The Trend of World Events

A prophetic vision of the latest world events.

Christian Chen

Reading: Revelation 9:13-18.

I will try to explain this passage that is very important especially after what happened on September 11, 2001.

I remember that that day my wife and I were in New York. Thanks to God we were not in Manhattan, but in a neighborhood called Queen's. We, just like you, also saw the television. You know, that that day will never be forgotten. From that day New York was longer the same, the United States was no longer the same, and the world was no longer the same. This gives rise to some questions: why did this happen? Do we have September 11 in the Bible? Did the Bible predict September 11?

If you look for September 11 in the Bible you won't find it. The Word of God never predicted September 11. However, it predicts the trend of the world events. In Revelation chapter 9 we see the pattern of events that will take place in the world. Then, we can explain September 11 according to what Revelation 9 says.

In the Word there are almost 1.800 prophecies. And after you have sorted through them all -because many of the prophecies repeat themselves - we find 747 independent events. Of them, 590 are major ones. Now, how many of these have been completed? The Bible experts say that 570 have already happened. That means a total of more than 97%. Now, if a woman who is about to give birth asks a doctor the certainty of it being a boy or a girl, the doctor will tell her that it is "between 97 - 98%" certain. That means that it is something very, very certain. Now then, if 97% of the prophecies have already been completed, it means on the one hand that the Bible is really the Word of God, and on the other, that the 3% remaining must be completed. And it is already being completed.

From September 11 to the sixth trumpet of Revelation, this trend of world events tells us that these prophecies are being completed. For that reason, the book of revelation is of great interest to us. Today we will take chapter 9 of Revelation as an illustration.

Two classes of terrorism

What is the connection between Revelation 9 and September 11 2001? First, we should remember what happened on September 11. You know that that day there was a terrorist act, and that the twin towers collapsed in a few hours. The towers had been built in 7 years, but they collapsed in a matter of hours. For that reason, this event was something quite astonishing.

Now then, terrorism is not something new; it is as old as the Bible. Let us remember that, among the twelve disciples of Christ, at least one of them was a terrorist: Simon, the zealot. Those "zealots" were very patriotic. They tried to murder the Roman officials, and they fought against those who swindled their own people to support the Roman empire.

On the other hand, Matthew, another of the disciples, was an employee of the Roman Empire who received the taxes from his own people. The men like Matthew were the object of the zealots' anger. So Simon the zealot didn't have to travel far to find an enemy, because Matthew was under the same roof. However, the Lord called them to love one another, and to wash one another's feet. That really was a miracle. Nowadays when the world is being divided by hatred, only the gospel of Christ can attract people so that they become one.

Terrorism then, is something very old. But in Simon the zealot's time, when a terrorist killed somebody, it was done very carefully, almost like a doctor performing surgery. The doctors take the cancerous cells, and remove them; they don't remove all kinds of cells. In the same way, the old terrorism in Palestine was centered on the Roman officials and also on those that had betrayed their nation.

The old terrorism attempted the biggest publicity with the smallest possibly quantity of victims. But the current type of terrorism is different. What was it that we saw on September 11? The new type of terrorism. Now the only thing that they are looking for is effect. In the United States there is an organization of investigation called RAND. They were entrusted with an investigation into international terrorism. They gathered information starting from the year 1968, in order to see the pattern of terrorism in the last few years. At the end of their investigation, they discovered what Saddam Hussein's legacy was, after his defeat in the Gulf war, in 1990. The legacy is this: a new pattern of terrorism. The frequency of the attacks is no longer as high as before, but the visibility has increased considerably. The terrorists don't only want to kill: they also kill innocent people. The number of the victims is not something that can be counted on fingers; now there are thousands. This is what was discovered ten years before September 11.

When we arrived at September 11, the world woke up to the fact that a new terrorism had arisen. Bin Laden said: "after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, in 1922, we were filled with shame. For eighty years we never lifted our heads. In that time, the world of the Arabs was divided by Britons, French and other peoples. Today is the first time that our knife has arrived in enemy territory."

The United States has been at war with many countries. The Japanese tried to get on to North American soil, but they were not successful. The Nazis tried the same thing, but they failed. The Soviet empire wanted to do it, but it also failed miserably. They all had a dream: to bring war to the land of the United States, but they were not successful. However, this people did it.

