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December 26 - Evening
"The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.
The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it
like the smoke from a gigantic furnace... And out
of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth
and were given power like that of scorpions
of the earth....They were not given power to
kill
them, but only to torture them for five months...
...The sixth angel sounded his trumpet...“Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels who had been kept ready for
this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number
of the mounted troops was two hundred million...
...A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths."
- Revelation 9:1-5, 13-16, 18 |
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| The Death of a Third of Mankind |
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Chapter nine reveals the fifth and sixth trumpets, which are all supernatural attacks and are introduced at the end of chapter eight with an announcement of "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts" of the last three angels. The fifth trumpet brings the first "Woe" when the angel that had been given the key to the Abyss releases from the Abyss some kind of demonic beings that torment men. The sixth trumpet releases the four angels bound at the Euphrates Rivers and their angelic army of two hundred million to kill a third of mankind.
Based on the earth's current population of 6,750,000,000, the deaths caused by this sixth trumpet combined with the death of a quarter of mankind resulting from the fourth seal, means the death of approximately 3,358,125,000 people in a three year period. This leaves 3,391,875,000 people – a little over a half of the current population – alive midway through the Tribulation.
It is estimated that 32% of the people alive today claim to be of the Christian faith. If we assume that half of that 32% (1,080,000,000 people) are actually true believers who get taken in the rapture of the church before the Great Tribulation begins, the total world population would go from 6,750,000,000
- To 5,670,000,000 after the rapture
- Then be reduced by a fourth down to 4,252,500,000 after the fourth seal
- And then be reduced by a further third, down to 2,849,175,000 after the
sixth trumpet
That means the total loss would be 3,900,825,000 people from earth's population in a 36 to 48 month period. Realize we are just in chapter nine of the book, and what is known as the Great Tribulation is yet to come on the earth in the next few chapters. |
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"In our universe the laws of physics seem precisely calibrated to allow the existence of long-lived stars, planets with stable orbits, and molecules that allow complex chemistry. All of these seem
to
be prerequisites for life."
- Adarn Frank in "Cosmic Abodes of Life," Discover May 2009: 51 |
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21% of American believe the Bible is a book of fables (Gallup, May 2007)
50% of Americans, including Christians, can't name any of the four Gospels (NPR, Feb. 8, 2008)
60% of Americans can't name five of the Ten Commandments (USA Today, March 14, 2007)
56% of those surveyed said they consider themselves to have an average knowledge of the Bible, while 23% considered themselves to be completely or highly knowledge (American Bible Society, The State of the Bible 2011)
(more HERE) |
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| Reps & Sets is a daily Bible devotional for Christians from Generation Word Bible Teaching used each morning and evening. |
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