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 Remember, the heavenly angel has just sounded the sixth trumpet. Responding thereto, the sixth of the series of Bible Students annual international convention was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  The program there on Sunday, July 24, 1927, was aired through a chain of 53 radio stations, the most extensive broadcast network up to that time. That spoken message went out to an audience of possibly many millions. First, a forceful resolution exposed Christendom as spiritually dead and extended the invitation. "In this hour of perplexity Jehovah God bids the peoples to abandon and forever forsake 'Christendom' or organized Christianity' and to turn completed away from it . . . ; [let the peoples give their hearts devotion and allegiance wholly to Jehovah God and to his King and kingdom." Freedom for the peoples" was the title of the public talk that followed J.F. Rutherford, president of the Watch Tower Society, delivered this in his usual dynamic style, appropriate to "the fire and the smoke and the sulphur" that John next observes in vision. 

"And the number of the armies of cavalry was two myriads: I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw the horses in the vision, and those seated on them: they had fire-red and hyacinth blue and sulphur - yellow breastplates; and the heads of the horses were as heads of lions, and out of their mouths fire and smoke and sulphur issued forth. By these three plagues a third of the men were killed, from the fire and the smoke and the sulphur which issued forth from their mouths." -REVELATION9:16-18.

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 Happily, John can report: "And the four angels were untied, who have been prepared for the hour and the day and month and year, to kill a third of the men." (Revelation 9:15) Jehovah is a precise Timer. He has a timetable and is keeping to it. Hence, these messengers are released exactly on schedule and in time to accomplish what they have to do. Imagine their joy on coming forth from bondage in 1919, ready for work! They have a commission not only to torment but finally "to kill a third of the men." This is related to the plagues heralded by the first four trumpet blasts, which afflicted a third of the earth, the sea, the creatures in the sea, the fountains and rivers, and the heavenly light sources. (Revelation 8:7-12) The four angels go further. They "kill," exposing to a completion Christendom's spiritually dead condition. Trumpeted pronouncements made from 1922 onward and continuing to the present time, have accomplished this.

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 How had those angels been "bound at the river Euphrates"? The river Euphrates in ancient times was the northeastern border of the land that Jehovah promised to Abraham. (Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 11:24) Apparently, the angels had restrained at the border of their God-given land, or earthly realm of activity. held back from entering fully into the service that Jehovah had prepared for them. The Euphrates was also prominently associated with the city of Babylon, and after the fall of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E., fleshly Israelites spent 70 years there in captivity, "bound at the great river Euphrates." (Psalm 137:1) The year 1919 found the spiritual Israelites in a similar restraint, disconsolate and asking Jehovah for guidance.

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Chapter Twenty-Three/The Second Woe -Armies of Cavalry

 From 1919 onward, the symbolic locusts' invasion of Christendom has caused the clergy much discomfort. They have tried to stamp out the locusts, but these have kept to coming on stronger than ever. (Revelation 9:7) And that is not all! John writes: "The woe is past. Look! Two more are coming after these things." (Revelation 9:12) Further tormenting plagues are in store for Christendom. 

What is the source of the second woe? John writes: "And the sixth angel blew his trumpet. And I heard a voice out of the horns of the golden altar that is before God say to the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.' " (Revelation 9:13, 14) The angels ' release is in answer to the voice that comes from the horns of the golden altar, and twice previously the incense of the golden bowls from this altar has been associated with the prayers of the holy ones. (Revelation (5:8; 8:3, 4) Therefore, this one voice represents the united prayers of the holy ones on earth. They petition that they themselves be delivered for further energetic service as Jehovah's "messengers," this being the basic meaning of the Greek word here translated "angels."  Why are there four angels? This symbolic number seems to indicate that they would be so organized as to cover the earth in its entirety. - Compare REVELATION 7:1; 20:8.

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Chapter Twenty-Two/The First Woe - Locusts -World Rulers Put on Notice - Conclusion

 Rather than announce the incoming Kingdom of God, Christendom's clergy have chosen to remain with Satan's world. They want no part with the locust band and their King, concerning whom John now observes: "They have over them a king, the angel of the abyss. In Hebrew his name is Abaddon [meaning "Destruction"], but in Greek he has the name Apollyon [meaning "Destroyer"]," (Revelation 9:11) As "angel of the abyss" and "Destroyer." Jesus had truly released a plague woe on Christendom. But no more is to follow.

