Visigoths, Vandals, Huns & Heruli
Overthrow Western Third of Roman Empire

1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

When he (the Lamb) had opened the seventh seal (when Aries pulled off the sun seal from the lunar crescent "underneath"), there was silence or peace in heaven, for about "a half hour" (fifteen degrees or years. If one day is a year of 360 days (Num. 14:34; Ez. 4:6), and if there are "twelve hours in a day" (John 11:9), then 360 divided by 24 gives a "half hour" as 15 days which is 15 years.) This may describe the comparative peace under Emperor Theodosius the Great in the Roman Empire from 380 when Gratian made peace with the Ostrogoths under Alatheus and Safrac, whose subjects were settled in Pannonia (or October 3, 382, when the final treaties with the remaining Gothic forces were signed), till January 17, 395 when Theodosius died (about 15 years) (Rev. 8:1). But “before the end of the winter of the same year the Gothic nation was in arms. The Barbarian auxiliaries erected their independent standard; and boldly avowed the hostile designs which they had long cherished in their ferocious minds. Their countrymen, who had been condemned by the conditions of the last treaty to a life of tranquillity and labour, deserted their farms at the first sound of the TRUMPET, and eagerly resumed the weapons which they had reluctantly laid down. The barriers of the Danube were thrown open; the savage warriors of Scythia issued from their forests (north of the Danube); and the uncommon severity of the winter allowed the poet to remark ‘that they rolled their ponderous wagons over the broad and icy back of the indignant river’.” (The Decline and Fall , Gibbon, Vol 3 chap. 30, pg 253, 1909.) This also implies a 15-year period (another half hour) when there was no silence or peace -- from 367 (see Rev. 7) till 382 A.D. During this time, the Roman and Gothic troops fought a bloody and undecided battle called Battle of the Willows in 377 AD; Rome defeated the invading Alemannic tribe of the Lentienses in 378 AD at the Battle of Argentovaria; then came the Battle of Adrianopolis; Goths defeated Roman troops and Emperor Valens was killed (378 A.D.). The seven stars of Ursa Minor stood before God (Cepheus) in their alternate symbol of a Spanish or Portuguese hunting horn -- the Bocina or Shofar (ram's horn)(Rev. 8:2).

3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. 6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

The Angel Sagittarius stood at the altar, Ara, in the Holy Place outside the Holy of Holies (Zodiac), having a golden censer (solar disk) and offering much incense (with his crescent moon scoop) (Rev. 8:3-5) by tossing the Milky Way onto the incense altar as the stars rotate (prayers of saints "beaten small" or detailed mixed with Christ's sweet-smelling sacrifice [Gen. 8:21]-- 8:3-4). The smoke of the incense is also the Milky Way and God is Cepheus. Then Sagittarius dumps "fire ... upon the earth" referring to the Milky Way as it rotates vertically in the sky to "touch" earth at sunset. Historically, the incense-offering ritual is described in Leviticus 16:12. This "Angel" must be Jesus our Messiah because the high priest alone offered the incense upon the golden altar (Exodus 30:7-8). in the original Tabernacle in the wilderness, the "golden censer" was found inside the Holy of Holies (Heb. 9:4); and none but the High Priest could enter that holiest place. He is the one and only "Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 4:14) "who ever liveth to make intercession" (Heb. 7:25). This "Angel" gathers the prayers of all the saints or Christian martyrs who were persecuted by the Roman Empire, among which was this prayer recorded in Rev. 6:10: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the (Roman) earth?" Like incense, these prayers "Ascend up before God." Common priests used silver censers. Just as "there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the WORLD (Greek "oikoumene") should be registered" (Luke 2:1) meaning the ROMAN world, so also the "fire" is cast "upon the EARTH" (Greek "ge") (Rev. 8:5) meaning the ROMAN earth -- not the globe. Hail, fire and blood were three of the plagues of Egypt God sent to liberate ancient Israel so they could escape to the Promised Land.

"The century of disasters (378-476 AD), ... befell Rome after she had adopted "Christianity." The Roman Empire had become in a sense an apostate people of God, ripe for experiencing the judgment of God, inflicted by her enemies." (God Cares II p 240). The great apostasy or "falling away" of 2 Thess. 2 had taken place resulting in much prayer and trumpet judgments. "The man of sin" had risen. Constantine had amalgamated church and state. Saint and martyr worship (idolatry) were flooding the church.

