Proud_Muslim said:
we will destroy those who try to harm Islam. period.
LIAR! Islam attempts to destroy anyone who does not believe in Islam...
Revelation 1-6. I saw a star from heaven fallen. (Revision). John saw when the trumpet sounded, not a star fall, but a star fallen to the earth. A star is a symbol of a leader. A star fallen to the earth would [448] indicate his degradation in some way. To him was given the key of the bottomless pit. He was given power to let out hellish influences on the earth.
2. There arose a smoke. From that source came forth some influence, symbolized by smoke, which darkened the earth.
3. There came out of the smoke locusts. The destroying locusts symbolize destroying armies. See Nahum 3:15; Exod. 10:12. Observe that they come out of the smoke. To the smoke their origin is due. Unto them was given power. Power to hurt is implied, since they are compared to scorpions.
4. They should not hurt the grass, etc. The locusts usually devour every green thing. These, however, shall seek to preserve trees and vegetation. Only the men. Their special hurt shall be directed against men who are not sealed as God's own.
5. They should not kill them. This either implies that the armies symbolized by the locusts should seek not to destroy the races they attacked, or that they should not destroy the empire assailed. Five months. Their torment should continue five months, or one hundred and fifty prophetic days. Since a day is a symbol of a year, this implies one hundred and fifty years. Their torment was as the torment of a scorpion. Their warfare and torment shall be almost intolerable.
6. Shall men seek death. So terrible will be the torment that death will be desired.
7-11. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war. The appearance of the locusts is described. They represent armies of horsemen. Crowns like gold. There was an appearance like golden crowns. An array of men wearing yellow turbans would have such an appearance. Faces of men. Faces covered with beard. Roman soldiers wore no beard, hence the beards would be a striking feature.
8. Hair as the hair of women. Wearing long, flowing hair. [449] Teeth as the teeth of lions. This probably signifies fierceness.
9. Breastplates as breastplates of iron. There was something that seemed like an army clad in iron coats of mail. The sound of their wings. They gave a sound like the rush of chariots and horses rushing to battle.
10. And they had tails. They stung terribly, and left a string in their path.
11. They had a king over them. The real king was not the star, but the power of the bottomless pit. Apollyon. The destroyer; either the devil or one of his angels.
FULFILLMENT.
The locust, the horse, the horsemen, the scorpions, and indeed all the symbols point to Arabia as the source from whence the locusts come. I believe that there ought to be no reasonable doubt that the uprising of the Mohammedan or Saracen power is meant. The Western Roman Empire had fallen in A. D. 476. There yet existed the Eastern Roman Empire, with Constantinople for a capital, called the Greek Empire. Against it the Saracen effort was especially directed. Let us see how that movement corresponded to the symbols: It was the right time, after A. D. 476, and in the right place, directed against the eastern part of the Old Roman world. Not only the facts just mentioned, but the description of the men symbolized by the locusts, point to Arabia. The locusts "were like unto horses prepared for battle." The Arabians, unlike the Goths, Vandals, and Huns, were an army of horsemen, and moved over a country almost with the swiftness of the locust.
Let the reader note the following facts concerning the Arabs:
1. They came forth from the home of the locust.
2. They all fought on horseback. There was not a foot-soldier in the armies which in A. D. 632 assailed the Eastern Empire.
3. They wore upon their heads something like crowns of gold. The historians often speak of them as the "turbaned Arabs." Ezekiel (23:42), speaking of the Sabeans, which were an Arabian tribe, says, "The Sabeans of the wilderness who put upon their heads beautiful crowns." The yellow turbans of the Arab horsemen, at a little distance, would strikingly resemble "crowns of gold."
4. The locusts had "the faces of men." The Jews and Arabs wore long, patriarchal beards. The Roman and northern races shaved the face. John notes that these locusts have the distinguishing mark of manhood in the East,--the unshorn beard.
5. But to the faces of men is added "the hair of women." The female distinction is long hair, and evidently John beholds, as the riders rush by, long hair flowing from their shoulders and streaming in the air. Did the Arabs in the seventh century wear long hair? Pliny, who was the contemporary of John, speaks (Nat. His. 7:28) of "the turbaned Arabs with their uncut hair." Ammianus Marcellinus in the fourth, and Jerome in the fifth century, each speak of the long-haired Arabs. An Arabian poem, Antar, written in Mahomet's time, often speaks of the hair of its heroes flowing down upon their shoulders. We quote: "He adjusted himself, twisted his beard, and folded his hair under his turban, drawing it up from his shoulders."
6. But the locust had "breastplates of iron." The historians of the Arabian wars constantly speak of the iron coats of mail.
Mohammed, in the Koran, says: "God has given you coats of mail to defend you in your wars."
OTHER DETAILS.--Many corroborations might be added.
1. Mohammed was literally a fallen star. He was a prince by birth, the heir of the rule of Mecca, but his grandfather and father dying while he was young, he was pushed aside and became a servant.
2. The locusts came out of the smoke. The Arabs were unknown as a conquering power before Mohammed. The smoke of his imposture filled them with the fierce, stern fanaticism of the Koran.
3. They had literal orders in their invasion not to destroy vegetation.
"Cut down no palm trees, nor burn fields of corn. Destroy no fruit trees."--Gibbon, Vol. V., page 189.
4. Passing other marks, their destructive work was to continue five months, or one hundred and fifty years. Though Mohammed's work began earlier, it was in A. D. 632 that the Arab hosts bursts forth from their deserts to assail the world. Within a hundred years Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, the north of Africa, and Spain had fallen beneath their sway. In 762, the capital of the Saracen Empire was placed at Bagdad and their rulers began to cherish peaceful ideas. In 781, the Caliph Haroun Al Rashid was their ruler. This is the golden age of the Saracen power.
This is the era of the Arabian Nights. Bagdad was called the "City of Peace." How long is this from the time when the torment that had stricken half the world began? In A. D. 632, the Arabs assailed the nations, to which date one hundred and fifty years may be added. This would bring us to 782, the second year of Haroun Al Rashid's reign. Did the torment continue longer? Nay. He was engaged in friendly correspondence with the Christian rulers of Europe, [450] and from this time the Saracens ceased their efforts to make the world Mohammedan. Their aggressive wars were forever ended.