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Chapter Twenty-Two/The First Woe-Locusts -World Rulers Put on Notice

 At this convention, the symbolic locusts received further fighting equipment, notably a new book entitled the Deliverance. It included a Scriptural discussion of the sign proving that the 'man child' government, Christ's heavenly Kingdom had been born in 1914. (Matthew 24:3-14; Luke21:24-26; Revelation 12:1-10) Thereafter, the quoted manifesto published in London in 1918 and signed by eight clergymen, who were described as being "among the world's greatest preachers." They represented the leading Protestant denominations-Baptist, Congregational, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Methodist. This manifesto proclaimed that "the present crisis points toward the close of the times of the Gentiles" and that the revelation of the Lord may be expected at any moment." Yes, those clergymen had recognized the sign of Jesus' presence! But did they want to do anything about it? The book Deliverance informs us: "The most remarkable part of the affair is that the very men who signed the manifesto subsequently repudiated it and rejected the evidence which proves that we are at the end of the world and in the day of the Lord's second presence. 

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Chapter Twenty-Two/The First Woe-Locusts - World Rulers Put on Notice

 The modern-day locusts had a job to do. The Kingdom good news had to be preached. Errors had to be exposed. Lost sheep had to be found. As the locusts went about these tasks, the world was forced to sit up and take notice. In obedience to the angel's trumpet blasts, the John class had continued to expose Christendom as deserving of Jehovah's adverse judgments. In response the fifth trumpet, a particular aspect of these judgments was emphasized at a convention of the Bible Students in London, England, May 25-31, 1926. This featured a resolution, "A Testimony to the Rulers of the World," and a public talk at the Royal Alber Hall on "Why World Powers Are Tottering-The Remedy." the complete text of both of these being printed in a leading London newspaper the following day. Later, the locust bend distributed worldwide, as a tract, 50 million copies of that resolution-a torment indeed to the clergy! Years later, people in England still spoke of this stinging expose'.

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Chapter Twenty-Two/The First Woe - Locusts - Locusts Equipped for Battle

 This preaching involves more than the spoken word! "Also, they have tails and stings like scorpions; and in their tails is their authority to hurt the men five months." (Revelation 9:10) What does this mean? As they go about their Kingdom work, Jehovah's Witnesses leave behind them publications-books, magazines, brochures, timely tracts. These contain authoritative statements, based on God's Word, for the people to read in their homes, and they have scorpionlike sting because they warn of Jehovah's approaching day of vengeance. (Isaiah 61:2) Before the present generation of spiritual locusts lives out its life span, its divinely ordained work of declaring Jehovah's judgments will be completed - to the hurt of all stiff-necked blasphemers. 

The locust band was overjoyed when a new magazine, The Golden Age, was announced at their 1919 convention. It was a biweekly magazine, designed to intensify the sting of their witnessing. Its issue No. 27, of September 29, 1920, exposed the clergy's duplicity in persecuting the Bible Students in the United States during the 1918-1919 period. Through the 1920's and 1930's, The Golden Age tormented the clergy with further stinging articles and cartoons that exposed their crafty dabbling in politics, and especially the Catholic hierarchy's accords made with the Fascist and Nazi dictators. In response, the clergy 'framed mischief by law' and organized mob violence against God's People. - PSALM 94:20, King James Version. 

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 In the vision, the locusts have iron breastplates, symbolizing unbreakable righteousness. (Ephesians 6:14-18) They also have men's faces, this feature pointing to the quality of love, since man was made in the image of God, who is love. (Genesis 1:26; 1 John 4:16.) Their hair is long like a woman's, which well pictures subjection to their King, the angel of the abyss. And their teeth resemble a lion's teeth. A lion uses its teeth to tear meat. From 1919 onward, the John class has again been able to take in solid spiritual food, particularly the truths about God's Kingdom ruled by "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah," Jesus Christ. Just as the lion symbolizes courage, so great courage has been needed to digest this hard-hitting message, to bring it forth in publications, and to distribute it around the globe. Those figurative locusts have made a lot of noise, like the sound of chariots of many horses running into battle." After the example of the first-century Christians, they do not intend to stay quiet. - 1 CORINTHIANS 11:7-15; REVELATION 5:5. 

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Chapter Twenty-Two/The First Woe-Locusts -Locusts Equipped for Battle

 What a remarkable appearance those locusts have! John describes it:  "And the likenesses of the locusts resembled horses prepared for battle; and upon their heads wee what seemed to be crowns like gold, and their faces were as men's faces, but they had no hair as women's hair. And their teeth we as those of lions; and they had breastplates like iron breastplates. And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running into battle." - REVELATION 9:7, 9. 

This well illustrates the loyal group of revived Christians in 1919. Like horses, they were ready for battle, eager to fight for the truth in the way described by the apostle Paul. (Ephesians 6:11-13; 2 Corinthians 10:4) On their heads Johns sees what seem be crowns of gold. It would not be proper for them to have actual crowns because they begin ruling while they are still on earth. (1 Corinthians 4:8; Revelation 20:4) But in 1919 they already had a royal appearance. They were brothers of the King, and their heavenly crowns were reserved for them provided they could continue faithful to the end. - 2 TIMOTHY 4:8; 1 PETER 5:4.

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