Why switch from SEALS to TRUMPETS? Because we have switched from PAGAN emperors to "CHRISTIAN" emperors. What do the TRUMPETS mean? "If the TRUMPET give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the BATTLE?" (1 Cor. 14:8). TRUMPETS symbolize WAR (Jer. 4:5; Hosea 8:1; Joel 2:1). The FOUR TRUMPETS probably let loose "the FOUR WINDS" (Rev. 7:1). The TRUMPET blast indicated that the camp should move forward (Num. 10); congregate for a festival (Num. 29); or assemble to fight (Num. 10:9). The ancient city of Jericho prevented Israel from entering into Canaan (Promised Land) to establish the Kingdom of God until after "seven TRUMPETS of Ram"s horns" were blown (Joshua 6:16) on the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In the same way, "Rome" (or the Roman Empire) now becomes "Jericho" preventing Anglo-Saxon Israel from arriving in the British Isles (Promised Land) to establish the Kingdom of God. Therefore, seven TRUMPET blasts of punishment were needed (Nu. 10:1-10; Amos 3:6; Zeph. 1:14-16; Joel 2:1). The first six days they marched once around (Joshua 6:11-14) corresponding to the first six seals. The seventh day they marched seven times around (Joshua 6:15-16) corresponding to the seventh seal which contains seven TRUMPETS. Alaric's and Rhadagaisus's Gothic revolt, breaking their alliance with Rome in 395 A.D., may be the "thunders ... lightnings ... EARTHQUAKE" (Rev. 8:5). Also the Roman Empire split into two halves or legs of iron in 395 A.D. Honorius ruled the west and Arcadius ruled the east.

7 The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

Just as hail-storms originate from the cold NORTHEAST and sweep across Europe, so Alaric the Goth came from the NORTHEAST. "HAIL" means "BATTLE and WAR" (Job 38:22-23). In Ezekiel 10:2, when "coals of FIRE" were scattered "over the city" of Jerusalem, it meant "I will bring a SWORD upon you saith the Lord God" (Ez. 11:8). "FIRE" cast on the evil Roman Empire is God's "FURY" "because of the evil of your doings" (Jer.21:12). What were those evils? Worshipping saints, martyrs, angels and relics rather than Christ our Lord. Making priests the "mediators" who "forgive sins." Using images and idols in worship. The pagan Eunapius in 396 A.D. exclaimed, "The monks kneel before dead men's bones, pickled, salted, covered with filth and dust. These are their intercessors with the gods now-a-days." And the Manichaean Faustus in 400 A.D. wrote, "You have but exchanged the old idols for martyrs, and offered to the latter the same prayers as to the former." Pilgrims' prayers were directed "to the bones, the blood, or the ashes of the saints ... They frequented the tombs of the martyrs" (Gibbon). This is demon-worship (Rev. 9:20; 1 Tim. 4:1). To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48; Amos 3:2) whereas God overlooks mistakes done in ignorance (Acts 17:30). The level of responsibility increased as Rome went from pagan to "Christian."

Who were the GOTHS? "The old geographer Ortelius, in his description of Tartary, notes the kingdom of Arsareth, where 'the TEN TRIBES retiring took the name of GAUTHEI, because they were very jealous for the glory of God.'" (Lights and Shadows by Elizabeth Wilson, pp.154-155). Tacitus informs us they spoke "the Gallic tongue" which probably got its name from "Galilee" (Isa. 9:1). Perhaps this is why Alaric showed mercy to the Christian churches, while sacking villas and palaces. Through the ministry of Ulphilas, a section of the Goths had accepted Christianity. Naphthalite Huns and Issachar (Sciri) may have been allied to the oriental Huns.

The "hail and fire mixed with blood" refers to the stars rotating behind the horizon at sunset when the red glow imitates blood and fire. One third of Scorpio (-- a palm tree [East Indies]) and Canis Minor (-- a mulberry tree [Hyginus]) are burned up (8:7) meaning chief Romans (Judges 9) demonstrated by the Milky Way smoke consuming one third of each. Gibbon said an old poet called Claudian of Verona bewailed the destruction of his trees: "His trees, his old contemporary trees must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country." (Decline & Fall. Vol. 3. p 294). "All flesh is grass" (Isa. 40:6) and the mountain sides are entirely consumed by the Milky Way smoke in the shape of a mountain side. A hailstorm is a military invasion (Isa. 28:2; Ez. 38:9).

