The best of Protestant understanding on the subject of the seven seals of Revelation has been taught by the SDA (Seventh-day Adventist) Church for over a hundred years. According to it, the seals were opened sequentially from the time of the apostolic church down through the ages to the Great Awakening of the 1840’s. We refer to that as the classical interpretation of the seals. The Book of Revelation outlines in prophetic terms how the people of God will be delivered from sin to reach heaven, the true Promised Land, like how the children of Israel in ancient history were delivered from Egyptian bondage to inherit the land of Canaan.

When God brought the children of Israel out of ancient Egypt, He sent them to spy out the land before going in to possess it. Receiving their inheritance involved duty, courage and faith on their part to face the giants who were living there. When the spies returned, they brought back a bad report that discouraged the entire congregation. The people as a whole rebelled against God, and because of their unbelief, the children of Israel had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until the unbelieving generation had died. God then repeated the conquest with the new generation.

Thus, the seven seals of Revelation illustrate God’s dealings with His people. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross—like the deliverance from Egyptian bondage—delivered them from sin and marks the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land. Then, in the Christian era, history shows that seal after seal of the Revelation were opened as He led them homeward.

But the history of unbelief repeated, for during the time after the Great Awakening (which should have counted as the seventh seal) God’s people rebelled against Him. As a result, they had to wait and wander again until the unbelieving generation would eventually die off, for God determined that they should not see the land He had promised them.

But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:17-19)

The key to understanding how the seals repeat is found in the pattern of Israel’s marches around the city of Jericho, which was the first city they sought to conquer in the land of Canaan. Brother John makes a detailed comparison of the classical seals with their repetitions in the History Repeats article series. That article series is not to be overlooked; it contains the meat—the spiritual lessons—of the subject, and I will not reiterate much of it here. The following section is to give a careful explanation of how the story of Jericho’s fall shows us precisely how the seals of Revelation do repeat.

Let’s review the sequence of the marches around Jericho as they are described in Joshua chapter 6:

And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. (Joshua 6:3-4)

This one compact verse contains all of the key information that we will look at. The general instruction for each of the first six days was to go around the city once, and blow the trumpets while doing so. The special instruction for the seventh day was to go around the city seven times (instead of just once as in the first six days). Figure 1 lays out the overall plan.

Figure 1 – The Prophetic Plan to Conquer Jericho

The six marches of the first six days represent the seals as in the classical interpretation traditionally taught by Adventists in books such as Daniel and the Revelation, by Uriah Smith. The seven marches of the seventh day represent the repetition of the seals in more recent history as shown in the Orion presentation. The time periods for each seal are listed in the table. Entries in red are the subject of this article and will be examined in the following pages, validating them as we go.

Looking at the table, you can see that there were 13 marches in total, and not 14 as one might expect to see when “seven” seals are repeated. The seventh march that would be expected to follow the first six marches of the first six days is replaced by a whole new set of seven marches. Day seven has seven marches instead of one march. That means there is no march to correspond to the seventh seal of the classical interpretation!

The classical interpretation includes a seventh seal because it (incorrectly) assumes that the seals do not repeat, but based on the pattern of the marches around Jericho, we can see that there should not be a seventh seal because the seals do repeat. Whatever various “classical” interpretations exist for the seventh seal, they should be superseded or replaced instead by the repetition of the seven seals during that period.

The Seals and the Judgment

The scenes that John the Revelator described were scenes of the judgment. The term “judgment” is not referring to the actual day when Jesus comes or a day when the wicked are punished, but to a whole period of time comparable to a modern-day legal process. It is a time when Jesus, our defense attorney (or lawyer, or advocate), is seeking to clear us from all wrongs so that we can be in heaven without suspicion or the risk that we will bring evil there. Thus, it is termed the investigative judgment, as opposed to the executive judgment when the wicked will be sentenced (and ultimately executed).

The courtroom scene is described in Revelation 4, and the beginning of the session is described in Revelation 5. The Lamb begins to open the seals in Revelation 6. These chapters are one continuous story about the judgment proceedings in the heavenly courtroom.

There are implications to the fact that the seven seals of Revelation are opened in the heavenly courtroom during the judgment—the time when Jesus is making His case for the righteousness of His people, thus cleansing them from sin. First of all, it shows that the seals must ultimately depict events that would transpire during the judgment, and not only before it. The Bible is clear that the judgment did not begin until after papal Rome began. Daniel 7 practically interprets itself, identifying the world kingdoms and showing clearly that the judgment would begin after those things:

I [Daniel] considered the horns [of the fourth beast, Rome], and, behold, there came up among them another little horn [the papacy], 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 [blasphemy]. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit…the judgment was set, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:8-10)

The three horns that were plucked up were the barbarian tribes of the Heruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths, which were pretty well uprooted by the time the papacy rose to power in the year AD 538. That was already well into the classical fulfillment of the seals, but the thrones were not set down yet, and the judgment had not started yet, and the books had not been opened yet. For the record, the rest of the ten horns were the Saxons (English), the Franks (French), the Alamanni (German), the Visigoths (Spanish), the Suevi (Portuguese), the Lombards (Italian), and the Burgundians (Swiss).

The fact that the judgment started sometime after the three horns were plucked up is sufficient to show that the classical fulfillment of the opening of the seals did not take place during the judgment, and therefore we can infer that a more complete fulfillment of Revelation’s prophecy was still to come. Still, we can get an even more accurate estimate of when the judgment began by following Daniel a little further. Daniel receives clarification on the vision, which indicates that the judgment would not begin for at least another 1260 years after the papacy’s blasphemous reign began.

And he shall speak great words against the most High [blasphemy, the same point in time mentioned in verses 8-10], 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. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. (Daniel 7:25-26)

In these verses, more detail is given between the time the papacy would ascend to power, speaking blasphemous things, and the time the judgment would sit. There is a minimum period of a time given that must elapse between those events. One “time” is simply one year, which in prophetic language includes 360 days. The “time, times and the dividing of time,” or simply 3½ times, represents 360 × 3½ = 1260. Adding 1260 years to the year AD 538 when the papacy ascended to power brings us to the year 1798, when its power was taken away. History bears this out, and the details of those historic events are worthy of study, but that is not the subject of this article.

Daniel 8:14 further indicates the year 1844 as the precise beginning of the judgment, as explained in Signs of the End. This glancing review of those prophecies is to solidify the point that according to the Bible, there must be a repetition of the seals after 1844 in the time of the judgment in order to completely fulfill the prophecy of Revelation in its courtroom-scene context. The judgment did not begin until 1844, and since the sixth seal had already opened in the classical interpretation by that time, there had to be a complete repetition. We call these the judgment seals, or the seals of the judgment cycle of the Orion clock.

The second implication to the fact that the seals are opened within the context of the investigative judgment, when Jesus is seeking to defend us against the accuser (Satan) before the court, is that we ourselves are involved. The progressive opening of the seals parallels the progressive development toward Christian perfection that God’s people as a corporate body and individually should be attaining to.

Can you imagine a defense attorney trying to acquit his client, only to have the client commit a new crime in front of the court before the old crime is acquitted!? Not even the best attorney would be able to defend such a person. That is exactly what it is like when a person confesses their sins to Jesus, and then goes out to commit more sins. The only solution is to be changed by Christ in the process, so that the character becomes more like His, and thus less apt to sin. In each of the 144,000, this process of sanctification must reach its full completion. Dear reader, you can strive for this:

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: (Philippians 1:6)

And

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

As Jesus opens the seals before your eyes, His purpose is to cleanse you! Getting cleaned up is a good thing, but it hurts the ego. That is a discomfort that many people are unwilling to endure, especially in this day and age. As you see the seals opening, and as you hear the trumpets sounding, I urge you to face the pain of your faults and confess them, so that your Advocate can acquit you.

Categorizing the Seals and Trumpets

It looks very simple to list the seals and trumpets in a table like the one above, but the hard part comes when we try to assign specific date ranges to each one and harmonize the events described in the Bible texts with the events of real-world history. Again, the classical seals are not the main topic of this article (except insofar as our new insights shed light on them) but you can find a detailed comparison of the classical seals with the judgment seals in History Repeats, Part II. This article will focus on the areas that were not fully consistent yet.

Another name for the Clock of God in Orion is The Book of Seven Seals. In the Orion presentation, Brother John explains that the stars mark the opening of the seals. For example, the first star Saiph marks the opening of the first seal in 1846, when the truth was restored to the body of believers that the seventh day—Saturday—is the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments, and the pure gospel went forth to conquer in the years following. This is symbolized by the white horse that accompanies the first seal. The case is similar for the second, third and fourth seals. The first four seals are associated with the four horses and the four beasts around the throne, which are represented by the four hand and foot stars of Orion, as explained in the presentation.

Figure 2 – The Periods of the First Four Seals of the Judgment Clock

Each of the first four seals opens in the year marked by one of the four outer stars of the Orion clock, and naturally closes when the next seal opens. When we come to the last three seals, however, we immediately face a difficulty. We have no more stars to use except the recurrence of Saiph as we return full-circle in 2014. Furthermore, there is very little time to fit three more seals before the Second Coming. So then, how are we to understand the last three seals?

This is precisely where our knowledge had been lacking until now. We did have the invisible clock tick of 1844 which repeats in 2012, and some of our past interpretations based the opening of the fifth seal in that year, but even having that additional mark on the clock did not harmonize everything.

