; unto the sixth [Jupiter], Striving for Wealth by evil means, deprived of its aggrandizement; and to the seventh zone [Saturn], Ensnaring Falsehood, de-energized. And then, with all the energisings of the harmony stript from him, clothed in his proper Power, he cometh to that Nature which belongs unto the Eighth, and there with those-that-are hymneth the Father. They who are there welcome his coming there with joy; and he, made like to them that sojourn there, doth further hear the Powers who are above the Nature that belongs unto the Eighth, singing their songs of praise to God in language of their own.

(Trans. G.R.S. Mead, Thrice Great Hermes: Studies in Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis, Volume II. London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1906).

That the early faith believed in the transmigration of souls is shown in the first detailed criticism of Christianity by Celsus who writing in 178. A.D mocked their claim for the “whole universe and the course of the heavenly spheres to dwell in us alone.” Here we have an impartial witness to the original teachings of the early Christians prior to the orthodoxy of the Church established under Constantine in the fourth century. We shall now go on to rediscover those early teachings for through them one can understand the true meaning of salvation and the second coming of Christ.




Chapter 2

Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Revelation 2:1-7

The Epistle to Ephesus

The seven letters are addressed to seven cities that lay on an old Roman road, which formed a circular circuit from which the gospel could easily be spread. Ephesus was closest to John’s exile it was also the most important city hence the recognition of its primacy. Under the Emperor Augustus it became the capitol of the roman province of Asia Minor, now Turkey. It was the centre of John the apostle’s ministry from which grew an ‘apocalyptic’ and Gnostic school centred on John’s teachings from which emerged the gospel of John, Johannine Epistles and the book of Revelation the differences in style and language especially of the latter work as Dionysius of Alexandria recognised may be on account of this. Ephesus was also the centre of Imperial and pagan worship. An ancient temple in honour of the fertility goddess Artemis was well established there before Christianity arrived. She was the goddess of the moon (Diana to the Romans), represented with a turreted head and multiple breasts. When Paul arrived in Ephesus to undertake his mission he met great opposition from the cult which resulted in a riot among the populous, recorded in Acts 19:28.

The first letter is to the congregation at Ephesus who are praised for hating the practice of the Nicolaitans. According to Clement of Alexandria the sect was named after Nicolaus a Christian ascetic who preached ‘the flesh must be treated with contempt.’ They deliberately misinterpreted the teaching and used it as a licence for indulging in promiscuity, eating and drinking excessively. A pagan obesity, carried over into our Christmas festivities, which we today celebrate on December the 25th within the monthly zodiacal period we call Capricorn (Dec.21 to Jan. 19), a sign ruled by the planetary orb Saturn. According to the ancient practice of Astrology the sign Capricorn ‘gives perseverance, industry, prudence, patience and thoughtfulness, but renders the undeveloped capricious, crafty, suspicious and exacting.’ (Leo. Astrology for All. Theo. Press).

These characteristics of the sign Capricorn are exemplified in the first of the letters ‘I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience’ and again ‘To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God’ recalling the opening chapters of Genesis exposing the serpent the most crafty of the creatures in the garden of Eden. The meaning of the mysterious phrase ‘remember therefore from where thou hast fallen’ is to be found in the doctrine of the mystery schools where it was believed the soul fell through the planetary spheres to earth, where it is was united to the body. Saturn’s position within the solar system ‘which occupies the orbit highest and farthest from the luminaries’ (Ptolemy. Tetrabiblos. Robbins) is an astronomical reference to this fall. Saturnian’s spirit is also emphasised in the allusion to the festival of saturnalia when slaves gave orders to their masters and the latter waited at the table. ‘Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love’ the first love taught by Christ was service to your fellow man he gave an example of this when he washed the disciples feet ‘So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.’ John13: 12-17.

Here in the first of the letters the congregation of the Church is told to pay particular regard to the spiritual ray of Saturn the orb that demands self-discipline, endurance and perseverance qualities, which are often required in the face of opposition, limitation, delays and restrictions. The church is taught that through the selfless act of service to their fellow man they can overcome and refine themselves whose reward is the reaping of the fruits of the ‘tree of life’ or the Sephirot of the Kabbalah.


“And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

Revelation 2:8-11

The Epistle to Smyrna

The city of Smyrna is situated in western Turkey now called Izmir. It is one of the oldest cities of the Mediterranean world, and was celebrated for its wealth, library and school of medicine. The Greek poet Homer tradition relates was born by its banks. The second letter is about persecution but begins with a contradiction ‘I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)’it is an expression of two natures which is to be found in most mutable signs of the Zodiac, Gemini, Virgo, Pisces and Sagittarius. The governor of Pisces and Sagittarius is the planetary orb Jupiter, which astrologically is associated with fortune, wealth and learning. The sign Sagittarius (Nov.22 to Dec.20) expresses both of these qualities to a lesser or greater extent. A centaur represents him, which is half human and half animal, the first half tending towards the use of the higher intellect, while the latter inclines to the physical. It is with reference to both of these zodiacal characteristics that the city of Smyrna was famous i.e. the games, and its fame for learning. The ‘Synagogue of Satan’ is a reference to the congregation of the Jews (John 8:44) who refuse the hope of Israel and reject their true King by egging on the heathen crowds with lies to destroy the faithful. Such a spectacle was witnessed at the games when Polycarp the successor to John suffered martyrdom (Eusebius, IV.15).

“This fellow is…the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our gods, who teaches numbers of people not to sacrifice or even worship.”...Then a shout went up from every throat that Polycarp must be burnt alive. The crowds rushed to collect logs and [bundles of sticks] from the workshop and public baths, the Jews as usual joining in with more enthusiasm than anyone…When he had offered up the Amen and completed his prayer, the men in charge lit the fire, and a great flame shot up…Such was the end of the blessed Polycarp.”

The length of time the Church will undergo persecution is contained within the mysterious phrase ‘ye shall have tribulation ten days’ a period of time that can be understood if we connect it to a famous tale found in Greek myth. The god Zeus agreed to marry his daughter Persephone to Hades, who instantly carried her off to his dominion in the underworld. Persephone not enthralled by the prospect cried out. Demeter Zeus’s partner having heard her daughters cry set out to find her. She wandered the world in great distress and (tribulation for ten days) until finally Zeus told Hades to return her. John’s allusion remains obscure until we realise the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Zeus is Jupiter the King of Heaven. Which leads us to an interesting allegory if we apply Zeus to God, Persephone to the Jewish nation, Demeter to the Church, and Hades to Christ (Rev 1:18) we can foresee the tribulation will end once the Jews are reconciled to the Church. The phrase ‘He that over cometh shall not be hurt by the second death’ recalls judgment time Rev 20:13 introducing images of the lake of sulphur and brimstone recalling the city of Sodom (Genesis19: 1-29) whose destruction followed the deluge earths first death. There is nothing known about Smyrna itself to suggest why the second death should be introduced here the city was never doomed being inhabited for the past 5000 years even surviving two major earthquakes in 1688 and 1778 unless of course it leads us to Jupiter’s mythological role as judge.

In this Epistle we have discovered the planetary ray Jupiter who astrologically is related to learning, riches and wealth, which can lead to the overabundance of the material things in life. The letter in many respects is a warning to the church to be aware of this message taken up today only by the orders of the monasteries which are based on self-denial, regular exercise and fasting the correct response to the spiritual lesson found within this Epistle. The letter ends with the reward ‘and I will give thee a crown of life’ once again pertaining to the Jewish Kabbalah, the Crown Sephirah or Keter on the tree of life where the soul finds union with God.


“And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”

Revelation 2: 12-17

The Epistle to Pergamos

The city of Pergamos was situated in the province of Izmir; she was one of the most beautiful and important cities of the Hellenistic age with impressive civic features having a gymnasium, amphitheatre, and theatre and containing many temples including one dedicated to Asclepius the god of healing. Out side the city was the famously outstanding temple dedicated to the god Zeus in honour of Rome and the Emperor Augustus (29BC). The city of Pergamos was to Christian eyes seen as a place full of idolatry being the provincial centre of religious and imperial worship. The Apostles Epistle is emphatic this was the place ‘where Satan’s throne is’ and again ‘where Satan dwelleth’ where the invisible supremacy of the power of evil is brought to life through the amalgam of the political and religious cult and here symbolised by the image of the serpent identifiable with Satan himself, which adorned both the temples of Zeus and Asclepius. A dangerous place for advocating Christianity as Christ’s witness Antipas discovered along with Carpus, Papylus and Agathonice, saints who suffered martyrdoms there in the second century AD.

A tone of battle and secretiveness is apparent in this letter ‘or else I will come to thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.’ And ‘will I give to eat of the hidden manna ‘, which is a reminiscence of the sojourn in the desert. In these words are detected both the negative and positive natal characteristics found within the zodiacal sign of Scorpio (Oct.23 to Nov.32.) the eighth sign of the zodiac symbolised by the scorpion a animal found in the desert. The sign is ruled by Mars the god of war whose astrological glyph is ‘the sharp sword with two edges.’ In this sign we find in the underdeveloped ‘the power for evil working in the direction of hatred and vindictiveness; but in the developed we find the powers of the magician concealed ’ (Leo. Astrology for All. Theo. Press.).

The theme of self-indulgence is taken up through the hatred of the Nicolaitans whose apparent libertinism based on a complete experience of life, was seen as antagonistic to Christian values. The Epistle reiterates male sexuality and the passion instincts and the Church is warned of their misuse through references linked both to the practices of the Nicolaitans and through the story of Balaam and Balak Numbers 22 for a similar reference see 2 Peter 2:15; and Jude 11, which resulted in the Israelites worship of foreign gods through the seduction of Moabite women. Sexual promiscuity linked with idolatry was no doubt a prevalent activity in a religious cult city like Pergamos. A place where surplus meat could be bought cheaply in the market place, food that had been previously part of a sacrificial ritual involving the misuse of the generative system (Acts 15:20) i.e., the parts of the body ruled over by the zodiacal sign of Scorpio.

Finally the congregation are praised for their courage in adverse circumstances their unwillingness to depart from the faith, attributes of the positive “spirit” of mars, which is courage and honour. To him that overcomes is given the ‘hidden manner’ the spiritual bread from heaven and, a white stone, which is the translucent white Beryl the eighth foundation stone (Scorpio) of the New Jerusalem ‘and on the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth except he that receiveth it ‘ the name of God is IAM.


“And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 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. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Revelation 2: 18-29

The Epistle to Thyatira

The city of Thyatira situated in western Turkey was an important stop off on the ancient roman road between Pergamos to Laodicea. Today called Akhisar but originally called Pelopia she who in Greek myth bore the child Aegisthus through incest with her father. Which brings us to the theme of the next letter having moved on from the teachings of the spirits of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars John now deals with the power of the higher and lower emotions symbolised by the planet of love, which is Venus and she is identified by the phrase‘ And I will give him the morning star.’ The Epistle is placed central and is the longest of the seven, which is to be expected when one is dealing with what is the essential Christian spirit. The orb governs Taurus the second sign of the zodiac and the zodiacal sign of Libra (Sep. 22 to Oct.22) the seventh sign of the zodiac whose ideograph is the scales or balance. A symbol of measurement found in the phrase ‘ and the last to be more than the first.’ The basic Roman unit of weight was the libra (lb). The sign astrologically rules compassion and justice and she was symbolised and identified with the Roman goddess Astraea holding a balance scale. She also governs democracies and to ‘ him will I give power over the nations ‘ this church is given the authority to rule ‘he shall rule them with a rod of iron.’ Rev 12:5 along with Christ who confirms his co-ruler ship ‘as I received of my father.’ The congregation of this church is clearly favoured but a dire warning is given to them through the depiction of the historical woman Jezebel the wife of Ahab the King of the Israelites who tried to introduce the fertility god Baal-Melkart. It appears such a woman as Jezebel will subvert the Church by persuading them to eat things sacrificed to idols ‘And I gave her time to repent of her immorality ‘ implies though she a decent woman still she persists in introducing a paganism ‘Behold, I will cast her into a bed…And I will kill her children with death.’ This parallels with Revelation chapter 12 the vision of a woman who loses a child and then is taken away to be cared for. The warning to the servants of the Lord is clear they have to be aware of the doctrines of a woman ‘who calleth herself a prophetess.’

The letter closes with the reward ‘I will give him the morning star ’ which is Venus symbolic for victory. But in contrast we find in the Old Testament that the morning star is also identified with the devil ‘O Lucifer, son of the morning!’ Isaiah14: 12. The “spirit” of Venus therefore contains within itself the potential for light and darkness, which is implied in the Epistle ‘and unto the rest in Thyatira… which hath not known the depths of Satan.’ Rev 2:24. Here we are drawn to the identity of the false prophet Rev 13:11 who evidently will display one or more of the zodiacal characteristics inherent in the zodiacal signs of Libra or Taurus the two signs governed by the planetary ray of Venus or the bright ‘ Morning star.’




Chapter 3

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Revelation 3: 1-6

The Epistle to Sardis

The city of Sardis was the capital of the famous kingdom of Lydia, which flourished in the 7th century BC. Situated near present day Izmir, Turkey at the foot of Mount Tmolus. She was the first city where gold and silver coins were minted the legendary King Croesus the richest man of his time had his seat there (560-546 BC). The city owed much of its wealth due to the Practolus River, which yielded gold by its banks a blessing worshipped in the spirit of the Anatolian goddess Kybele a very important mountain deity whose temple was located beside the river. The Athenians destroyed this building during the revolt of the Ionians against Persian rule but Alexander the Great in the form of the goddess Artemis had it rebuilt in the 4th century BC. By the time John had written his Epistle the city was in Roman hands and the people had already achieved renown for success in commerce and economics which are attributes to be found in the god Hermes (Mercury to the Romans) the patron of merchants and protector of travellers. The planet mercury governs Virgo (Aug.22 to Sep.21.) the sixth sign of the zodiac, which bequeaths those born under its influence ‘More selfish than those of other signs, since they are always alive to their own interests…The inner nature or destiny of this sign is discrimination ’ (Leo. Astrology for All. Theo. Press.) Astrological characteristics that are found expressed in this Epistle ‘ I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful.’

The congregation of the church are warned not to forget how to be a good Christian to remember how the teaching was first taught ‘remember therefore how thou has received and heard’ which was through the heart where lies the development of faith Heb 4:2 not through the rational critical faculties of the mind whose ruler ship is governed by mercury. In many respects this Epistle is addressed to those that go by the letter of the Law those that religiously follow dogma rather than applying their heart for in so doing eventually realise they have lost their faith.

We are left in no doubt as to the purpose of this fifth letter again and again in deliberate phrases that pertain to the “spirit” that presides over communication and travel we identify the planet mercury ‘the book of life’ and again ‘they shall walk with me’ even in the colour of the garments of those rewarded ‘the same shall be clothed in white raiment’ an allusion to the zodiacal sign of Virgo the virgin who is represented clothed in white signifying celibacy and purity.

In allusion to the prime function of the mythical Hermes (mercury) whose task it was to accompany the dead through the underworld John uses the phrase ‘strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die ’ an indication that the congregation of this church are more interested in theological debates about the afterlife than about improving the present. This is the most damning of the letters sent to the churches and again, a warning is given them to take heed ‘If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.’

The astrological characteristics of the planet mercury needless to say are exemplified in those persons that solely use the mind in faith the theologians, scholars that lead the Church and here they are severely reprimanded to wake up! Or they will miss the second coming.


“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Revelation 3:7-13

The Epistle to Philadelphia

The city of Philadelphia derived its name from Attalus II (159-138BC) whose loyalty to his brother Eumenes won him the epithet Philadelphus. Like most of the seven cities in Asia Minor she suffered from earthquakes in 17AD the Emperor Tiberias generously donating the funds available for her reconstruction. For their appreciation the citizens proposed to rename the city in his honour Neo Caesarea. We now return to the theme of the second before the last of the seven letters having dealt with the five known planets we now come to the first of the two luminaries, the Moon, she that governs the zodiacal sign of Cancer (Jun. 21 to Jul. 21) ‘the first of the maternal trinity, it governs all home and domestic affairs…they are best described by the crab, whose tenacity is proverbial, for it will lose its claw sooner than release its hold…Cancer persons have the most remarkable memory of any given by the twelve signs…. Persistent and impatient…the inner nature or destiny of this sign is Power.’ (Leo. Astrology for All. Theo. Press.).

