DO  NOT READ THIS  PUBLICATION IF YOU MAY BE  OFFENDED BY  INFORMATION THAT CONFLICTS  WITH  YOUR ESTABLISHED THOUGHTS, EDUCATION, RELIGION, OR CULTURE; OR ARE NOT RECEPTIVE TO OLD TRUTHS THAT ARE EXPRESSED IN NEW WAYS.

The Rise and Decline of Islam as
Predicted in the Bible

by Charles Clever

Undoubtedly you wonder why God allows Islamic militants to ravage our world. The Bible offers the answers and predicted the rise and decline of Mohammedanism.

God’s Holy Book emphasizes that His people are in all cultures (John 10:16). They live peaceably with others according to dictates of their civil laws and the truths they have but God condemns those who commit crimes in His name because the Ten–Commandment Law still says: “Thou shalt not murder.”

You may trust the Great I AM because His Word foretells the future many years in advance; He controls world events and our destinies. God says through the prophet Isaiah:
“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not done, saying: ‘My counsel will stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9,10).

In deciphering the prophetic revelation on Islam in the Bible, it is also useful to acknowledge the writings of Dr. Josiah Litch, a nineteenth century physician and itinerant minister for the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Like other Bible scholars of his day, Litch confirmed the identity of Moslem warriors in the Bible; in addition, he accurately predicted, two years in advance, the decline of the Islamic Ottoman Empire in August of 1840.

After the death of Mohammed in A.D. 633, Islamic nations were in relative disarray until the rise of the Ottomans who interpreted Muhammad’s writings to support evangelism for Allah through military conquests.
They became a formidable alliance of Arab nations governed from Turkey and, with their battalions of several hundred thousand warriors, conquered much of Asia, North Africa, and Europe.
The Ottoman Empire’s decline in 1840 was an exact fulfillment of Bible prophecy in chapter nine of the book of "Revelation." Litch continued his research and two months before the event, he predicted the exact day, Tuesday, August 11, 1840.
Litch's bold prediction was first made during a year that the optimistic Ottomans were victorious in suppressing an Egyptian rebellion and maintaining sovereignty over their vast domain. Both believers and skeptics watched in anticipation as Litch’s prediction was widely circulated in Christian journals and newspapers in the United States.

Scripture foretold a latter–day power would, "plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain", and Moslems "planted" the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem (Daniel 11:45).
An ancient Arab saying, "Religion is a convenient falcon with which to hunt." During the supremacy of the Ottoman Empire, oil was not yet a marketable commodity. The Ottomans, in addition to subjugating the lands of others, acquired wealth by looting and taxing Christian nations in the name of Allah. From these spoils they built mosques.

Today the Turkish Republic with its sovereign boundaries no longer threatens Christian countries. This partially fulfills Daniel 11:45, "He shall come to his end and . . . [no Islamic nations] shall help him [regain his empire]."
But the prophecy of Revelation 9:15 says they would have power to "slay the third part of men." Under Constantine's reign the Roman Empire was officially Christian. After the Crusades regained some lands from Muslims, Islamists still possess a full third of the region, including much territory once occupied by the Eastern Church.

The Ottomans are no longer a superpower today yet the Bible warns us to stay alert. Although in relative disarray, Arab nations will unite once more.
The prophecies meet complete fulfillment by reviving Ottoman–Empire military principles. A coalition of Islamic nations will again attack Israel.
These nations initiate the great and final battle of Armageddon. At that time the angel declares, "It is finished" (Revelation 16:16, 17).
Like the Philistines who taunted the mighty Samson, the Israelites perish while destroying their antagonists, "So the dead which he [Samson] slew at his death were more than those which he slew in his life" (Judges 16:25–30).