Also, they achieved an effect that is way beyond any description we can attempt, something that Hollywood could never have produced. Everything was very well calculated. According to their plan, those four civil airplanes were filled to the maximum with gasoline, and later converted into four missiles. Strictly speaking, they used the smallest cost of the lowest technology: using knives only. In this way they were able to transform four airplanes into four missiles. And we could see the kind of destruction they caused. Whats more, they used the enemy's resources: their flesh and blood. And also their knowledge, because they were trained in the United States. They didn't know how to take off nor how to land, but yes they did know how to shatter them against the buildings. The company Microsoft has a game that was as a gift for them, because in it you can make a perfect simulation of how to collide with the twin towers. That was what happened. Only 19 kidnappers were able to do something tremendous, something never before seen.

Do you know how much this terrorist act cost? According to the estimates, it cost less than half a million dollars. We can see how, with a minimum of money, they could cause such a shock to everybody. This is part of the new type of terrorism. September 11 saw the emergence of this new type.

Now, we have to go to Revelation 9 to see what the tendency of these world events is.

An outline of time

Here we are told that there are going to be seven trumpets. This is very interesting. In Revelation we have seven seals, seven trumpets and seven cups. These three lots of seven give us an outline of the time of the events that must happen.

This is a temporal sequence. For example, when the first seal is opened up, something happens. Then comes the second, and then the third. When we have gone through the seven seals - just as on a computer-when we click on the seventh seal we think that we are arriving at the end, but it is not so. Another series of events comes. The seven trumpets appear. When we arrive at the seventh trumpet, we double click thinking that it is the end, but it is not so. We find that there are seven cups.

When we come to the seven trumpets, it means that we have arrived at humanity's last seven years. The seven trumpets cover practically humanity's last seven years. And then, the Lord will come.

The first four trumpets cover the tribulation. There is no doubt about that. And then we have the last three trumpets. Here the Bible says: "Oh, oh, oh!". The last trumpets won't only be a tribulation, but a great tribulation, because it says: "Oh, oh, oh!". When the angel plays the last three trumpets, these are humanity's last three and a half years before the return of our Lord.

According to the prophecies of our Lord, there will be a great tribulation. At that time, the antichrist will appear and he will be in the temple of God. He will declare himself equal with God, and that will be the start of the great tribulation. The antichrist has a number that is 666. We will return to this number later.

Weapons of mass destruction

Now we will try to make the connection between September 11 and the 6 trumpets. What is the sixth trumpet? When the angel plays the sixth trumpet, near the Euphrates -near to where Iraq is-four angels will be let loose. These are fallen angels that are set free. When they were bound, they had a plan, but they could not carry it out, because they were bound. But after the angel played the sixth trumpet, they are allowed to act freely. Now they can carry out their plan. According to this plan, in a certain year, month, day and hour, a third of the earth's population will die. This doesn't mean 3.000 people like in the fall of the towers: this means 2.000 million people. In other words, the new type of terrorism will reach a climax when the angel plays the sixth trumpet. This deed will be something tremendous.

Nowadays we are shocked when we see on television how 3.000 people die, but think what it will mean when a third of the world's population dies. One out of every three people will die. Can you imagine? Certainly, everybody will be stricken with panic.

How will that happen? According to Revelation 9 there will be three plagues. These represent three types of weapons, able to destroy a third of the world's population. By definition, they are weapons of mass destruction. After September 11, we know very well that the threat of mass destruction is very real. In the United States, the head of every home has gas masks prepared for his family. The threat of mass destruction is not something that is only in the cinema.

Today, three weapons of mass destruction exist: nuclear weapons, biological weapons and chemical weapons; and all cause panic.

According to the CIA., near the river Euphrates -in Iraq-these three types of weapons can probably be found. That makes the North Americans very nervous. That is why the Americans voted 'yes' to the war. Perhaps they are mistaken, and there aren't nuclear weapons there. But it is due to that fear that today we see the winds of war.