Reference to the innate character of Cancer individuals is given by the very first statement ‘ he that hath the key of David’ a scene taken from Isaiah 22:22 ‘And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open’ an allegory relating to the domesticity and tenacity of this sign. Astrologically the governing orb of Cancer is the moon which rules the fairer and weaker sex ‘for thou hast a little strength’ and Cancer individuals are renown for their retentive memory ‘thou hast kept the word of my patience’ and finally a remark on the inner nature or destiny of this sign ‘behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet’ which is power. A promise is given to the congregation of this church freeing them from the hour of tribulation. Interestingly the tribulation period according to the early church fathers (Irenaeus, Hippolytus and Barnabas) occurs between the sixth and the seventh day, the same monthly division of the sun period of Cancer, which occurs between the sixth and the seventh months of the year.

And God made in six days the works of his hands; and he finished them on the seventh day, and he rested the seventh day, and sanctified it. Consider, my children, what that signifies, he finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this: that in six thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end. For with him one day is a thousand years; as himself testifieth, saying, Behold this day shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, shall all things be accomplished. And what is that he saith, And he rested the seventh day; he meaneth this: that when his Son shall come, and abolish the season of the Wicked One, and judge the ungodly; and shall change the sun and moon and the stars; then he shall gloriously rest in that seventh day…Behold therefore he will then truly sanctify it with blessed rest, when we (having received the righteous promise, when iniquity shall be no more, all things being renewed by the Lord) shall be able to sanctify it, being ourselves first made holy.

(Barnabas 13:2-8 (The Lost Books of the Bible and The Forgotten Books of Eden).

To him that triumphs ‘will I make a pillar in the temple of my God’ the temple spoken of here is the New Jerusalem but Rev 21:22 states ‘And I saw no temple in it: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple’ therefore the meaning is figurative. A temple requires at least four pillars before it can stand and here we find the esoteric connection in the fourth foundation stone of the New Jerusalem Rev 21:19 ‘And the foundation of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald.’ The emerald is the mystical gem or ancient birthstone of Cancer, which is the fourth sign of the zodiac.


“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Revelation 3:14-22

The Epistle to Laodicea

The city of Laodicea situated near modern Denizili, Turkey was built in the third century BC by the rulers of the Seleucid dynasty and renamed after Antiochus II (261BC) wife, Laodice the daughter of Antiochus I Soter. The historian Pliny relates that the city of ‘Laodicea was formerly known as Diosopolis and Rhoas.’ The city was a banking and financial centre and derived much of her wealth through agriculture but also by taking advantage of the passing trade since Laodicea was on the crossroads between the other important Ionian cities in the region. When an earthquake in 60AD overcame the city the historian Tacitus noted ‘ without any relief from us, recovered itself by its own resources’ and in the Epistle we are given reference to the affluence of this church ‘ thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and hath need of nothing ’ so spiritual blindness through richness is the theme of this last letter to the churches.

The final description of the Son of Man prefacing the letters Rev 1:16 ‘and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength’ is here paraphrased ‘These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God’ which is our own star the Sun who is symbolised in astrology by the metal gold ‘ I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire.’ The orb governs the zodiacal sign of Leo (Jul.22 to Aug.21) and these individuals can be best described ‘ They seem to radiate from their centre a beautiful warmth, like the sun, which is ruler of their sign…in trades or professions they will do best as jewellers or goldsmiths…its inner nature or destiny is Harmony.’ (Leo. Astrology for All. Theo. Press). And it is regarding this inharmoniousness within the church that is stressed. They are rich, but are poor, they have need of nothing, but are naked, and they have increased goods, but are wretched, miserable and blind. They are ‘neither cold nor hot’ but ‘lukewarm’ in their faith and Christ spits them out. An allusion pertinent to the citizens need to transport their hot water from the springs at Denizili five miles away which by the time it reached Laodicea was lukewarm. The city was also home to the famous teachings of the physician Herophilos (330-250AD) who developed a system of heterogeneous mixtures and one of these compounds of oil and “Phrygian power” was used to form a eye-salve ’and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.’

The Greek sun god Helios also had the capacity to cure blindness. This myth is told in the story of Orion, whom after getting drunk Oenopion put out his eyes. Orion then seeking a cure for his blindness put his arms around the child Cedalion asking him to lead him in the direction of the rising Helios who finally restored his sight. The question to be asked is why are we given a reference to this healing ability here unless it was not to indicate the orb of the sun. It may not just be a co-incidence in many synagogues in Palestine from the late Roman and early Byzantine periods, there is found mosaics of the Greek sun god Helios who is seen riding his four-horse drawn chariot such as found at Hammath-Tiberias, surrounded by the twelve signs of zodiac evidence that the Jews believed that they stood under the heavenly influence of the stars.

For him in the church that ‘overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne.’ In God’s promise to David he says 2 Samuel 7:16 ‘ Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever ’ and Christ was the fulfilment of God’s promise to David Rev 5: 5 ‘See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.’ The animal that symbolises the zodiacal sign of Leo is the lion Rev 4:7.

The seven planetary orbs are to be found within the seven letters addressed to the seven churches where we heard the messages of the seven spirits on how to conduct life and here in the Old Testament in the first of the Ten Commandments ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’ we find an echo of this commandment in the last of the seven Epistles Rev 3:14, which identified the sun as the spirit and ‘the ruler of God’s creation’. In the second commandment ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image’ we find reference to the moon since its form or light is a reflection of the sun and the spirit of this luminary is found expressed in the sixth letter to Philadelphia. In the third commandment ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain’ we find the theme of the use of the name in the fifth letter to Sardis Rev 3:5 ‘I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father’ the spirit of mercury is identified with this Epistle to Sardis. In the fourth commandment ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy’ here we have the Jewish day of rest which begins at twilight on Friday, the day associated with Venus, the bright morning star highlighted in the fourth Epistle to Thyatira the star identified with the messiah who is also the ‘Lord of the Sabbath’ Matt 12:8. In the fifth commandment ‘Honour thy father and thy mother’ along with the sixth commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ characteristics of Mars the god of war, courage and honour the planet identified with the third Epistle to Pergamos. In the seventh commandment ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ along with the eight commandment ‘Thou shalt not steal’ we find these commandments related in the mysterious phrase found in the second letter to the church at Smyrna Rev 2:10 ‘ye shall have tribulation ten days’ recounting Greek mythology and the tale of Demeter’s distress after Hades stole her daughter, Zeus or Jupiter her partner being a renowned adulterer. And finally in the ninth commandment ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness’ and the tenth commandment ‘Thou shalt not covet’ are teachings outlined in the first Epistle to Ephesus ‘thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars’ and ‘thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate’ they being a covetous and licentious sect .The spirit of Saturn is clearly identified with this Epistle.



We shall pause at this moment and consider what has been revealed because I am sure many readers are bemused. What has the planets to do with the second coming of the Christ? What has the planets to do with the destiny of man? These questions are relevant but it is important to realise that one cannot divorce the creator from his creation? When Jesus of Nazareth triumphantly entered Jerusalem many believed he would set up the kingdom of God at that very moment but this did not happen and when he was crucified many believed he did not accomplish what was expected of the messiah. Yet he had said that he would return to finish his work in order to establish the kingdom. If mans body is a temple to the spirit of God then the seven spirits (seven orbs) that lie before God also lie before man for he is a microcosm of the macrocosm the Christ being the spirit of God the divine spark within us all. Nineteen hundred years ago the then known universe was made up of seven orbs and today we are surrounded by a further three making ten whose arrival in the consciousness of man touches on the mystery of the second coming the unfolding of the universe the completion of the temple of God the invisible forces revealed in mans destiny which leads to the Day of Judgment.



Chapter 4

After this I looked, and, behold a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Revelation 4: 1-11


Throne in Heaven

Apart from astrology the new burgeoning science of John’s day was astronomy indeed the two disciplines were seen as identical. The greatest exponent of which was Claudius Ptolemy (100-178AD) expounded in his work the Almagest where he catalogued 1,022 stars grouped into 48 constellations. According to Theodore of Melite he was born at Ptolemais in Egypt and tradition says he spent most of his life making observations at Kanopos a port city near Alexandria (In Plat. Phaed. Finckh). If one observed the heavens from this city you would see the famous southern polar star called “Canopus” he being of first magnitude lying in the constellation of Argo second only in brightness to Sirius with a spectrum classified as (F) a pale yellow. According to Ptolemy the star had the nature of Saturn and Jupiter and this appears to be the star the apostle is describing when he says the throne was ‘like jasper and a sardius stone.’ Among the ancients any brightly coloured stone was called (jasper) a word of oriental origin (yashpeh. Heb) while the (sardius stone) a variety of cornelian varied in colour from a pale golden yellow to a reddish orange depending on the type. And again the star is described as having ‘a rainbow around the throne, in sight like an emerald ’symbolising the colour green an allegory to one of the rivers of the Nile delta (canope).

To understand further the significance of the description of the throne we have to turn to Greek myth relating to the star Canopus. The ancient tradition asserts that he was a pilot of the Egyptian God Osiris. Also that he acted as a ships pilot for Menelaus when he came to Egypt with Helen after capturing Troy. He is also said to have steered the Argo, and both pilot and ship were placed among the constellations. So it is clear that from antiquity Canopus has been a major celestial guide to man because of its polar or central position within the southern hemisphere. This star has now become the centre of the cycling luminaries these being the ‘seven lamps of fire burning before the throne’ whose natural daily motion would appear from the earth to journey along an apparent ecliptic through the twelve signs of the zodiac. Four living beings surround the throne and a description of each is given by the apostle ‘And the first living being was like a lion, and the second living being like a calf, and the third living being had a face as a man, and the fourth living being was like a flying eagle’ which are the ancient astrological ideographs that represent the four fixed signs of the zodiac (Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, Scorpio). Since antiquity in all the ancient civilisations, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome these constellations have been known and maintained in the same order and described consistently as looking like a lion, bull, man and eagle (Ezekiel 1:10) each drawn at the same points within a circle to represent the four corners of the universe like spokes of a great wheel, north, west, south and east. The Apostles reference to these living beings is the clearest evidence yet that he is describing heaven in terms of the ancients commonly held belief in the makeup of the universe. This whole passage is a description of the seven known orbs (seven spirits), which encircle the earth in an imaginary ecliptic through the four fixed signs of the zodiac. A view of the cosmos which shows our solar system as lying before the throne of the southern polar star of Canopus.

Because of the earths daily revolution each of the four fixed signs are visible on the eastern horizon every six hours ‘And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him’ also ‘around the throne were four and twenty thrones’ representing the total number of hours that make up the day. Each of the ‘wings’ is ‘full of eyes within’ which are the stars of the firmament. The throne is described as giving out ‘lightnings and thunderings and voices ’ a description of a stars process in the emission of light, heat and sound and finally we are given a beautiful view of space itself ‘And in front of the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal.’



Chapter 5

And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Revelation 5:1-6

Your Will Be Done
On Earth As It Is In Heaven

The lamb is identified with the root of David, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the anointed Son of God, the messiah the Lord Jesus Christ. He is surrounded by the four living beings symbolised by the lion, ox, man and the eagle, representing the four corners of creation. If we look at a star map of the southern polar hemisphere we can see standing before the throne that is Canopus the constellation of Columba Noae or ‘Noah’s Dove’ the bird of the heavenly waters, named by the 16th century Dutch theologian Petrus Plancius. It was within this constellation that the apostle saw the crucifixion of Christ ‘And in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain’ standing before the throne of God in the heavens ‘But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they have pierced.’ John 19: 33-37


Doves were considered a sacred bird, a symbol of Israel, and along with the pigeon was the only sacrificial bird to be used according to the law of Moses as an offering at the temple of purification Lev5: 7. In the constellation of Columba Noae we find superseded over the figure of the Christ the picture of a dove recreating an ancient myth ‘ in the pagan mysteries the dove of Venus was crucified upon the four spokes of a great wheel, thus foreshadowing the mystery of the crucified Lord of Love ‘ (The secret Teachings of All Ages. Manly. P. Hall. 1928): The gospels themselves draw us to this bird that represents the Holy Spirit ‘And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ Matt 3:16.

“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”

John 3:13

“Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself.”

John 8: 28



“And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.”

Revelation 5:7-14


Chapter 6

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

Revelation 6:1-2

Four Horsemen
Of the Apocalypse

According to Greek mythology, the Sphinx, a composite beast made up of a body of a lion, tail of a bull, face of a human and wings of a eagle (Leo, Taurus, Aquarius and Scorpio) caused drought, famine and disease in the city of Thebes, which could only be ended once the riddle of the Sphinx was answered and it was not until Oedipus who was in all intents and purposes the Egyptian Messiah succeeded in solving the puzzle that justice, fertility and harmony was restored to the land. The Sphinx asked, “What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?” Oedipus correctly answered “man” because the different times of the day represent the three stages of man, in childhood he walks on all fours, when an adult he walks on two legs and when he’s old he walks with the aid of a balance. The same rendition of the riddle we find in the four horseman of the apocalypse, which focus on the stars to reveal the three stages in the life of man including his last and final stage of death.

As John used each part of the vision in Rev1: 12-18 to head a message to each of the churches so here we find a reference from four of those letters appearing in the seals. The link is astrological for the first of the four horsemen symbolises the zodiacal sign of Sagittarius ‘and he that sat on him had a bow.’ The Babylonians made the identification of Sagittarius as a mounted archer as early as the 11th century BC he was always represented as the centaur shooting a bow and arrow. The sign is governed by the planet Jupiter the same orb we found disclosed in the second letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. The allusion to the Epistle is given to us in the reward Rev 2:10 ‘and I will give thee a crown of life’ and applied here Rev 6:2 ‘and a crown was given him.’ This horsemen rides out as a conqueror as per the instruction given by God to early man Genesis 1:28 ‘ God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’ Though a conqueror man is not a destroyer the white horse symbolises his righteousness, innocence, and purity.


“And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”

Revelation 6:3-4

The Lamb opens the second seal and out comes a red horse, to him was given a sword linking this second horsemen to the third letter of the apocalypse Rev 2: 12 ‘These things saith he who hath the sharp sword ’ and here Rev 6:4‘ there was given unto him a great sword.’ Mars the red planet named after the god of war, which was eluded too in the third Epistle to Pergamos is here revealed in the characteristics of the second horsemen. In the Southern Hemisphere laying before the zodiacal sign of Aries is the constellation of Perseus who is represented as a soldier welding a sword. He is among the book of fixed stars and described by Ptolemy as having the astrological influence of ‘Mars and Mercury’ (Ptolemy. Tetrabiblos 1.9. Robbins.). Perseus was anciently known as the destroyer. In Greek mythology he was the son of Zeus, the king of the Gods, and Danae a mortal woman, he was depicted as holding a sword in one hand and the head of Medusa in the other. In Jewish tradition he also symbolised David holding the severed head and great sword of Goliath 1Samuel 17:51. Here he is revealed in the opening of the second of the seals depicting mans second stage of life his warlike nature.


“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”

Revelation 6:5-6

The third seal is opened and out comes a black horse and its rider is holding a pair of scales symbolic of the sun sign Libra which is represented by the balance, once again the astrological link is drawn from the letters to the churches in this case from the fourth letter to Thyatira Rev 2: 19 ‘and the last to be more than the first’ a form of measurement, and here Rev 6:5 ‘he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.’ John also draws on the prophet Haggai 2:19’ “Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.” Here in the opening of the third of the seals we have man symbolised in his next stage of life his old age represented by the use of the balance as he walks on three legs.


“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”

Revelation 6:7-8

The last of the four horseman brings death making reference to the church at Sardis the fifth Epistle Rev 3:1 ‘I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead ’ the congregation at this church had received the strongest warning. Once again the meaning is found in the heavens for having discovered that the fifth letter referred to the planet mercury which governs the sign of Virgo we are now told ‘Hell followed behind ’ him. By taking a glance at a map of the southern hemisphere you will notice laying between Scorpio and the ‘claw of Scorpio’ (Libra) the constellation Serpens Caput anciently known as the house of Hades (the invisible one) which follows close behind the sign of the Virgin. In Greek myth Hades was known as the lord of the dead or underworld.