The first step in understanding the time periods of the last three seals is to recognize that they have different characteristics when compared to the first four seals. Let us make a table to illustrate the difference:

Figure 3 – Contrast between the First Four Seals and the Last Three Seals

There is a clear line of demarcation between the first four seals and the last three seals. The first four seals each have a beast calling John to “come and see” and a horse which he then sees, whereas the last three seals have no such thing. The division of 7 into two constituent parts 4 and 3 is explained in the “mathematics” of God section of the Orion presentation as a fundamental principle of God’s number system:

Figure 4 – A Fundamental Principle of the “Mathematics” of God

This distinction between four and three pops up in many places, and there are many clues we can gather from it. To start with, the number four has something to do with mankind on the world, which indicates that the first four seals should deal especially with events involving mankind all the way to the end of the world, as they indeed do. In contrast, the number three has something to do with the Godhead, which indicates that the last three seals probably have something do with events that are not necessarily always visible, because the members of the Godhead regularly work in ways that are invisible to humanity.

The three members of the Godhead work together, which indicates that the last three seals should overlap with each other so there can be interaction of events between them in some way. God is not bound by time as we are, so a strictly sequential progression of these seals does not apply, although the seals should still open in order. Furthermore, God does not need a lot of time to do things like we do, which could explain why the last three seals happen within a short span of a few years compared to the lengthy durations of the first four seals. Perhaps that is also why they are not associated with horses; horses were used in the past to travel greater distances, but the time of the last three seals is too short to be represented as travel by horse.

A comparison of the seven trumpets will shed further light on the subject. Note that the priests blew their trumpets during each march, which is why the trumpets generally correspond to the timeframes of the seals (in the classical interpretation as well as in the repetition here during the investigative judgment time). Every time the children of Israel compassed the city of Jericho, the sound of the trumpets warned of the city’s fate.

Revelation also describes the trumpets as sounding one at a time in a sequence, but the little introduction to the last three trumpets is packed with clues that help us understand the differences in the last three trumpets.

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)

The loud voice of the angel groups the last three trumpets together and presents them as sounding in rapid succession with the expression “Woe, woe, woe!” This is another hint that the last three trumpets (and thus the last three seals) must begin in rapid succession. Furthermore, it is a subtle indication that the last three trumpets bring their woes upon the inhabitants of the earth together—starting in succession but overlapping in duration. If the trumpets within the seals overlap, that would mean that their corresponding seals must overlap too, since each trumpet sounds during its respective seal.

Figure 5 – Contrast between the First Four Trumpets and the Last Three Trumpets

The remaining three trumpets are introduced by a “loud voice,” or in other words the loud cry message, which ultimately refers to the fourth angel’s message. That places the last three trumpets within a certain time frame—a short one. The earliest possible beginning for the timeframe of the last three trumpets would be 2010, when the Orion message was published. Since the story of Jericho indicates that each trumpet must sound during the corresponding seal, we can take this as a clue that the last three seals probably fit within a similar timeframe beginning in 2010.

As another hint, consider the seven churches. The first four churches correspond to the periods marked out by the first four seals. However, the last three churches (Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) represent the three spiritual conditions that exist within the church. These three conditions will coexist alongside each other until the last lukewarm soul has either purchased eye salve and repented (thus transferring his spiritual membership to Philadelphia) or has hardened his heart to the point of spiritual death (as in Sardis), and the few worthy souls in Sardis have repented. This characteristic of the last three churches is one more indication that we should consider the last three seals—which parallel the churches—to overlap in the last few years that remain before the Second Coming.

It is a basic rule that all of the seals and trumpets must begin in sequential order. The likelihood of overlap does not change that rule. In fact, there are other overlaps in the seals, so this scenario should not seem too strange to us.

The Repetition of the Fifth Seal

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)

This seal is packed with information, and it gives a clear sequence of events. It is about martyrs—people who are killed because of their faith—but it does not begin with the shedding of blood. The fifth seal begins with a “loud cry” that asks the question “how long?” It is clear from the symbolism that the question is not asked by the martyrs themselves, since they are dead. Who then asks the question?

There were a few people who asked similar questions in the past. For example, the disciples asked Jesus about the time before He ascended, saying “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” The fifth seal is different, though, because in the fifth seal the question is actually answered. Something specific “was said unto them” in answer to their question. To the disciples, the Lord just said “It is not for you to know the times...”^[1] Therefore, the answer to the question of the fifth seal wasn’t given to the apostles, which shows once again that the complete fulfillment must have to do with a time other than the era of the classical seals, which for the most part all transpired within the framework of light that was given through the apostles.

The inquiry “how long?” is made twice in the visions of Daniel, but surely the answer to the question of the fifth seal couldn’t have been for Daniel to know in the pre-Christian era! Nevertheless, Daniel did see that the question would be asked, and he even saw the answer.

Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. (Daniel 8:13-14)

Can you name that “other saint” who asked how long? The SDA Bible Commentary has absolutely nothing to say about the identity of these saints, but it was certainly William Miller! He asked the question, and he got the part of the answer that was relevant for his time. Even though he got the definite answer of 1844, however, the cleansing of the sanctuary was not quite the fulfillment of the avenging of the martyrs’ blood as the fifth seal says. Miller did not understand that the judgment would involve a legal process that would take time. He imagined that God would burn up the wicked in a moment at his coming, and that was all the cleansing there would be. He did not know that in his day, all he would see is the beginning of the legal proceedings. Therefore, he (and his companions) got the part of the answer that was relevant to them—indeed that the investigative judgment would begin on October 22, 1844.

So there must be more to it. The question must come up again—and it surely does, in the same book of Daniel as follows:

And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Daniel 12:6-7)

In this vision, Daniel saw another man who would come after William Miller, who would also ask the question of how long. Once again, the SDA Bible Commentary has virtually nothing to say about his identity aside from “possibly” being one of the unidentified saints of Daniel 8:13. However, this time he is given not just the starting of the judgment, but the complete answer as to when “all these things shall be finished.” Now we have found something that should give us more understanding of the complete fulfillment of the fifth seal.

In fact, this very verse is the foundational verse of the Orion message! It is explained in detail on slides 61-74 of the presentation. This time it was John Scotram who asked the question, and who got the final answer as to when “all these things shall be finished”—including the avenging of the martyrs’ blood.

We can already start to see the timeframe of the fifth seal. The timeframe must include the answer to the question, namely the Orion message, which was given in 2010. Thus the fifth seal must have begun no later than 2010. Another clue is the mention of white robes being given to the dead souls under the altar. That marks the point when the judgment of the dead was completed, because it says that white robes were given to every one of them. Every one of them was judged righteous, and there could have been no more cases pending otherwise it could not be said with assurance that every one of them had been judged. Thus, the end of the judgment of the dead is clearly specified in the seal description.

Based on the interpretation of Daniel 12:6-7 as given in the Orion presentation, the judgment of the dead completed 168 years after it began. That would be the year 2012, which is the invisible tick on the Orion clock at the 168^th anniversary of 1844. Now we know that the fifth seal must span from 2010 to at least 2012, but actually it must span even farther to include the future martyrs who are mentioned in the seal. How far into the future? All the way until their number is made up, at which point Jesus will throw down the censer. That means the fifth seal must extend all the way to the close of human probation on October 17, 2015, as shown in the article Miller’s Mistake.

The Spirit of the Law

From beginning to end, the fifth seal is about martyrs. When we talk about martyrs, we normally think of people being burned at the stake, beheaded, or killed in some other way because of their faith. The perpetrators violate the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” That is a very literal commandment with a very literal meaning. However, Jesus gave the commandment a spiritual dimension too:

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:21-22)

Jesus explained the commandment in a way that reaches the motives of the heart. With that kind of spiritual understanding of the commandment, we can begin to understand something which I will call “spiritual martyrdom.” A person who is killed for Jesus’ sake is silenced by death as a martyr. Thus, a person who is angrily silenced for his faith in Jesus by his brother could be considered a spiritual “martyr” in light of Jesus’ expansion of the commandment as quoted above.

Consider that the Orion message comes from Jesus Himself, because it was He who positioned the stars. That means a person who professes faith in the Clock of God in Orion is putting his faith in Jesus, who fixed the stars so as to give the prophetic message that they do. If a man is angry and silences him without a cause, Jesus equates that to cold-blooded murder in the judgment—which makes the silenced man a spiritual “martyr.”

John Scotram faced attacks and censorship as soon as he tried to share the Orion message in the Adventist forums in 2010. The “brethren” called him all sorts of names and treated him in all sorts of ways that strike well within the scope of what Jesus included in His explanation of the commandment not to kill. When Brother John brought the behavior of the offenders to the attention of the forum administrators, instead of helping the situation they accused him and kicked him out! They silenced him—they killed him, figuratively.

If you can recognize that scenario as “martyrdom” in the spiritual sense, then you can see how we can rightly say that the fifth seal opened in 2010. Many (if not all) of us have experienced a similar “death” at the hands of our fellow brethren ever since that time, but for the purpose of understanding when the fifth seal opened, we need not look any further than Brother John’s early experiences in sharing the message in 2010. In that sense, he was the first spiritual “martyr” for Orion, and as such his experience marks the opening of the first phase of the seal. A later phase will involve actual physical martyrdom, as the fifth seal text clearly states, and that brings us to the 2014 mark on the clock.

The 2014 Star

Surely the date that is marked when we come full-circle to Saiph has an important meaning. The Orion clock is the Book of Seven Seals, and Saiph pointed to a seal in 1846, so shouldn’t it point to one of the seals again when it comes back around in 2014?