Rhadagasius's 250,000-man army of Vandals, Suevi and Burgundians is described by Gibbon: "The consuming flames of war spread from the banks of the Rhine over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul; the scene of plenty was suddenly changed into a desert." The historian Claudian compared the invasions by the Goths to a "HAILSTORM." Regarding the Goths, Gibbon says, "Blood and conflagration and the BURNING of TREES and HERBAGE mark their path."

The first shofar was Alaric's Visigoths (395 to 428) who conquered the "THIRD" empire of Greece (the Goat or Capricorn -- Dan. 8:21) in 395 and then pillaged the western "THIRD" part of the fourth empire of Rome destroying vineyards and farms in Gaul, Spain and Italy from 400 to 428 A.D.. Alaric's Visigoths came from NE Europe around the Baltic and thousands migrated to the Illyricum (Yugoslavia) THIRD of the Roman Empire where they were employed as mercenaries by the Romans to help defend the frontiers. About 395 A.D., after he ravaged the countryside of Greece, Alaric was made military general of all Illyricum (Yugoslavia), by the emperor of Constantinople, to pacify him. Alaric took advantage of this and spent the next four years in preparation for the invasion of Western Rome.

The Goths laid Italy waste THREE times by destroying the green vegetation and fruit trees as they went. Alaric beseiged Rome THREE times -- 408 A.D., 409 A.D. and 410 A.D. -- the third time destroying the city, sacking it for THREE days and selling thousands of its inhabitants into slavery. Gibbon describes their siege of Rome in apocalyptic terms: "The inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic TRUMPET." The capital was moved to Ravenna. Alaric died in 410 A.D. Roman soldiers evacuated from Britain to help save and defend their own empire, leaving Britain built and prepared, but empty, for Anglo-Saxon Israel. Alaric's Goths destroyed not only the VINEYARDS and FARMS but also these Roman soldiers. Figuratively speaking, "All flesh is GRASS" (Isa. 40:6; 51:12) and "the glory of man like the FLOWER" (1 Pet. 1:24; James 1:10). All human rulers are TREES. "The TREE ... it is thou" (Nebuchadnezzar) (Dan. 4:20-22). "The Assyrian was a CEDAR" (Ez. 31:3; Judges 9:8-15). King David sang, "I am like a green OLIVE TREE " (Ps. 52:8) and the Jewish nation is likened to a FIG TREE (Luke 21:29-31). Green trees signify the righteous and dry trees the wicked (Ez. 20:46-47; 21:3-4; Luke 23:31). "HAIL" symbolizes "the day of BATTLE and WAR" (Job 38:22-23). "I will plead against him ... great HAILSTONES" (Ez. 38:22). "HAIL, FIRE and BLOOD" were plagues upon Egypt to free God's people Israel from heathen tyranny (Ex. 9:22-26). The Gothic invasions -- the HAIL of arrows, the FIRE of torches and arson and the BLOOD of the slain -- caused Roman legions to WITHDRAW from England and Wales, thus freeing British Israel from the yoke of Imperial Rome. Prophetically it is very interesting that Alaric ravaged Greece and entered Athens in triumph. By an edict published at Constantinople, Alaric was declared master general of eastern Illyricum. This promotion was followed by his being crowned king of the Visigoths. Thus Alaric first conquered the "THIRD" part which is Greece -- the THIRD empire -- and then the THIRD part of the fourth empire which was Rome.

In another sense, the western "third" of the empire was part of the "third" empire in succession -- the Eastern Greek empire. Diocletian partitioned the empire in 292 A.D. When Constantine named the capital Constantinople in 328 A.D., he thereby fulfilled 2 Thess.2:7. The emperor who ruled from Rome was an emperor in name only. He was subject to the ruler of a revived "Greek" Empire set up at Constantinople. The first four trumpets brought enemies upon an empire which had become Eastern or Greek in character as well as capital, and which is therefore described as "third" rather than "fourth" in the book of Revelation.

