The 7 Trumpets

Well. I did get a little curious yesterday and read in the Revelation a little.
To me it is a thing that the intersections between reality and prophecy are getting larger and larger; And things that were like ... known ... but still hidden, are now visible.

Or so the believer would say. Because ... it seems like there have always been ways to explain this or that. Ever so often, it would seem, something happened that ended up being a better interpretation of that one verse ... so, it's a bit like ... chasing a ghost I guess.


And then, from the other side it's like ... just a guess anyway. Like, we can't really do much better than that. Well, we can try to bring expertise into it to make at least some good guesses. How much value one then finds therein ... I suppose that comes down to how much of a believer one is.

And so - I do have a guess. A hunch. An idea. It's ... like, my own interpretation. But it's more like a re-interpretation because the baseline is still pretty much the Seventh Day Adventist one. That's the one I "learned" - it's the only one I know ... 'that makes sense'. It's not like I know much outside of it, but outside of the things that are pretty much ... 'immovable objects' within that interpretation ... I don't care much about it.


'Immovable' in this context means that with the 4th Beast in Daniel, Matthew 23:9, 2 Thess 2:4 and the Dragon in Revelation there's that's like in sudoku when you have a row with only one missing number. It's ... once you see it ... you can't unsee it!

We can try to go into further detail. Try to distinguish between the Statue and the Beast - so, between the Dragon and Babylon - or the Dragon and the other Beast.

The Lamb opens the Book

I don't want to go through the whole Book right now. I think that'd be an ineffective use of time. I have to focus on what my big idea is - not assume that I could right now also pop all the other mysteries to make a whole of it or something like that.

And what I'm mostly concerned about here is the framing of the story. So, let's start with a brief summary:

After the message to the 7 churches, there's some fuzz about a Scroll with 7 Seals that nobody is worthy to open but one. This is the Lamb that then opens the scroll. After the final Seal was broken we get a Vision of 7 Angels with a Trumpet each. After each of them blew their Trumpet, well ... are Chapters 12 and 13 part of it? Well - we do at any rate get to see two sides. Those that are with the Lamb and those that follow the Beast. Then there's some Woes and Plagues ... and ...

At some point, doing this, I get this weird feeling. It's a bit like boredom. There's something in my mind that doesn't want to come together - seems incongruous - it's like a rock that all of a sudden turns into a bunch of pebbles.


And maybe the problem is that I read it like a story where one thing happens after another. What if the things that the Author saw weren't meant to happen in that way?
I mean - sure. There's the Lamb that is worthy which proceeds to open a scroll with seven seals, one seal at a time. Here we have a narrative construct that continues as each seal is opened. The Author is at first asked to "come" after a seal is opened, where they then "see" something. And that which is seen might as well be a vision - of something. Like ... well. Once we can identify what the images are referring to, we can maybe deduce more about that narrative of the opening of the scroll.

The Seventh Day Adventist view I think takes this as some overview of History. The opening of the Seals is stretched accross the centuries - where we start with the rise of the roman catholic tradition - and with the fourth seal we get to the Pest. But then we get: 5 - a kind of break, 6 - "apocalypse", 7 - silence. "But" because it seems like ... the story somehow stops, looking back. Which you can feel either way about.

If we however shift the framing. Saying - the event of opening isn't stretched accross the centuries, but is in fact its own timeline within "the end-days" ("Days of the Apocalypse"), we're - speaking of the first seal - not looking at the rise of the roman catholic tradition per se, but something at the moment of opening that goes back to that.


So, this is where we can insert MAGA for instance.
Anyhow. I'm not sure if I've written about it recently enough, but - I once had a dream somehow made my mind draw a connection between a show called "King of Queens" and one of the 4 riders. The dream was implying some conspiracy against Doug, as Masterminded by Carry. (Carrie?) ... . Whatever. And everyone was in on it. More or less.
So - I took it as something that is more about our social interactions than it is about Entertainment; But the two are also somewhat ... mixed up with each other. Like, through Money. We here can then also imply Gamergate, the anti-woke uprising, QAnon, Flat-Earthers ... . So, it is difficult to pinpoint which moment on the timeline would intersect with the opening of the seal. So, I end up seeing it like: "So, here are these four things" - and they are happening. The fourth rider could also be Fascism, with "the Animals of the Earth" being basically 'Bureaucracy'. The reasoning being: It is taken, that "the Earth" or Soil, in prophetic vision, is a metaphor for a population; The Animals of the Earth thus being - the stuff that emerges therein. It doesn't have to be Bureaucracy.

Anyway ... that doesn't really change that we're still in that "lull" of the fifth, waiting for the 6th seal to get opened. Or do we?

I mean. It depends on whether or not we have to take it literally. Possibly. Is there a Puzzle? If so, we wouldn't know until after the fact, right? But, so, looking back - how can we be sure that what we're looking at is what it is?


But just for the sake of sticking to the idea - we'd not be looking at a grand singular event. Not necessarily. We might be looking at a metaphor, even - as the riders were. We have an image on the one side, and an effect on the other. So, what we see here might as well be a picture of modernity. The image here describing a paradigm shift, not only regarding the world around us, but also the behavior and attitudes - at least in public - of our rulers.