The decline of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, as described in the Bible, manifests one century later in 1948 when the United Nations formed a "sovereign boundary" and portioned the "Holy Land" (once part of the Ottoman Empire) into two parts. One to Israel and the other to the Palestinians. Immediately the Arabs began militant protests yet Israel's return was also a fulfillment of prophecy, "after many days”, when they were "gathered from many people [nations]" (Ezekiel 38:8, 14).
The return of Israel to Palestine is an established fact today but Ezekiel's prophecies were mysteries for earlier scholars of the Bible.
The Israel/Arab land–conflict creates unimaginable stress in our world yet God has limited Arab territory. The reduced boundaries of the extinct Ottoman Empire are identified in Ezekiel 38.
Because borders and names of countries frequently change with military conflicts and treaties, God uses mostly tribal names of land named in Genesis and originally occupied by Noah's descendants to give approximate locations.
This includes Rosh, once belonging to the tribe of Benjamin and now a Hamas “time–bomb” in Palestine north of Jerusalem. Gog, once Reubenites, is now Jordan. Magog encompasses Georgia which fell to the Islamic control of Turkey and Iran in the sixteenth century. Its significant Islamic community is transitional and sovereign government fragile. Persia is Iran who one leader officially declared, "Israel is a façade nation and should be wiped off the map." Tubal, Mesheck and Togarmach are Turkey, as is Gomer, also occupying the area north of the Black Sea (Ezekiel 38:2–8, 16).
According to the Bible, these countries extending around the Mediterranean Sea to ancient Ethiopia (now Sudan) and Libya will, "with many [other] people", initiate their ultimate suicidal attack on Israel (Ezekiel 38:9).
When someone is under "the destroyer’s" control, they fulfill God's predictions regardless of evidence they are wrong. You recall after God's judgments ravaged Egypt, Pharaoh blindly marched his army to destruction in the Red Sea. Likewise, because Satan controlled Judas, he ignored Jesus' warning he would be His betrayer: "What you do, do quickly", Jesus said (Exodus 14:21,28; John 13:27).

The Islamic scourge upon Christian nations was a "wake–up–call" to repent of their sins; in fact, Mohammedanism began in Medina and Mecca near the Red Sea. North Africa is the battleground where Asian Christians were in military conflict with Arian Christians.
The Greek Emperor Justinian first attempted to forcibly unite all people to the Catholic faith. His edict of A.D. 532 forced sanctions upon those not united with Rome and "declared [non–Catholics] infamous [despicable], and as such excluded from all employment both civil and military; rendered incapable of leaving anything by will, and all their estates confiscated, whether real or personal" (Boniface II, History of the Popes, Page 199, Id., par. 2).
Those restrictions did not force sufficient “conversions” so the next year he again declared the Roman Church supreme. In June of 533 they initiated violent crusades against what were deemed so called false Christianity.
Justinian's liberator of Rome, General Belisarius, initiated his African campaign after Justinian was told by church leaders he was compelled by God to attack Christian heretics.
Belisarius launched 600 war ships, 35,000 troops and sailors, and 500 horses against African Christians with differing beliefs (Gibbon, Decline and Fall . . . chap. xii, par. 3, 7–12).

Jesus never commanded His followers to kill those in error. His mission was to save. Therefore, within one century of Justinian's decree to “force–feed” Christianity to the world, Muhammad was born and died, leaving a legacy of thievery, bloodshed, and forced conversions to Islam. God allowed Mohammedanism to surface with mandates in the Koran to kill infidels that do not submit to their encroachments; therefore, the "Christians" received the same punishment they unlawfully inflicted on others.
As Christians punished "heretics" during the "Spiritual Dark Ages", the Moslem scourge also "tormented" and "killed" Christian nations throughout history (Revelation 9: 5, 15). Of those surviving God's chastisement, the Bible says, "They repented not", and the same sins that caused those plagues are still committed today among some unrepentant Christians (Revelation 9:20, 21).
Although Jesus said it would be easier for heaven and Earth to disappear than God's law change, compromising Christians only keep that portion of God's Ten–Commandment Law that they find convenient. The most frequent offenses are against commandments number four and ten (Exodus 20:8–11, 17; Matthew 5:17–22; Revelation 9:19, 20).

Let us take notice of the past and reform our lives in conformity with God's Word during this reprieve, while Moslem nations remain divided among themselves. Often they are defending borders from attacks by Arab neighbors.
This polarization renders them unable to effectively wage coordinated wars against non–Islamic countries as they did in previous centuries. As you know, this has given rise to independent Islamic fundamentalist groups (terrorists) murdering civilian populations and beheading captives for viewing on national television. They hope to achieve the old political goals, a “New World Order” for Allah.
Those dreams will never be achieved and such extremism stimulates "cooperating" countries to implement, with greater zeal, strategies for global peace under a one–world judicial system which establishes distinct boundaries and prohibits "holy wars" from "rogue" [non–complying] countries and borderless factions.