Yes. The star gives a date, which is an answer to a question. To find out which seal the star points to, we only need to check to see which of the seals asks a question—and we already know that the fifth seal is the one that asks a question. It is even a question about time, so the star Saiph points to the year that is the answer to the question about time in the fifth seal.

It was a question of how long it would be until the Lord judges and avenges the blood of the martyrs. There are two separate questions there: about judging, and avenging. We know the answer already, because it is marked by the star as 2014, autumn. What isn’t yet clear is which question it answers. Does it mean that the church was judged at that time, or that His vengeance came? The text of the seal explains it for us. The answer is a period of waiting for the physical martyrs who will complete the number prior to the close of probation. Who knows—it is likely that some of the spiritual “martyrs” will be among them, but the text is talking about a new generation of actual martyrs.

At this point, one must remember that the judgment cycle of the Orion clock points to year intervals, and each interval begins in the autumn of that year and runs until the autumn of the following year. Thus, the 2014 mark indicates a period from autumn 2014 to autumn 2015. This interval of time corresponds to the answer to when God’s judgment and vengeance will come:

…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 6:11)

A little “season” of rest would begin in the autumn of 2014, and after the little season of rest, the actual martyrdom would take place sometime in 2015 (with people actually killed “as they were”—not just spiritually). The martyrdom must end by the close of probation, because after that, there will be no more fertile soil for their blood to seed the gospel in. Thus, the answer perfectly fills the one-year interval that the star points to, and is complete by October 17, 2015—the close of probation. At that point, the judgment will have been completed (the first part of the question in the fifth seal—God will have judged them), and the wrath of God will begin thereafter (the second part of the question—God will avenge them). Question answered!

But that is not all that the 2014 star tells us. There must be a reason that it points to autumn 2014.

The Judgment People

The fifth seal began with spiritual “martyrdom” in the context of the SDA Church as a precursor to the physical martyrdom that will take place on the world stage. The reason for this is that the SDA Church is the church of the judgment. It was born out of the Great Disappointment of 1844 when the judgment began, and it understood that the judgment was taking place in the heavenly sanctuary, and it figuratively followed Jesus into the Most Holy Place of that sanctuary to participate in the judgment. It saw the Ten Commandment Law of God, including the fourth, which is why it is called the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It self-identifies itself as the “Laodicean” church. According to the Strong’s Concordance, that name comes from a compound of two words: G2992 and G1349.

G2992 λαός laos lah-os'
Apparently a primary word; a people (in general; thus differing from G1218, which denotes one’s own populace): - people.

G1349 δίκη dikē dee'-kay
Probably from G1166; right (as self-evident), that is, justice (the principle, a decision, or its execution): - judgment, punish, vengeance.

Putting the meaning together, Seventh-day Adventists are identified by their doctrines, beliefs, and practice as “a judgment people” (Laodicea)! Whether it is taken in the sense of a people with discernment to judge or a people upon whom judgment is pronounced will become clear very soon if it isn’t already. It will also become clear whether it means judgment in the sense of acquittal or in the sense of condemnation.

Recognizing that the SDA Church is connected with the heavenly sanctuary, it should have spiritual eyesight to see the spirit of the law, and not just the letter. That is why the sin of spiritual “killing” is especially offensive when it is committed by Adventists. They were supposed to be a nation of “kings and priests” who should have discernment to judge others, but they themselves do injustice.

As the “martyrdom” of the fifth seal began at the sanctuary—that is to say spiritually with the “judgment people”—so began the judging and avenging of the spiritual “murderers” of the fifth seal. That is what the 2014 passage of the star Saiph points to. One might wonder how God judged and avenged the spiritual “martyrs” in the autumn of 2014. What does God’s vengeance look like?

Silently, the Door Clangs Shut

Both the Orion Clock and the HSL (High Sabbath List) point very clearly to the autumn of 2014. This was the highlighted culminating point of both clocks, and it led us to give one of our strongest warnings ever—the Autumn Warning—which we spread far and wide during the feast season in October. Then, in November, we waited in anticipation for something to signal a unity between the three angels’ movement and the fourth. We did not know exactly when to expect it, or what to expect, but we had an idea that it could happen near Ellen G. White’s birthday and certainly by the end of November.

Very interesting developments took place, but as I wrote in Last Call, they were not what we had hoped for. What we should have seen would have been a “spiritual hug”^[2] from our brethren of the three angels’ movement, but instead we saw something that I can only describe as the corporate spiritual end of the SDA Church. Remember the double-stop codon at the end of the gene of life, consisting of two back-to-back triplets? Consider this comparison:

Figure 6 – The “Double-Stop” Triplets Mark the End

The double-stop codon at the end of the gene sequence makes the end final. The similarities we see above show that the end of mercy for the SDA Church organization was final on November 30, 2014. I wrote about that in Last Call too, but at that time we had not quite seen the finality of it.

The reaction to our autumn warning from our “brethren” in the SDA Church was zero. We had given our greatest warning, but it fell on deaf ears. Our voices, though booming, had finally been effectively and completely silenced among them. When the events of the end of November transpired, there should have been a big grand reunion of three angels’ Adventists with the fourth angel’s message! But instead, they silently slipped into line with the enemies of God.

Thus God judged them—or they judged themselves—whichever you prefer, because:

…they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)

Thus, in the “little season” beginning in autumn 2014 before the actual martyrs were to be killed, the SDA Church was judged. God’s vengeance is speedily coming upon them, too, which you can see clearly in the fact that the church could not speak up against the November 26 decision of the German court, nor against the church alliance that welcomed it. As an ecumenical-friendly church, its unique views in regard to the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment are being censored by the immense pressure of the other churches.

Even if we are only in the very early phases that will lead to a U.S.-wide or world-wide Sunday law, the implication is still clear. The Sunday law prophecy has begun to fulfill, and that means probation is already closed for the SDA Church as an organization. They should have been the first to know (and they would have if they had accepted the Orion message). This is the most solemn warning for every Seventh-day Adventist: if you look to the General Conference for your spiritual guidance—or to any lesser level of leadership within the scope of its hierarchy—you will be lost with them.

Can it really be so? Let’s think about it logically. Why do Adventists reason that their probation closes at the Sunday law? It is simply because they are privileged to know the truth that the seventh day (Saturday) is the Sabbath of the Lord, and not Sunday. When they are tested upon it, there is no gray area for them. It is a black-and-white test. They should know what is right, therefore when the test comes, it is a simple matter of passing or failing the test according to how they have prepared for it, and there is no more grace for them if they go along with the Sunday law. The Sunday law simply reveals their loyalty, which in many cases will be contrary to their profession.

That test began for the organized SDA Church exactly at the “five month” mark of the fifth trumpet by Jewish reckoning, because they are the spiritual Jews. The next day (November 26, Ellen G. White’s birthday) the German court upheld the Sunday law against the complaints of businesses. The church had to face its test. It had to either buck the pressure of the ecumenical union by speaking up, or it had to shut its mouth in silent cooperation.

A sin of omission weighs as heavily in the judgment balance as a sin of commission.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

At that moment, the SDA Church—already riddled with spiritualism—tacitly consented to Sunday observance too.

Let the punishment fit the crime.^[3] Just like how the SDA Church silenced God’s love as presented in the Orion message, now they are being silenced by the overbearing ecumenical establishment. In this, you can see that God’s vengeance on behalf of the spiritual “martyrs” arrived, just as it was answered to them in the text of the fifth seal.

It could be worse. Maybe all those who keep saying that the “church will go through to the end” (meaning the organization) are right. Maybe the organization will go through to the end in the sense that its adherents will receive the plagues! Considering the amount of light that it was privileged to have, maybe that would be its just deserts. Perhaps some of its leaders will even be preserved long enough to see Him coming in the clouds, like those who crucified Him the first time.

This is tough stuff. If you are an Adventist who was kept in the dark by your pastor or conference leadership, and who is broken-hearted over what has happened, I invite you to re-read the whole chapter of Romans 11 in light of the article Two Armies.

Now do you understand why the court relocated? The implication is that those who didn’t “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth”^[4] have been left to the world—left in Babylon.

The issue here is faith. Once the visible evidence is conclusive, faith can no longer be exercised. The “judgment people” who had a working knowledge of the heavenly sanctuary should have seen through the eyes of faith much sooner than others. The problem is that a course of “wait and see” is not the way of faith, and such a person could never be among the 144,000, who have the faith of Jesus. It’s a sad thing that the Lord had to pass them by, but He would never compel them to step forward in faith against their free will, because that would not be faith at all.

Thus the door of mercy shut for the SDA Church organization, and all that is left of the fifth seal is the actual martyring of Sabbath-keepers that lies ahead. The preparations for that are being made by leaps and bounds, but that is a topic for a later section. With all that we have learned about the fifth seal, we would naturally offer the date that the Orion message was published, January 23, 2010, to mark the first day of the fifth seal with the spiritual “birth” of the first “martyr” in the spiritual sense, and the close of probation, October 17, 2015, to mark the last day with the death of the last physical martyr.

Addressing a New Audience

Non-Adventists have not had the advantages that Adventists have had. They do not have a working knowledge of the abundant counsel that God gave through Ellen G. White. It is a tragedy that Adventists did not appreciate what they had in her.

