College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Revelation 9:13-21
Strauss-' Comments
SECTION 31
Text Revelation 9:13-21
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were loosed, that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men. 16 And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates as of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone: and the heads of the horses are as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceedeth fire and smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues was the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails are like unto serpents, and have heads; and with them they hurt. 20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 and they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
Initial Questions Revelation 9:13-21
1.
Where is the river Euphrates located?
2.
The river Euphrates is the Eastern boundary of what Empire?
3.
Where did John get the exact number of the armies of horsemen which he gives in Revelation 9:16?
4.
How did the rest of mankind respond to the devastation of the plagues - Revelation 9:20?
5.
What spiritual condition of mankind does this section of scripture reveal?
6.
What are some of the relationships between the tragedies which come upon mankind and his willingness to repent?
The Sixth Trumpet Blast or the Second Woe
Chapter Revelation 9:13-21
And the sixth angel trumpeted and John heard one voice speak to the sixth angel. What did he say
The angel was authorized to loose (luson - 1st aor. active, imperative - commanded - to release at once) the four angels having been found at the great river Euphrates. (See Genesis 15:18 for extent of the hand of promise). Beyond the Euphrates, to the east, lay the great Empires of The Assyrians and Babylonians (The great river is also mentioned in Revelation 16:12). The flooding waters of the Euphrates is symbolic of the judgment of God (see Isaiah 8:5-8; Jeremiah 17:13).
God's control over the universe is again declared by John. The having been prepared (hetoimasmenoi - perfect, passive voice - participle - the preparation of the angels was both complete and performed by someone else other than the angels themselves) angels for the specific time in order that (hina clause - purpose clause) they should kill one third of mankind (men - in the plural). It must be pointed out that the definite article (the) appears only before hour and not before the words day, month, and year. The significance being that the angels were prepared for God's will and purpose or whenever God choose to reveal His time. The fifth trumpet revealed terrible torture; the sixth trumpet calls forth death. The situation worsens.
And the number of the army (literally, bodies of soldiers of the cavalry (hippikou - the collective singular noun horsemen) was (not in text) two thousands of thousands; I heard the number of them. John is not claiming that he saw this mighty, monstrous army, but rather that he heard the information. The destructive demons were cavalry rather than infantry.
Now John asserts that the following information and imagery was provided in a vision. The hideous imagery which John uses is really self-explanatory. The defensive armour of the riders consists of fire (purinos means fire, not fire colored.) The riders are first described then their mounts are pictured as having heads like (hôs - as) heads of lions. They too were equipped with fire and smoke and sulphur. (See the description of the destruction of the cities of the plains - Genesis 19:24; Genesis 19:28.) Who were the warriors? What is John's source for this imagery? Beckwith (see his work already mentioned, p. 565) is probably correct in stating that the imagery refers to the Parthians. Swete concurs with this identification (see this commentary p. 123). This is a very possible source of John's imagery, but as much of the symbolism found in The Revelation, it cannot be identified with certainty. John thus describes the great invasion from the East. The most serious threat to the law and order in the Roman Empire was the Parthian Empire across the great river Euphrates.
By (apo - from, in the sense of source) these three plagues were a third of men killed. The plagues each have the definite article pointing out the distinct and separate sources of death. Out of (ek - sense of origin) the fire, and the smoke, and the sulphur proceeding) ekporeuomenou - present participle constantly proceeding out of their mouths.
Following the imagery of the scorpion, which John used previously, he now states that the power of the horses is in their mouth and tails.. Out of their mouths come fire, etc., and out of their tails comes poison which is deadly for man.
God had permitted these plagues to come upon sinful man in order that he might repent and ultimately be saved. Apparently idolatry had captivated the remaining two thirds of mankind. John says that these not even repented (after all the torture and death) of the works of their hands, in order that they will not worship demons and idols of gold, and silver, and bronze, and stone, and wooden, which can neither see, hear, nor walk (see Daniel 5:23).