Today, too many people exhibit a mistrusting attitude against our government. They grasp any rumor to "bear false witness" against our leaders; they "despise government and speak evil of dignitaries" (Exodus 20:16; 2 Peter 2:10; Jude 1:8).
These acts include spreading propaganda that U.S. led conspirators planted explosives and ignited controlled detonations the instant Moslem extremists crashed airplanes into the Twin Towers and Pentagon.
This fabrication originated with an Egyptian Professor, Zaynab Abd Al–Aziz, who spoke on Saudi Iqra TV, May 26, 2005, while being interviewed.
Do not be fooled! Such folk–tales are media fiction to masquerade terrorist strategies for world dominance. But Al–Aziz was nearly correct on one point. There is a Catholic conspiracy for world control.
Catholic leadership also feels compelled by God to convert the world to their faith by any means. Believe it or not, that is also the goal of many zealous Protestants. Like Justinian's decree mentioned before, all contend global peace is achievable only through a legislated one–world–government in the name of Jesus.
Some twenty and twenty–first century expositors of scripture, movie producers, and publishers of futuristic books, are obviously not aware of the past fulfillment of Revelation’s apocalyptic prophecies on August 11, 1840.
Instead, they imaginatively apply Revelation's prophecies to a mythical attack upon Israel in the future by Russia or China. Yet the rise and conquest of Christian nations by Islamic warriors for 1,400 years was recognized as the literal fulfillment of Bible prophecies by the great majority of Bible commentators of previous centuries, including Martin Luther and Sir Isaac Newton.
How simplistic it is for ministers to act like self–appointed gurus. They do not study history in depth, so ignore precisely fulfilled prophecies. Meanwhile they forecast the future like fortune tellers.

The 150 year duration of the Ottoman "torment" began in July 27, 1299 when Nicomedia was invaded (Revelation 9:5, 10, Gibbon, Rise and Fall . . .). Add the 150 days of tormenting (actually years in Bible prophecy, Ezekiel 4:6; Revelation 9:5) to the 391 years and fifteen days “to kill” of Revelation 9: 15. That takes us to August 11, 1840 when the Ottomans were too weakened to continue their supremacy.

It is easy to doubt the accuracy of one part of John's apocalyptic predictions concerning Mohammedanism. No government in the world has an active military of 200 million, “And the number of the army of the horsemen [were] two hundred thousand–thousand: and I heard the number of them” (Revelation 9:16).
Some aptly suggest the 200,000,000 warriors, two myriads of myriads in the original Greek language and described in Revelation 9:16, actually describes an innumerable host as myriads does in other parts of the Bible. Others suggest a better translation is 200,000, yet about 400,000 Saracens attacked Charles Martel’s troops in Tours, France, and assailed the walls of Constantinople.
Since the rise of Mohammed, 1,400 years ago, innumerable generations of warriors have never completely ceased their battles for Allah. Therefore, historical facts indicate Revelation is describing an unending jihad of Islamic warriors and their allies throughout the centuries–long "holy–war" against non–Islamic countries. Their numbers were often augmented when captives were forced to accept Allah as their god, and then immediately conscripted into Islamic fighting forces.

Lacking the enormous technological advantages the military have today, such as "carpet bombing" and satellite targeting with laser directed "smart bombs", ancient nations only survived due to massive manpower. King David's census provides an estimate of size when the Israelites counted 1,570,000 men who "drew the sword" (1 Chronicles 21:5).
Let us underestimate Moslem armies and assume an alliance of all Islamic nations around the Mediterranean Sea combined had the same number of warriors as David's census showed.
Consider a ten–year turnover of combatants. That means 15,700,000 men per century. Stretch that figure over fourteen centuries of Islamic wars and the total is 219,800,000 warriors (15,700,000 men x 15 centuries = 219,800,000).
No modern general would subject such a massive number to extermination in one battle. This deduction indicates the 200,000,000 Moslem warriors, described in the symbolic prophecies of Revelation nine, is really a larger number. Their unending “holy war” extends throughout time as they "torment, slay", intimidate, and finally perish in the battle of Armageddon.
Litch's works enlivened these apocalyptic predictions with pin–point accuracy. After the Turkish Empire declined August 11, 1840, Litch reports receiving 1,000 letters, some from atheist societies, who became true "believers" after his published research fulfilled exactly as predicted.