"In the time of Constantine (312 A.D.) the Roman empire was divided into THREE great sections: to Constantine was assigned Gaul, Spain, Britain, Italy, Africa; to Licinius the Illyricum prefecture; to Maximin, the Asiatic provinces and Egypt." (Dr. Cumming 'Apocalyptic Sketches' Vol. 2. p.63). Latin, Oriental and Greek areas. Just before Constantine's death in 337 A.D., the empire was divided among his THREE sons Constans, Constantine, and Constantius. Then a THIRD TIME from 383 to 387 A.D. it was divided into THIRDS again. We actually begin our count of the 120 years when Alaric's Visigoths entered Italy for the first time in 402 A.D. but were defeated at Pollentia and Verona. In 405 AD Ostrogoths, Quadi and Vandals invaded Italy but were defeated. In 410 AD the Visigoths for a THIRD time, led by Alaric, sacked Rome -- the first external capture of Rome in 800 years, and deposed Attalus. "THRICE, in fulfillment of his destiny, he (Alaric) descended from the Alps onto the Italian plain, marking his course at each step as the awe struck historians of the times tell us, in country and in town with ravage, conflagration and blood, till the gates of Rome itself were opened to the conqueror and the Gothic fires blazed around the capitol." (E.B. Elliott. "Horae Apocalypticae" Vol. I. p 351-353). This is represented by the arrow Sagitta slicing through the Roman eagle Aquila. History wonderfully confirms the accuracy of the first six trumpets. Three different races, Goths, Arabs and Turks each invaded a different third of the Roman Empire which John predicted long before in Revelation 8 and 9.

8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

The second shofar was "a great MOUNTAIN" (or "KINGDOM" such as Babylon -- Jer. 51:25 or God's Millenial kingdom -- Isa. 2:2; Dan. 2:35-44). What kingdom invaded the western Roman Empire and was thrown "into the sea" (became a naval power)? Vandals were Goths who migrated from northeast Europe at the same time as the Visigoths. In 401 A.D., the Vandals led by Radagaisus invading Noricum and Rhaetia. In 405, Vandals, Suevi and Burgundians, united under a leader named Radagaisus, besieged the city of Florence. When Radagaisus was killed, the Vandals, Burgundians and Suevi withdrew and passed on into Southern France in 406 A.D. There the Burgundian division of these Goths settled and formed the kingdom of Burgundy. The rest of the Goths continued on into Spain and the Suevi then settled in NW Spain (Portugal) and removed it from Roman control in 409 A.D. Genseric's Vandals (429-477), were invited into Mauretania and Africa by Boniface, so they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and burned Hippo in 430 A.D. Then they conquered Carthage in 439 A.D. Priscus the poet referred to the Vandals as "Burning Byrsa." (Byrsa was the hill on which Carthage was built.). There they built ships and committed piracy against Rome's navy and ships. They captured Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Majorca and Minorca. Rome was sacked (June 15-29, 455 A.D.) and thousands of its inhabitants enslaved. The Western Roman navy was defeated in 457 A.D. In 468 A.D. FIRESHIPS were driven amongst 1,113 ships that had sailed to attack Cathage from Constantinople. In the obscurity of the night, the FIRE of the Vandal volcano defeated this Eastern Roman navy. Genseric the Great was known as the "tyrant of the seas." He is reputed to have said, "Let us make for the dwellings of men with whom God is angry." Genseric died in 477 A.D.