The powers of evil dominated the majority of mankind. All of the tragedy which had been inflicted upon man had not yet brought him to his knees in repentance. If hard times and severe persecution does not cause men to turn to the Lamb of God - What will? God's sole purpose in allowing plagues and death to haunt man was to bring him to a knowledge of his lost condition and need for the saving power of the Blood of the Lamb.; but all was in vain; because they repented not of their murders, nor their sorceries, nor their fornication, nor out of their thefts. All of these evils are clearly and publically condemned in The Revelation as resulting in Hell for the unrepentant. (See also Galatians 5:16 ff.)
Review Questions for Chapter 9
1.
Discuss the evil which is described in chp. 9 in view of God's righteousness, justice, mercy, love, and man's need of redemption.
2.
Read Exodus 10:14 f, and Joel 2:1 ff, and then discuss the imagery used in Revelation 9:3.
3.
How does man respond to the torment mentioned in Revelation 9:6?
4.
What is the kings name and what does it mean in Revelation 9:11?
5.
What does the use of both the Hebrew and Greek names translated) tell us about the transition from Hebrew to the common language of Greek - Revelation 9:11?
6.
What does Revelation 9:15 tell us about the purpose of God and His control over the universe?
7.
Discuss the spiritual significance of suffering and its relationship to repentance - Revelation 9:20?
8.
Why does God's appeal harden some hearts and brings others to saving knowledge of Christ?
Note: Stopped Ears!
Text: Acts 7:57 - And crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears, and rushed with one mind on him.
When do we stop our ears?
A.
Series of sermons on hundreds of biblical themes.
1.
Baptism.
2.
Planned Giving.
3.
Christian witnessing: Evangelism/Missions
4.
Lord's Supper.
5.
Victorious Christian Living.
Conclusion:
When they could not take the Lord's Word anymore, they stopped their ears. What about you?
Tomlinson's Comments
The Sixth Trumpet
Text (Revelation 9:13-21)
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were loosed, that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men. 16 And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates as of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone: and the heads of the horses are as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceeded fire and smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues was the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails are like unto serpents, and have heads; and with them they hurt. 20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 and they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
In the study of the fifth trumpet, we have reviewed the rise and conquest of the religion of Islam, beginning under the leadership of the false prophet, Mohammed, and reaching its zenith under the reign of the Caliphs. The termination of that period, we found, came when Rashid, in 782 A.D., just one hundred and fifty years after the death of Mohammed in 632 A.D., brought the holy war to a close.
But a very startling, as well as illuminating fact in the history of the religion of Islam, is that there were two distinct stages. First, its phase in the Saracen invasion, dated from the death of Mohammed in 632 A.D. But this period came to an abrupt crest in the defeat of the Mohammedans in the Battle of Tours, A.D. 732. There followed a long period of stagnation, but it had a wonderful recrudescence and revival under the invasion of the Ottoman Turks.
Strangely, these were not Mohammedians at all, but began their triumphant march against the Mohammedans. Later the Turks became Mohammedans, largely for political advantages, for much the same reason that Constantine embraced the Christian faith, after the Battle of Milvian Bridge.
And the fifth and sixth trumpets present, in the language of symbolism, this two-fold stage or phase of the march of the religion of Islam. While separated from the four preceding trumpets, these two trumpets are closely linked together, leaving the seventh trumpet to follow, standing all by itself.
It should be noted, too, that the fifth and sixth trumpets are blown without any intervening symbolism, again showing their close affinity. Since the fifth trumpet introduced the mighty Mohammedan movement, it logically follows that the sixth trumpet heralds another tide of invasion which will overrun the decaying and disintegrating Eastern Empire. Shall we begin the consideration of the sixth trumpet:
Revelation 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. John does not say who spoke, but only records what he heard. The voice is addressed to the angel that has the sixth trumpet. The voice said:
Revelation 9:14 Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Shall we note that whereas the authorized, or King James version here reads, -Bound in the great river Euphrates, the Greek preposition is not en, but epi, which means, upon, at, or by. The four angels were bound, not in, but at-' or by,-' this great river. Then, we know this second woe must come from the region beyond the Euphrates River. It is a fact, in history, that the Turks did make their sudden appearance from that quarter of the world.