But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. (Mark 6:4)

Since non-Adventists have not had the framework to understand end-time events, they will have to learn in a few months what we have taken years to learn. The years are gone already—general probation will close in just a few months! For this reason, God has been preparing the Orion message for everyone, especially non-Adventists at this point in time. That is what this article is for.

The fact that we just recently received the light to harmonize the seals shows a couple of things. First, it shows that God did not give all of the knowledge to one man (John Scotram), for him to dictate it to the people and for them to blindly accept it. It was God’s plan that His people would join in the study and contribute to it. If they had done so, the errors that we were late in finding could have been corrected earlier. Leveraging the knowledge of experienced Adventist theologians, the seals could have been harmonized a long time ago. This kind of studying together was God’s intention for Adventists at large, but since they refused, He has continued to give the light to our small group to finish the message for the sake of non-Adventists.

This brings us to the second point, which is that this harmony of the seals and trumpets is important right now, especially for those who don’t have the advantages of an Adventist background. God would have you see the complete harmony in the message. God would show you clearly that the signs are fulfilling, so that you can come to a decision for Him.

I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully. This enraged the churches and nominal Adventists, as they could not refute the Sabbath truth. And at this time God’s chosen all saw clearly that we had the truth, and they came out and endured the persecution with us. {EW 33.2}^[5]

Figure 7 – The Periods of the Last Three Seals of the Judgment Clock

The Classical Interpretation of the Sixth Seal

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)

At this point, you should make sure you have read the Signs of the End article, where the signs of the sixth seal are explained. It shows that in the classical interpretation, the first signs were fulfilled very literally by the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, New England’s Dark Day of 1780 with its subsequent blood moon, and the Falling Stars of 1833. Even the extreme fear of all classes of people as described in the sixth seal was clearly present as the Millerite movement reached its climax in 1844. The vast majority followed the movement out of fear, and thus fell away after the Disappointment. The mention of the day of God's wrath in the sixth seal is a clear reference to the Millerite belief that the earth would be cleansed by fire and sinners would be burned up at that time. The heavens departing like a scroll was fulfilled in the least literal sense, but even that found a fulfillment in Hiram Edson’s vision on October 23, 1844—the day after the Disappointment—when he looked into the open heavens and saw Jesus ministering in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. The vision he saw on that day can be understood to confirm the beginning of the investigative judgment, and also to show that every element of the sixth seal had been fulfilled as far as it was going to be in that era.

Of course at that time they did not understand that the sixth seal had finished, nor that the seals would repeat. As a result, many interpreters devised various erroneous explanations for the sixth and seventh seals, for example by saying that the latter half of the sixth seal would fulfill sometime in the future. However, it is clear from the pattern of Jericho that the sixth day had to end before the marches of the seventh day could begin, so we mark the end of the sixth seal with the Great Disappointment of 1844. Furthermore, we can see from the marches around Jericho that there is no seventh march before the new run of seven marches began on the seventh day, which means there should be no application of the seventh seal to the time immediately after 1844. Instead, the seals repeat with the first seal opening promptly in 1846 as shown in Figure 2.

The Repetition of the Sixth Seal

If, in the repetition, the fifth seal opened in 2010, then we should expect the first sign of the sixth seal to appear sometime after that. Take a look for yourself at a list of the world's largest earthquakes, and see for yourself, which earthquakes could qualify as the “great earthquake” that is mentioned as the first sign of the sixth seal. Without a doubt, it would have to be the 2011 Japan earthquake, as explained in more detail in the Sings of the End article. That earthquake caused an incredible amount of fear and garnered global attention for the hazards related to the damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant. It is clearly a worthy event to open the sixth seal, giving us an exact date of March 11, 2011 to mark its beginning.

The next sign we should see is a darkening of the sun. Did you notice how much concern there was leading up to the current solar maximum? The preceding minimum was very quiet, leading many scientists to expect a dramatic maximum. However, it seemed like for every article that warned of earth-threatening effects from the solar maximum, there was another article expressing the scientists’ surprise at how coolly the sun was behaving. After an unusually large coronal hole appeared and was imaged July 13-18, 2013, which made world news, one blogger summed up the uncertainty of the present solar situation as follows:

Something is up with the sun. It has begun to behave very erratically, and scientists don’t know quite what to make of it. Sunspot activity appears to be slowing down with each new cycle and absolutely gigantic holes have started to appear in the sun. At the moment, the sun is approaching the peak of its 11 year cycle, and an increasing number of scientists are becoming concerned about what the next cycle will bring. If sunspot activity continues to diminish, could the sunspot cycle eventually die altogether? Is it possible that we could be approaching another ice age? Even worse, could the increasingly erratic behavior of the sun be an indication that the sun is dying? Traditionally, scientists have taught that the sun won’t die until billions of years from now, but in recent years astronomers have observed stars similar to our own sun suddenly begin to behave very erratically and then rapidly die. Is it possible that the same thing could happen to our sun?

It is interesting to note that consistent observation of solar activity began in 1750, and only after that has it been possible to analyze the solar cycle reliably. This led to the identification of the first solar cycle as having begun in the year 1755—a date we remember as the beginning of the sixth classical seal. It is also interesting that we are now in the middle of the 24^th solar cycle, as if to suggest that we are in the last “hour” of the sun’s “day.” The sixth seal shows the signs of the end, but the end itself will come soon enough during the plagues. The Bible describes the exact scenario that scientists expect when the sun begins to die:

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)

Many commentators have proposed a connection between coronal holes and the sixth seal, like this blogger does in his July 30, 2013 entry:

This caused me to think about something that I’d never considered before. I wonder if this, possibly, could have anything to do with the sun turning dark as one of the cosmic disturbances associated with the opening of the Sixth Seal. At that time, the sun will turn “black like sackcloth made of goat hair” (Revelation 6:12), and then the day of vengeance will be imminent.

Unless I see further evidence, I am going to assume there is no connection between this large coronal hole and the opening of the Sixth Seal…

His conclusion is unfortunate, but I think that our articles give enough “further evidence” for those like him who are at least thinking in the right logical direction, as the evidence continues to build with the moon turning to blood that is strikingly fulfilled in the rare tetrad of blood moons in 2014 and 2015.

The Internet is full of commentators giving their opinions about what the blood moons could mean, and it is such a literal fulfillment in terms of the name of the event that no one who is studying Bible prophecy can miss it. From this sign alone, we can see that the sixth seal must go all the way to at least the autumn of 2015, because the last blood moon of the tetrad is September 28, 2015. The blood moons point to the spring and autumn feasts according to the Hebrew calendar, which highlights the importance of God’s calendar.

Jesus, our Savior, died on the cross at exactly the right time. The circumstances of His death are the criteria to understand the calendar of God, as explained in the Gethsemane article series. Jesus didn’t die any sooner or any later than He was supposed to. He knew what to die for, and when. The blood moons are a sign to the people of God that persecution is coming to them, and that a martyr’s death might await them. Have you considered that possibility for yourself? Do you know God’s timetable well enough to know what to die for, and when?

In his article about these same Signs of the End, my brother explained that Sun-day worship is really cultic “sun” worship, contrary to the Ten Commandments. The signs of the sixth seal are not just a series of waymarks; they tell a message. The great earthquake shakes up the world, saying “WAKE UP!!!” Then the sun is darkened, warning that as the dying sun will eventually burn up those who dwell on the earth, those who worship on Sunday in defiance of the fourth commandment will not only be scorched physically in the time of plagues, but will be eternally lost. Then the moon turns to blood near the spring and autumn feasts, as if to say, Pay attention to the time—and know what to give your own blood for (as Jesus did), and when.

The media is full of propaganda that is building up to the “falling of the stars.” It is a regular occurrence to hear of a fireball here or there, or the approach of a potentially hazardous “near earth object,” or any number of variations on such themes. When the big event comes, it will usher in a new phase of human suffering, which means it behooves a person to take stock of what really is important and put their priorities in order. All of the signs of the sixth seal thus far have been greater than they were in the classical interpretation, so don’t let the press lull you into thinking that whatever event is coming will just be another beautiful, spectacular but harmless sight. As a harbinger of what is to come, the Chelyabinsk meteor should dispel that myth, as does the following prophetic description:

Last Friday morning, just before I awoke, a very impressive scene was presented before me. I seemed to awake from sleep but was not in my home. From the windows I could behold a terrible conflagration. Great balls of fire were falling upon houses, and from these balls fiery arrows were flying in every direction. It was impossible to check the fires that were kindled, and many places were being destroyed. The terror of the people was indescribable. After a time I awoke and found myself at home. {LDE 24.3}^[6]

Another time, Ellen G. White (who related the above) heard the conversations of the people:

In the visions of the night a very impressive scene passed before me. I saw an immense ball of fire fall among some beautiful mansions, causing their instant destruction. I heard someone say: “We knew that the judgments of God were coming upon the earth, but we did not know that they would come so soon.” Others, with agonized voices, said: “You knew! Why then did you not tell us? We did not know.” On every side I heard similar words of reproach spoken. {9T 28.1}^[7]

The description of those agonized voices is a word to the wise today: prepare now—especially spiritually—because it will be too late to prepare for the event after it happens. If by that time you had not yet been forced to take a firm stand for God and for His commandments, it is very likely that you will have to take a firm stand from that day on. The pressure from society and especially the ruling powers will increase as the trouble in the world increases.