In our world with relatively sovereign boundaries, it is difficult to understand Revelation nine unless you remember society was defined differently in previous centuries. Slavery of humans and nations was rampant with subjects "paying tribute to Caesar."
Today United States students are reminded of the Boston Tea Party when the Colonies protested against taxation without representation and initiated a rebellion against English subjugation. As noted, Turkey was also a superpower called the Ottoman Empire, and like another empire, the massive Soviet Union, it would collapse.
In 1838, Turkey maintained their sovereignty by successfully suppressing an Egyptian rebellion. Egypt then offered to pay the Turkish sultan tribute in excess of $1,000,000. This was obviously a stalling tactic because Egypt successfully repulsed the Turks the very next year (1839), captured their naval fleets, and decimated their army.
With only five ships left and a greatly weakened army, battles of 1840 would witness the complete destruction of the Ottoman Empire along with new dominance by Egyptian extremists, unless God moved upon Christian nations to help the Ottomans.
God is great! He controls destinies and to maintain a balance of power and stability in the region, He intervened to avoid massive battles and the shedding of blood.
England, Russia, Austria and Prussia, as four Christian nations with massive fleets, came to Turkey's assistance and established ultimatums against Egypt. These powers reduced the boundaries of Egyptian rule and forced the pasha of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, to return the captured fleet to the Turkish Sultan.

The weakened Ottoman Empire legally admitted their existence depended upon the protection of Christian nations when this ultimatum took effect as the Turkish envoy personally delivered it to the Egyptians August 11, 1840, This is a literal fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
The humbled Sultan of the Ottoman Empire saved his reign (and probably his life) by accepting protection from those Christian powers.
The Turkish Sultan then watched the dismemberment of his weakened Empire as his "protectors" appropriated parts of his dominion for their own use, piece by piece.
Armies and politics take time to build and shape. No single event normally marks the exact beginning or end of any military power. Yet in 1840, and today, many know the obvious prophetic fulfillment, August 11, 1840, marked the fall of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
With their fleet returned, Turkey attempted to revive but became popularly known as the sick man of Europe (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 1968, Ottoman Empire).
They are no longer the ongoing threat as the Bible predicted; however, Islamic nations will make one final stand. He who was once so powerful will again, "plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain [and] shall come to his end [in the battle of "Megiddo"], and none [not even Allah] shall help him" (Daniel 11:45; Ezekiel 38:14–16).

Megiddo (or Armageddon) literally translates to "mount of Gideon" and that is the Holy Land where transgressors and the “Ottomans’” will perish, just like the descendants of Ishmael (Midianites, who battled each other, Judges 7:22; 8:24) as this planet is destroyed. Then the angel cries, "It is done!" (Revelation 116:9).

Then . . . there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the Earth, so mighty an earthquake, [and] so great. . . . And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, [every stone] about the weight of a talent [57lbs.; 26 kg]: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great" (Revelation 16:16–21). [This is] the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. (2 Peter 3:12)

Jesus tells us to watch and prepare for the day when: "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near" (Luke 21:26–28).

As you see, the final scourge of the militant factions of Mohammedanism result in the destruction of Earth, sinners, and those who have "a zeal for God but not according to godliness"; and "the Earth will wobble back and forth like a drunkard, and will be removed like a cottage; and the transgression of it shall be heavy upon it; and it will fall, and not rise again" (Romans 10:2; Isaiah 24:20).
It is not God’s design that we suffer destruction. He does have a remedy in 2 Peter3:13, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwells righteousness.”

Yet Armageddon was originally avoidable because Bible prophecies are conditional. If God's people initially obeyed Jesus and formed virtuous characters, attracting converts with "cords of love", an end of the world and the Islamic scourge would never have happened (Hosea 11:4).
"And [these blessings] will come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God" (Zechariah 5:16).

– END –

The following is a reprint of Litch's nineteenth–century Christian publication in The Midnight Cry, January 6, 1843, pp. 7–10. It uses language and attitudes toward Mohammed and Islamists representative of the mid–nineteenth century.  Today, the great majority of Moslems do not interpret the Qur’an to support military "holy wars" against innocent civilians and non–Islamic populations—under certain conditions, this is prohibited.

THE THREE WO TRUMPETS.
WO! WO!! WO!!!

