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"HOLDING THE FOUR WINDS"

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I

Why Is Our Text Mentioned
Under the Sixth Seal?

What Do We Know about
the "Four Winds"?

Part II

"I Have Spread You Abroad"

"Four Winds of Heaven"

Zechariah 6
Spirit World's Influence in Religion

Part III

Daniel's "Four Winds" Abated

The Rulers of Darkness

"Four Corners of the Earth"

Great World Religions

Why "Winds of Earth"
Instead of "Heaven"?

Part IV

THE KEYS OF THIS BLOOD

A Church Pulled in All Directions

Identifying the
"Four Winds of Earth"

The Piggyback Globalists

Part V

What or Who are the "Four Angels" Holding the "Winds"?

"Till We Have Sealed the
Servants of Our God"

"Sealing" the Saints

Part VI

"Dragon, Beast and False Prophet" Revelation 16

Last Plague Poured Out on  the "Air"


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Part I

"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth [stable society], nor on the sea [restless society], nor on any tree [right-hearted and more prominent of earthBro. Russell included the Household of Faith]." Revelation 7:1

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"Earth" represents
Stable Society
"Sea" represents
Unstable Masses
"Trees" represent
Mighty Ones
of Earth

"Four angels" are assigned to "holding four winds of the earth" which threaten three segments (earth, sea and any tree) of society.

    While the "four winds" are being held, we do not understand there to be a great calm with no wind. Rather, the "four winds" are held or restrained sufficiently from blowing into a whirlwind.
    
Already we see a Muslim wind blowing fiercely against the Western Christian world. In Pakistan it is blowing against the Hindu or Eastern religious world. In Africa the Muslim powers have killed over two million Christians. The Humanist (Communists, Socialists and Atheists) is threatening the Western Christian world in North Korea. Some winds are blowing rather hard even now, but all winds are not yet involved.

"Four Winds" 
Blowing Toward the "Earth"

1. Western World representing Christianity and capitalistic governments--church and state already confronting Islam terrorism and Iraq and Pagan Humanist North Korea at present.
2. Far Eastern religions (Hindu, Shinto, Brahman, New Age, Wicca, etc.) and governments which are spreading Eastern religion and political unrest in India and confronting Islam Pakistan at present.
3. Muslim religions and governments spreading Muslim (Islam) religion and political agendas in the form of terrorism, genocide and war almost world-wide.
4. Humanism (Communism, Socialism, and Atheism) religion and government without god confronting Western Christian powers (as in North Korea confronting Western Powers).

     At this time the Muslim wind is being forced to blow because it is failing as a successful economic power or as an intellectually competitive society. It is effective in getting followers, but not able to feed or give jobs to their followers. Economically they are dead in the water. Oil has been their only main source of revenue. This is being threatened by newer technology. They, therefore, must blame the Western world for their failure, even though this is not true. It is failing because the Muslim religion is run very much the way the Catholic Church was run in the Dark Ages. It is bigoted, intolerant and repressive. They do not allow open exchanges of information in religion or politics. They are big on mind control. They are driven to convert the world to Islam religion, just as the Christians still hope to convert the world to Christianity. However, the Christian world is still an open society, whereas the Muslim world is not.

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Why Is Our Text Mentioned
Under the Sixth Seal?

    Please notice that the "sixth seal" is opened in Revelation 6:12 and the "seventh seal" is not opened until Revelation 8:1. Theoretically, we would have preferred it if the Revelator had transposed verse 7:1 somewhere after 8:1. But really, this is no problem.
    The "sixth seal" coincides with the Reformation period and also takes in the French Revolution. Not stopping there the Revelator continues without pause into the period of the last "seal" and beyond that to include the Great Company standing triumphantly "before the throne of God" (Revelation 7:14-17).
     So, in fact, without a pause the Revelator in chapter seven passes into the seventh seal without saying so. However, the student knows from the narrative where the sixth seal ends (with the French Revolution) and what happens during the seventh seal (after the saints are "sealed"). The time when this takes place is when the "angel [Christ] from the rising of the sun [his second presence], with the seal of the living God" (ESV) is here. This is during the seventh seal.

    There are two scene changes in Revelation 7.
    The first "after these things" (Revelation 7:1) introduces the "four winds."
    The second "after this I beheld" (Revelation 7:9) introduces the Great Company.

    The story being told under the sixth seal does not stop at the end of the sixth seal, but follows on into the seventh seal and the Kingdom glory before the throne. Revelation chapter eight introduces the "seventh seal" belatedly, with many things already described. It is under this "seal" in point of time that both the "four winds" are held back and that then successively the Great Company is glorified. You can do this in story telling and vision telling, just as it was done here.
    What needs to be observed is that the two events described under the "sixth seal" actually happen under the "seventh seal." Clearly the "winds" are not loosed, nor is the Great Company taken before the throne until some time after the "seventh seal" is opened. We have all heard of getting ahead of you in telling the story. This is what happened here.

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What Do We Know About the "Four Winds"?

    The "four winds" have been around for a long while.

"Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea. [Notice the "four winds" strove in stirring up the sea, not the earth, sea and trees as in Revelation 7.]

"And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."

 

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Beast Like a Lion   

"The first was like a lion [Babylon], and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it."