Finally, the last scene described in the sixth seal will be the great Betelgeuse supernova explosion, which will first have the effect of causing the sky to “depart like a scroll.” Then people of every class will realize that probation is over, and the day of the wrath of God is on their heels. They will hide and cry out in fear—just as the text says—more so than the Millerites did. Will you be among that terrified group or among the Lord’s faithful? The choices you make every day beginning today will land you on one side or the other, and I hope you will be inside the ark when the time of mercy ends for the world on October 17, 2015 at the end of the sixth seal.

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. (Isaiah 26:20-21)

Obedience to God’s commandments is the place of safety, because a person is the servant of the one whom they obey,^[8] and if you obey God then you are under His protection as His servant.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

(Annotation from August 2016: For more information regarding the fulfillment of the classical sixth seal, please see the addendum to History Repeats II. The fulfillment of the repeated sixth seal is explained in the addendum to Signs of the End and slides 101-114 of the Orion Presentation.)

The Seventh Seal

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. (Revelation 8:1-5)

The seventh seal deals primarily with events happening in heaven. It speaks of silence in heaven, angels in heaven, the altar and censer of the heavenly sanctuary, and the incense and prayers that are offered to God in heaven. Because it is talking about events in heaven, and the furniture of the heavenly sanctuary is mentioned (even of the Most Holy Place), we can be sure that this seal has something to do with the judgment proceedings that we talked about near the beginning of this article. It seems to be giving us a view into the heavenly courtroom, with certain key events noted.

The first clue we are given to help us understand the seal is a period of time: silence in heaven for half an hour. Notice that the rest of the description does not mention any sounds again until the seal has ended, at which point the silence is broken and there are “voices” again. That means the half-hour of silence spans the entire duration of the seal. To understand the duration of time in earthly terms, we just have to calculate how long the half-hour of silence in heaven would be on earth.

It is often assumed that this time period should be calculated according to the day-year principle like other time prophecies, but that does not account for the silence being measured in terms of heavenly time. When it speaks of a time period in heaven, it should be measured in heavenly time. In other words, we should read the time according to the heavenly clock of Orion.

The Orion clock has 24 hours, and the full clock cycle represents 168 earthly years, so one heavenly hour is 168 ÷ 24 = 7 earthly years. That means half an hour would be half of seven years, or simply three and a half years. Does that give us a better understanding of the seal, knowing that this seal is dealing with events in the heavenly sanctuary?

Yes! We’ve seen this period before in the form of 1260 days that correspond to the judgment of the living, which began on May 6, 2012. Through the eye of faith, this LastCountdown group has been watching the seven angels in the heavenly sanctuary (the seven stars of Orion) to see what God is doing in this seventh seal. Thus the second clue (that seven angels were seen in heaven) fits as well. Now we can understand why the seals are connected to the legal proceedings in heaven: all of the seals were building up to this one-time seventh seal, which is an indication of how important the judgment of the living is.

The next clue we are given in the text of the seventh seal is that the seven angels (representing the seven stars of Orion) were given seven trumpets. This was fulfilled on January 31, 2014, when Brother John discovered how the Orion clock gives the dates of the seven trumpets in the Last Race. From that day forward, the seven trumpets of Revelation began to give a certain sound:

For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? (1 Corinthians 14:8)

We will talk more about the trumpets later, but you can see from this verse that giving the trumpets a certain or sure sound is important for the express purpose of preparing for battle. Of course we are speaking of the great spiritual battle for souls, not a physical battle. The battle for souls involves prayer, which is mentioned in connection with the censer in the next portion of the seventh seal text. This symbolizes the remaining time to confess sins and be cleansed before Jesus must close all of the cases that are pending in the court. At the end of the seventh seal, the censer is filled with fire and thrown to the earth. This symbolizes the end of the judgment of the living in heaven. After that, Jesus will no longer plead for the sinner—and that time is coming very quickly this year on October 17, 2015! Avail yourself of His advocacy now, while the time of intercession is open!

The beginning of the seventh seal in 2012 fits the criteria that it must begin after the sixth seal, and it is a nice harmony that the fifth, sixth and seventh seals all culminate on October 17, 2015 with the close of probation. That is the focal point of all three seals, just as all three seals are given to help every human being make his decision to serve on God’s side of the great controversy between good and evil.

The HSL (High Sabbath List), as explained in the Vessel of Time presentation, also harmonizes perfectly with the last three seals. Comparing the beginning of the last three seals with the penultimate triplet of the HSL, we can see harmony in that the seals begin in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively, right along with the years of the triplet. Each year of the triplet corresponds to the opening of one of the seals. The sequence of the seals is in proper order, and in all three cases the indicated end-date is the close of probation. Thus, the very last triplet of the HSL corresponds to the time of the loud cry, which has to end when every case is decided in 2015. The overlap is perfect.

The Orion clock is the Book of Seven Seals, so it must indicate the time of all seven seals. We should have recognized long ago that with only four outer stars to indicate points on the clock circle, and only one of those (Saiph) repeating here at the end of time, there had to be an overlap of the last three seals. Now we can see that the star Saiph points not only to the first seal and the fifth seal, but when we consider that the Orion clock marks years, then we can see that it points to the end of all things belonging to the fifth, sixth, and seventh seals.

Figure 8 – The Judgment Clock Indicates the Overlap of the Last Three Seals

The invisible clock tick of 2012 (the 168th anniversary of 1844) marks the first Orion year with all three seals overlapping, and together with the 2014 Saiph pointer mark, the overlapping phase of the last three seals is indicated. The markers span the time after the judgment of the dead, culminating with the close of probation for mankind.

The Seven Trumpets of the Judgment Cycle

The trumpets of the judgment cycle are fulfilled by wars. Each war brought a special test upon the church, as well as the world. During the first seal, there was the American Civil War, which tested the church on its non-combatant stance. World War I trumpeted out at the opening of the second seal, with World War II coming in the third. In the fourth seal, there have been a number of wars in the Middle East (the Gulf Wars) and the “War on Terror”. Each trumpet falls within its respective seal, as the pattern of the marches around Jericho illustrate.

The last three trumpets also fall within their respective seals, but that rule is less constraining with the last three trumpets because the last three seals overlap so largely. However, the rule still applies that the trumpets must begin to sound in sequential order, and each must sound within its respective seal.

We already covered the fifth and sixth trumpets of the judgment cycle in detail in the Last Call article. The fifth trumpet began to sound when ISIS declared itself to be a caliphate on June 29, 2014. The five months of the fifth trumpet range until the pope (representing Christianity) effectively declared war in return. His speech was made in Turkey on November 28, 2014—the last day of the five-month period—and his three days in Turkey form the link to the sixth trumpet.

The sixth trumpet began to sound when the leaders of the major religions of the world united with the pope in the war against fundamentalism by signing agreements. Thus the angels of the sixth seal were prepared for the “hour, day, month and year” of November 30, 2014, as I explained according to the example of Josiah Litch’s expose of the fifth and sixth trumpets of the Christian (pre-judgment) era.

Finally, the seventh trumpet will coincide with the end of the fifth, sixth, and seventh seals. It marks the completion of the trumpet warnings mingled with mercy. The 144,000 will all have been sealed a little beforehand, and the last martyr will find rest. Every person will have chosen his side of the battle. That is the moment when Jesus will throw down the censer, and the heavenly carillon will ring out in celebration of the fact that the Kingdom of God is made up and secure. All that will remain is the year of plagues.

Figure 9 – The Sounding of the Last Three Trumpets of the Judgment Cycle

The attentive reader might notice that the seventh trumpet only begins to sound within the seventh seal, but the sound of the trumpet goes longer. This hearkens back to the story of Jericho:

And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. (Joshua 6:5)

When the seventh trumpet sounds, it will be time to go up and conquer! The kingdoms of this world will then become the kingdoms of our Lord, and He will judge them righteously as He pours out the vials of His wrath in the seven last plagues.

The Seven Priests with Seven Trumpets

Let’s go back to the Jericho blueprint at the beginning of this article. The seven priests with seven trumpets have a special meaning distinct from the seals and trumpets of the classical and judgment eras that we’ve covered thus far.

And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. (Joshua 6:3-4)

It seems likely that the priests all blew their trumpets together on each march, so there would have been only one combined trumpet sound during each march. That is why we generally have one trumpet corresponding to the timeframe of each seal in the classical interpretation, as well as during the repetition of the seals in the investigative judgment. The trumpets sounded sometime during the march as one combined sound.

In that regard, the exact number of priests with trumpets would seem to be an unimportant detail. Having more priests with trumpets would simply make the sound of the trumpets louder, and having fewer would make the sound of the trumpets less loud. This should make us realize that the number of priests with trumpets is given for a special reason.

The seven priests with seven trumpets are symbolic of the ultimate fulfillment of the seven angels that are given seven trumpets:

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. (Revelation 8:1-2)

Those verses are ultimately fulfilled by the trumpet cycle of the Orion clock. The “seven angels” (seven stars) of Orion were given seven trumpets on January 31, 2014 during the seventh seal as I explained earlier. The trumpet cycle was discovered near the middle of the judgment of the living, near the middle of the seventh seal. The seven stars of Orion are the seven “angels” which literally stand in front of God’s throne from the viewpoint of Earth. On that day, the seven stars received trumpets when the seven stations around the clock were each given a date. That was the beginning of the trumpet cycle of the Orion clock, as explained in detail in The Last Race.