“And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

Revelation 6:8

If we return to the fable of the riddle of the sphinx and take a closer look at each horseman we find a symbolic metaphor for the life of Oedipus (man). In the constellation of Sagittarius we see the four-legged creature called the centaur representing mans first stage in life walking on all fours. In the second horseman we find the constellation of Perseus the two-legged sword bearer representing adult man. In the third horsemen we find the constellation of Libra the sign of the scales a symbol for mans third stage of life walking on three legs with the aid of a balance. Finally in the last horseman we have the house of Hades signifying mans last stage of life his death. The first seal reveals a white horse a colour symbolising mans innocence, the second horse is red a symbol for passion. The third is black signifying mans closing years far from the innocence and purity he started with, and finally we have the pale horse symbolic for the mask of death.


“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

Revelation 6:9-11

Fifth Seal

It is difficult for us today living in the western world to understand the persecution small communities under went from the threat of larger authorities like Rome for not conforming to rule. One lived on the very edge of death for these small religious sects like the emerging Christians had not only to contend with Roman Persecution but also from the revile of established religious groups.

“They love all men, and are persecuted by all. Men do not understand them, and condemn them; they are put to death, and find life thereby. They are poor, and make many rich; they lack all things, and abound in all. They are dishonoured, and glory in the dishonour; they are slandered, and are found righteous; they are reviled, and they bless; they are shamefully treated, and they pay respect. They do good, and are punished as evil; when they are punished, they rejoice as if life were given to them. The Jews make war against them as aliens, and the Greeks persecute them; and those who hate them cannot give a reason for their enmity.”

(The Epistle to Diognetus. The Historic Martyrs of the Primitive Church. Longmans.1905).

Christians were forced to migrate from their core Jewish roots to preach to a gentile world with a pagan mindset. There leader a charismatic Jew called Jesus had been crucified by Pontius Pilate on the instigation of the Sanhedrin, he was seen as a rebel upsetting the established order calling himself the “King of the Jews”. The surviving small band of followers having been dispersed by the demise of their leader regrouped and started to preach the gospel while their oppressors aggravated by the new teaching sought their deaths. The persecution reached a climax under the Emperor Nero, following the fire of Rome in 64AD, the blame was shifted from himself to the followers of Christ both Peter and Paul of Tarsus suffered execution as a result. Large numbers of the followers of Christ were ridiculed and put to death as Tacitus writing half a century later recounts (Tacitus, Annals XV). The crises in the early Christian community continued under the Emperor’s Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus and in the last days of Domitian’s reign (d.96AD) when he issued orders too his subjects to worship him as ‘Lord and God,’ those that failed to do so were charged with atheism which meant severe penalties including death. Shrines, with imperial statues of the Emperor were set up in the provinces, with priests and officials to supervise this worship. This split the theological fabric of the community many bowing to the Emperor’s demand for fear of safety to themselves and their families but to the many Christians such a demand was abhorrent to the doctrine ‘one can only worship the true God and he alone.’ It was under these conditions St John suffered his own banishment to the Island of Patmos where he later wrote the revelation.


“And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 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. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

Revelation 6:12-17

Sixth Seal

Death came quickly to thousands of people when on the 24th August 79AD Mount Vesuvius the sleeping giant mountain vented its fury and erupted and destroyed the roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and other towns from miles around. On a night “blacker and denser than any night that ever was” the nephew of Pliny the elder noted…”the buildings were shaking with violent shocks and seemed to be swaying to and fro as if they were being torn from their roots.” The volcanic eruption could be seen for miles as a mushroom of ash, gas and pumice filled the air in a vast dense cloud blown by a mighty wind over the inhabitants of Pompeii and engulfed and choked them to death. Throughout the day ‘even as a fig tree casteth its untimely figs’ the shower of lapilli’s and stone fragments continued to fall. The sunlight unable to penetrate the atmospheric dust caused an unnatural darkness as if ‘the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together.’ Those lucky enough to escape fled to the surrounding hills to take cover under the rocks, for some it was all too late as they suffocated in the fumes embracing their loved ones buried in the volcanic ash exactly where they died. Pliny the elder, scientist and admiral of the roman fleet was one of those who became a victim after collapsing in the arms of two slaves. After further eruptions the whole area was covered with a layer of debris 6 meters deep. What was once a thriving roman summer resort overlooking the sea had now been completely transformed, the city had been covered by a vast white shroud, the sea had receded with the growth of the coast line and every valley had been moved out of their places. Such was the devastation that the government in Rome chose to keep the site buried. To Christians first hearing the apocalypse there can be no doubt that they saw the eruption of Vesuvius as the answer to the martyrs cry ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, doest thou not judge and avenge our blood.’ But John’s sixth seal is the prelude to the opening of the seventh seal which is the beginning of the tribulation period whose time is only known by God although here in the destruction of Pompeii we are given a clue to the place ‘For the great day of his wrath is come.’



Chapter 7

And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Revelation 7:1-3

The Sealed Servants

Though this is a Christian document God shows John that he will redeem a few of his historically chosen people. He does not say that they are Christian Jews but only that they are God’s servants. He will mark them for protection against the tribulation to come with the seal of the living God. This seal in astrological terms is known as the ascending sign that applies to everyman as soon as he enters into the physical plane, being stamped, as it were, with the prevailing astral influences rising in the east ‘I saw another angel ascending from the east.’ John does not tell us the astrological make-up of those that will be saved but only that they originate from the twelve tribes of Israel so the seal is the six-pointed Star of David symbolic for Judaism. The four winds Zech 6:5 ‘These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the LORD of all the earth ’are for the moment held back and are prevented to blow either on the earth, sea or the trees, which comprise the four elements of air, earth, water and fire, until the number of those to be sealed has been reached Rev 11:1 ‘Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.’ A similar count of the righteous is found in Ezekiel 9:1-11 when a man carrying a writing kit is told to ‘Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.’ So it is to the Holy Land where we must go to find the number of those to be saved and sealed Joel 2:32 ‘for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.’ And the prophet Daniel writes of the catastrophe of the coming events Dan 12:1 ‘there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people (Jews) shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.


“And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.”

Revelation 7:4-8



The first thing to notice is that John lists all the twelve tribes of Israel but in his day only two tribes were known for after the Assyrian conquest in (722BC) ten of the tribes were lost except the tribe of Levi and Judah. Secondly the tribe of Dan is replaced by the tribe of Levi although we find in Numbers 1: 49 ‘thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel.’ Nevertheless John purposefully introduces this tribe in order to make up the numbers to equal 12. Thirdly Joseph replaces one of his sons as the leader of the tribe of Ephraim, which often occurred in a roll call of the twelve tribes. So why does Dan get excluded? Legend has it the anti-Christ will come from the tribe of Dan which would make him a Jew ideal as one clothed in sheep’s clothing but John does not mention it. The answer once again can be found astrologically if we associate each tribe with one of the twelve signs of the zodiac then the tribe of Dan becomes significant because his tribal insignia was the serpent Gen 49:17 ‘Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels.’ The serpent or snake in the skies was anciently represented by the constellation of Ophiuchus (Serpent-bearer) the astrologers missing sign that lies between Scorpio and Sagittarius (centaur). Indeed there are 13 signs of the zodiac that the suns passes through in an ecliptic not 12 as commonly thought and John by deliberately manipulating the list of tribes indicates this to show that Dan like Ophiuchus has been lost.


“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

Revelation 7:9-17

Every race, every religion, and every people from every nation on the whole earth stand here before the throne of God and the Lamb, dressed in white robes and waving palms, this is their salvation that they are joyously singing. The divine plan has worked itself out, Satan is defeated, and here we witness the dramatic scene from Christ’s Victory at the end of the great tribulation period these are they without the mark of the beast the saints that have lost their life’s blood for the cause of the Lamb in earths devastation these are they who have been given a place in his Kingdom. The vision of the celebrating multitude is shown as a prelude to the beginning of the tribulation period and John is asked, who are these people? He answers, he does not know because they are so many, but the elder who represents time explains to him that this is a vision of those that have come out of the great tribulation the climax of the prophecy the subject of which we shall now endeavour to interpret.


Chapter 8

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

Revelation 8:1-6

The Seventh Seal
And The Eighth Angel

The seventh seal is opened and the tribulation on the earth is about to begin. There is silence in heaven for half an hour, a pause of silence before the storm. At what moment in human history does this tribulation begin? John gives us a clue, when he says, “Another angel came and stood at the altar.” The seven angels (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Moon and Sun) the seven spirits of the Church are already attending the altar. This other angel with the golden censer is the next planet to be discovered in our solar system, the planet Uranus. Though this orb had been sited many years before it was not until William Herschel made his discovery in 1781 that it was recognised as a planet and not as first thought a comet. The events, which are about to begin, originate in the 18th Century.


“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.”

Revelation 8:7

The First Angels Trumpet

The first trumpet of the Apocalypse sounds and the third part of trees and grass are burnt up. To identify this curious event in the 18th Century we need to narrow the dating down. Jesus in the New Testament was asked by his disciples “what shall be the sign of thy coming” Jesus said, “Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles (vultures) be gathered together.” (Matthew 24:28) A further clue is found in the Old Testament Psalm 91 ‘Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.’ Both of these prophecies are pointing to the one event that took place in the mid 18th century, which had historical connections to the time of writing of the Apocalypse the discovery of the Roman city of Pompeii. The site was excavated in 1748 with the digging of tunnels and the removing of trees and grass that covered the area. The first sound of the trumpet is telling us to begin where John left off less than 17 centuries earlier to witness the re-emergence of a Roman city which here signals the beginning of the tribulation period. Pandora’s box is surely opened.

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.”

Revelation 8: 8-9

The Second Angels Trumpet

The second angel sounds his trumpet and we are in the middle of a catastrophic disaster. John describes seeing a large mountain thrown into the sea. On November 1st 1755, a huge earthquake hit the port of Lisbon the capital city of Portugal. The quake was so powerful it could be felt throughout Western Europe and North-western Africa. It was followed by a tsunami (tidal wave), which was estimated at over 50 feet high, which crashed through the city. Ships, docks and buildings were battered by the high seas as thousands of people were swept away. Fires broke out in the capital lasting for six days; the sloppy mountainous port of Lisbon was reduced to rubble over 60 000 were killed. Many people believed the disaster was the result of an angry God responding to Lisbon’s “sinful” ways.

“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; 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.”

Revelation 8:10-11

The Third Angels Trumpet

In 1705 Edmund Halley an English astronomer predicted the return of the comet that had been recorded before in 1682. His calculation based on Newton’s Principia showed that comets follow regular patterns. From his calculations he predicted that a comet would be witnessed in 1759. His theory was correct the comet did return in 1759 and so Halley’s comet was born. But Halley’s comet had been recorded long before that. First recorded records made by Chinese astrologers show the comets appearance in 1000BC. The same comet was also seen in 12BC near Christ’s birth and in 1066AD at the battle of Hastings recorded in the Bayeux tapestry and yet again in 1666AD during the great fire of London. Indeed this was the very same comet that was witnessed in Rome in 66AD that appeared to “hang in the sky like a sword” four years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. These ”hairy stars” as the ancients called them were considered as omens of impending evil. This was the Great star of the Apocalypse John calls Wormwood whose appearance would make the waters taste bitter.

In 1759 Britain and France were carving up North America for empire. Britain to pay for its excursions imposed a stamp tax on the American colonists, which was met with disapproval. In 1764 the British imposed a further tax this time on sugar, once again to the colonist’s disapproval. After Britain imposed a further tax on the beverage of Tea the colonists had had enough. The “Boston Tea Party” entered the history books when hundreds of tea chests from the colonial motherland were emptied and flung into the Boston harbours. Finally in 1774 the colonists banned tea and prepared for war with her mother country Britain. As John says “many men died from the waters that became bitter.” A popular song called “A tax of three pence a pound on her tea” reveals the colonist’s resentment at the time. America won her war of independence in 1776*

“There was an old lady lived over
the sea, And she was an Island Queen;
Her daughter lived off in a new country,
With an ocean of water between,
The old lady’s pockets were full
of gold, And never contented was she,
So she called her daughter to
pay her a tax
Of three pence a pound on her tea
Of three pence a pound on her tea.”

………………………………………………………………………
• “Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given it.” Dan. 7: 2-4.

(Here we may associate the lion with Britain, the eagle’s wings with America.).


“And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.”

Revelation 8:12

The Fourth Angels Trumpet

When in 1789 the Parisian mobs stormed the Bastille, the French revolution had begun. The declaration of the rights of man was established and King Louis XVI signed a new French constitution. The revolution brought many changes but none had touched the people’s daily life as when the old calendar was abolished and a new one was passed by the convention in 1793. The Jacobins believing the existing calendar perpetuated the frauds of the Christian Church. The new calendar had 12 months of 30 days each, leaving the 5 days or 6 in leap years to be added to the last month which was dedicated to national holidays. The names of the months were changed reflecting the changes in the seasons. The days of the week formally named after the orbs in the sky the sun for Sunday, the moon for Monday, Saturn for Saturday was renamed. A day of rest instead of one in seven became one in ten days. Religious holidays were abolished along with Christmas. In place of the old Saints days, each day was dedicated to a fruit, vegetable, animal, agricultural implement. The days, months, festivals that were previously part of the traditional calendar had been wiped away. The sun, moon and stars that John describes, as being struck is a reference to this revolutionary calendar.


“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!”

Revelation 8:13

In 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France under the auspices of Pope Pius VII in the Notre Dame cathedral. On the Champ de Mars in Paris he distributed eagles to his regiments. The eagle was the standard used by the Roman armies. Once again it appears as the standard of a great imperial army La Grande Armme of France. John’s vision is about to take us amidst the slaughter of the Napoleonic wars.


Chapter 9

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.

Revelation 9:1-2

The Fifth Angels Trumpet

John tells us of the celestial event that will be seen on earth that will signal the beginning of a great military campaign. The star referred to is the Great Comet of 1811. This cosmic event which seen around the world, signalled what turned out to be the beginning of the end of the Franco-Russian Entente and the preparation of the French armies invasion of Russia in 1812, which resulted in the first great defeat of the French Grande Armme. French territories were at their pinnacle at the beginning of 1812 France presided over the greatest empire ever seen in Europe since Roman times. John’s vision takes us to the eve of Napoleons invasion of Russia a daring escapade that ended in defeat and the beginning of the end of an empire built from the furnace of the French revolution.

“When beggars die, there are no comets seen: the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of Princes.”

Julius Caesar

“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. 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. 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.”

Revelation 9: 2-4

Before crossing the Russian frontier the French were well aware of the strategic problems such an expedition imposed because of the barrenness of the Russian borderlines to feed such a large army consisting of 400, 000 imperial troops. What the land had to offer in terms of sustenance was crucial to the success of the campaign. The orders given to the French troops were to destroy the Russian armies but not to harm the fruit of the land; the little that was on offer must be saved.


“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. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.”

Revelation 9: 4-6


La Grande Armme, which began in earnest, crossed the Russian border on the 24th June 1812. Though the French tried to force a battle the Tsar’s army just relinquished ground. The tactics of the French was to gain a quick victory but the Russians stubbornly rejected defeat. Slowly but surely the Grand Army were lead into the heart of Russia finally capturing Moscow but without a major battle. French arms were being reduced but not through fighting but thirst as the Russian summer heat burned on them. The Tsar’s army tormented the French by still refusing a direct conflict. Nothing could be resolved so Napoleon withdrew his forces. By the 4th November 1812 the first snows of the Russian winter began to fall and within the month the temperature dropped below –37 Celsius. The French unequipped for winter operation began to suffer from famine and frostbite, which gradually depleted their Army. The conditions must have been horrific, as starving frozen troops trudging their way home in the snows became the target of sniping Russians on their heels. By the 29th November only 50, 000 french soldiers were left and able to cross the Beresina to safety almost five months to the day the campaign had started.