Then there was silence

Whether this is a continuation of the story or more like a "Meanwhile" - that we can try to decipher using similar methods. Possibly. Personally, the only clue I have was that while being high I looked at what I'm doing here and thought of it as some kind of bottomless pit. So, could I be the star?
Well ... what are we looking at?


There's an Angel who essentially carries "the Prayers of the Saints" - as it is his duty to carry them unto God. Then he takes glowing coal and throws it to the Earth, after which the 7 Angels sound their trumpets.

So, what is it, that we're looking at?

The Angels received the Trumpets from God - so, this is coming from God. And throughout we read that people cursed God for it, and would not abandon their wrong-doing.

But so. Looking at the first Trumpet, one sentiment that comes to mind these days is: "A third?! Those are ROOKIE numbers!". A la, "we can do much "better" than that!". Which in the inverse suggests that if what we're looking at here are like ... a neutral perspective on the conditions of the physical earth ... more or less. OK, I was high, but ... hear me out: Hail and Fire mixed with Blood ... as in ... a manned rocket. Challenger comes to mind. Now, what does that have to do with anything? The resources that went into it. So, we're looking at our exploitation of the land that would ultimately allow us to launch rockets into space. And by focusing on the space-travel part, the overall "thing" I ended up thinking of was: Astronomy.


So, the second Trumpet. Is it oil? Is it just energy? Well, there is however pollution since that's I think the most general cause for what we'd be looking at here. The mountain quite adequately representing the fuel required to drive that which creates that pollution. So, I'm thinking: Industry.

So, arguably it's the same as before - but it isn't. Sure is 'the industry' part of what we have in the first part, but industry or 'industrialization' is still different. Anyhow.


The third. Well. I personally think that this could be about Civilization itself. The star itself is basically a stand in for our needs - which drives us towards water - and the "Wermut" comes from what impact we have on that water that we need if we don't handle it responsibly. We could speak of the lessons we learned - natural sciences such as Chemistry and Biology. "Hygiene". So, possibly the more modern, Sanitized version of Civilization.


The fourth. Hmm. I'm not sure. But if we can allow this to mean "Light Pollution" - so that it's not necessarily getting darker at Night but that the Night itself is becoming "less Nightly" - we're once again looking at Industry in a sense, Smog, perhaps shifts due to Climate Change, but more so as intertwined with Civilization. So, the ingenuity required, for once, to produce a Light-Bulb perhaps ... as much as the background to even get there. Or going one further ... LEDs. That's ... not coming out of nowhere either. Then - pollution that darkens the sun ... well. It is the modern day and age that does definitely come with an economic backend that can do that. And so, 'connection' is also important. I'd still say "Technological Progress" ... with some bias towards Networking.


The fifth. How about "Movie Industry/Entertainment"? So ... inspiration. The Arts to express them. I mean, if the earlier takes are sound - the Trumpets refer to what God has been doing. It's Him slapping His cards onto the table. Versus the lamb that's opening a sealed scroll. So, we take the negatives ... as ... like, a smoke-screen; Though ... this was the first woe. Two more to come;).
But then, how is this the first woe?

Well. It is perhaps in this context. So, at the inflection point of reconciliation with these negatives, the negatives aren't really resolved yet. And as we so dip into the discussions revolving around - well. I mean, the story does make itself political. In Chapter 9:4 we read, that "the swarm" will only harm those that don't carry 'the Mark of God'. Which would be found in the "Liberal"/progressive biases that the arts tend to contain - versus the uproar of those working against that.

So, can we then consider this a first woe? Like, the image here would then be so: We have all the technology and networking and stuff that we have ... which has come with a certain cost. It's the consequence of how the things we discovered and used work. But here we get a star that falls to Earth - and what follows has a strong resemblance with folklore. Fairy Tales. Legends perhaps. Ultimately "searching for death but not finding it" - well, that sounds like ... Videogames.


The sixth. Well. I don't know ... if there really is any wiggle room beyond what's pretty much the most implied ... I mean, if you and I have a different first impression, I'd be curious to know what you think it is. Well. I'd call that just and simply "War". We could read that as an "In defense of Islam". So, the earlier developments don't happen in a Vacuum. The other side of the story is still there. And so we get to Verse (9:)20.
What is here implied is a group of people ... and it's unclear to which extent either one might exclude themselves ... is somehow involved in all this. And they are cast in a negative Light. They are given some kind of blame. It is implied that there's something they should do. A right thing to do. Which they however refuse to do.

So, it is a weird juxtaposition - I think - since, well. I mean, at first we'd read it as: God is unleashing war upon earth, as the whole text is simply God throwing cinders upon us, while we're somehow supposed to feel bad for it.

But ... if we are to take this ... as before. There's a negative we have here, tied to some ... thing ... an image associated with that negative thing. So, could this be "Wealth" actually?
So, like "it all begins with Crude Oil" - and it ends in a lifestyle that is embedded in a wall of ignorance as to the harm it causes. I guess ... that works!