Fall of the Ottoman Empire, or Ottoman Supremacy Departed, August 11, 1840 by Josiah Litch

The book of Revelation has long been looked upon as a book of inexplicable mysteries, altogether beyond the reach of the comprehension of mortals.  And this opinion has received too much encouragement from professed teachers and expounders of the word of God, many of them of eminent talents and various learning . . . much evil has been done by their unguarded remarks respecting the obscurity of unfulfilled prophecy in general, and the book of Revelation in particular. . . .  The Holy Spirit is grieved, and the God of Revelation slighted and insulted, by such insinuations and remarks. . . .  How differently has the author of the book expressed himself in reference to it!  He calls it, "The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. . . ."

If it is a revelation, then it is not an inexplicable mystery, but the mind of God made known to man.  "Blessed," then "is he that reads, and they which hear the words of the prophecy of this book."  If God, then, has pronounced a blessing on the reader of this book, who shall disannul it?  Rev. 8:13.  "Wo [sic], wo, wo to the inhabiters of the Earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound.      Rev. 9:1.  "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the Earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit."

A star, in the figurative language of Revelation, is a minister of religion.  See Rev. 1:20....  A fallen star, then would signify a fallen or heretical minister of religion.  This was undoubtedly the Arabian imposter, Mahomet. [Mohammed]  There is so general an agreement among Christians, especially protestant commentators, that the subject of this prediction is Mahommedism [Islam], I shall not enter into the argument at large to prove it; but in passing, shall merely give a brief exposition of the emblems used, and their application in the text.

Verse 2: "And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. . . ."

The smoke was the cloud of errors which arose through his instrumentality, darkening the sun, (gospel light,) and the air, (the influence of Christianity on the minds of men.)  In this enterprise, he and his followers were so successful that the light of Christianity almost disappeared wherever he gained an influence; and the smoke of the pit produced nearly total darkness throughout the Eastern Church.

Verse 3:  "And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power as scorpions of the earth have power. . . ."

That these locusts were emblems of an army, is clear. . . :  "And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were crowns like gold, and their faces were the faces of men.  And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions,"  &c. . . .  Such is the description of a Mahommedan [Muslim] horseman prepared for battle.  A horse, a rider with a man's face, long flowing beard, woman's hair, flowing or plaited, and the head encircled with a yellow turban, like gold.

"Was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. . . ."  Martinicus says, Scorpions have nippers, or pincers, with which they keep hold of what they seize, after they have wounded it with their sting.... "

Like the scorpion, Mahomet stung the subjects of his proselytism, and infused the poison of his doctrines, and continued to hold them by the force of arms, until it had affected the whole man, and the subject settled down in the belief of his delusive errors. . . .  Wherever his arms triumphed, there his religion was imposed on men, whether they believed it or not. . . .

"The successors of the prophet propagated his faith and imitated his example; and such was the rapidity of their progress, that in the space of a century, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, and Spain had submitted to the victorious arms of the Arabian and Saracen conquerors" (Ruter).

Verse 4:  "And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth neither any green thing, neither any tree [a direct command also found in the Koran]; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. "

"Grass, green thing, and tree" are here put in opposition to those men who have not the seal of God, &c.  If so, they must mean those who have the seal of God – his worshipers.

". . .Infidels, who rejected the Christian religion, and also all idolaters, they forced to receive the Mahommedan religion [Islam], upon pain of death.  But Jews and Christians, who had their Bibles and their religion, they left to the enjoyment of them, upon their paying large sums, which they exacted.  But where the payment of such sums was refused, they must either embrace the new religion or die."  Smiths Key to Revelation.

Verse 5:  "And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months."

As the language thus far has been figurative, so it must be here also.  To kill, signifies, a political death, or subjection.  The nation of Christians who were the subjects of this plague were to be tormented five months, but not politically slain.  Five months is one hundred and fifty days; each day a full solar year; the whole time, one hundred and fifty years.

Verse 6:  "And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them."

This, of course, is the same death as that in verse 5, viz., political.  Such was the misery of the Greeks, occasioned by the wars in which they were almost continually embroiled with the Mahommedan powers, that very many would have preferred an entire subjection of the empire to them, to the protracted miseries the war occasioned.  But this was not permitted; political death fled from them.

THE EXTERMINATOR TORMENTS THE GREEKS ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS

Verse 10:  "Their power was to hurt men five months."