It would not have been appropriate to include the trumpet cycle with the order of marches in Figure 1 because it is an independent application of one feature of the Jericho plan (the fact that there were seven priests with trumpets) and not directly relevant to the literal sequence of marches that form the blueprint for the seals. As I mentioned before, the trumpets were probably blown simultaneously as one sound during each march, which is why we have a single trumpet warning during each seal. It was not necessary or possible to figuratively distinguish the tone from each individual trumpet instrument. The trumpet cycle, however, is an independent application of the number of priests with trumpets. The trumpets in the trumpet cycle stand alone and do not correspond to the timeframes of the seals except in the sense that they all happen within the seventh seal, just as they are presented in the Revelation. That is because they are part of the perfect and ultimate fulfillment of the seventh march of the seventh day.

We know that the seven trumpets must have this separate application because the texts are not completely fulfilled any other way. For example, neither the classical trumpets nor the judgment cycle trumpets could fulfill Revelation 8:1-2 because those trumpets sounded before there was anything known about the seven stars of Orion. The imagery of the seven angels which stood in front of God had not been deciphered yet. Only now has the text been completely fulfilled that the seven angels which stood before God were given seven trumpets.

The Principle of Progressive Revelation

Many trumpet warnings served to alert people all through the ages. That is how the people were warned of the spiritual dangers of their time. As time comes to a close, however, the battle between good and evil becomes more intense and the signs of the times happen more frequently. Consequently, we have a need for greater detail in our understanding of prophecy as God’s people living today compared to His people in past ages. That is why God reveals prophecy progressively.

The closer we get to a prophetic event, the more detail God reveals to us. You can study that in the Power of the Father article. The Jericho model perfectly reflects God’s principle of progressive revelation.

1. Classical Era: The first six days were long marches from the year AD 31 till the year 1844. That was over 1800 years for six marches, which is an average of about 300 years per march.

2. Judgment Era: By comparison, the Israelites had to march around the city seven times in one day on the seventh and last day. If we calculate the average, we get: 2014 – 1846 = 168 years; 168 years ÷ 7 marches = 24 years per march. That is an order of magnitude (10 times) increase in detail! The comparison shows us that we have a much more detailed revelation shortly before the coming of Christ, and this is in line with God’s progressive revelation, which is one of the most important biblical principles in the interpretation of prophecy.

3. Judgment of the Living: The story of Jericho gives even further detail in the seventh seal, in the revelation of the trumpet cycle. Here we have an average of about three months per trumpet, which represents another two orders of magnitude (100 times) more detail than the judgment cycle! Not only is the detail increasing, but it is increasing exponentially!

We do not lack signs of the end today, but this increase in the knowledge of biblical prophecy is definitely a clear one:

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro [in the Word of God], and knowledge [of the Bible] shall be increased. (Daniel 12:4)

By definition, the principle of progressive revelation means that old light must be accepted and acted upon for new light to build upon it. The development of our website illustrates how our knowledge of end-time prophecy has been building while at the same time becoming more and more harmonious.

So then, shall we shift gears and take a closer look at the rapidly fulfilling trumpet cycle of the Orion clock?

A Wider Perspective

A person should read Trumpets with a Certain Sound to get the full impact of what the first two trumpets mean. The few words that I will include here cannot alone do justice to the interpretation, as it is only intended to refresh your memory of what is written in that article so that additional observations can be built upon that foundation.

The way we find the correct interpretation of the trumpet texts is by pairing the texts with the dates that were given to the seven “angels” of Orion. For example, knowing that the first trumpet would begin to sound on February 1, the text can be interpreted relatively easily by simply following major events from that date forward (a task which is much easier in retrospect):

The first angel sounded [beginning February 1, 2014], and there followed hail and fire [stones and lava = volcanic eruption of Mt. Sinabung] mingled with blood [causing deaths (16)], and they were cast [as an image of something] upon the earth [in the United States, namely Yellowstone]: and the third part of trees [Charismatics] was burnt up [taken by Rome], and all green grass [Crimea] was burnt up [annexed by Russia]. (Revelation 8:7)

The prophetic description of events ends when the next trumpet begins, but that does not mean the issues become less significant. For example, the Ring of Fire continues to be a hot topic, as do the shifts that began in the religious and political world during the core time of the first trumpet. In fact, the topics of the trumpets tend to increase in significance as one trumpet builds on another.

The second trumpet is connected to the first, picking up where the first trumpet left off. The Crimea crisis at the end of the first trumpet grew into the Ukraine conflict at the beginning of the second trumpet. In that way, the second trumpet intensified the sound of the first trumpet, adding to the loudness of the overall warning message that the trumpets declare.

And the second angel sounded [beginning April 12, 2014], and as it were a great mountain [Russia] burning with fire [condemned, persecuting God’s people] was cast [by the Ukraine conflict] into the sea [Europe]: and the third part of the sea [Pacific Ocean] became blood [died from radiation poisoning]; And the third part of the creatures [souls] which were in the sea [people], and had life [eternal], died [lost to deception of miracles/spiritualism (Day of Four Popes)]; and the third part of the ships [European financial markets] were destroyed. (Revelation 8:8-9)

It behooves us to think beyond mere identification of events, because prophecy has a purpose beyond just offering a list of waymarks till Jesus comes. We must discern the warning message that the trumpets contain, so that we can prepare for the test of faith that will try the souls of men before His arrival. In the Chain of Satan picture series, we did just that by examining the motives behind the Rapid Trident military exercise that took place in Ukraine near the end of the second trumpet. The last image of that series highlighted the great test that all of the trumpets are warning of: the test of true worship—loving obedience to God as demonstrated through the keeping of the biblical seventh-day (Saturday) Sabbath of the Lord, or the respecting of Sunday, “the mark of the beast,” which if any man receives, he will receive the plagues.

The second to last picture in that series explained how the principle of “order out of chaos” could be used by the powers that be to reach their goal, and quickly. According to the Hegelian dialectic,^[9] there are three steps to achieving order out of chaos, two of which can be seen in the first two trumpets:

1. Introduce a problem (thesis) – DONE. In the first trumpet, the problem was the crisis in Crimea. Russia’s annexation of Crimea posed a problem for the international community. Many feared that it would erupt into war across Europe. You have heard politicians say “never let a good crisis go to waste,” but what they won’t admit that openly is that they regularly create a crisis in order to take advantage of it afterward. Creating the crisis is the first step of the Hegelian dialectic.

2. Generate a resistance to the problem (antithesis) – DONE. The second step is to generate an opposition to the problem, which in this case involved the nations scrambling to prevent Russia from seizing Crimea while maintaining peace in eastern Ukraine. The Rapid Trident exercise near the end of the second trumpet was an integral part of that effort. In this step, the resistance was pitted against the problem, so that the two sides can subsequently fight it out. This step, together with the first step, creates an environment of “chaos” which will wear out both sides until they are completely exhausted. Have you ever heard that Jesuits finance both sides of the wars they incite? It is their modus operandi.

3. Offer the desired solution to the problem (synthesis) – PENDING. The last step is the rising of the Phoenix from the ashes of chaos. In the context of the first two trumpets, this has not happened yet. Satan’s goal is for the world to come under one unified political system as the answer to the conflict. That is what he needs in order to direct worship to himself uncontested, and enforce it.

There were also key developments on the religious front that took place in the first two trumpets. In the first trumpet, it was the reconciliation of Charismatics with the pope as represented by a third part. Notice that the Day of Four Popes in the second trumpet is also represented as affecting a third part. Do you think there could be another third part lurking in the third trumpet to complete the religious scene?

The Third Trumpet

To interpret the third trumpet, we need to apply what we learned from the first two. We saw that a notable event happens in the world on the first day of each trumpet, which sets the tone for the whole trumpet.

For the first trumpet, we had the Mt. Sinabung volcanic eruption involving deaths on one hand, and the rumbling threat of the super-volcano under Yellowstone National Park on the other, both happening on the first day. Those events have a tight connection to the Bible text, and serve as a warning for the plagues.

Then, in the second trumpet we had the Crimea crisis escalate on the first day of the trumpet, with the first bloody attack to the East Ukraine on that very day. It became clear in the second trumpet that God points to different kinds of events, and each trumpet has its own character. The first trumpet was marked by natural disasters, warning of physical dangers. The second trumpet was marked by provocations among nations.

As we look at the third trumpet, we should expect to see the same principles coming together again: something should have happened on the very day that the third trumpet began, and it should have been an event of global proportions, and it should likely be of a different character than the events of the first two trumpets (not geological, and not involving war politics).

Figure 10 – The Seven Last Trumpets of the Seven Angels

Before exploring the actual event, let’s try to understand what the overall thrust of the trumpet was. That will give us a clue for what kind of event to look for at the start of the trumpet. We have already dealt with some very significant events at the end of November in relation to the fifth seal above. I also talked about these events in the Last Call article in the context of the sixth trumpet of the judgment cycle—it was about the pope’s speech before the European Parliament and the churches and other religions that joined with the papacy in Turkey under the pretext of defending against radical Islam. Those events also fall within the timeframe of this ultimate third trumpet, but the third trumpet gives a different context to them.

Let’s just read the text objectively once:

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 message of the third trumpet is about a “fallen star” that poisons the waterways, and thus the people. We can immediately rule out any kind of literal application such as an asteroid or similar. No such literal event happened in the expected timeframe, so the terms must be symbolic. You can read a straightforward interpretation of the symbols of this trumpet text in detail at Cyberspace Ministry^[10] or elsewhere.