Their exact origin is still a mystery, but a few years before A.D. 1000, a fierce Tartar race, characterized by their great numbers and brave ferocity, burst forth from their habitat, east of the Caspian Sea, and moved in a southwesterly direction, until they reached the Euphrates River. By their conquests a vast territory, consisting of Persia and part of India, east of the Euphrates, fell under their sway of dominion. But as if bound by this river, they remained for some years on the eastern banks.
Though originally idolaters, they embraced the beliefs of Islam, the faith of the conquered. After a half century, in A.D. 1055, they conquered Bagdad. In 1057, the Caliph of that city commissioned them to carry the Koran and the faith of Islam westward. In that same year, they crossed the Euphrates and invaded the Eastern Roman Empire. Now we come to the meaning of the four angels which had for sixty years bound them at the Euphrates River.
The four angels which stood upon the four corners of earth, in the seventh chapter, were symbols of the four barbarian powers which overran the Western Empire. Likewise, these four angels bound at the River Euphrates, represent four powers. On page 523, Volume 5 of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, we find that at the death of Malek Shah, the Turkoman Kingdom was divided into four divisions. Says Gibbon:
The greatness and unity of the Turkish Empire expired in the person of Malek Shah. His vacant throne was disputed by his brother and his four sons; and after a series of civil wars, the treaty which reconciled the surviving candidates confirmed a lasting separation in the Persian Dynasty, the eldest and principle branch of the house of Seljuk. The three younger Dynasties were those of Kerman, of Syria, and of Roum.
The four divisions, we see, were Persia, Kerman or India, Syria, and Roum, or Asia Minor. These are the four powers symbolized by the four angels bound by the Euphrates River.
Revelation 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men.
The term here used for year, is not kairos, the prophetic year of twelve months, or three-hundred and sixty days, but eniantos, the word for a regular solar year, which is three-hundred sixty five and one-fourth days. Putting all the time elements of an hour, a day, a month and a year together, we have a total of three hundred and ninety-six years and four months. 365 ¼ plus 30 plus 1 plus 1/12 equals 396 and 4/12 days, or in years, 396 years and four months.
We shall pass by the fulfillment of this prophesy until we reach the latter part of this chapter. Shall we continue with the description of these armies.
Revelation 9:16 And the number of the army of horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand, and I heard the number of them. In other words, countless numbers are indicated.
Literally, in the original, it reads: Two myriads of myriads. This would signify a number too astronomical to compute. No wonder John says, I heard the number of them, or else he could never have counted them.
Gibbon says of this great host of horsemen:
The myriads of Turkish horsemen overspread a frontier of six hundred miles, from Tauris to Arzeroum, and the blood of one hundred and thirty thousand Christians was a grateful sacrifice to the Arabian prophet. Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5, page 512.
Again, same Volume, page 515, we read:
Again the report of this bold invasion, which threatened his hereditary dominions, Alp Arslan flew to the scene of action, at the head of thirty thousand horse. His rapid and skilful evolutions distressed and dismayed the superior numbers of the Greeks.
Again, on page 525, same Volume 5, we read:
Soliman accepted the royal standard, which gave him the free conquest and hereditary command of the provinces of the Roman Empire, from Arzeroum to Constantinople, and the unknown regions of the west. Accompanied by four brothers, he passed the Euphrates. The Turkish camp was soon seated in the neighborhood of Kutaieh in Phrygia; as his flying cavalry laid waste the country as far as the Hellespont and the Black Sea. Since the decline of the Empire, the peninsula of Asia Minor had been exposed to the transient, though destructive inroads of the Persians and Saracens, but the fruits of a lasting conquest were reserved for the Turkish Sultan.