“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. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 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. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.”

Revelation 9: 7-10

John is describing in his vision soldiers from the early 19th century with “crowns of gold” looking like women’s hair, a description of men wearing wigs into battle which was the fashion in those days and the description of their teeth as “lions teeth” obviously a comment on the standards of dentistry at the time! Wearing breastplates of iron like those worn by the French cuirassier during cavalry charge and foot soldiers described as clutching scorpions with “stings in their tails” an elusion to the musket firearms of the soldiers.


“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. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.”

Revelation 9:11-12

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) a Corsican of humble birth who by merit became an Emperor. In command of over a million troops he conquered Europe. The militarily doctrine prevailing in the 18th century emphasised attrition manoeuvre warfare, but Napoleon’s policy was to destroy the enemy, thereby his means to resist. The name Apollyon in Greek means destroyer. Not one of the powerful nations, Russia, Britain or Austria could defeat him. It took the combined forces of many countries and many bloody campaigns to remove him from power. After the collapse of the Russian campaign he set out on his sleigh, sped across Europe, to prepare for a new war.


“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. 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: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”

Revelation 9: 13-21


The Sixth Angels Trumpet

In mid December of 1812 when the last dregs of La Grande Armme crossed the Niemen bridge under heavy Russian bombardment. A grand alliance of four major powers Russians, * Prussians, Swedes and Austrians were formulated to meet Napoleon in the “Battle of the Nations” the largest battle of the Napoleonic wars, which took place at Leipzig 16th- 19th October 1813. John depicts this slaughter in vivid detail as his vision shows scenes of (smoke) breastplates of fire and jacinth (red stone) and brimstone (sulphur) sulphur being the ingredient of gunpowder. And all this occurs at the great river Euphrates, a river mentioned in the Old Testament as one of the four rivers, which flow through the Garden of Eden. John through allegory depicts the battlefield: A map of Leipzig shows that four rivers meet at the centre of the conflict. The R.Luppe, R. Elster, R. Partha, R. Pleisse. After three days of fighting Napoleon was defeated 60, 000 were killed a third of his army of one hundred and eighty thousand men.

………………………………………………………………………..
• “And behold another beast, a second, like a bear and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.” Dan 7:5

(Here we may associate the bear with Russia, the three ribs with the Prussians, Swedes and Austrians who together devoured Napoleons army)


We began the book of revelation with the opening of the first of the four seals, which released the four horseman of the apocalypse, symbolic of man and his four stages of life child, youth, old age and death. John makes it clear he heard the number of the horseman as two hundred thousand, thousand, which is two hundred million. By the time of the “Battle of the Nations” the whole populous of Europe was at war. To count the number of horsemen we have to go back to 1798 and Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) who wrote in his essay on the “principle of population,” that the population of Europe had rose from 66 million in 1700 to 180 million in 1798 which is an increase of 1.16 million per head per year on average. Therefore by the date of Napoleons defeat in 1813 we have a total population of Europe around 197.4 million people a figure not far removed from the number that John heard in his vision though the count is an average dependant on the reliability of the records at the time.

180-66 = (114). 114 divided by 98 =1.16 1.16x 15=17.4

17.4+180= (197.4) million people.



Chapter 10

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.

Revelation 10:1-2

The Ninth Angel
And The Little Scroll

Just as there was a great planetary discovery announced at the opening of the seventh seal, now a further revelation is announced, in the form of a mighty angel appearing prior to the blowing of the seventh trumpet and the revealing of a further mystery. The angel is clothed with a cloud, which is indicative of vestures of water he also has a rainbow above his head once again symbolic for water. He stands astride like the colossi of Rhodes having the shining face of the sun with his feet aflame as pillars of fire. This angel is none other than the appearance in our solar system of the planet Neptune the Greek Poseidon God of the seas who was discovered in 1846 by the astronomers Adams and Verrier. The anticipated discovery of a further planet orbiting the solar system occurred a year earlier in 1845 after observations of Uranus’s orbit. John’s vision of the appearance of this angel reflects the historical events surrounding the mid-nineteenth century.


“And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth.”

Revelation 10:3

The little scroll is symbolic of a revelation not unlike the opening of the lambs scroll with seven seals but this one is openly revealed for all to see. The scroll contains a message that reverberates throughout the world and appears around the time of Neptune’s discovery in 1846. The only manuscript in question that had such an impact on the earth immediately during those years was the political writings of Karl Marx (1818-1883) the great prophet of modern socialism. Born a German-Jew he became a political refugee who finally sought asylum in London. In conjunction with Friedrich Engel’s he produced the “communist manifesto” (1848), the celebrated socialist pamphlet. Together these two men formed the basis and principles of the term Marxism, which formed the platform for a social revolution. His call for the workers to unite “you have nothing to loose but your chains” echoed like ‘a lion roareth’ sending shivers down the spines of the dominant capitalist regimes. Simultaneously with that call in 1848 workers revolutions broke out in France, Italy, Austria and Germany. So here listed like the Ten Commandments contained within the Old Testament is Karl Marx’s ten measures contained within his communist manifesto drawn up for the Communist League, which was printed and circulated to the proletariat throughout Europe.

Karl Marx Communist Manifesto
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.


“And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.”

Revelation 10: 4

John is told seal up what is said; do not write it down and indeed this is the most poignant part of the interpretation. During the years 1850-1864 Marx lived in abject poverty with his family. In 1850 he, along with his wife Jenny and four surviving children were evicted from their Soho apartment. In total they had six offspring but two of them died, his wife suffered breakdowns. The seven thunders are an allegory to the cries of his seven family members and it is interesting to note that the voice came from heaven indicating that they were good people suffering as they undoubtedly were under economic stress. Marx loved children and with his families loss he must have wondered if what he set out to achieve was not too high a price to pay. So often with great men the needs and desires of those closest often suffer the most.


“And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”

Revelation 10:5-7

Mystery Revealed

When the angel sounds the seventh trumpet God’s mystery will be accomplished which suggests a further planetary discovery is about to be made. This revelation also coincides with the promise made to Israel of her restoration, like a mother gathering and protecting her children this is the sign given them ‘for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth ‘A woman shall compass a man.’

“Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.”

Jeremiah 31:21-23


The astrological glyph of Pluto the furthest known planet from the sun discovered in 1930.


Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD. In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.”

Jeremiah 31:27-36


“And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.”

Revelation 10:8-10

The writings of Karl Marx and Engel had at first seemed convincing to the proletariat indeed almost a panacea for all the ills of the Industrialist capitalist society. The writings heavily influenced the Russian and Chinese revolutions, but as history has shown Marxist theories were not flexible enough to adapt to the rising aspirations of the peoples. In Russia the communist system finally collapsed shortly after the removal of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the symbol of communist oppression in Eastern Europe.


“And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”

Revelation 10:11


Chapter 11

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Revelation 11: 1-2

The Temple Of
God Is Measured

The apostle is given a reed like a rod to measure the temple of God and the altar, which historically has always been associated with Jerusalem so our attention is drawn to the land of Israel and the architect of the modern state of Israel. In November 1917 Arthur Balfour, the British secretary of State for foreign affairs, addressed a letter to Lord Rothschild promising British support for the establishment in Palestine of a home for the Jewish people. On March 20th, 1920, a general Syrian congress held at Damascus and attended by Palestinian delegates passed a resolution rejecting the Balfour declaration. In April 1920 anti-Zionist riots began in Palestine, which resulted in five Jews being killed, and two hundred being wounded and again in May 1921 anti-Zionist riots resulted in forty-six Jews being killed and over a hundred being wounded. In June 1922 the British issued a white paper containing its interpretation for a Jewish homeland. In July 1922 a mandate was approved by the League of Nations settling the matters connected to the Jewish homeland. On September 29th 1923 the mandate came into force. Though several Arab organisations were opposed to Jewish immigration the riots had ceased. That is forty-two months after the first anti-Zionist riot.



“And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.”

Revelation 11:3-5

The Two Witnesses

John’s vision calls forth two leading revolutionary lights of the 20th century Vladimir Iiich Ulyanov otherwise known as Lenin and his contemporary Leon Trotsky. Both were leaders of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia (1917). Lenin was the architect, builder, and first head of the Soviet State. Regarded as the greatest revolutionist thinker since Marx he founded the organisation known as the communist International. Defeating his political opponents by 1921 his government reigned supreme. Lenin believed any opponents to his Bolshevik dictatorship a threat, he set up controls on any dissent within the party setting up show trials which resorted to the death penalty of any found guilty. In the spring of 1922 he fell ill, partially paralysed and unable to speak, then after further strokes he died on 21st January 1924.

Leon Trotsky a leader in Russia’s October revolution in 1917, later commissar of foreign affairs. He was a leading theoretician of the Bolshevik party developing his own form of Marxist theory known as “Trotskyism”. He was a member of the original Politburo ranking only after Lenin in leadership. After the death of Lenin jealousy among other party members thwarted his succession to the Soviet leadership he was finally forced into exile and assassinated on the orders of Stalin. John’s vision shows these men prophesying for three and half years the duration of length of Lenin’s government from the middle of 1920 to Lenin’s death in January 1924.


“These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.”

Revelation 11: 6

During the years Lenin and Trotsky were in power there began the Russian famine. Because of crop failure people started eating clay, twigs and cannibalism appeared. Lenin admitted that not since 1891 has there been anything like it, and appealed to the world community for help. The United States responded by sending in 800,000 tons of food. So severe was the famine the leaders formulated a “new economic policy” a retreat from Marxism ending the state seizure of food from peasants restoring once again private trade. But all was in vain especially for the people of the Volga region and for the seven million people that already had starved to death since the Bolshevik revolution.

In John’s vision he says the two witnesses have power over the earth to smite it with plagues, turning even the waters to blood. References perhaps to how deadly plagues are often transmitted through water supply. The prophesy links the duration of the Lenin and Trotsky administration with the occurrence of disease and epidemic and there did appear around the world between 1918-1919 a particularly virulent strain of influenza known, as “Spanish Flu.” The virus came in three waves mutating successively until it became the most deadly epidemic in human history claiming over thirty million lives.


“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 11: 7


Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili otherwise known as Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) became Russia’s dictator preceding Lenin’s death and the removal of his archenemy Leon Trotsky. After his appointment in 1922 as general secretary of the Bolshevik party he wasted no time in gathering power in his hands. Stalin advocated “building socialism at first in one country” as opposed to Trotsky’s “permanent revolution ” economic worldview. Trotsky was soon ousted after the formation of a ruling triumvirate led by Stalin. Stalin then turned on his closest allies and charged them with “counter-revolution.” With his opponents banished or sent into exile he become Russia’s dictator (1926) until his death in 1953.


“And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.”

Revelation 11: 8-10

John describes the place of burial of the two prophets in the street of the great city, Sodom and Egypt. The name “Sodom” means scorched or burning, which is figuratively the colour red. Lenin’s funeral on the 21st January 1924 saw Russians queuing for hours outside the Kremlin to file past his open coffin. For three and half days over one million people from the four corners of Russia came to pay homage to the father of the Russian revolution in “Red Square” Moscow.

Trotsky as part of Stalin’s political purge was assassinated while he was in exile in Mexico 1940. John has described the death place of Trotsky figuratively like Egypt. Mexico is the home to the valley of Teotihuacan, the “City of Gods” which is lined with pyramid structures like that found in Egypt. John states both these cities were places where the Lord was crucified; once again Russia and Mexico as communist countries viewed Christianity opposing the communist policy view that religion was the “opium of the masses.” It is pretty certain that when these two communist revolutionaries died the Capitalist Western authorities viewed this occurrence with relief, in some quarters probably greeted it with the popping of champagne.


“And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.”

Revelation 11: 11-14

After the funeral of Lenin Russia as a country rejuvenated particularly industrially, militarily and in the sciences, so much so as to compete and become a superpower not unlike the USA. Defining this struggle for prominence was the space race. On the 12th April 1961, Yuri Gagarin in the Russian space craft “Vostok” became the first man to orbit and return safely back to earth, this feat was broke on Moscow radio the announcer breaking the news emotionally repeating three times “Russia has successfully launched a man into space”. This shook USA confidence and instigated president Kennedy’s drive for America to be the first to land a man on the moon. Again in 1962 and 1963 the Soviet Union put further cosmonauts into space then in 1964 Russia launched the first three man craft. John in his vision says at that very hour a earthquake will accompany these achievements and the number of those killed will be seven thousand a precise number. On the 16th October three days after the Russian spacecraft returned from its 24 hour flight China exploded her first atomic bomb. Two months later on the 25th December a hurricane hit both Ceylon and Madras killing seven thousand people.
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

Revelation 11:15

The Seventh Angels Trumpet

The seventh trumpet announces the accomplishment of the “mystery of God”. What the seventh angel announces is the discovery of the last and tenth major planet revolving around our solar system the planet Pluto discovered by Clyde Tombaugh on the 18th February 1930. The extent of God’s temple is viewed for the very first time. The Lord himself gave us this parable for a sign of the end of the age ‘Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom’ Matt 25:1. These lamps are none other than the ten planetary orbs at the end of the age. The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The temple of God is complete now the time has come for the redemption.


“And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.”

Revelation 11:19

Along with the discovery of the outer solar system man was to unlock and see within the creative universe as well. In 1932 two scientists, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton trained a high-energy beam of protons constitutes of the atomic nucleus on a target of lithium, the lithium atoms were changed into helium, our solar star the suns energy. What the apostle is suggesting is that Helium was the source of the fire accompanying the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting set up by Moses which contained the Ark of the Covenant the seven branched menorah and the table of gold for the twelve loafs of baked bread all representative of the creation. In biblical accounts and Jewish legends we find the Ark is described remarkably as “blazing with fire and light” which implies that God manifests himself through the power and energy of fire ‘Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire’ Deut 5:24. The Ark contained the “Manna” by which the Jewish people were fed during their Exodus in the desert; it also contained the “Rod of Jesse” and the “Tablets of the Law.” During the Babylonian exile the Lord told the prophet Jeremiah to hide the Ark of the Covenant. Which he did but the place where it was hidden was subsequently lost. It was old Rabbinical tradition that when the Ark of the Covenant was rediscovered the Messiah would be made manifest.

John goes on to describe in his vision a crescendo of lightings and thundering and a powerful earthquake. In 1932 the same year of the splitting of atoms the world was to witness the biggest earthquake in New Zealand’s history. It was so forceful the up thrust of the quake created a new land mass of 9000 acres, the resulting firestorms that spread throughout the region destroyed many town centres killing over two hundred people.



Chapter 12

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

Revelation 12:1-2

The Woman And
The Red Dragon

The woman is described as being clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and wearing a crown with twelve stars. This vision is similar to the interpretation of Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37. In his dream the sun represented his father, the moon his mother, the twelve stars the number of his brothers including himself. This same symbolism can be used to identify the woman clothed with the sun. The woman in question in John’s vision is the British monarch Queen Victoria (1837-1901), who reigned for 64 years. The sun representative of her father was Edward Duke of Kent and the moon representative of her mother was Victoria Saxe-Coberg. The twelve stars in the crown represent her cousins, uncles and aunts including Victoria herself. These relations were the surviving descendents of her grandfather George III (1738-1820) and these include Ernest Augustus (d.1851), George King of Hanover (d.1866), Augustus Fredrick (d.1843) Augustus Fredrick d’Este (d.1848), Augusta Emma D’Este (d.1866), Adolphus Fredrick (d.1850), George Duke of Cambridge (d.1904), Augusta Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d.1916), Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck (d.1897), Mary (d.1857) and Sophia (d.1848). These being Victoria’s only paternal relations alive at the time to witness the birth of the Queen’s first son and heir Edward VII (1841-1910).


“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.”

Revelation 12:3-5

The red dragon is an illusion to the British Empire whose army was nick named the “redcoats”; the seven heads with crowns are the monarchs descended from George I and these were George II, George III, George IV, Ernest King of Hanover son of George III, William IV and Queen Victoria herself. The ten horns without crowns being Victoria’s consort Albert Prince of Saxe-Coberg (1819-1861) and their nine children. During the reigns of these seven crowned monarchs Britain had acquired the worlds most extensive Empire, which reached its zenith during Edward VII reign who became King after Victoria’s death in 1901 ‘who was to rule the nations with a rod of iron.’