If we consider the union of world religions on November 30 as having any meaningful bearing on the text, then the third trumpet must be showing us that when the churches united with the pope (great star), it poisoned their religion from the leadership (fountains), through the ministry channels (rivers) and down to the ordinary members who die spiritually as a result. The essence of ecumenism is to unite on common points and sweep differences aside. The emphasis is on mutual acceptance as one big happy family, regardless of doctrinal differences. If you understand the role that doctrines play in character development as I explained in Preparing the Armour, then you can see just how poisonous ecumenism really is.

The overall thrust of ecumenism in the third trumpet time is clear, but it is too loose of an explanation of the text. The trumpet should open with an event on the first day. It should be an event that fulfills the first part of the text.

…there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp... (Revelation 8:10)

In the fullest sense, this symbolism refers to Lucifer’s fall from heaven. He was the brightest, most honored being under the Godhead until he fell. He was the original fallen star.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! … (Isaiah 14:12)

Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness... (Ezekiel 28:17)

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. (Revelation 12:9)

Lucifer did not appear evil at first. He presented himself as trying to improve God’s government by reforming it, and by giving the angels greater freedom. In that way, he was burning as a lamp, or torch. He presented himself as an angel of light, leading the way to a better destiny. (The torch is used to symbolize Satan to this day.)

Nevertheless, Lucifer’s fall cannot be the direct fulfillment of the third trumpet because he fell from heaven very long ago, not just on October 12, 2014 when the third trumpet started to sound. Remember, we understand the trumpets by pairing the Bible text with the date that we have from the Trumpet Clock for the beginning of the trumpet. We are looking for a fulfillment that took place at that particular time, which makes the task of interpretation much more tractable. Could the fallen star be Islam’s false prophet Muhammad in this context? No, because once again he didn’t “fall” in 2014, but nearly a millennium and a half ago.

Does that mean, then, that Lucifer’s fall (or Muhammad’s) has nothing to do with the trumpet? No, they are in fact related. To identify what this part of the trumpet text symbolizes, it is helpful to look for someone who is fallen, like Lucifer, but who appears good, as if leading the way to a better world.

An Extraordinary Meeting

Let us come to the first day of the trumpet, which was October 12, 2014. Considering that the basic symbolism of the third trumpet is about spiritual and religious things, we should naturally look in the religious world for the “star” that opens the event...

Was there anything of a spiritual nature going on in the world at that time? Were there any religious “stars” on the world stage? What was happening in the religious world?

There was one glaringly-bright event:

Oct. 5-19
Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops:
The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization

That event didn’t begin exactly on the third trumpet date, which might be why we didn’t see a really clear association at first, but it does span over it. In fact, the third trumpet date points exactly to the middle day of the event!

What is this event about, and could the third trumpet really be pointing to it?

This particular synod was an “extraordinary” assembly, which means it was convened to address some urgent matter, in contrast to a regular or “ordinary” synod. This was only the third time that an extraordinary synod was ever called, and it was a very big deal. Catholic bloggers (like this one) esteemed it as a “Third Vatican Council” in importance, while publishers with a more official tone (such as Catholic News Service) were careful to mention the fact that the whole synod system was instituted at the end of the Second Vatican Council, as if they deliberately wanted to trace this particular synod back to Vatican II. It is noteworthy that the full title of Vatican II was the “Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.” Do you think that it is just pure happenstance that this “Third Vatican Council”—whatever it was officially called—was followed a month later by formal agreements between the pope and the leaders of the major world religions, joining them in ecumenical unity?

Keep in mind, this “Third Vatican Council” is not over yet. The Extraordinary Synod was just a preparatory session for the bigger Ordinary Synod coming later this year (2015). The 2015 synod will take the results of the 2014 synod into consideration for a final decision.

Normally, an extraordinary synod is called for an urgent matter and has about six months of preparation time, but this extraordinary synod was a lot longer in the making. It started with a questionnaire (!) sent out to the local bishops around the world a year earlier in October of 2013. The synod addressed the topic of pastoral care for families, including the topics of divorce, remarriage, homosexuality, inclusion and unity in the body of Christ in terms of receiving the Eucharist, and more.

With an eye discerning of prophetic developments, we can infer that there was even more to this synod than meets the eye. For example, we know that the justification for Sunday protection is often linked to the family. Still, if this is the event that God wanted to point to with the third trumpet, we should naturally wonder why He didn’t point to the beginning of it. Why did He point to a day in the middle? Perhaps we should examine the synod schedule more closely to see if there is something specific we should be looking for.

There is a clue in the Wikipedia entry for the synod, which suggests that something of importance happened after the first week of the synod:

After the first week a relatio post disceptationem (“report after the debate”), was delivered by the synod's relator, Cardinal Péter Erdő.

Noteworthy is the fact that the third trumpet points to the eighth day, the day after the first week. Considering that we are talking about the synod of the church that claims Sunday as its mark of authority, and the synod began on a Sunday, and ended on a Sunday, and the third trumpet points to a Sunday, I think we have at least a little justification to infer that Sunday has something to do with it. Of course they aren’t going to advertise that fact, but we have to read between the lines knowing that they consider Sunday to be “family day” and the synod was about pastoring the family better.

The pope gave his homily on the opening and closing Sundays, which were obviously not normal meeting days. That means the real first and last days of meetings were Monday, October 6 and Saturday, October 18—which so happened to be the true dates for Yom Kippur and Shemini Atzeret, respectively! So it was not only the third trumpet that pointed to this event, but also the feast days themselves, which our autumn warning was based on!

Interestingly, the day numbers in the core meeting days of Oct. 6-18 have a subtle but important meaning. If you look carefully, there are four 6’s there, because there is one 6 alone, and 18 = 6 + 6 + 6 for a total of four 6’s. The number 6666 signifies the number of Satan’s hosts, and we will see it again later. In essence, the feast days point to this synod, saying “Watch out! Satan is preparing his hosts for battle!”

The middle date, which the trumpet points to, was a Sunday. The following day, October 13, the press was blaring out the news about the interim report of the synod. In order to release the report on the 13^th, naturally things had to be in order on the 12^th. (Similarly, the final report made public on the 19^th had to follow a vote taken the day before.) So whatever the deeper purpose of this synod was, God points right to it.

Think about it. The decision to begin the One World Religion must have been made at the Family Synod. They must have decided there to embrace Islam and all other major world religions as they did the following month. Maybe that is why it was called the “Family” Synod—all religions wanted to become one big happy family, even if they can’t all receive the Catholic Eucharist.

Of course the Church would not highlight their intentions to promote the enforcement of Sunday worship, but don’t you think the discussions on family, sin, and how to deal with those who are not living in harmony with the Church’s official position are all relevant in the context of observing “Family Day” (Sunday) too? Even if the discussions weren’t made in the context of keeping Sunday holy, the thinking that emerged would undoubtedly carry over into the Sunday context. It seems probable that protecting Sunday as a day for the family would appear to be the perfect solution to all of the family problems that the Church is struggling to deal with.

If this synod is the starting event of the third trumpet, it can truly be said that “many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” If this “Third Vatican Ecumenical Council” is what led to the big union of religions the following month, then it is clear how many men died spiritually by uniting with the church whose waters are full of bitter poison. They joined the church that is led by the bitter Angel of the Dead—the great fallen angel, Lucifer, or Satan!

However, we must still answer the question of why the trumpet would point to the middle of this synod instead of the beginning of it. There is a very good reason, and there is a lesson in it that the Lord wants to teach us. Remember that the fact that there was no meteor fireball on the third trumpet date is significant—it means that the trumpet text has to be interpreted metaphorically as we already did, with the star representing a fallen “angel” (or messenger).

The papacy is surely in a fallen condition, but again it did not fall recently. That means the third trumpet must still be pointing to some other “angelic” messenger that actually fell at the sound of the third trumpet. That means there must be another event in the religious world that the trumpet marks, besides the Vatican synod. It must be an event that would explain why the trumpet points to the middle of the synod and not to the beginning of it (or for that matter to the end when the conclusions were announced).

The “Other” Catholic Church

There was another church that started doing something with survey “questionnaires” in a local conference a while back in 2012. It was about the issue of women’s ordination—which is also a “family” issue—which grew until it was officially tackled by the Church in several TOSC (Theology of Ordination Study Committee) group meetings. Those meetings fed into the 2014 Annual Council of the Seventh-day Adventists World Church, which in turn recommended the item to the 2015 General Conference Session for consideration. The earlier phases are documented in the article Change of Venue.

Neil Wilson, then president of the General Conference of the SDA Church, once said:

...there is another universal and truly catholic organization, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. {Adventist Review, March 5, 1981, p 3}

Of course he was using the term “catholic” in the sense of universal, to say that the organized SDA Church is also a “Universal Church.” As a Freemason, however, he was really speaking the truth in occult mockery of Adventists, because the SDA Church organization really is just a little Catholic Church in disguise—or at least it was quickly on the way to becoming such at that time, if it wasn’t already.

Naturally, we should wonder what the SDA Church was doing during the synod, and especially on the third trumpet date. It so happens that hidden in the glare of the Mother Church’s big synod, the SDA World Church was having a little synod of its own:

Oct. 9-15
Annual Council of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
Key Discussion: Theology of Ordination

Did you catch the numerology dance Ted Wilson and Pope Francis are playing!? 915 is the reverse of 519. Both numbers reduce the same way:

9 + 1 + 5 = 15 → 1 + 5 = 6
5 + 1 + 9 = 15 → 1 + 5 = 6

That means between the two events we have 6 and 6, or 66. Now search your Bible for the numbers sixty and six! (I’ll come back to that later.)