Surely, it cannot be mere coincidence that the Turkish armies of horsemen were counted, not by thousands, but by myriads, and the infidel historian, Gibbon, used the very language of Revelation to denote the great numbers of horsemen invading the Eastern Empire from across the Euphrates River.
And note the next verse in Revelation:
Revelation 9:17 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 heads of lions: and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
Here is expressed the conquering power of lions. Said Gibbon, Vol. 5, page 512, as he describes the leader of this host of horsemen:
The name of Alp Arslan, the Valiant lion, is expressive of the popular idea of the perfection of man;and the successor of Togrul displayed the fierceness and generosity of the royal animal.
There is also presented here the swiftness of horses and the destructive agencies of fire, smoke and brimstone.
The breastplates worn, were likened to fire, jacinth, and brimstone, or colors of red, blue and yellow. These were until recently, when the Turkish uniforms were modernized, the colors of Turkish battle uniforms. Doubtless, these colors were on the breastplates of the horsemen of John's vision.
But John saw fire and smoke and brimstone belching out of the horses mouths. This symbolism is again in wonderful agreement with the actual history of the Turkoman invasion from across the Euphrates.
Gunpowder was unknown to the Romans and was never used by either the invading Goths, Vandals, Huns or Hernli of the four invasions of the Western Empire. Neither was it employed by the Saracens in the invasion of the Eastern Empire under the fifth Trumpet.
But not so with the Turkish invasion, of the second woe trumpet. Gibbon, the best known authority on the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire informs us of a new and revolutionary weapon used by the Turks. He writes of the use of gunpowder by the Turkish Sultan sacking Constantinople.
Among the implements of destruction, he studied with peculiar care the recent and tremendous discovery of the Latins; and his artillery surpassed whatever had yet appeared in the world. A founder of cannon, a Dane (or Dacian) or Hungarian, who had been almost starved in the Greek service, deserted to the Moslems, and was liberally entertained by the Turkish sultan. Mahomet was satisfied with the answer of his first question, which he eagerly pressed on the artist, Am I able to cast a cannon capable of throwing a ball or stone of sufficient size to batter the walls of Constantinople? I am not ignorant of their strength; but were they more solid than those of Babylon, I could oppose an engine of superior power; the position and management of that engine must be left to your engineers. Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 6, Pages 379, 380.
On pages 388 and 389, of the same volume, we read:
The great cannon of Mahomet has been separately noticed; an important and visible object in the history of the times: but that enormous engine was flanked by two fellows almost of equal magnitude; the long order of the Turkish artillery was pointed against the walls; fourteen batteries thundered at once on the most accessible places; and of one of these it was ambiguously expressed, and it was mounted with one hundred and thirty guns, or that it discharged one hundred and thirty bullets. Yet in the power and activity of the Sultan, we may discern the infancy of the new science.
Thus we see why the symbolism of fire, smoke and brimstone was used. It fittingly represented the use of fire arms and gunpowder in the war of invasion.
Revelation 9:18-19 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out their mouths.
While the new use of firearms may be a part of this symbolism, since the two invasions were primarily punishments of God upon the apostate Eastern Empire, it would seem there is also a deeper signification. Shall we study the meaning of these three symbols.
1. Fire is a token of persecution. Christ said: I am come to send fire upon the earth and what will I if it be already kindled. (Luke 12:49). Also, fire stands for God's wrath, its effects being war.
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth. (Psalms 18:8).
A fire shall come forth out of Hesbbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon. (Jeremiah 48:45).
2. Smoke is a symbol of the anger and wrath of God. This we read in (Psalms 18:8).
In Revelation 14:11, we read of the smoke of their torment ascending up.
3. Brimstone is a symbol of the judgments of God as evidenced by the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
In Psalms 11:6, we read: Upon the wicked he shall rain snares (or quick burning coals), fire and brimstone.