Here is something very interesting. Iraq is near the river Euphrates. According to the Bible, there will be weapons of mass destruction near the river Euphrates, that will eliminate a third of the world's population. You remember that in the Gulf war, all the chemical and biological weapons were in the missile heads? According to the United Nations, if Saddam Hussein unleashes all his chemical and biological might, he could eliminate the whole earth's population. This is no exaggeration.

We don't know what will happen now, but we do know something. When the angel plays the sixth trumpet, the new terrorism will come to a climax. Now we understand that September 11th was only a call to wake up. We think that the tribulation is something that is very distant; that the end of the world is very far away, especially if we live in Chile. This is probably the safest place in the world. We think that, although anything could happen outside, that doesn't have anything to do with us. But the day will arrive, and it will be a global tribulation. September 11th was a tribulation in the United States. But according to the Word, one day this new terrorism will come to its climax.

According to military experts, if one wants to conquer a square mile of enemy territory using traditional war methods, it would cost 1.200 dollars. In a nuclear war, it would cost 800 dollars. With a chemical war, it would cost 500 dollars. But if there is a biological war, it would just one dollar would be enough. You can understand, then, how terrible these weapons of mass destruction are. It is not necessary to be a country like Iraq or North Korea to have biological weapons: any nation in the world can have them.

According to the Bible, the day in which there will be a great tribulation will come, and in it one third of the population of the world will die. I think that September 11th was a call to wake up. It means that the Lord's coming is very, very close.

The cloning of babies

Last year, around Christmas, we heard news that the first cloned boy had been born. At the beginning of this year, the second may have been born. In reality, we don't have any evidence. But there is something really bothersome to Christians, and it is that, although it seems that this is a purely scientific achievement, there is something more behind it: it is the cult of the UFO's. And this really has to do with the movement of the New Age.

Another prophecy: according to the Bible, there will be a great revival of the religion of Babylon. The movement of the New Age is really a revival of the old Babylon, because the Babylonian religion tried to know the secret, the mystery, and the New Age movement tries to do the same thing, it wants to know the secret of the universe.

In 1973, an individual who's surname was Rael was in France. He visited a volcano, where he swore he saw a flying saucer. In that place he claimed to have had contact with some aliens who were only one meter tall. According to his version, they invited him to the craft and they told him the secret of the universe. From then on Rael has tried to tell everyone what that secret is.

According to him, humanity was not created by God, but by some aliens who visited the planet about 25.000 years ago. Then due to the biological process we were created as clones. But one day the aliens will return, and so we are supposedly waiting for the coming of our creators. They say that the Christians are mistaken, because in the Bible Elohim (God) in Hebrew is plural, and they think that we made an error because we translated Elohim as "God." Therefore, there is not a single creator, but several creators. This is the beginning of the cult of UFO's.

They are preaching that we have to clone. At that time nobody believed them, but after the cloning of the sheep Dolly they said: "We told them that one day there would be cloning." They have a company and are trying to clone people. They say that they have already cloned the first and that they will clone a second.

Now, where did astronomy obtain its knowledge from? From Babylon. The Babylonians taught us the true science of astronomy. They taught us that one hour contains sixty minutes, and that one minute has sixty seconds. If we know the history of the sciences, we will see that we owe a lot to the Babylonians. But regrettably in that time the true science of astronomy was in the hands of the religious priests. In Babylon science and religion combined. And so they tried to bring out a 'mystery'. That is the beginning of the religion. When that religion arrived in India, it became Buddhism. When it arrived in Egypt, it became the religion of the Egyptians. All the religions come from the Babylonian religion. According to the Bible, one day all the religions will return to Babylon; once again they will be one.

You can see, brothers and sisters that we don't only have the winds of war with Iraq, but the cloned babies as well. We don't know if this is certain or not - we hope it is not - but let us suppose that one day it is proven that these children are real, then we do wonder: What type of people will they be?

According to the Word, we were created from dust; but not only us, also the animals. But, why are human beings so special? Because when God created man, He blew life in through his nose, and the spirit of life when entering among the dust created an organ called spirit. When the spirit interacted with our body, there arose personality, our emotions, our will and our intellect. This is our personality. But this is only in the creation of God, because the spirit was created for heaven's sake.