The mathematical symmetry in the numbers means that both meetings have the same middle date. Thus the third trumpet points to the very middle of the Adventist council, just as it did the Catholic synod! If God had pointed to the beginning of the Vatican synod, the SDA Church would have been excused. If He had pointed to the beginning of the Adventist Annual Council, the Catholic Church would have been excused. By pointing to the center, He put His finger on both, clearly pointing to the fact that they are centered on the same object, and marching to the same beat, just like we pointed out in the Mission to the Cities article. God points to the middle of the meetings with the third trumpet to identify both culprits.

519 and 915 reduce to 6 and 6, and the center date of 12 contributes another 6 and 6. No doubt the Freemasons et al., who are running the show, chose all those dates very carefully. Four 6’s is again the number of Satan’s hosts (6666). The clear message here is that those who drink the poisoned waters from either the Catholic or SDA Churches constitute the rank and file of Satan’s armies! In other words, the number 6666 is a short way of saying the following: “The fallen star of the third trumpet (Oct. 12) is at the center of the Catholic synod (Oct. 5-19) and the Adventist Annual Council (Oct. 9-15).” Let’s format it visually so you can see how Lucifer is positioning himself at the top of the “congregation,”^[11] and his hosts are supporting him from the bottom:

Figure 11 – Masonic Pyramid

Do you see how when you put your trust in the organization, and not in Christ, you are slowly duped? Almost imperceptibly, the members of the Adventist church gradually became enslaved like the Hebrews of old in Egypt. Silently, by one little compromise after another, the church at large defected to the enemy’s ranks and ended up under his power.^[12]

The key topics discussed at the Annual Council were even similar issues to what the Vatican was discussing: women’s ordination, homosexuality, gender-inclusive language for better evangelism, etc. In fact, their doctrinal waters were poisoned by two specific decisions that were made:

1. First of all, they decided to send the women’s ordination issue to the 2015 GC session, just like how the Family Synod results will go on to the 2015 Ordinary Synod, which will end on October 25 (!), 2015. Like the annual council is marked by the third trumpet, the 2015 GC Session is also marked by God (by the sixth trumpet).

2. Secondly, the Annual Council recommended changes to its 28 Fundamental Beliefs, which are to be voted at the 2015 GC Session. The main purpose of the changes is to use gender-inclusive language. However, there was also one other “little” change slipped in besides the gender-inclusive language. Instead of anticipating Jesus’ imminent return, the church’s official statement of faith will now say that they expect Jesus to come “soon” and no longer imminently. Can you believe that for 168 years they held the belief that Jesus was coming imminently, and just when He is actually coming, the Advent-ist church reverts to soon!? They even contradict themselves by justifying the change as more accurately reflecting the biblical language, when the same argument goes completely contrary to the effort to use gender-inclusive language in the rest of the document, where in at least one case they even dropped the biblical language to do so!

Apparently we do have two Catholic Churches now. The first day of the third trumpet highlights both of these Churches by pointing out how they are following parallel paths under the guidance of the same fallen star. These Churches are the two main culprits in the third trumpet drama, and you can be sure that neither of them is the “pure woman” depicted in Revelation 12—not any more, anyway.

The Fallen Luminary

A great star—Lucifer—fell from heaven, and he is leading both Churches now, but if we want to name the “star” that fell on the exact date of the third trumpet, on October 12, we cannot name Lucifer for the reason I already mentioned: he fell long, long ago. Could we name the Catholic Church? No, because it also fell long ago. The only angelic “star” or messenger that we can say fell on the actual date of the third trumpet is the SDA Church.

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 [of the 144,000]. (Revelation 12:1-2)

Brother John interpreted the symbolism of the pure woman of Revelation 12 in the End of the SDA Church article. Remember, the woman symbolizes the church across many generations. The moon under her feet symbolizes the Jewish era, dimly reflecting the light of the coming Christ in shadowy symbols upon which the church stood. The sun symbolizes the Christian era, when the Sun of Righteousness shined out to the world through the church. The crown symbolizes the Seventh-day Adventist people—the judgment people—who were made a nation of kings and priests to minister in the Day of Judgment. Finally, the stars in the crown of the woman represent “they that be wise” who in this last generation would “turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”^[13]

Each symbol represents an era, and where each new era began, the people of the old era fell. Judaism stumbles at the Rock of Ages. Christianity as a whole mocks at the investigative judgment. Adventism rejected the light of the stars of heaven. Each people preferred their traditions more than the truth for their time. Just as a Jew of the Christian era who did not accept Christ is excluded from the picture of the woman, so is a Christian who does not recognize that the hour of judgment began. At every change in the symbolism, a door is shut. After Christ came, for example, salvation was no longer possible through Judaism, but through Jesus.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

Similarly, a door was shut for the nominal Christians in 1844, because the Day of Judgment had begun and the Way of salvation (Jesus) moved into the Most Holy Place to do the special work of sanctifying man to prepare him to dwell in the presence of God.

The same logical conclusion applies to Seventh-day Adventists. A Seventh-day Adventist who does not accept Jesus in the stars of Orion is thereby excluded from the body of the woman of Revelation 12. John 3:19 (above) applies again.

The SDA Church started out as a pure church represented by the pure woman, but by casting her eyes longingly upon the world, her character became changed into that which she beheld. This trumpet makes it clear that the organized SDA Church has finally and completely united with Babylon. If you will, the second Babylon has fallen right along with the first, just as the Bible has always said:

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. (Revelation 18:2)

We could even make an accurate comparison of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to the SDA Church, and you would be surprised at how closely their histories parallel. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary even explains the repetition “is fallen, is fallen” as including the fall of Protestantism, and as having its complete fulfillment in the union of churches under the leadership of Satan. That process was not complete until the last truly “protesting” church (the SDA Church) fell too.

[Revelation 14:8] Is fallen, is fallen. Textual evidence may be cited (cf. p. 10) for the omission of the second “is fallen.” The passage seems to echo Isa. 21:9, where in the LXX textual evidence is divided between reading “is fallen” once or twice. The Hebrew repeats the term. Repetition lends emphasis to the message. Babylon is a comprehensive term that John employs to describe all religious bodies and movements that have fallen away from the truth. This fact requires us to view this “fall” as progressive and cumulative.

This prophecy of the fall of Babylon finds its last-day fulfillment in the departure of Protestantism at large from the purity and simplicity of the gospel (see on Rev. 14:4). This message was first preached by the advent movement known as Millerism, in the summer of 1844, and was applied to the churches that rejected the first angel’s message concerning the judgment (see on v. 7). The message will have increasing relevance as the end draws near, and will meet its complete fulfillment with the union of the various religious elements under the leadership of Satan (see on chs. 13:12–14; 17:12–14). The message of ch. 18:2–4 announces the complete downfall of Babylon and calls upon God’s people who are scattered throughout the various religious bodies comprising Babylon, to separate from them.^[14]

I do not want to write these things. It pains me deeply, but I write it for you personally to know what mistakes not to make. The Orion clock delineates four phases of the church, and shows the standard of Christ’s character with respect to the issues that beset the church during those times. In retrospect, we can see that instead of developing a character made “in the image of God,”^[15] the church ultimately developed a character which corresponds to the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream:

Figure 12 – The Character of the Image of Nebuchadnezzar

The message of Orion was a call from God to the SDA Church to repent, by showing her where she deviated from His character. Here at the conclusion of her life, we see that instead of having conformed to the image of Jesus, she has patterned herself after an altogether different image.

Yes, the statue which Nebuchadnezzar built was 60 cubits tall and 6 cubits wide—there are the 6 and 6. The image only has two 6’s because it has a double application in the double proclamation: “is fallen, is fallen!” Two 6’s are for the Catholic Church, and two 6’s are for the organized SDA Church. With one finger, God points to both Churches as having one and the same character, and one and the same leader.

Ellen G. White warned of this in an 1893 letter, wherein she said:

I would caution all believers to learn to maintain a godly jealousy over yourselves, lest Satan shall steal your heart away from God, and you slip unconsciously into work in Satan’s lines, without perceiving that you have changed leaders, and be found in the treacherous power of a tyrant. {1MR 357.2}^[16]

That caution went unheeded, and the ramifications have fully come. Those who know something of the richness of the Seventh-day Adventist faith will know what a tragedy this is!

Thus the message of the third angel will be proclaimed. As the time comes for it to be given with greatest power, the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the training of literary institutions. Men of faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy zeal, declaring the words which God gives them. The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of enforcing the observances of the church by civil authority, the inroads of spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power—all will be unmasked. By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thousands will listen who have never heard words like these. In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from heaven. As the people go to their former teachers with the eager inquiry, Are these things so? the ministers present fables, prophesy smooth things, to soothe their fears and quiet the awakened conscience. But since many refuse to be satisfied with the mere authority of men and demand a plain “Thus saith the Lord,” the popular ministry, like the Pharisees of old, filled with anger as their authority is questioned, will denounce the message as of Satan and stir up the sin-loving multitudes to revile and persecute those who proclaim it. {GC 606.2}^[17]

Notice carefully the reason why Babylon is the church: it is because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from heaven. In other words, she fell because she rejected the Orion message, which God sent to rebuke her sin and bring her back to the right path.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (Revelation 3:19)

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