And I will call for a sword against him (Gog) throughout all my holy mountains, saith the Lord God. and I will rain upon him and upon his bands, and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. (Ezekiel 38:21-22)
So we see that fire (persecution), smoke (God's wrath) and brimstone (His judgments) were thus symbolized as the invading Turks meted out the wraths and judgments of God upon those who were not sealed in their foreheads.
As to the power resident in the tails, we have already dealt with that under the fifth trumpet and found it to be lies of the false prophet. The added symbolism their tails were like serpents, reminds us that the source of all lies and false teaching is that old serpent, called the devil and satan. (Revelation 12:9). Jesus said of him:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father will ye do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)
This supernatural power to enflame multitudes, even stern, fierce and blood-thirsty men with such a degree of religious fanaticism, rising at times to the highest pitch of frenzy, is without parallel in human history. Nothing but smoke rising out of the bottomless pit, the final abode of the devil, could properly symbolize this.
All these symbols are so largely a repetition of those of the fifth trumpet, that although a different invading force is indicated, the same motivating force of the false teaching of the bottomless pit is behind it all.
The history of Islam agrees in startling detail with the meaning of these symbols. We can draw no other conclusion than the most logical one, that we find the fulfillment of prophecy is proved by the coming to pass of the thing prophesied.
And by these three was the third of men killed.
In the comments under Revelation 9:15, we found that the length of the time of this trumpet was to be an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, or a period of three hundred and ninety-six years and four months.
Early in January 1057, the Turkomen marched out of Bagded under the commission of the Caliph, to begin their long conquest, On May 29th, 1453, they sacked Constantinople, ending the Eastern Empire, just three-hundred and ninety-six years and four months, lacking a few days, from the time they crossed the Euphrates! Again history and Apocalyptic symbolism march hand in hand. One predicts; the other fulfills!
Again we note that they were to destroy the third part of the earth (or to John's understanding, the Roman Empire).
We have already found that the earth, or the Roman Empire, was divided into three divisions.
The Goths and Vandals subjugated one third part of the Western Empire, described prophetically under the first four trumpets. The Saracens conquered a second third part, known from that time as the Empire of the Caliphs, and the third Third part, or the Grecian portion of the Eastern Empire, was overrun by the Turks, of the sixth trumpet.
Reasons For These Punishments
The remaining verses in this chapter plainly and startlingly give the reasons why these scorching punishments of the invading Saracens and Turks were brought upon the dying Empire. Shall we consider these reasons:
Revelation 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands.
First, that they should not worship devils, or demons. A demon is the spirit of a departed man. The saint worship of the great Pagan-Catholic Apostacy is demon worship. Listen to an infidel historian's account of the practices of that age. Says Gibbon, Vol. 5, Pages 1, 2 and 3.
I have reviewed, with diligence and pleasure, the objects of ecclesiastical history by which the decline and fall of the Roman Empire were materially affected, the propagation of Christianity, the constitution of the Catholic Church, and the ruin of paganism.. At the head of this class, we may justly rank the worship of images, so fiercely disputed in the eighth and ninth centuries. (Note: he refers here to the war of the Iconoclasts-Image Breakers); since a question of popular superstition produced the revolt of Italy, the temporal power of the popes, and the restoration of the Roman Empire in the west.
The primitive Christians were possessed with an unconquerable repugnance to the use and abuse of images. the Mosaic law had severely proscribed all representations of the Deity. the wit of the Christian apologists was pointed against the foolish idolaters, who bowed before the workmanship of their own hands, the images of brass and marble. the first introduction of a symbolic worship was in the veneration of the cross, and of relics. The saints and martyrs, whose intercession was implored, were seated on the right hand of God; but the gracious and often supernatural favors, which in the popular belief, were showered round their tomb, conveyed an unquestionable sanction of the devout pilgrims, who visited and touched, and kissed these lifeless remains, the memorials of their merits and sufferings. But a memorial, more interesting than the skull or the sandals of a departed worthy, is the faithful copy of his person and features, delineated by the arts of painting and sculpture.
