Revelation  ◦   Chapter 8

1Jesus the Lamb opened the seventh section of God's book of foreknowledge, and there was stunned silence in heaven for about half an hour as the intelligent beings were overwhelmed with awe when they realized how God resolved the war started by Satan.

2I saw seven angels standing before God, holding seven trumpets.3But a different angel, holding a golden censer and standing in front of the golden altar, was burning a large amount of incense mixed with the prayers of the saints.4This symbolized the character of Christ, burning within the hearts of God's representatives on earth as they prayed for the revelation of God's character of love and the redemption of humankind.5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth. This symbolized the Holy Spirit empowering God's spokespersons to reveal the truth with stunning clarity. There was an incredible shaking of the minds of the people, accompanied by flashes of brilliance that battled rumblings of confusion and the thundering of opposition.

6Then the seven angels holding the seven trumpets prepared to sound them, which represents seven warning messages of truth trumpeting the approaching end and exposing Satan's counterfeits to God's Remedy. 1 Ezek 33:3

7The first angel sounded his trumpet, and a hailstorm of fiery truth revealing the Remedy achieved by Christ's shed blood was poured upon the earth. One-third of the earth was consumed in fiery turmoil, and the hearts of one-third of earth's leaders and people burned within them as the truth shone forth. 2Isa 28:16-18,  Isa 40:7,  Ps 1:3, 37:35,  Zech 13:8,9

8The second angel sounded his trumpet, and a huge mountain of truth revealing God's kingdom, ablaze with love, was made known to the sea of earth's inhabitants.9One-third of the people accepted the Remedy and partook of the life of Christ, symbolized by the blood — they died to self and gave up their selfish trade.

10The third angel sounded his trumpet to make it known that an angel, like a brilliant star blazing through the sky, had fallen from heaven, and one-third of the people had their minds filled with his lies about God.11This attack was called Bitterness, and many people died from drinking in his bitter lies. 3 Prov 5:4,  Jer 19:4

12The fourth angel sounded his trumpet with the warning that one-third of people would believe the lie of evolution and no longer recognize the light from the sun, moon and stars as evidence of God's creatorship. The minds of one-third of the people would be darkened and their hearts hardened by this lie, both night and day, as they no longer searched for God.

13As I watched this vision unfold, I saw a messenger — represented by an eagle flying high in the sky — give a worldwide warning by calling out in a loud voice: "Woe, woe, woe to the people on earth because of the events that occur during the trumpet blasts of the other three angels!"