COMensarations
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Thoughts on Revelation 9 — Part 1
A description of how the ‘locust’ in Revelation 9 match up with the Apache AH64 Attack Helicopter.
In order to describe what I understand of Operation DESERT SHIELD, I provide this....
Let’s get down to Revelation 9 and how it might relate to the Gulf War of 1990-91. In this instance Operation DESERT SHIELD....
Sources: There are a number of sources that can be used for this discussion. I’ll primarily refer to personal knowledge and experience and the King James version (KJV).
Others may prefer other versions, but I get the impression that the KJV is likely the most accurate translation for English speaking peoples. It certainly seems that way since the discovery and analysis of the dead sea scrolls.
Approaches: Looking at it from the perspective a man from the first century and comparing it against contemporary technology I’ll address each verse of Revelation 9.
Let us begin…
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.
It is interesting that these angels with their trumpets and these stars, in the book of Revelation, seem to be associated with cities and localities. In the earlier parts of the book, the seven angels are associated with the seven cities Christ is talking about. In this part the mentioned angels are also associated with cities. More on that later.
About a star falling to earth, and that star/angel is “given the key of the bottomless pit”. The bottomless pit is something of a myth in physical terms. However, looking at it in another light, an allegorical one, “war” is the bottomless pit. Nations can pour out their wealth into such a pit and never fill it.
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.
So this angel opens the “bottomless pit”, call it war, for the sake of argument, and out of this pit comes smoke, as of a great furnace. Smoke so great that it blots out the sun.
Sounds to me like a productive day in Pittsburgh. Nothing like a “good war” to make industrialists happy. Invest in “Steel” would be the word on the street, Wall Street.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
And out of the smoke come these “locust”. Well, out of the smoke of war came the first helicopters. Germany invented them during World War Two, specifically to fight war. In the United States, we’ve brought them to their current “state of the art” for air-land battle, in the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
These are some really strange “locust”. I know of no biological locust that can live without “hurting” any green thing. Indeed, the great threat of the biological locust is that it will do what it always does, eat every green thing that it can find. These are strange creatures indeed to be locust that do not eat plants.
However they are authorized to hurt those men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads.
I’m not aware of any locust that do that to men on many occasions, except for the farmers of the crops they destroy. Hardly to all men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
So these locust are not authorized to kill men, but that they should “torment” them for a period of five months.
It’s interesting that a few days after the invasion of Kuwait, I was in my unit’s offices talking to a fellow officer, a tanker officer who wears aviators wings as well, about the recent events and their import, with an eye on how extensive the forthcoming mobilization would be.
We could tell, already, that the world was tormented by what had happened. We figured that the coming mobilization of US combat forces would torment it even more.
Tankers are an interesting group in the Army. Unlike infantry, they are enamored of hardware. They plaster the walls of their offices with posters and pictures of their equipment; tanks, helicopters, etc.
So I was sitting on a desk in the tanker’s office talking with my compatriot of what was going on around us and just drifted off....
...my mind went blank…
...when I came back to reality, I found myself staring at a poster of the AH-64 attack helicopter, the Apache, and something in my mind’s ear whispered, “This is the locust.”
After a moment of reflection, I called Steve’s attention to this poster and said the same to him, explaining the realization as I had perceived it.
I went on to add that if this was accurate, and knowing that US combat forces would have such aircraft in operation in Saudi Arabia by mid-August ‘90; using the five-month measure described in the Revelation 9, we’d see a shooting-war break out in the Euphrates river valley in mid-January, ‘91, five months later. [Note: You can count it out on your fingers, the number of months from mid-August to mid-January.] This can be verified by discussion with me fellow officer and comrade-in-arms or my former minister [I brought this before him in September ‘90], provided they are willing to discuss the matter with you.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
I can imagine that the Iraqi soldiers on the frontier between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia felt that way. They knew that they could not stop these “locust” once they really set to work.
Let’s examine the locust in detail....
...again I ask the reader to put himself into the shows and understandings of a man of the first century who is seeing something from a future technology he does not understand. Turning around to look at the correlation of the current technology with the way the first century writer has described it in terms his contemporaries could understand.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Imagine “locust” like horses prepared unto battle? What do they look like?
Looking at an Apache you might see a good correlation. It has a thick head and thorax with a slender abdomen, just like a locust. It also has “spears”, in the form of ITOW (Improved Tube-launched Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank missiles. Not to mention the 30-mm chain gun mounted in the chin-turret.
“...and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold...”
I’ve seen glass reflect light in the sun. And I can see the plexiglass canopy of each Apache, the ‘head’ if you will, reflecting the desert sun as would a gold crown.
“...their faces were as the faces of men.”
And if you looked closely at the head of each of these “locust”, you’d see, through the plexiglass canopy, the faces of men; the pilot and the weapons officer.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
This was something of a stumper for a while. However, I had the opportunity to watch the Apaches being unloaded from some C-5A Galaxy strategic lift carriers and noticed that their rotor blades were not dismounted from the helicopters for air movement, as was the technique for their predecessors, the AH-1 Cobras. Rather, they were rotated back along the spine of the tail rotor boom. In that position, they resembled four thick braids of hair.
“...their teeth were as the teeth of lions”
The rounds from the 30-mm chain gun will rend a man just as if he were bitten by a lion. The muzzle of the gun is where the mouth of a lion would be on its head, just under and a bit behind the “nose” of the aircraft. Like a lion, it “roars” when it attacks with its teeth.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
These breastplates are the kevlar reinforced access panels that protect the sensitive parts of the Apache’s avionics, hydraulics, crew, and engines from enemy fire. Just as an ancient breastplate would protect the most important parts of a warrior from enemy attack. They come off like an ancient Roman’s breastplate would. A couple of toggles/ties and off they come.
“...the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.”
I’ve participated in a number of battalion level air-mobile insertions and witnessed other similar scale operations from other perspectives. One thing they all have in common is that the sound of many helicopters in flight is just like the sound of many chariots racing across open ground. It’s like being in the race with Ben Hur.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
The tails “like unto scorpions” is interesting, but if you’ve ever seen an attack helicopter doing a high-performance maneuver starting from a hover position, you’d notice how the tail arches over the back of the helicopter just like the tail of a scorpion as it attacks.
“...and there were stings in their tails...”
Well, even though we don’t intend them to kill with their tails, if anyone steps into the rotor arc in the vicinity of the tail, it will “sting”, for a moment. After that, they won’t feel a thing.
“...their power was to hurt men five months.”
Once again we’re reminded of the five months business.
11 And 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 tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Here is another reference to angels, stars, and localities. If you have a good atlas around, it’s time to get it out. Notice the name of the angel/star that is in charge of these locust.
Now look at the cities near the mouth of the Euphrates River. See any similarities? If so, ponder the import. If not, get a better atlas.
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
Thus endth Operation DESERT SHIELD.
The time of waiting is over. Now comes the excitement, part 1, Operation DESERT STORM.
13 ¶ And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
It’s the sixth trumpet. There’s only one trumpet left…
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
And now the shooting-war in the Euphrates river valley begins, Operation DESERT STORM.