1.  The question arises.  What men were they to hurt five months?  Undoubtedly the same they were afterwards to slay; (See verse 15.)  "The third part of the men," or third of the Roman empire – the Greek division of it.

2.  When were they to begin their work of torment?  The 11th verse answers the question: "They had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek hath his name Apollyon [meaning destroyer]."

a.  "They had a king over them."   From the death of Mahomet. . .the Mahommedans were divided into various factions, under several leaders, with no general civil government extending over them all.  Near the close of the 13th century, Othman founded a government, which has since been known as the Ottoman government, or empire, extending over all the principal Mahommedan tribes, consolidating them into one grand monarchy.

b.  The character of the king.  "Which is the angel of the bottomless pit."   An angel signifies a messenger, or minister, either good or bad; not always a spiritual being. "The angel of the bottomless pit,"  or chief minister of the religion which came from hence when it was opened.  That religion is Mahommedism [Islam], and the Sultan is its chief minister.

"The Sultan, or Grand Signior, as he is indifferently called, is also Supreme Caliph, or high priest, uniting in his person the highest spiritual dignity with the supreme secular authority."  Perkins, "World as it is,"  p. 361. . . .

3.  His name.  In Hebrew, "Abaddon,"  the destroyer; in Greek, "Apollyon,"  one that exterminates or destroys.  Having two different names in the two languages, it is evident that the character rather than the name of the power is intended to be represented. . . .  Such has always been the character of the Ottoman government. . . .

But when did Othman make his first assault on the Greek empire?  According to Gibbon ("Decline & Fall,"  &c.) "Othman first entered the territory of Nicomedia on the 27th day of July, 1299. . . ."

"And their power was to torment men five months. . . ."  Commencing July 27th, 1299, the one hundred and fifty years reach to 1449.  During that whole period the Turks were engaged in an almost perpetual war with the Greek empire, but yet without conquering it.  They seized upon and held several of the Greek provinces, but still Greek independence was maintained in Constantinople.  But in 1449, the termination of the one hundred and fifty years, a change came.  Before presenting the history of that change, however, we will look at verses 12–15...:  "One wo is past; and behold, there come two woes more hereafter. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice, from the four horns of the golden alter which is before.  Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.  And the four angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, for to slay a third part of men."

The first wo was to continue from the rise of Mahommedism until the end of the five months.  Then the first wo was to end, and the second begin.  And when the sixth angel sounded, it was commanded to take off the restraints which had been imposed on the nation, by which they were restricted to the work of tormenting men, and their commission extended to slay the third part of men.  This command came from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. "The four angels,"  are the four principal sultanies of which the Ottoman empire is composed, located in the country of the Euphrates.  They had been restrained; God commanded, and they were loosed.

In the year 1449, John Paleologus, the Greek emperor, died, but left no children to inherit his throne, and Constantine Deacozes succeeded to it.  But he would not venture to ascend the throne without the consent of Amurath, the Turkish Sultan.  He therefore sent ambassadors to ask his consent, and obtained it, before he presumed to call himself sovereign . . . .  Let this historical fact be carefully examined in connection with the prediction above.  This was not a violent assault made on the Greeks, by which their empire was overthrown and their independence taken away, but simply a voluntary surrender of that independence into the hands of the Turks, by saying, "I cannot reign unless you permit."

The four angels were loosed for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men.  This period amounts to three hundred and ninety–one years and fifteen days; during which Ottoman supremacy was to exist in Constantinople.

Commencing when the one hundred and fifty years ended, in 1449, the period would end August 11th, 1840.  Judging from the manner of the commencement of the Ottoman supremacy, that it was by a voluntary acknowledgment on the part of the Greek emperor that he only reigned by permission of the Turkish Sultan, we should naturally conclude that the fall or departure of Ottoman independence would be brought about in the same way; that at the end of the specified period, the Sultan would voluntarily surrender his independence into the hands of the Christian powers, from whom he received it.

[Addendum by Josiah Litch]

When the foregoing calculation was made, it was purely a matter of calculation on the prophetic periods of Scripture.  Now, however, the time has passed by, and it is proper to inquire what the result has been – whether it has corresponded with the previous calculation.

1.  Has the ottoman independence in Constantinople departed, and is it in christian hands?  Let the following testimony answer the question. . . .