“And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”

Revelation 12: 6

The child snatched up to heaven was Queen Victoria’s very own “heavenly angel” her consort Albert who died of typhoid in 1861. Prince Albert was a handsome and morally upstanding man; their marriage was a genuinely happy one. His death left the Queen in a great deal of distress, and she withdrew from public life. After Albert had died she spent most of her time in the Scottish highlands at her residence at Balmoral, to the place that she and her husband had spent many a happy time together. Wearing black on all occasions there she descended into grief as she was later to note in her diary “deep paroxysms of despair and yearning and longing and of daily, nightly longing to die…for the first three years never left me.” Indeed the time period John gives for her to be cared for. Following her grief and seclusion the Empire was left in danger of instability.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”

Revelation 12:7-14

War In Heaven

There is war in heaven between the archangel Michael and the Serpent who loses the battle and descends to the earth to chase the woman. When Queen Victoria lost her consort Prince Albert she stayed at Balmoral Castle situated in the Grampian region of Scotland, acquired in 1852 by Albert. During the years of her grief Balmoral became a shrine to the remembrance of her lost husband. While there she met and befriended her loyal servant John Brown who helped her back to mental health she stayed out of the public eye for a number of years the total number given by John is ‘time =1, times=2, and half a time’ that is twelve and half years after her initial grief period. In John’s vision the woman is given the two wings of an eagle, perhaps symbolic of the two newly developed flights of communication the train and the telegraph.


“And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”

Revelation 12:15-16

Connecting the Mediterranean and the Red sea is the Suez Canal built by the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps. Built in spite of British opposition because it opened up commercial competition to the Far East. Britain’s fear was that the canal would come under total French control. A major conflict between the two great imperial powers at the time was avoided when Britain was given the opportunity to purchase half of the Suez Canal shares from the Khedive of Egypt in 1875 which was followed by an agreement between Britain, Germany, French, Austria, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Russia at the Istanbul convention (1889) for the canal to become neutral and open to all shipping. John’s symbolism of the earth swallowing up the danger from the water of the dragon’s mouth refers to the peace accord established at the time between the nations.


“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Revelation 12:17

By the time of Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 she was known as the “Grandmother of Europe”. She had a total of thirty-seven grandchildren many of whom were married into the royal households. Throughout her long reign she managed to capture and hold the imagination of her subjects demonstrated by an almost prophetic ability as Lord Salisbury observed in the House of Lords in 1901:

“She had an extraordinary knowledge of what her people would think – extraordinary, because it could not come from any personal intercourse. I have said for years that I have always felt that when I knew what the Queen thought; I knew pretty certainly what views her subjects would take, and especially the middle class of her subjects.”

Any future conflict in the European arena would involve Victoria’s descendants. In many respects World War One was like an extreme family feud for the Kaiser, King George V of Great Britain, Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, King Ferdinand of Romania and King Albert of Belgium were all cousins. In the years leading up to the conflict the stability of the International system was kept in check by a system of alliances. Only Britain was not committed to any of these alliances preferring the benefits of “splendid isolation” which only the worlds most advanced industrialised nation could afford to do. But in the years leading up to 1914 the economic climate was moving on and there were other major world competitors on the scene. The most likely area of conflict it was felt at the time was Anglo- Russian since Russia equalled Britain in resources. But gradually that conception changed when Germany alarmingly increased her naval size then all eyes began to turn on the colonial ambitions of Victoria’s grandson the German Kaiser.



Chapter 13

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Revelation 13:1

The Beast Out Of The Sea

John’s vision has now shown us the dragon in the form of the beast, but with a significant difference. Previously the red dragon had ten horns with seven heads with seven crowns upon those heads but now a beast from the sea emerges having seven heads without crowns with ten horns gaining crowns signifying that the seven previous monarchs (George I, George II, George III, George IV, Ernest King of Hanover son of George III, William IV and Queen Victoria) have now moved over to make room for ten new rulers. To identify these ten horns we have to count the number of surviving descendants of Queen Victoria that held a crown after her death in 1901. Also since the time period concerned involves the rulers of the sea beast we have to look towards the subsequent years that saw the zenith of the British Empire and its collapse after the Second World War. These ten new rulers were (Edward VII 1841-1910), (William II 1859-1941), (Maud, Queen of Norway 1869-1938), (George V 1865-1936), (Edward VIII 1894-1972 abdicated in 1936) (George VI 1895-1952), (Alix Tsarina of Russia 1872-1918), (Marie Queen of Romania 1875-1938), (Victoria, Queen of Spain 1887-) and (Sophie 1870-1932 Queen of Greece).

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“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it: and it had ten horns.” Dan 7:7


“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”

Revelation 13:2

The identification of the beast that emerges from the sea combines three beast-like characteristics, a leopard, a lion and a bear. The sea beast John is describing is the blazoned emblem of the English nation. A leopard as in ancient heraldry meant a lion passant guardant, a lion walking. The early English heralds seem to have confused the lion with the leopard and considered a lion walking and looking about him to be behaving like a leopard, though without the spots or other leopard like characteristics. The lion is the most popular beast in heraldry and he appears in the coats of arms of many nations but no other country has symbolised the beast as leo-parde, or lion as a leopard with the jaws of a lion the body of a leopard and the feet of a bear. Napoleon himself called the English the leopards. *
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• “After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given it.” Dan 7:6

(Here we may associate the leopard with emblem of England, the four heads with the union of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales that make up Great Britain.)


“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”

Revelation 13:3

In John’s vision one of the seven heads of the sea beast is seen to have a fatal wound, which was healed. The head in question is that of Queen Victoria’s grandfather George III (1738-1820) who was called “mad King George”. During at least four times during his reign he suffered from the royal hereditary disease porphyria, which had tormented Mary Queen of Scots, who passed it down to her son, King James I of England. It is caused by a chemical insufficiency in the production of haemoglobin. During his periods of pain he suffered paralysis and deliriums, which incapacitated him from carrying out his royal duties properly. He was by nature a loving family man cherishing his children but with the loss of his favourite daughter Amelia he finally lost his sanity and died “mad and blind” at the age of eighty-one.


“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

Revelation 13:4


As King George V the grandson of Queen Victoria set sail for India in 1911 to receive homage from his vassals as King-Emperor, the British Empire was at its highest imperial splendour. King George V reigned over a quarter of the globes population. Indeed who could challenge such an Empire on which the sun never set, blessed was he with wealth, stability and glory with new territories drawn, new countries established such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada which he filled with émigrés establishing control over the indigenous population. The British Empire generated a strong fervent hold on the mind of all its subjects inducing a patriotic and national pride in her achievements for ‘Who is able to make war with him.’ When it came to the call up of recruits for the First World War there was little resistance to defend King and country.


“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

Revelation 13:5-10

On 28th June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir to the Austrian throne was shot and killed by a Serbian nationalist it was the spark that lit the First World War. Austria declared war on Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia and France, Britain followed suit and declared war on Germany. In less than a week the European powers were at war.

The euphoria in Britain was so immense large crowds gathered to cheer volunteers as they rushed to form long queues outside recruitment offices. Posters were generated by the government and advertised outside football grounds saying…have you forgot there is a war on, “Your country needs you! Other posters played on the emotions as children were seen asking, what did you do in the war daddy? The Christian anti- war posters with…repent; the time is at hand were torn down.

The Church of England an instrument of state acted like recruiting sergeants as preachers told their congregations the need to serve “King and Country” above the holy table was seen the union jack, shields carrying the flags of allied nations. During those years there was no room for the conscientious observer as old men targeted the young, why you not at war they cried! And young girls gave boys white feathers for cowardice. But a few like Edward Grey, the British foreign secretary could sense the disaster looming when he famously remarked, “The lamps were going out all over Europe”.

As the two main protagonists of the war Britain and Germany became embroiled in fruitless bloody trench battles eventually the conflict spread to each sides colonies. In Egypt British and Ottoman troops fought for control of the Suez-canal. In Persia a pan-Islamic army fought to overthrow the pro-British government. In East Africa, von Lettow Vorbeck lead a campaign against the British. When after four years the war was finally over and the armistice signed the cost of the human tragedy was ten million dead a flower of a generation lost.


“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.”

Revelation 13:11


The Beast Out Of The Earth

The description of this beast is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Germany’s defeat and subsequent political upheaval sowed the seeds of a new political movement that was to become the sole ruling party in Germany. The man behind this movement was Adolph Schicklgruber born 20th April 1889 who became at the age of 44 dictator of Germany, otherwise known as Adolf Hitler leader of the Nazi Party. In 1918 he joined the insignificant German workers party and was put in charge of propaganda building it up renaming it the Nazi party. In an attempt to seize undemocratic power in the (beer hall) putsch (1923) he was imprisoned. He used this time to develop his ideas preparing the first volume of Mein Kampf (my struggle 1925) in which he wrote, “My conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator…Im standing guard against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord.” Hitler was a gifted political agitator and extraordinarily magnetic orator who in 1930 became runner up in the presidential elections gaining six million votes. Finally in 1933 he became chancellor and dictator of Germany, which lasted until his death in 1945. His first acts in power were to round up his political opponents, open the concentration camps and to declare the Third Reich, which he later enlarged by annexing both Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938. In 1939 he entered Poland, which ignited the Second World War (1939-1945).

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• “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things” Dan 7:8


• “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Dan 7:25 (time = 1 times = 2 dividing of time=1/2. Together = 12 ½ years. 1933 + 12 ½ =1945 ½)
• The horoscope of Adolph Hitler. Born 20 /4/ 1889 at 6.19pm. L.M.T, Austria. Sun sign 0.48 (Taurus), Ascendant 24.20 (Libra).



“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”

Revelation 13:12

The apostle refers to the first beast ‘whose deadly wound was healed’ which was King George III one of the seven heads of the sea beast. What is implied is that the earth beast worships and admires the sea beast and causes the people likewise to worship him. Which is interesting because the records of Hitler’s private talks show that he had a secret admiration for Britain and a reluctance to destroy the British Empire gained mostly under King George III, which he regarded as a stabilising element in the world indeed he hoped to secure Britain as a partner. His wishes and sentiments seem to of been actualised in 1941 when Rudolf Hess deputy leader of the nazi party secretly flew to Britain it is presumed without Hitler’s consent to negotiate peace with Germany but the mission was aborted after he was captured, Britain at that time had no intention for such a deal.

“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.”

Revelation 13:13

To demonstrate the superiority of the Reich the company Zeppelin built the LZ-129 airship otherwise known as the Hindenburg. It was the world’s first transatlantic commercial airliner with a length of 245 meters and an utmost diameter of 41 meters, a class apart, in sheer size alone. After completing a number of successful flights across the Atlantic she exploded into a ball of flame as she manoeuvred to land at Lakehurst New Jersey on 6th May 1937. Over 35 passengers and crew were lost out of a total of 97 people on board. The tragedy ranks as one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century, which was broadcast, live on radio and captured on film to be seen across the world.


“And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.”

Revelation 13:14

Adolph Hitler came to power as German dictator on the platform of peace, prosperity and plenty. He brought about radical changes that seemed to benefit the German people, reducing unemployment and revitalising the national spirit, yet it was a false peace he withdrew from the disarmament conference and League of Nations (1933) yet signed a peace treaty with Poland (1934). The alliance of Russia and Franch he used as an excuse to remilitarise the Rhineland (1936) and later in the year he established a pact with Mussolini’s fascists. A year later came the anti-comintern pact with Japan. At every step while consolidating his own position he allayed the fears of other European nations by appearing as the guard against Bolshevism. When in 1938 Hitler annexed Austria followed by Czechoslovakia the then British Prime Minister Joseph Chamberlain remarked, “A far away country, has been sacrificed to a ruthless dictator whose appetite for conquest seems to grow with each success.”


“Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”

Revelation 13: 14

William II the German Kaiser was the grandson of Queen Victoria. He ruled imperial Germany from 1888-1919. He was born with a damaged left arm, which never grew to full size; damage incurred at birth through the use of medical forceps ‘the wound by a sword.’ He always appeared with his hand discreetly gloved. He had a militaristic manner, which with his “urge for world power” propagated the First World War. Following the collapse of the German army in 1918 he was forced to abdicate. He sought asylum in the Netherlands where he later died in 1941. He was buried with full military honours by order of Adolph Hitler.


“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”

Revelation 13:15

Hitler declared “Force without spiritual foundation was doomed to failure” of the nazi state he said “ Its doctrines will be unchangeable…Its total image…will be like a holy order” and announced “The old beliefs will be brought back to honour again… We will wash off the Christian veneer and bring out a religion peculiar to our race”. Indeed the nazi state was a marriage of occult religion with imperial power, an image symbolised by the use of the swastika surmounted by the imperial eagle, a twisted reflection of Germany’s imperial past. And to those that did not belong in the nazi image the official programme stated “None but members of the Nation may be citizens of the state. None but those of German blood whatever creed may be members of the Nation. No Jew, therefore, may be a member of the Nation.”


“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

Revelation 13:16-17

On the 1st April 1933 a boycott of all Jewish shops in Germany took place. Swastika arm banded storm troopers armed with paint pots and brushes daubed the walls and doors of all Jewish owned businesses. Boycott placards were placed outside with slogans ‘JEWS OUT’ ‘PERISH JUDAH’. Intimidated customers were warned to keep out and told, not to buy or sell here. By such actions the Nazis succeeded in undermining the economic survival of German Jewry. Jews were dismissed from local government service, attending law courts and universities. They were prevented from engaging in any business or profession, from owning land. They were excluded from libraries; parks and museums all were closed to them. They were forbidden to use public transport or to even use the telephone. Under the Nuremburg race laws of 1935 they had lost their right to German citizenship. The blazon on hat or arm of the nazi swastika saw the difference between a man who could thrive or die in nazi Germany during the 1930’s.

“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

Revelation 13:18

666

John asks him that hath wisdom and understanding to count the number of the beast. It is a number that occurs twice in the Old Testament Kings 1 10:14 and Chronicles 2 9:13 the weight of gold of Solomon’s tribute his emphasis on David’s son who went on to build the Lord’s Temple seems deliberate for he was renowned for his wisdom, Kings 1 4:29-30 “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.”

We shall now decipher the number of the beast, which has the numeric value given to us as 666. Ancient mathematics as used in John’s day inherited the idea derived from the Pythagorean School that numbers could also represent geometrical shapes. The number of the beast for example is given to us in the mysterious 666. Numerals composed of 3 numeric shapes made up of the number (6) which if we fashion together in a clockwise rotation we get the formation below. The missing bar providing us with the key to unravelling the mystery and showing us how the number relates to the beast. A variant reading in ancient texts also gives us the number 616, which suggests this number has similar properties to 666. Once again if we fashion these numerals together in a clockwise rotation we get a similar result with the missing bar providing us with the clue to unlocking the mystery.



In 1935, the swastika was adopted as the national symbol of Germany. It was a symbol used in ancient cultures long before the Nazis took it as their own. The major differences being the arms of the swastika were turned clockwise and placed at a slant destroying the positive symbolism.



Chapter 14

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

Revelation 14: 1

The Lamb And The 144 000.

The lamb stood on Mount Zion, which is the easternmost of the two hills of ancient Jerusalem. It is to Zion that the ancient prophets said the exiles would be restored and there find God. For the Jewish Zionists of the 19th-20th century movement called Zionism their dream of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine was coming true. A trickle of the descendents that were dispersed throughout the gentle lands after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD was now in the early part of the twentieth century returning back to the Holy Land. Between 1926-1927 the Jewish population in Palestine stood around 144 000 the prophesised number of those that were to be sealed and protected from the coming tribulation that was to effect the Jewish race and the rest of the world.

Jewish Population Growth in Palestine

Year Estimated
Jewish
Population

1882 30 000
1919 65 000
1926 144 000
1929 157 000
1939 446 000
1944 525 000

They brought with them the tallith a prayer shawl and the tefillin, the two black leather boxes containing scriptural passages from Exodus 13:1-10, 11-16 and Deuteronomy 6: 4-9, 11:13-21 which was placed on the forehead during prayer. In John’s vision they have the fathers name written on their foreheads. On the sides of the head tefilla is written the Hebrew letter U, the first letter of shaddai meaning Almighty.

“Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”

Isaiah 66:7-8


“And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders.”

Revelation 14: 2-3

The astronomer Karl Jansky working in the Bell telephone laboratories (USA) in 1931 discovered that the stars in our galaxy not only emitted light waves but also radio waves. With this new discovery came the development of the radio telescope, basically a parabolic dish that reflected incoming radio waves onto a pickup antenna. In John’s vision he hears this new sound coming from the cosmos just after the Jewish population in Palestine had reached over 144, 000.


“And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.”

Revelation 14:3

When the Nazis gained political power in Germany (1933) they set out to reconstruct German life. The ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda attempted to exert complete control over the mass media and the arts, which included radio broadcasting. When the BBC World Service began its unbiased reporting of the Second World War this service could be heard throughout the world, Jews interned in the concentration camps were unable to receive these broadcasts but those redeemed in the safe haven of Palestine were able to.


“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.”

Revelation 14: 4-5

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the land of Israel is often spoken of as a figure of a woman, the “wife of Yahweh “ the virgin, the daughter of Zion” which is another name for the nation of Israel (the whole 12 tribes). As the first Jewish Zionists arrived from around the world reconciled to their historic homeland Israel was being created anew. John refers to these Jews as not being defiled by women probably because they followed the letter of the Law and did not intermarry with the gentiles. John also says they are the “First fruits” a Hebrew term referring to the first crop that is given at harvest as an offering to God. The 144 000 were the sealed and protected children of the Apocalypse saved from the holocaust that was later to affect their brethren which John later describes as the harvest of the earth. But before that fate the Lord had for himself secured a remnant of his people so that through their seed the nation of Israel would grow.


“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

Revelation 14: 6-7

The First Angels Warning

In John’s vision the first angel gives a warning to those that preach the everlasting gospel, which means we must now look to the Church and the Vatican in Rome. The warning is given loud and clear for the hour of God’s judgment has come.

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) like Hitler served in the First World War who later on went on to form an extremist political movement. He came to power after marching from Naples to Rome with 30,000 of his supporters forcing the Italian government to resign and establish him as dictator of Italy (1922). He quickly centralised all power in himself and attempted to create an Italian Empire, ultimately in alliance with Hitler’s Third Reich.

Mussolini wanted to see fascism penetrate into every aspect of Italian society to do so he needed to secure the support of the Vatican in Rome. In a subtle political move a compromise was reached between the Church and state in the Lateran agreement of 1929. In return for the Church’s support, the concordat established Catholicism as the state religion of fascist Italy. It was during this agreement that the Church was seen to throw its support behind Italian and German involvement in the Spanish civil war (1936) and Mussolini’s annexation of Ethiopia (1935). As Nazi aggression became clear to the world Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) remarked on the 24th November 1940 ‘We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of events foretold by Christ.’

“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken into.” Matthew 24: 42


“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

Revelation 14:8


The Second Angels Warning

The second angel announces the destruction of a great city whose name is Babylon. After the first angel had given his warnings to the Vatican in Rome now our attention is turned to the country that was to become the second member of the axis fascist alliance. She is told of a great disaster that will befall her capital city. In 1923 the kanto earthquake razed Tokyo to the ground. It inflicted such damage that it stood as the greatest earthquake in Japan’s history. Killing over 300, 000 and leaving almost 2, 500 000 people homeless. Many of the surrounding cities like Yokohama were also levelled. The fires that swept through the city centres left people burnt to death in its wake. The reason given for such a disaster ‘because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her immorality.’

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have proposed it, I will also do it.” Isaiah 46: 9-11


“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”

Revelation 14: 9-11

The Third Angels Warning

The third angel warns against worshipping the beast and receiving his mark (666). As Adolph Hitler established his grip and hold on the German people a new holy order began to develop as party activists began to deify him as leader and saviour. In 1936 the National Reich Church was established as a replacement to the Christian Church. Baptism of infants was performed by S.S warrior priests for dedicating babies to the S.S and they also conducted marriage services of S.S officers.

The nature and structure of the new German Church is gleaned from the following quote:

“The National Reich Church demands an immediate stop to the printing and sale of the Bible in Germany. The National Reich Church will remove from the alters of all Churches the Bible, the cross and religious objects. On the altars there must be nothing but Mein Kampt, and to the left of this a sword.”

The high priest of the nazi mystic order was Heinrich Himmler where in his castle Wewelsburg he gathered together twelve selected S.S priests to conduct what appears to be occult blood rights. They stood amidst an effigy of an Arthurian round table where they paid homage to Aryan and Nordic gods while consecrating themselves to the nazi cause. In the middle of the floor there was a mosaic of a black star where was placed the ashes of those that died within the demonic priestly circle.

“But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against whom do ye sport yourselves? Against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?” Isaiah 57:3-5


“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”

Revelation 14: 12-13

A future promise of a blessing is given to all those that labour for the Lord. Death here is re-emphasised clearly a holocaust is in store for the blessing here is given as one before a battle but it is a blessing of hope because no matter what happens in the future the Lord will look after those that will die in the service of the Lord. During the Second World War many people lost their life as the stranglehold of the nazi regime took its hold in Europe. Resistance took many forms from the Jewish uprisings in the ghettoes to the partisan movements in conquered German territories to the revolts in the death camps like Auschwitz to the Christian families and institutions that provided refuge for Jewish children. There are countless individual stories of bravery in the face of insurmountable odds that occurred during the war years but most have one theme in common they witness Godly people risking their life for their fellow man. The Lord promises to bless his saints both Jews and Christians those that keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus who refuse to worship the beast.


“And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.”

Revelation 14:14-16

Following the consolidation of Adolph Hitler’s power in the German march elections of 1933 the first concentration camp at Dachau, near Munich was opened. Before the end of the month several thousand opponents of the regime including communists, socialists and liberals were rounded up along with several hundred Jews and interned there. The concentration camp was run by the S.S, it was a place of brutality.


“And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”

Revelation 14: 17-20

The Jews and many other groups suffered persecution in Germany from 1933 but it was not until 1938 and after the destruction of Jewish property on “Kristallnaucht” that the wholesale persecution of the Jews began and they were systematically rounded up and sent to concentration camps. In the early part of 1941 the Jewish question was finalised. Outside the cities where no eye could see, death camps like Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka, Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzec and others were built. Inside these camps brutalisation, experiments on children, decapitalated corpses, shrunken heads, piles of bodies thrown into dug pits, gas chambers disguised as showers, there bodies being removed and sent to adjacent crematoriums.

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“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (seven years): and in the midst of the week (three and half years) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Dan 9:27



Chapter 15

And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Revelation 15: 1-8





Chapter 16

And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

Revelation 16:1-2

The First Bowl Of Wrath

In Paris on November 7th 1938 Ernest von Rath a German diplomat was shoot by a 17-year-old Polish Jewish student. News of his death reached Adolph Hitler in Munich on November 9th where he was celebrating the anniversary of his abortive 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. As a reprisal Joseph Goebbels agreed with Hitler to organise a night of terror throughout Germany. During the night of 9th-10th November 1938 more than 91 Jews were killed, hundreds more injured, and many more humiliated. Thousands of Jewish businesses were gutted and Jewish synagogues were burned. The wholesale destruction of Jewish property led to so much broken glass on the streets that the night was given the name Kristallnacht or night of broken glass. Kristallnaucht marked an intensification of the persecution of German Jewry, immediately after this event, 30 000 Jews were seized and sent to concentration camps at Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. It was the beginning of the Holocaust. In John’s vision the foul and loathsome sores were the result of the many injuries received from the flying broken glass on those committing the offence those who had the mark of the beast.


“And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.”

Revelation 16: 3

The Second Bowl Of Wrath

Before the outbreak of the Second World War preparations had been made for sorties of German ocean going U-boats (submarines) to transverse the North Sea in secret. A number of these vessels lay waiting to the west of the British Isles and down the Atlantic coast of Europe as far as the straits of Gibraltar. The chief of the German U-boat arm, Kapitan Karl Donitz had been given the command in the outbreak of war to operate against merchant shipping. According to (prise regulations) the attack procedure was to stop and search merchantmen and ensure all passengers and crew were in the life boats within safe reach of land before sinking the vessel. Following the declaration of war Adolph Hitler formally approved the withdrawal of (prise regulations) for attacks on merchant ships in the North Sea. Which was then followed by an order for U-boats to attack without warning all ships identified as hostile. Before long a state of unrestricted U-boat warfare existed even civilian liners were attacked as Kapitan Donitz issued orders to his crews ‘rescue no one…have no care for the ships boats’. World War Two saw extensive military campaigns on all the worlds’ oceans. In John’s vision “every living soul died in the sea”.


“And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.”

Revelation 16: 4-7

The Third Bowl Of Wrath

On the night of 16th May 1943 “Operation Chastise” was launched. Nineteen Lancaster aircrafts led by Wing Cdr G.P. (Guy) Gibson took off from RAF Scampton. A military attack aimed at the heart of Germany’s armament industry in the Ruhr and her movement of war materials through the Weser Valley and Mittelland Canal. Known as the Dam busters raid “Operation Chastise” succeeded in breaching both the Mohne and Eder Dams releasing torrents of water from their reservoirs into the valleys beneath and in the process drowning many thousands of civilians. The uniqueness of the operation was in the weapon devised by Sir Barnes Wallis of a flying bomb that once released from an airborne aircraft skipped along the water surface until it hit the target, then spinning back to release its depth charge. The success of the Allied mission reverberated around the world and the tremendous psychological effect was so enormous it uplifted the Allied resolve.


“And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.”

Revelation 16: 8-9

The Fourth Bowl Of Wrath

Following the allied conferences in Casablanca and Washington it was agreed as a forerunner of a land invasion the future directive would be the strategic bombing of Germany. With the combined bombing offensive of the British Lancaster’s bombing at night and the American B17 Flying Fortresses by day, the objective of ‘point blank’ was put into operation. Between March and July 1943 the ‘ battle of the Ruhr ‘ was underway with a series of 43 major raids being conducted over German cities and major centres. Between July and November the ‘ battle of Hamburg ‘ produced a further 33 major raids combining in the biggest, known as ‘ Operation Gomorrah ‘ which took place in the early hours of 28th July. The combination of explosives and incendiaries with the tinder dry conditions produced a firestorm over Hamburg which burned out 8 square miles of the city killing 42 000 people. But the effects of this massive offensive did not bring Germany down to its knees. As the civilians cowered in their shelters under the heavy bombing there resolve only increased. As they witnessed the deaths of their loved ones this only hardened their hatred for the Allied raiders.


“And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.”

Revelation 16: 10-11

The Fifth Bowl Of Wrath

Following the ‘battle of the Ruhr’ and the ‘battle of Hamburg’ came the ‘battle of Berlin’ the capital of the Third Reich. This air battle lasting from November 1943 to March 1944 saw 16 major raids and 20 000 sorties against the German capital and other cities. As the 12000lb ‘ earthquake ‘ bombs were released the city of Berlin was plunged into darkness. This massive air offensive on the ‘ throne of the beast’ culminated in the Nuremberg raid of 30th March, with 795 bombers releasing their hardware over the site of Hitler’s massed Nazi rallies of the 1930’s. Nevertheless the Allied attempt to weaken the will of the German people did not prevail nor did it succeed in reducing the enemy’s ability for production of war materials. The main thrust of the Allied war effort was now redirected to attacking selected military targets such as the bombing of ball bearing plants, rocket sites, oil targets and coastal batteries. The stage was now being set for the eventual Allied land invasion.


“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.”

Revelation 16:12

The Sixth Bowl Of Wrath

The German army had invaded Russia on June 22nd 1941. Three great German armies crossed the Russian frontiers in a ‘Blitzkrieg’ a lighting war in the great offensive code-named Barbarossa. But after initial success by the 14th October the forces of operation Typhoon, Hitler’s drive to capture Moscow had come to a halt as the German forces struggled through the worsening weather conditions. This was the Rasputitsa, the Russian season of mud. Then on the 20th November the first snows began to drop as temperatures sank below minus 30 degrees. With the first snows came the cruel Russian winter of 1941, one of the coldest on record. Paralysed by the weather conditions the ‘wehrmacht ’ offensive became a crawl, as its mechanised forces froze in the bitter cold. In Johns vision the river Euphrates dried up making way for the kings of the east an allegory for the icy conditions that finally halted the German strategic initiative and that enabled the Russian forces who were well prepared for the winter conditions to regroup and finally launch a counter offensive, which eventually lead to the collapse of the German campaign.


“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”

Revelation 16: 13-16


Armageddon

The shores of England saw the biggest invasion force ever assembled in the history of military conflict. An armed force consisting of 10 000 aircraft, over 4000 landing craft, and over 1500 warships. Eisenhower was appointed the supreme allied commander fro what was code-named ‘Operation Overlord’ the Allied offensive to defeat nazi Germany in Europe. This was a make or break situation, this was deliverance day; this was the great day of God Almighty. On the very night of the attack a wild storm raged in the English Channel delaying the offensive for 24 hours another 24 hour delay and the invasion would have had been halted due to prevailing unfavourable tidal and moon phase conditions. But finally Eisenhower gave the decision to go ahead so on the 6th June 1944 the massive offensive forces landed on the beaches of Normandy in France. The Germans who had for months been preparing for the Allied onslaught by building a defensive ‘ Atlantic Wall ‘ were caught off guard and the enormous forces arrayed against them were too great to force for them back into the sea. Once the allied offensive had established a foothold, the advance from the beachheads was hampered by one of the worst storms in Europe for years. In John’s vision three demon spirits work miracles to oppose the Allies. The dragon, that ancient serpent called the devil, that rages on this earth to hamper the ‘Sons of Light’. The beast of the nazi war machine that fortifies his defences and, the false prophet Adolph Hitler with his new miracle weapon the V2 rocket aimed at the heart of the people of the liberating forces. Many soldiers bearing their heavy packs drowned before their landing craft reached the beaches many more were yet to die. The battle of Armageddon had begun.


“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”


“And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”

Revelation 16: 17-21


The Seventh Bowl Of Wrath

By November 1944, most of France, Belgium and Greece had been liberated as over two million Allied soldiers fought there way across Europe. Germany retaliated by launching the Ardennes offensive, which strove to push the allies back towards the sea. As a reprisal allied bombers carried out a ‘terrorization’ on the nazi occupied cities, which reached a crescendo in the attack on the city of Dresden on the 13th-14th February 1945. Over 1200 British and American bombers released their deadly cargo striking at the city centre. Eight square miles of the city was reduced to ruin as firestorms raged, the streets became littered with thousands of burnt and maimed corpses, peoples clothing ripped and burnt off by the firestorms, with many lying dead from asphyxiation. Under a pale of smoke, three and a half miles high Dresden could be seen hundreds of miles away as she burnt for a week. At least 130 000 people were killed many more were lost and many never found incinerated by the intense heat with up to 400 000 casualties in the greatest blitz of the war.


Chapter 17

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Revelation 17:1-2

Babylon

The Japanese Empire was essentially a sea empire. After her attack on Pearl Harbour on the 7th December 1941,which eventually brought the Americans into the war she invaded Hong Kong, the Philippines, Burma, Malaya and Singapore. Within the space of 4 months of conquest Japan established, with her possessions in China what was called ‘The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ Japan a country lying of the east coast of Asia sits alone in the Pacific, ocean. She devoid of much natural resource depended for her survival on trade with the Asian mainland with her merchant ships supplying her people, and it was the attack on those vessels during World War II by American submarines that caused her eventual economic collapse. It was this exploitation of Japans economic weakness and dependence on overseas goods that was decisive in defeating the country.