The seventh. Well. There definitely is something about the Earth here. 11:18. So, here ... God starts to do something - . As mentioned in 10:7 ... "in the days when the seventh Angel lifts his voice ... the secret of God will be complete". The Sky opened and Arc of the Covenant becomes visible in the Temple. So, the Temple must be visible as well. Then we get the Vision of the Woman that is chased by a Dragon.
So this would ultimately have to be the story of "the secret" - I would argue. While the previous six things that were 'given' were more like ... common wealth ... this is ultimately concerning ... well, what we'd expect. "The Thing".

Which I suppose might invoke me. Like, ... uhm - if this whole text is to be of any significance then ... I'm pretty much invoked. Yes.

So, I'd be the woman, the child would be what I produce as put there by God, then there's a fight but I'm currently in a safe place, being nourished - I suppose for "some amount of time", and ... what is what and where we're at is ... kind of nebulous. So, as we get to Chapter 13, there's ... an array of 'end-points' - with which we then were to move on.
We can however also try to look at Chapter 13 in isolation and try to declare starting points. Which then in turn allows us to revisit Chapter 12.
A third option is to look at the transition itself.
In that regard, the Dragon gets frustrated, steps to the beach - and effectively, quite literally so to speak, summons the Beast. Well.
What we've seen this year so far at last ... was predictable, I guess. It was always one of the more popular interpretations, the most ... least speculative. The only question being like: "is it the Democrats or the Republicans?". Or was it both? Well, it was the "Anti Establishment" candidate that WASN'T the socialist option. "Duh". Bgoooosh - Mind Blown.

Well. It is to me left ambiguous who are implied whenever it says "All". Because sometimes it is so, and other times so. Are there really just 144000? But I suppose, life to the ordinary person out there, that isn't necessarily tuned into the details of scripture but more so tries to navigate reality - alongside all the astro-turfing and P.R. that goes into hyping things up as the next logical step ... is pretty much that. So - the text describes a condition that afflicts an amount of people - which is a kind of "simplified All".


But so, here we are. And what comes next? Well - we get a Victory Lap for some reason. "Fallen is Babylon" - and THEN we get to the seven plagues. So ... uh ... what's that all about?

I mean - what we get out of this turn of events is some kind of clarity. Babylon can be identified, but now there is a time of tension ... as we're warned in 14:12. By some regards we may even be in 14:14 or beyond already. So ... waiting for 14:18 to conclude.
If these are however ... more so 'interwoven strands' - rather than a linear chain of events - what I end up seeing that's sorely missing for the picture I have to make any sense are all the people that stood next to the Lamb. The people who witness and behold, react and possibly take heed. Where's the stage?

Alternatively - it's all dark, nobody cares, but ... however few that aren't enough - and so we're waiting for the seven plagues to kick things into motion.


But what if ... ???
This too isn't supposed to be read as such?
If this is still symbolic, the first plague could be something like ... cancel culture. So, we're then reading these as real effects that exist and are 'plagues unto Babylon' as it were.

So, if we're thinking symbolically, the Sea ... that I think is usually associated with culture or language. I mean, water. So, the sea being the grand international stage - so, I assume that things like cultural identity and the spirit of international cooperation maintain some kind of rigid balance that requires a certain neutrality that is in and of itself a stop-gap to the Babylonian agenda.

The rivers and springs would be on the local side. And here I think the trend towards individuality alongside "the woke" cultural heritage - or let's call it diversity and individual human rights - well, the persistence of individual sub-cultures that somehow have to co-exist is simply "the other side" of what was discussed earlier, though here it's more so the population itself that carries its own freedoms of expression. That as another frontier simply takes away Space in which Babylon could grow, basically.
The Angel that speaks here, he thereby simply states what a lot of people say or would like to say. Or would like to hear from how I hear people speak. So, we/they don't necessarily know who the bad guys are - or even think in such terms - but within, individually, there's some common attitude towards ... certain crimes.
The fourth plague - well. I want to say it's Climate Change, and it probably is Climate Change, because it almost certainly is Climate Change, as it almost definitely should be presented as about Climate Change because it is in this day and age one of the most poignant things one could point to, when it comes to the major All of us.
The fifth plague. I want to say this is me.
But it could also just be Law Enforcement. Interpol, M16, ... something that's onto some things that perhaps do occur and such.
The sixth ... this might refer to the growing influence of China. And the frogs would be ... Putin, Netanyahu and ... hmm ... .
So - if we're concerned about an escalation of conflicts, the third would be Trump.


And theeen ... well. We're waiting for only ONE more thing.
Unless - it's simply the conclusion and their advance has been successfully stopped.
So, it is like ... the thing that is perhaps already unfolding but yet to completely unfold - though it isn't as much a plague as it is the final blow. Or the thing that does the thing and therefore cannot be stopped. The rolling stone, in a sense.


And so ... all that's left in this interpretation is ... well. I suppose, the part where things start to fall apart. Properly. Where the paradigm shift has occurred. And that wouldn't just so happen to happen. Is my point. And if it hasn't started to happen - then ... this interpretation is wrong.