The London Morning Herald, after the capture of St. Jean dAcre, speaking of the state of things in the Ottoman empire, says: "We have dissipated into thin air the prestige that lately invested as with a halo the name of Mehemet Ali.  We have in all probability destroyed forever the power of that hitherto successful ruler.  But have we done aught to restore strength to the Ottoman empire?  we fear not.  we fear that the sultan has been reduced to the rank of a puppet; and that the sources of the turkish empires strength are entirely destroyed.

"If the supremacy of the Sultan is hereafter to be maintained in Egypt, it must be maintained, we fear, by the unceasing intervention of England and Russia     . . . ."

2.  When did Mahommedan independence in Constantinople depart?

In order to answer this question understandingly, it will be necessary to review briefly the history of that power for a few years past.

For several years the Sultan has been embroiled in war with Mehemet [Mohammed] Ali, Pacha [sic] of Egypt.  In 1838 there was a threatening of war between the Sultan and his Egyptian vassal. Mehemet Ali Pacha, in a note addressed to the foreign consuls, declared that in the future, he would pay no tribute in the Porte, and that he considered himself independent sovereign of Egypt, Arabia, and Syria. . . .  In 1839, hostilities again commenced, and were prosecuted, until, in a general battle between the armies of the Sultan and Mehemet, the Sultans army was entirely cut up and destroyed, and his fleet taken by Mehemet and carried into Egypt . . . .  This fleet Mehemet positively refused to give up and return to the Sultan. . . .  In 1840, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, interposed, and determined on a settlement of the difficulty; for it was evident, if let alone, Mehemet would soon become master of the Sultans throne. . . .

The Sublime Porte, with a view of putting a stop to the effusion of Mussulman blood, and to the various evils which would arise from a renewal of hostilities, accepted the intervention of the great powers....

Here was certainly a voluntary surrender. . . ,[part of the official document reads:]  The powers have, together with the ottoman plenipotentiary, drawn up and signed a treaty, whereby the Sultan offers the Pacha, the hereditary government of Egypt, and all that part of Syria extending from the gulf of Suez to the lake of Tiberias, together with the province of Acre, for life; the Pacha, on his part, evacuating all other parts of the Sultans dominions now occupied by him, and returning the Ottoman fleet.  A certain space of time has been granted him to accede to these terms; and, as the proposals of the Sultan and his allies, the four powers, do not admit of any change of qualification, if the Pacha refuse to accede to them, it is evident that the evil consequences to fall upon him will be attributable solely to his own fault.

"His Excellency, Rifat Bey, Musleshar for foreign affairs, has been despatched in a government steamer to Alexandria, to communicate the ultimatum to the  Pacha."  [Moniteur Ottoman, Aug. 22, 1840.]

The question now comes up, when was that document put officially under the control of mehemet ali?

"By the French steamer of the 24th, we have advices from Egypt to the 16th. . . .  The Turkish government steamer, which had reached Alexandria on the 11th, with the envoy rifat bey on board, had by his (the Pachas) orders been placed in quarantine, and she was not released from it till the 16th. . . however. . .on the very day [August 11, 1840] on which he had been admitted to Pratique, the above named functionary had had an audience of the Pacha, and had communicated to him the command of the Sultan, with respect to the evacuation of the Syrian province, appointing another audience for the next day, when, in the presence of the consuls of the European powers, he would receive from him his definite answer, and inform him of the alternative of his refusing to obey; giving him the ten days which have been allotted him by the convention to decide on the course he should think fit to adopt. . . ."  The London Morning Chronicle, Sept. 18, 1840.

According to previous calculation, therefore, ottoman supremacy did depart on the eleventh of August [August 11, 1840] into the hands of the great Christian powers of Europe.

Then the second wo is past, and the sixth trumpet has ceased its sounding; and the conclusion is now inevitable, because the word of God affirms the fact in so many words, "Behold, the third wo cometh quickly."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Unlock the only Bible verses that say they are “sealed and closed up until the end of the days.” It says the wicked will never understand these prophecies but the “wise shalt understand.” They are the only part of the Old Testament that is so important that an angelic being swears by Him who lives forever and ever that they shall be.

http://revelado.org/thetimeoftheend.pdf

Contact: chas clever [at] juno . com (remove the spaces).

Copyright © 2013 by Charles Clever All rights reserved.