“So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

Revelation 17:3-5

The whore of Babylon has remained a mystery for generations of scholars but here in this interpretation she is identified with Japan. A vision given of a woman decked in precious jewels having all the rich trappings, purple and scarlet drapery, jewellery hanging from the skirt clearly identifies her with the Goddess Kichijoten the Japanese deity of beauty and good fortune. A famous representation of her comes from the arts of the Fujiwara period (12th century) in the famous Joruri-Ji statute from Kyoto. She is seen standing on a base of horns and her dress partitions into seven pleats, an allegory of the seven heads and ten horns described by John, while with her right hand she makes the segan’in gesture (the Indian varadamudra), signifying the granting of desires, and in her raised left hand she holds the hoju (cup), the wish-fulfilling jewel. The apostle calls her the harlot the mother of whores which is difficult to understand unless one considers her Indian ancestry for Kichijoten is a female deity derived from Laksmi, the wife of Vishnu, the goddess of fortune in the Indian pantheon. The Laksmi temple in Khajuraho, Madja Pradesh is famous for its erotic sculptures depicting the Kama Sutra.


“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”

Revelation 17:6

When in the early part of the 1600’s Dutch traders arrived in Japan it saw a conflict of interests between the Catholic Jesuits and the Protestant Dutch. Rumours of each other’s colonial intentions were circulated and it was this rivalry between the faiths and the fear it engendered among the Japanese that forced Ieyasu to issue in 1614 an edict suppressing western trade and Christianity in the country. After which Japan became a closed world her polices excluded all foreign persons including western books, religion and technology and Christianity along with other western ideas were banned being seen as hostile and a threat to her independence and imperial status. There were over 150 000 Christians among the 200 churches in the country that were told to leave and those that did not faced death. Many Jesuit missionaries refused and were captured and forced to tread on Christian symbols like the cross or pictures of Jesus and Mary and told by the shogunate to renounce the faith. Many were beheaded, while others were hung upside down in pits. Many converted Christians were told to recount and those that would not were tortured hideously suffering long drawn-out, agonising deaths. The persecution was long and bloody between 1597-1660 the Catholic records list over 3125 Christian martyrs and saints that died for their beliefs. Between 1662 and 1666 a greater persecution of Christianity was carried out when no less than 20, 000 saints were massacred. The residue of the adherents to the new faith moved to Siniabara, on the island of Ximio, to make their last stand but they too were ruthlessly murdered. Finally along with other trade the Christian religion all but ceased in Japan after the country closed her doors to the outside world in the mid 17th century.
Japans doors were reopened to the West in the 19th century where she became a source of intense curiosity. The visions of the apostle re-emphasises time and time again that through the woman of the Harlot the ‘nations have drunk the wine of her immorality.’ It was of course through the medium of Japanese martial arts and other methods of self-defence that many of the samurai values and beliefs were transmitted to non-Japanese cultures, many of the world’s youth becoming devotees of the systems of Judo, Karate-do, Kendo and Aikido, which preserved aspects of the samurai legacy outside Japan.


“And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 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.”

Revelation 17:7-8

The Beast, that was.

The beast from the bottomless pit is brought to the surface again; this was the beast that destroyed the two witnesses Lenin and Trotsky in Chapter 11. Joseph Stalin who after Lenin’s death became the effective leader of the Soviet Union. While promoting the deceased leaders cult Stalin promoted his own and had the city of Tsarist renamed Stalingrad. Stalin’s main political rival was Trotsky the apparent heir to Lenin who was ousted from the leadership by a ruling triumvirate of Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, and Stalin. Trotsky was finally exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929 and was assassinated on the orders of Stalin in Mexico in 1940.

After assuming dictatorship Stalin abandoned Lenin’s quasi-capitalist ideas for running the state with a state-organised industrialisation policy to be carried out in five-year plans. These policies were most heavily felt by the peasantry were over 25 000 000 rustic households were compelled to amalgamate into collective farms, this collectivisation was meet with great resistance from the Mushiks. Stalin’s troops and political police units were sent in to arrest, shoot and exile all those uncooperative in carrying out his policies, many were sent to the Siberian concentration camps. Over 10 000 000 peasants renamed Kulaks, peasants that resisted, were killed during this early period of Stalin’s rule.

Then in 1934 Stalin organised the great political purges of his party. On the 1st December of that year Sergey Kirov a leading member of the communist party was murdered undoubtedly on the say so of Stalin himself on which pretext Stalin launched a bloody terror campaign which resulted in the mass blood shed of innocent victims involving all sectors of Soviet society. Party officials, industrial managers, political police and other governmental employees were all implicated and sentenced to death on fabricated evidence produced in show trials. The main Purges occurring between the trials of 1936, 37, 38 where many militarily personnel including many influential generals were court- marshalled and sentenced to death. The persecution spread throughout Soviet society to include the arts, academics, legal and diplomatic professions and finally the general population.


The Beast, that was not.

When on 23rd August 1939 Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler it was only a matter of time before Europe would be at war. The treaty enabled Germany to invade Poland without the risk of war on her eastern flank. After Germany invaded Poland on the 1st September 1939 the Second World War had begun and within the year Germany had invaded and conquered Europe whose armies were in tatters from the onslaught of the ‘wehrmact Blitzkrieg’ and only the English Channel stood between Britain and her defeat. After a decisive battle in the air that saw the staving of invasion of Britain Germany then on June 22nd 1941 invaded Russia nullifying the non-aggression pact of 1939. Russia now entered the war and Germany would have to fight on two fronts. It was a decisive move that eventually led to Germanys defeat for it was Stalin’s strong leadership his generals brilliance and the Russian peoples grim determination in the face of savage hostilities that turned the tide of the Second World War. The Russian victory in the east enhanced her status with the western allies and consolidated Stalin’s position as Russia’s Victorious leader.


The Beast, that is.

Following the defeat of Germany by the victorious allied leaders of Britain, United States and Russia a conference between them was held at Potsdam to discuss the future of Europe. The meeting fell apart through disagreement Stalin now regarding his continuing alliance with the west as finished he now saw these countries as his new arch-enemies. Before long an iron curtain stretching from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic separated the capitalist west from the communist east.

The strained relations between east and west saw the partition of Germany with the Berlin wall and the beginning of the cold war. When Yugoslavia under Tito defected in 1948 from the soviet sphere Stalin instigated show trials among the other leaders of the satellite states of the Soviet Union many confessed to Taoism and were executed. At home Stalin tightened Marxist ideology and began a reign of terror under his chief ideologist Andrey Zhdanov on the Russian artistic and intellectual world. In his final years he became increasingly paranoid as he began to fabricate yet another reason for a purge hatched in the ‘Doctors’ Plot’ where many Jewish medical doctors were accused of murdering Soviet officials he suddenly died on 5th March 1953 the purges then ceased.


“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”

Revelation 17:9-11


The Seven Mountains

Tokyo the capital of Japan lies on the island of Honshu one of seven mountainous Island groups that make up Japan, the rest are Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kyushu, Ryukyu, Ogsawara and Kazan.


The five Fallen Kings

Japan is a state ruled by the same dynasty from ancient times to the present, its first Emperor Jimmu Tenno beginning his rule in the early first century AD. He first ruled a small region in southern Honshu gradually extending his control over the various Islands, though the island of Hokkaido was not brought under Japanese rule until modern times. During the inter war years Hirohito following the death of his father Yoshihito (1912-1926) became the 126th direct line descendant of the first Emperor when he was enthroned in 1926. But Japan was not always ruled by the same dynasty. In the 9th century AD, the Fujiwara gained effective control of the government, reducing the emperors to a largely ceremonial role. Then in the 12th century the Minamoto family seized power and established the first dynasty of Shoguns (1192-1219).


The first King

The Minamoto family established the first dynasty of Shoguns (1192-1219).

The Second King

Then followed the Fujiwara Shoguns (1220-1251) the second family dynasty.

The Third King

The Imperial Shoguns (1251-1333) the third family dynasty.

The fourth King

The Ashikaga Shoguns (1338-1573) the fourth family dynasty.

The Fifth King

These dynasties were suppressed by the dictator of Japan, Hideyoshi, in 1573, but later revived by the Tokugawa Shoguns (1603-1867) the fifth and last Shogun dynasty in Japan.

The Sixth King

In John’s vision he says five Kings have fallen, and one is. The sixth King is the Emperor Horopito who ruled during the Second World War. He was directly descended from his first predecessor Emperor Jimmu Tenno through some 70 generations.

The Seventh King

John says the seventh King must continue a short time. With the collapse of Japan in 1945 Horopito in an imperial decree declared his divinity to be a “false conception” founded in fiction. As a measure of direct rule he placed the government of the country in the hands of Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko a direct descendent of the Emperor Meiji (1867-1912) who became the countries first prime minister and presided over the formal surrender of Japan on 2nd September 1945 he then resigned the following month.

The Eighth King

Before the Japanese surrender on the 14 August 1945 Stalin had amassed a large soviet army ready for the offensive into Southeast Asia. As one and half million soviet soldiers poured over the borders into mainland Asia the fighting was intense going on for five days even after the Japanese had surrendered to the allies. By the 23 August the Red Army had invaded and occupied Manchuria, southern Sakhalin, the pacific coast around Mukden and the Kuril Islands in the pacific. In an enactment of the first Japanese emperors who had acquired there rule through taking control over the various Islands now Stalin took that title and became the eighth King the Russian ruler who is described by the apostle John as the beast from the bottomless pit that ‘goeth to peridition.’


“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”

Revelation 17:12-14

After the war with Germany had ended the Allies met in Potsdam in the southern suburbs of Berlin on 16th July – 2nd August 1945 to discuss Europe’s future. Roosevelt had died a few months earlier and was replaced by Harry Truman. Churchill after failing to win the British general election was replaced by Clement Attlee. Stalin now the only one of the big three allied leaders left in office was in a position to commanded the conference. The red army garrisoned in central Europe were in a position to consolidate their hard won gains. Following the conference and amalgamation of ten states with Stalin’s Russia the Soviet Bloc was formed. The ten satellite countries included Romania, Bulgaria, Hungry, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Albania, Poland and East Germany. As the apostle says these ten horns gave their power and strength to the beast (Stalin).

The communist Party because of its Marxist ideology, considered all religion as the “opium of the people” the Russian Orthodox Church had been persecuted ceaselessly by an atheistic regime since the Russian revolution of 1917. Churches and monasteries were closed down systematically and their communities disbanded. Thousands of practicing Christians had to receive communion in secret masses, the risk to life was enormous. Before the Bolshevik government there were 50 000 priests and 163 bishops in the Russian Church but by the early 1940’s there were only around one hundred priests and only seven bishops. When Nikita Khrushchev (1958-1964) succeeded Nikolai Bulganin as leader of the soviet people he initiated a new anti-religious move throughout the Soviet Bloc. These policies were then adopted by his successor Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982). But through all the anti-religious propaganda and repression of the Church, Christianity among the people survived to see the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
“And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

Revelation 17:15

Southeast Asia incorporates a variety of dialects and languages. In Hong Kong Cantonese, Siyi, Cchaochow, Hakka, Hoklo and Tanka are spoken. In Singapore there are four main languages used, English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. In some countries the name of the country is the name given to the spoken language. The people of the Philippines are called Filipinos and their national language is Pilipino. Over on the Asian mainland across the borders of Myanmar (Burma) the indigenous people there speak the Burmic languages, which has dialectic subgroups of the Burmese-Lolo and the Kachin. In Manchuria people speak mostly Sibo and the Manchu language, which is part of the Manchu-Tungus language group.


“And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.”

Revelation 17:16-17

When Germany was defeated in Europe the country of Japan stood alone in defiance of the allied onslaught. Her empire was dwindling fast but her people choose not to surrender. Her capital city Tokyo along with other main cities were relentlessly bombed but her people dug in deeper unprepared to accept the inevitable. When her defeat was immanent Russia suddenly declared war on Japan launching a massive offensive into Manchuria. The Russians had spent a year planning for this invasion many of her soldier’s veterans of the European war. Some ninety soviet divisions crossed the border the sheer numbers overwhelming the Japanese resistance. As the Russian army marched through Manchuria confiscating the gold bullion she stormed on intent on occupying territory. The effect of the Russian land grab hastened the issue of Japans surrender within the Japanese government. In a meeting of the inner cabinet attended by the Emperor, he pointed out the hopelessness of the situation and declared himself strongly in favour of immediate peace Tokyo finally accepted the Allied surrender terms on the 14th August. Meanwhile, Stalin’s crusade marched on by the 23rd August the Russian troops had occupied the Kurile Islands, southern Sakhalin and the Pacific coast around Mukden. Stalin’s intent was to make Russia a major power in the Pacific. Without telling the allies he planned an invasion of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido in order to make the Soviet Union party to the post-war settlement in Japan. But from fear of alienating the United States he cancelled the operation and halted the war nine days after Japan’s surrender to the Allies.


“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”

Revelation 17:18

The capital city of Japan formerly called Edo was renamed Tokyo meaning “eastern capital” in 1868. As one of the world’s most populous cities in the 20th century she was destined to become the capital of the earths most economically and technologically advanced societies.


Chapter 18

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come.

Revelation 18: 1-10

Japan had already been defeated and was ready to surrender to the allies before the first atomic bomb was dropped. Why, then, was the bomb used? There have been many arguments from the scientists that wanted to justify the vast sums spent on the ‘Manhatten Project’ to the American admission of wanting to keep the Russians out of the war. But none refer to Gods judgment. In John’s Apocalypse he refers to the destruction of the last imperial power that will dominate the earth as Babylon.


The Hiroshima Atomic bomb
(6th August 1945)

For over three years, allied scientists had toiled to produce the ultimate weapon the atomic bomb, which had been developed following the Manhattan Project, launched by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. On the 6th August 1945 the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a medium –size city beside Japans inland sea.

Many of the people had already left Hiroshima through evacuation, but still the city centre was vastly populated. As the atomic bomb exploded people watched as a noiseless flash and a light of a thousand suns seared the sky then suddenly the ground temperature hit 5000 degrees vaporising everything in an instant. Then a vast mushroom cloud towered the heavens that could be seen for hundreds of miles around and the seas below were churned up by the powerful whirlwinds set in motion by the atomic explosion.

In the aftermath women and children could be seen wandering the streets naked clasping their arms spitting blood, vomiting, crying in pain as the atomic blast had torn off both clothes and flesh. Pictures taken of the devastation shocked the world’s community who later mourned for their fellow mans suffering.


“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! For in one hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.”

Revelation 18; 11-20


The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb
(9th August 1945)

“And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

Revelation 18: 21-24



Chapter 19

And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

Revelation 19: 1-16

The Rider On A White Horse

Winston S. Churchill was born in 1874 at Blenheim Palace, the home of his grandparents, the 7th Duke of Marlborough and Duchess Of Marlborough. He was the elder of the two sons of Lord Randolf Churchill and Jennie Jerome of Brooklyn. Through his maternal grandfather, Leonard Jerome, he had at least two forebears who fought against the British in the American War of Independence. According to family tradition he had native American blood as well, Jennie ‘s maternal grandmother, Clarissa Wilcox, was half-Iroquois a linage that was kept secret within the family, as it would have been deeply unfashionable to make such a claim at the time. After graduating from Sand Hurst he saw action as a young cavalry officer in many parts of the globe. He was elected to the House of Commons as conservative member for Oldham in 1900. There he gained political prominence but his judgment became suspect during and after the First World War and as a result he became a lonely political figure until his response to Nazi Germanys challenge brought him the appointment as Britain’s Prime Minister and Warlord in 1940. His leadership lead to Germanys defeat in the war. Highly honoured in his life time he received the Knight of the Garter (KG), 1953; Privy Councillor (PC), 1907; Order of Merit (OM), 1946; Companion of Honour (CH), 1922; and fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), 1941. He also received the Nobel Prize for Literature for his work as a writer and speaker in 1953. In John’s Apocalypse the hoof beats of a white horse are heard and racing behind him a thunder of hoof beats, coming down upon the world to ‘treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.’ His name is the word of God; his name is Winston Church-ill and within the seam of his clothing he has written KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.


“And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.”

