“When he opened the seventh seal, there was
silence in heaven for about half an hour.” Revelations 8:1
Silence and
heaven are not words that usually fit together.
They tend to be mutually exclusive.
The reason for this is that heaven is a place of life and not
death. Moments of silence are engaged in
to recognize a time of mourning or death.
Where there is life there is noise.
This half hour in heaven represents the beginning of a period of death
about to come upon the earth. It is a mournful time a time in which hell itself
will be opened and devils given almost free reign. Why is
this happening? How do we reconcile this period of time with a God who is love?
The reason that
it is happening is that mankind’s rejection of God is coming into full maturity. 144,000 evangelists have been roaming the
earth with sign and wonders following their ministry. The believers that were on earth have been
rapture to heaven before a watching world. Creation continues to point out the
glory of God. God is working everywhere
that men can see. He is setting up the acceptance or rejection of himself.
Mankind determines that, “We will not believe!”
It is not that there is a not reason to believe, buts hearts have grown
cold. What results is the natural consequence of unbelief.
It is important
to point out that the trumpet judgments fall from heaven and they are initiated
by God. This becomes a loving act
because the rejection of God leads to horrors at the hand of man that are worse
than God is about to inflict on mankind.
Many are fond of pointing out the atrocities that have fallen upon
mankind in the name of religion. They
blame God for these atrocities or his church.
The Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition are two examples that are often
pointed out. The crusades were a
response to Islamic aggression that took over all of North Africa and much of Europe
and the Spanish Inquisition was maintained without the endorsement of the
Church outside that country. But let’s
me concede that evil grew in both circumstances. This evil confirms my point it does not
dismiss it. The rejection of the message
of God’s love leads to war, famines and pestilence. Mankind, left to gown in evil, would destroy
the entire earth in time. God intervenes
and destroys the earth by thirds. God releases his judgment to occupy the minds
of men and remind them that there is still of God in Heaven.
One third of the
trees and grass, a third of the sea creature and the ships of the sea, a third
of the fresh water, even a third part of the day and night are destroyed. The
angels cry out “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the
trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”
Revelations 8:13
All this occurs because
men love darkness instead of light. Romans 1:32 reads “Although
they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,
they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who
practice them.” The truth of this scripture is reflected more in our
generation than in any other history of mankind! Let me add clarity to this incredible
statement. Every other society, every place on earth has always been based on
religion. It may have been a false
religion, but there was an acknowledgement that there is something that is to
be worshipped, or at least feared, that is greater than mankind. Our generation is the generation in which the
“love of many waxes cold” and we insist on teaching our children that “there is
no God.” All that is true is secular.
What is the consequence
of this foolishness? The list is long,
but I will limit it to the “calling of evil good and good evil.”
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