Second, that they should worship idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.
To the passages already quoted from Gibbon on idol worship, we add from the same Volume 5, page 37, which gives the record of the proceedings of the Second General Council of Nice, held in 787, on the question of using icons or images.
No more than eighteen days were allowed for the consummation of this important work: the iconoclasts (image breakers) appeared, not as judges, but as criminals or penitents: the scene was decorated by the legates of Pope Adrian and the Eastern patriarchs, the decrees were framed by the president Taracius, and ratified by the acclamations and subscriptions of three hundred and fifty bishops. They unanimously pronounced, that worship of images is agreeable to the Scriptures and reason, to the fathers and councils of the church; but they hesitate whether that worship be relative or direct, whether the Godhead, and the figure of Christ, be entitled to the same mode of adoration.
How dumb a person is to worship images, either directly or relatively is declared by the Scriptures. In Psalms 115:2-8, we read:
Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatever he pleased.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
They that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them.
That describes how dumb one is to bow down, or kneel before images, which are helpless to do anything, while the God in heaven whom we worship, the Psalmist says: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased!
Third, Neither repented they their murders. (Revelation 9:21)
One only has to read the history of the crusade against the Albigenses, those Christians who rejected the heathen abominations of the Church of Rome, began in 1209, to ascertain whether murders have been committed. Myers, in his Mideaval and Modern History, pages 142, 143, gives the beginning of this crusade against them:
In the south of France was a sect of Christians, called Albigenses, (from the name of a city and district in which their tenants prevailed), who had departed so far from the orthodox faith that Pope Innocent 3, declared them to be, more wicked than Saracens. He therefore, after a vain endeavor to turn them from their errors, called upon the French King, Philip 2nd, and his nobles to lead a crusade against the heretics and their rich and powerful patron, Raymond, 6th, Count of Toulouse.. a great number of his nobles responded eagerly to the call of the church. The leader of the first Crusade (1209-1213), was Simon de Monfort, a man cruel, callous, and relentless beyond belief. A great part of Languedoc, the beautiful country of the Albigenses, was made a desert, the inhabitants being slaughtered and the cities burned.
In 1229, the fury of a fresh crusade burst upon the Albigenses. the Albigensian heresy was soon totally extirpated by the tribunal of the Inquisition, which was set up in the country.
Fourth. Nor of their sorceries. A sorcerer is one who deceives followers by tricks. A Scriptural example is Simon the Sorcerer. The papacy in every age has permitted the palming off upon the credulous, all kinds of pretended miracles. Statues of the Virgin weep, children see apparations of the Virgin Mary, miraculous cures are claimed.
This has been going on since paganism apostatized the church.
Fifth. Neither repented they of their fornication. I quote from Gibbon, Vol. 5, page 38:
I shall only notice the judgment of the bishops on the comparative merit of image worship and morality. A monk had concluded a truce with a demon of fornication, on condition of interrupting his daily prayers to a picture hung in his cell. His scruples prompted him to consult the Abbot. Rather than abstain from adoring Christ and his mother in holy images, it would be better for you, replied the casuist, to enter every brothel, and visit every prostitute in the city.
Sixth. neither repented they of their thefts.
Every cent an apostate church extorts from a gullible people by false pretense, is theft. That the disastrous sacking of Constantinople, in 1453, did not cause the church to repent of thefts, is evidenced by the fact that a Dominican friar, by the name of Tetzel, was selling indulgences to commit sin through Germany, in 1516, which led to Martin Luther's tacking his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, in protestation. This set aflame the fires of the Reformation.
Thus, we see the destructive agency of the Turks, in the sixth trumpet period, was God's punishment inflicted upon an impenitent apostate church and her people.
How amazing is the corroboration of Apocalyptic symbolism and history!