Today's scientists might be able to reproduce our body - they can clone babies-but what happens to the spirit? This body without the spirit is almost like an empty shell. Unclean spirits will enter into that empty shell, and will interact upon the human body. What will be the result of this? What personality will they have? A personality possessed by a demon. When that happens, it will really be the end of the world. That is what the Bible says.

The Lord's return will be like Noah's days. In those days, the sons of God married the daughters of men. 'Sons of God ' refers to the angels that joined with the daughters of men. A very strange product arose there. The Word calls them 'Nephilim' (giants), and because of that, God had to destroy the world by means of the flood. If you notice, the same thing is happening now. The unclean spirits (the fallen angels) will request these bodies to be lent to them, obtained by means of cloning, and when combining both, the Nephilim will arise again. There is no doubt that that will be the end of the world.

From this you can understand that we are really living in the last times. Our Lord will come very soon.
If we put all these elements together, September 11th and the cloning of babies - even though we don't know if this has already happened or not- according to the Bible, there will come a day in which there will be a great rebirth of the religion of Babylon, and we know that once again biological science will mix with religion, and something will happen. It is not necessary to worry. Today, this is a call to wake up; we should not continue sleeping.

A superlative tribulation

Now we can understand why in Revelation it speaks of two hundred million. When we speak of suffering, what does that mean? Allow me to give an example. It is wonderful to be a boy in his parents' house. The mother sometimes tells the boy that he has to make the bed, which is suffering for him, especially if they ask him three times a day. After he grows up and leaves his parents, he thinks: "No more suffering." For that reason he waited to turn eighteen years of age. Therefore, some children suffer in the house of their parents, but here in Revelation the suffering is so great that it is signaled with the biggest number that the Bible registers: two hundred million.

But we also have "a third", "a third", "a third." In the first four trumpets, a third of the earth will be damaged; a third of the seas will be damaged; a third of the trees will be destroyed; a third of the river waters will become bitter. That is the tribulation, but it is still not the great tribulation. Then, when a third of the world's population is destroyed, that, yes, that will be a great tribulation. It is not simply a third of the trees, or of the earth.

Do you realize that "a third" really represents terrorism, not simply terrorism, but the new terrorism?
Let us return to the number 666. This number is only given by John. It is a very important number. The reason for the 666, is the same reason by which we have 153 fish in John's gospel. It is a triangular number. Only John was given this revelation. Why in his gospel did he speak of 153 fish? Because in the four gospels the word "fish" appears 17 times. Now, 153 is 1+2+3, etc., up to 17; it is the sum total from 1 17.

Now, 666 is the name of the beast, of the antichrist. How many times does the word "beast" appear in Revelation? 36 times. So, 666 is 1+2+3, etc., up to 36. It is the sum total from 1 to 36. Why 1+2+3, etc., up to 36? Because it means "accumulation." From Adam's fall, sin has been increasing throughout humanity. When we come to the Great Tribulation, all those sins will be concentrated in a single person, the antichrist. Then humanity's sin will come to its culmination. That is the Great Tribulation. For that reason we have the number 666. I think that that is all.

Whether the United States has a war with Iraq or not -we don't know- one thing we do know: that one day, near Iraq, they will disclose weapons of mass destruction, and when the angels are untied there, then a third of the world's population will die. In that moment there will be a world resurgence of the religion of Babylon. It will be a strange combination between science as we know it and religion. Then many things will happen. In this way, we really are coming to the end of our times.

The Rapture of the saints

Now then, today there is no tribulation. According to the Word of God, before the Tribulation, the rapture of the saints will occur. We know that there are 20 events that must be completed. But the number one is not the tribulation, the number one is the rapturing of the saints. Our Lord will come again and will take us with him. That is to say, we won't have to go through the Tribulation. So, let us watch and pray. We are not waiting for the antichrist; we are waiting for Christ, so that He may take us with Him.

He will come like a thief. When a thief comes, he always tries to take our treasure; not the garbage. If the thief came to steal the garbage, one would want him to come every day. But it is not this way; he comes to take the treasure. We are Christ's treasure, so he will come and will take us. And this will happen before the Tribulation.

Synthesis of a message shared in January 2003, in Santiago, Chile.

Copyright © AGUAS VIVAS | CHILE 2003