 

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Beast Like a Bear

"And behold, another beast, a second, like to a bear [Medo-Persia], and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs [Heruli, Eastern Exarchate and Ostrogoths] in the mouth of it between the teeth of it; and they said thus unto it: Arise, devour much flesh."

 

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Beast Like a Leopard

"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard [Grecia], which had upon the back of it four wings of a foul; the beast had also four heads [four generals divided the power of Grecia after Alexander's death]; and dominion was given to it.

 

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Dreadful Beast

"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast [Rome], dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it...."  Daniel 7:2-7

 

    The "four winds" were found in Daniel’s time "striving upon the sea." They were not carrying the same labels as now. Any religion that could control the people was all that was necessary. In yesteryear it seems the "winds" were prevented from reaching whirlwind proportions by allowing each of the "four winds" a turn at religious power in the successive four empires of a "lion," "bear," "leopard" and the last dreadful "beast" of Rome.
    It was not only Satan who wanted power, but the evil spirits also wanted to try their hand at religion in world government. A compromise was reached that allowed a certain rotation of power although Satan always bullied them.

How the Fallen Angels Operated 
Before and After the Flood

    Before the flood, the fallen angels could materialize and were able to influence the world through physical force and violence. After the flood, the fallen angels were placed in chains of darkness.

 


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The Tower of Babel

The first scheme was to build the Tower of Babel one world "come ... let us make a name for ourselves" (Genesis 11:4 ESV).

It seems this was an attempt by Satan and the fallen angels to gain control of humankind through one universal government and probably through the start of false religion.

    We know how the Lord frustrated this grab for power, by confusing the tongues of men and scattering them over the earth. This ended the one-world government, leaving only false religion open to them.



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Sacrificing Children
to Moloch

"They sacrificed unto devils [Leeser, evil spirits], not to God; to gods whom they knew not." Deuteronomy 32:17

Evil spirits were behind many of those terrible religions, starting with Nimrod, then declining to such debased gods as Moloch, Astoreth, Baal, etc., which so successfully appealed to Israel.

Evil spirits in religion affected nearly all the nations.

    Sometimes we think evil spirits contented themselves with possessing people, or in seances in rapping and tapping. But they also strove to control the minds of men and nations. They enchanted the minds of people with false religion, even as Satan has done in the development of the "mother of harlots" and her "daughters."
    All false religions have appeals to various levels of people. To the noble-minded, false religion has religious philosophy that can be very high sounding. To the baser elements, they can appeal to sensuality. To others the appeal may be superstition and fear.
    The important thing to remember is that the demons are involved in more than witchcraft. They are eager for power and glory and honor, just as is Satan, and false religion is their modus operandi.
    As long as Israel was God’s Kingdom on earth, the Gentile nations had no hope of universal dominion. The nations were fragmented, and the Lord apparently did not allow any one nation to have world dominion. After all, it was God that confused the "tongues" to disperse the peoples.
    When the Lord was about to take away Israel as His Kingdom nation, the "four winds of heaven" (Daniel 7:2 ESV) were "stirring up the great sea" of restless humanity. Out of this, there arose the four beastly governments recorded in Daniel.
    We think the Lord allowed each of the "four winds" some representation in the four universal empires. The demons were represented heavily in the first three world dominions of Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece (especially the false religions of these empires).  Satan dominates the last dominion of the Roman Empire, the largest and cruelest of all. The "dragon" of Rome is called the "Devil and Satan," Rev. 12:9.

    "Four winds" in Daniel 8:8:

"Therefore the he goat [Greece] waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn [Alexander the Great] was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven."

    When Alexander died, his four generals (Ptolemy in Egypt, Seleucus in Asia, Lysimachus in Asia Minor and Cassander in Macedonia) took control, fragmenting the empire of Greece to the "four winds of heaven" (to the powers of spiritual control).
    Notice that in Daniel the eighth chapter there are only
two beasts:

 

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(1)  A "GOAT"
representing GREECE.

(2)  A "RAM"
representing MEDO-PERSIA

 

    Nothing is said about a "beast" to represent Rome, as in Daniel chapter seven. That is odd. The explanation for this is that while Rome beat Greece on the battlefield, Rome was never able to beat the intellectual influence of Greece. Grecian philosophy, science, and culture cast a tall shadow over Rome.
    The significant thing is that a "little horn" (papacy) arose to dominate the "host of heaven" (Daniel 8:10). The fall of Alexander the Great did not in chapter eight create another "beast," but fused the Grecian goat into the Roman Empire which somehow accommodated (possibly by overpowering them) all four "winds of heaven."
    The "little horn" was a powerful influence on these "four winds." It is this influence that amalgamates Rome into one empire. It is not until the returned Lord gives greater liberties to the evil spirits that the "four winds" pose a problem again. Then it is that Satan loses considerable control over the evil spirit world.

Click to go to the following:

        Topical Study on:
"Holding the Four Winds" Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Part VI

Chapter/Verse by Verse Study on:
Revelation 7

00GoldSquare.jpg (705 bytes)    Study in Daniel 7, "Kingdoms of This World" (pp. 256-261)
00GoldSquare.jpg (705 bytes)    Study in Daniel 8, "The Time of the End" (pp. 27-32)

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