Revelation 19: 17-18

The Russian city of Stalingrad saw the titanic struggle between the armies of Hitler and Stalin. The German defeat after 80 days of bitter hand – to- hand fighting propelled the Russians to advance west. But the real turning point of the eastern war occurred at the Battle of Kursk where 6000 tanks clashed in the greatest tank battle ever fought. After the defeat at Kursk the German Blitzkrieg would never again win a campaign they had lost the strategic initiative. As the Russians drove out the invaders in the Crimea Stalin gave orders to kill every German “ Destroy their ships. Shoot down their planes. Don’t allow a single enemy to escape retribution. ” Three years to the day since Germany invaded Russia Stalin’s army began the great offensive code-named ‘Bagration.’ Six thousand Red Air Force planes supported an estimated one million troops in 166 divisions with almost 4000 tanks. The Germans facing this vast military onslaught were driven out of the Baltic, Belorussia, Ukraine and Poland by the autumn of 1944.


“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.”

Revelation 19: 19

By November 1944 the Allied armies under Churchill had made great breakthroughs on the western front and now was making preparation for the advance to the Rhine all was going well and it was felt the war would be over by Christmas. Then suddenly to the allies surprise at exactly 5.30am on the morning of 16th December the German army launched its last great western offensive known as ’ The Battle of the Bulge’. The enemy had gathered together about seventy divisions some 600 000 men in total. This great force, led by its armour, was intended to break through the Ardennes over a 75-mile stretch. The Germans initial success and the seriousness of the situation was causing a split between the Allied command and Eisenhower’s near nervous breakdown had convinced Churchill in the thick of the battle to send Stalin a telegram requesting urgent help. Stalin’s response was as good as his word ”we are preparing to take the offensive” he replied. Before the end of December Hitler had received reports that 225 Russian infantry divisions and twenty-two armoured corps had been identified between the Baltic Sea and the Carpathians, assembled ready to attack. Hitler refused to believe it, and exclaimed: ‘ It’s the biggest imposture since Genghis Khan! Who is responsible for producing this rubbish? ‘ On the same day Churchill received an answer from Stalin, 8th January 1945 Hitler finally ordered the withdrawal of military resources from the Western Front. What was left of Hitler’s Sixth SS Panzer Army was ordered east to meet the new Russian onslaught, which began on the 12th January 1945.


“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

Revelation 19:20

The Beast From the
Earth is Defeated

As the Russian armies launched their massive attack along the Eastern Front they had rolled into Germany and were poised on the Oder River, outside Berlin by March. The Allies on the Western Front finally meet up with the Russians at the Elbe River. Realising the Chancellery buildings where he was stationed was about to be encircled, Hitler ordered his armies on the Western Front to come to his rescue.

Within the Fuhrerbunker located beneath the Chancellery buildings Hitler was attended by a handful of personal staff, including his top aid Martin Bormann, the Goebbels family, SS and military aids, two of his secretaries, and long-time companion Eva Braun whom he married just before midnight on the 28th April in a brief ceremony. By the afternoon of April 29th, Soviet ground forces were about a mile away from the Fuhrerbunker. Inside the bunker he already learnt of the treason of Hermann Goring and Heinrich Himmler and was now told of the downfall and death of Mussolini, who had been captured by Italian partisans, executed, then hung upside down and thrown into the gutter. He had no wish for such a fate to befall him so he made preparations for his own death. At noon on the 30th April, at his last military conference Hitler was told the Russian ground forces were just a block away. At 2.00 p.m., Hitler sat down to have his last meal. He then bid a farewell to his remaining aids and staff members handing out parting gifts of poison. He then with his wife went back to his private quarters. Several moments later a single gunshot was heard. Bormann and Goebbels entered the room to find Hitler dead sprawled on the sofa, with blood dripping from his head he had shot himself through the mouth, Eva Braun was found dead next to him having swallowed poison, the time was exactly 3.30p.m. Their bodies were then carried outside to the Chancellery gardens doused with gasoline and burned. The charred remains were then swept into a canvas and placed in a shell crater and buried.

………………………………………………………………………
“I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.” Dan 7:11-12


“And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

Revelation 19: 21

Justice was eventually poured out on the leaders of the defeated Third Reich. Conducted at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg between November 20th 1945 and 16th October 1946. The four counts in the indictment were: Count 1: Conspiracy. Count 2: Crimes against Peace. Count 3: War Crimes. Count 4: Crimes Against Humanity. Eight judges of a joint military tribunal representing the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union conducted the trial.

The Verdicts

H. Goring, Hitler’s right hand man found guilty on all 4 counts, sentenced to death by hanging, he committed suicide before the sentence was carried out. R. Hess close associate of Hitler until 1941 found guilty on 2 counts, sentenced to life imprisonment. J. V. Ribbentrop Minister of Foreign Affairs found guilty on all 4 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. W. Keitel Chief of Staff of the German Armed Forces found guilty on all 4 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. E. Kaltenbrunner in charge of the Reich Main Security Office found guilty on 2 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. A. Rosenberg Minister of Eastern Occupied Territories found guilty on all 4 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. H. Frank “Jew Butcher of Cracow” found guilty on 2 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. W. Frick Minister of Interior found guilty on 3 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. J. Streicher publisher of anti-semite literature found guilty on all 4 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. W. Funk Minister of Economic Affairs found guilty on 3 counts, sentenced to life imprisonment. H. Schacht financial advisor to the Reich but later sent to a concentration camp after failed plot on Hitler’s life. Found not guilty and released. K. Donitz Chief of the German Navy found guilty on 2 counts, sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. E. Raeder Chief of German Navy prior to Donitz found guilty on 3 counts, sentenced to life imprisonment. B. V. Schirach German Youth Leader found guilty on all 4 counts, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. F. Sauckel in charge of Nazi Slave Labour found guilty on 2 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. A. Jodl Chief of Operations of German Armed Forces found guilty on all 4 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. F. V. Papen aided Hitler’s political rise to power. Found not guilty and released. A. S. Inquart Reich Commissioner of the Netherlands found guilty on 3 counts, sentenced to death by hanging. A. Speer Minister of Armaments found guilty on 2 counts, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. K.V. Neurath Nazi Foreign Minister found guilty on all 4 counts, sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. H. Fritzshe head of Radio Broadcasting under Goebbels. Found not guilty and released.


“Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.”

Isaiah 42:23-25, 43:1-12





Chapter 20

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 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.

Revelation 20:1-3

Satan Bound
Even after the tribulation period has ended Satan the liar still roams loose then suddenly an angel or spirit of truth binds him John 16:13. The angel holds in his hand the key to the bottomless pit which is the same key that the star held who fell from heaven Rev 9:1-2 which links the start of the millennium to the closing of the shaft of the abyss using the ‘key of David’ the same key held by Christ Rev 3:7. Resistance to the angel’s message is symbolised in the binding of Satan the angel prevails because he holds in his hand a great chain a chain of prophesy a chain of evidence and the ends of the earth shall see eye to eye the redemption of the chosen race.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; his visage w as so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.”

Isaiah 52:7-15
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”

Revelation 20:4-6

The Thousand Years

As we enter the first judgment scene we recall the great multitude Rev 7:9-17 and those standing on a sea of glass Rev 15:3 who sang the song of Moses and of Christ these were they who had come out of the great tribulation period who had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb these being the saints who had died for righteousness sake receiving their reward in heaven as promised Rev 14:13. Judgment is given to them that are seated on the thrones a clear reference to the book of Daniel Dan 7:9-10. The vision of the ‘Seventy Weeks’ of Daniel Dan 9:20-27 relates to the anointing of the most holy so it is most important at this stage to understand because it reaches its fulfilment prior to the rule of the saints Dan 7: 27 so we shall deal with this vision below.


“And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”

Dan 9:20-24


We are given a time period by the angel Gabriel of seventy weeks before the prophecy and vision is fulfilled. A week comprises seven days and according to bible calculation each day represents a year Ezekiel 4:6. Therefore the span of the whole prophecy equals 70x7 = 490 years.

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto an Anointed One*, the ruler, comes, shall be seven weeks [49 Days], and threescore and two weeks [434 Days] the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

Dan 9: 25

The understanding of the vision hinges on knowing the actual year the commandment (word) to restore Jerusalem goes out for we already know that the word of God is the holy bible. Johann Gutenberg was born in the city of Mainz; Germany in 1397AD he is considered the inventor of Printing in the Western world. Gutenberg’s most popular work was a forty-two-line-a-page Bible, begun in 1452AD and completed by 1455AD. Daniel is told of an anointed one; that makes his appearance after sixty-two weeks (62x7=434 years) and seven weeks (7x7=49 years). When the 434 years are added to the date of the issuing of God’s word in 1455AD we get the year 1889AD (434 +1455=1889) and 49 years added to 1889AD we get the year 1938AD (49+1889=1938) the same year that saw the mass internment in concentration camps of Jews on the order of Adolph Hitler the German Dictator who was born in 1889AD.


“And after three score and two [434 Days] shall the Anointed One* be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the ruler* that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”

Dan 9:26

*RSV

When corporal Hitler returned home after serving in the First World War he joined the German Workers Party. In an attempt to seize undemocratic power in the (beer hall) putsch in 1923 he was later imprisoned. After he was released he went on to become the German Dictator in 1933. He later ignited the Second World War after Germany invaded Poland in 1939.


“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [7 years]: and in the midst of the week [3 and half years] he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Dan 9:27

It was in 1938 that the Jews in Germany suffered mass internment in concentration camps but it was not until 1941 three and half years later that the Jewish question was finalised. Outside the cities where no eye could see the abomination that caused desolation (gas chambers) was set up and by the end of the war in 1945 no less than two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe had been wiped out.

The time given to seal up prophesy and vision is given as 490 years (seventy weeks) which if we add to 1455AD we get the year 1945AD (490+1455=1945) the year the Second World War had ended the moment of triumph of good over evil, light over darkness. After the beast had been slain and thrown to the fires of hell the prophet Daniel witnessed a marvellous scene in heaven:

“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

Dan 7: 13- 14.


“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Revelation 20:7-10


Gog and Magog

The names Gog, and Magog, have no known counterpart in history so it is unproductive trying to conjecture who they are or whom they represent. In the book of Ezekiel they are described as an army from the north that descends upon Israel whether the apostle is describing the same battle here is debatable since he says they are nations from the four quarters of the earth. In the chaos that ensues the holy city Jerusalem is besieged the battle will no doubt spill out and bring about the total destruction of the earth and only then will the holy bible prophesies be fulfilled ’A certain man among us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of the Christ, in a Revelation made to him prophesised that they who believed our Christ should pass 1000 years in Jerusalem, and after that the universal and in a word eternal resurrection and Judgment of all at once with one accord should come to pass.’ Just. Dial. 81.


“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Revelation 20:7-15
Judgment
We now come to the Day of Judgment and to the end of time, which I dear reader in humility cannot interpret because it involves the raising of the dead with a new spiritual body and the destruction of the souls that are lost and no man can conceive what that entails. Nevertheless already we have gone through a substantial part of the revelation to know and understand that the divine plan has worked out before our very eyes. The reader should also be made aware that although the historical events that have been described in this work are based on verifiable facts many still will be innately opposed to the truth yet these things are revealed so that they may believe. The greatest opponent to the revelation so far has surprisingly been the church as Dionysius of Alexandria observed (Eus.vii) ‘because it is covered thickly and densely by a veil of obscurity’ even suggesting that the authority of the work be rejected ‘For they say that it is not the work of John, nor is it a revelation…nor anyone in the Church is its author, but that Cerinthus who founded the sect which was called after him the Cerinthian, desiring reputable authority for his fiction, prefixed the name’ (Eus.vii). So it is apparent that from early on some leading members of the church had already lost their faith in the work because they did not understand that the apocalypse was not going to be fulfilled in there own time. As Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, remarking on the number of the beast, informs us ‘If it had been necessary that his name should be publicly proclaimed at the present season, it would have been uttered by him who saw the Apocalypse. For it was seen no such long time ago, but almost in our generation, at the end of the reign of Domitian.’ (Adversus Haer.V.30).
The revelation of John is the one work in the canon of the New Testament that brings us closest to the Old Testament and too the God of Israel and for many Christians the very idea has become a moral revulsion believing it in antipathy to the teachings of Christ. As we see today the Orthodox Church forbidding the reading of revelation during public worship but this neglect fosters spiritual blindness ‘Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy.’
“And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought. Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.”
Isaiah 29:11-24


Chapter 21

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 21:1-27

New Jerusalem

The apostle sees a new earth but ‘there was no more sea’ a literal interpretation would mean a new world without plant life or rainforest, which in turn would mean an environment without air to breath for the earth cannot exist without the sea so we must look to the symbolic. The Jewish Talmud is often referred to as the sea because one can easily drown in its concepts without proper study. It appears the new earth implies a new and complete understanding of God. The angel shows the apostle the New Jerusalem it is a cube (12,000 x 12,000 x 12,000 furlongs). The thickness of the wall measures 144 cubits the measure of a man. We know the construction of the model has twelve foundations made up of twelve precious stones, which equate roughly to the stones used in the breastplate of the priestly garments mentioned in Exodus 28:16-20 and to the order of the traditional monthly Hebrew and Roman gem calendar.


Month Zodiacal
Sign Hebrew
&
Roman
Calendar New
Jerusalem
Mar-Apr Aries Blood stone
(Green Jasper) Jasper
Apr-May Taurus Sapphire Sapphire
May-Jun Gemini Agate Chalcedony
Jun-Jul Cancer Emerald Emerald
Jul-Aug Leo Onxy Sardonyx
Aug-Sep Virgo Carnelian Sardius
Sep-Oct Libra Peridot Chrysolyte
Oct-Nov Scorpio Aquamarine
(The same mineral) Beryl
Nov-Dec Sagittarius Topaz Topaz
Dec-Jan Capricorn Ruby Chrysoprasus?
Jan-Feb Aquarius Garnet Jacinth
Feb-Mar Pisces Amethyst Amethyst



The key to the design of the city is given to us in the measurement of the wall along with the positioning of the twelve gates, three gates to the east, three gates to the north, and three gates to the south and three gates to the west. The thickness of the wall is given to us by the numeric value 144 which when fashioned together in a clockwise rotation gives us two fundamental shapes, the right-angled triangle and the square. These provide us with the building blocks to form the shape of the wall. As additional right-angled triangles supply the design more gates appear until the total of 12 is complete.

“I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.”

Zechariah 2:1-5

What we have here is a structure known in the eastern world as a Horoscope the devise used to ‘measure a man ’ based on the image of the universe at the moment of birth. As we near the end of the last book of the bible we return to the theme of its beginning ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him; male and female created he them.’ Genesis.1: 27. Symbolically the walls being made of jasper (bloodstone) represents man himself who dwells in a city ‘foursquare’ (number 4 representing the earth) being made of gold symbolic for the spiritual light of the kingdom of God

“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Luke 17:20-21

The ancient axiom “As above so below ” is clearly emphasised here in the structure of the New Jerusalem whose concept is also to be found in the first chapter of the book of Genesis where we find the Seal of Solomon or the six pointed Star of David. If we take the first point of the star to represent the first day of creation it appears above the fourth point representing the fourth day while if we take the second point of the star to represent the second day of creation it appears above the fifth point which represents the fifth day while the third day is symbolised by the third point which appears above the sixth point representing the sixth day of creation while the Sabbath day is placed in the middle of the star this sequence of days in a 1-4, 2-5, 3-6 combination shows that the concept of the ancient axiom and the New Jerusalem begins on the very first page of the bible.

As we have mentioned the Talmud is like a sea we can get lost in its concepts but it is the breaking up of the sea into seven streams the seven eyes that run throughout the earth that allows us to grasp with complete understanding biblical scripture providing a highway to the Lord. And so we now come to our present age symbolised in the prophecy of Isaiah where the inhabitants of the earth are at peace because the heavens above are at rest evoking the messianic age.

The wolf (Scorpio) also shall dwell with the lamb (Libra), and the leopard (Sagittarius) shall lie down with the kid (Capricorn); and the calf (Virgo) and the young lion (Leo) and the fatling (Cancer) together; and a little child (Gemini) shall lead them. And the cow (Taurus) and the bear (Aries) shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion (Leo) shall eat straw like the ox (Taurus). And the sucking child (Aquarius) shall play on the hole of the asp (Ophiuchus), and the weaned child (Aquarius) shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den (Pisces). They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:6-9

Chapter 22


And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

“Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

Revelation 22:1-21

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