“...the African campaign amounted to the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds of gold, about five millions two hundred thousand pounds of sterling...the fleet that sailed from Constantinople to Carthage, consisted of eleven hundred and thirteen ships, and the number of soldiers and mariners exceeded one hundred thousand men...The army of Heraclius and the fleet of Marcellinus either joined or seconded the Imperial lieutenant; and the Vandals, who opposed his progress by sea or land, were successfully vanquished. If Basiliscus had seized the moment of consternation and boldly advanced to the capital, Carthage must have surrendered, and the kingdom of the Vandals was extinguished...but he (Genseric) requested a truce of five days to regulate the terms of his submission...During this short interval, the wind became favourable to the designs of Genseric. He manned his largest ships of war with the bravest of the Moors and Vandals, and they towed after them many large barques filled with combustible materials. In the obscurity of the night these destructive vessels were impelled against the unguarded and unsuspecting fleet of the Romans, who were awakened by the sense of their instant danger. Their close and crowded order assisted the progress of the fire, which was communicated with rapid and irresistible violence...Whilst they laboured to extricate themselves from the fire-ships, and to save at least a part of the navy, the galleys of Genseric assaulted them with temperate and disciplined valour; and many of the Romans, who escaped the fury of the flames, were destroyed or taken by the victorious Vandals... After the failure of this expedition, Genseric again became the tyrant of the sea : the coasts of Italy, Greece and Asia were again exposed to his revenge and avarice : Tripoli and Sardinia returned to his obedience; he added Sicily to the number of his provinces; and, before he died, in the fullness of years and of glory, he beheld the final extinction of the empire of the West.” (Ibid. Vol 4. chap 36, pgs 38-40).

The volcanic "great mountain" "BURNING with FIRE" is the Milky Way hump -- with the sun being the lava crater out of which Aquarius' lava flows -- that rotates into the sea just after the sun sets creating the impression of lava fire and then just before sunrise the eastern sky becomes blood red. (8:8). This destroys Delphinus, Picis Australis and half of both Pisces and Capricornus (one third of Roman fishermen) as well as one third of the constellations Phoenix and Perseus which are boats; Argo a ship; and Orion and Ursa Major both canoes (Roman Navy). Notice that 429 to 477 completely encompasses the lava flow of Aquarius. Their leader, Genseric, was a Christian and under him, the Vandals also became Christians holding to the Arian faith. This faith was in conflict with the apostate Catholic Church. The Vandals could not extend southwards because of the desert so they turned towards the sea. They built a strong navy and began to ravage the coasts of the Mediterranean ("cast into the sea"). Historians declare that, being anti-Catholic, the Vandals attacked the Catholic centers, especially the western Roman Empire. Africa was the grainery of Rome so the loss of Africa meant the loss of a main source of Rome's food supply. "The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts of Spain, Liguria, Tuscany, Campania, Lucania, Bruttium, Apulia, Calabria, Venetia, Dalmatia, Epiraeus, Greece and Sicily. They were tempted to subdue the island of Sardinia so advantageously placed in the center of the Mediterranean and their arms spread desolation or terror from the Columns of Hercules to the mouth of the Nile." (Gibbon vol. 4. p 31). Genseric, like Alaric the Visigoth, believed himself to be an agent of divine wrath. "At length the work [of ravaging the coast] became almost monotonous and the choice of a victim hard. Once, when the fleet had weighed anchor and was sailing forth from the broad harbor of Carthage the helmsman turned to the king and asked for what part he should steer. "For the men with whom God is angry", answered the Vandal king and left the winds and the waters to settle the question who were the proper objects of the wrath of heaven." (Thomas Hodgkin. "Dynasty of Theodosius" pp 219-220). (also Gibbon, Vol. 4, chap. 36, pgs 1, 2, 28, 29). "The Imperial navy, of three hundred large galleys, with an adequate proportion of transports and smaller vessels, was collected in the secure and capacious harbour of Carthagena in Spain ... Guided by secret intelligence, he (Genseric) surprised the unguarded fleet in the bay of Carthagena; many of the ships were sunk, or taken, or burnt; and the preparations of three years were destroyed in a single day (460 A.D.).” (Ibid Vol 4. chap. 36, pgs 24, 25).

Finally the emperor of Eastern Rome combined with Western Rome to build a gigantic fleet in order to destroy the Vandal power. This Roman fleet was twice destroyed by FIRE of the Vandals, fulfilling the prediction that, "the third part of the creatures in the sea died and the third part of ships were destroyed". (Gibbon vol. 4.) Previously Genseric even sailed up the Tiber and sacked the city of Rome. Amongst the treasure that he took from that city were the GOLDEN CANDLESTICK and the GOLDEN TABLE and other items that Titus had captured from the temple at Jerusalem and had deposited in the Temple of Peace in Rome nearly 400 years ago. When the Vandal fleet was returning to Carthage there rose a great storm and one ship only, submerged beneath the ocean. It was the ship carrying the GOLDEN CANDLESTICK and the SACRED VESSELS which originally had come from the temple of God in Jerusalem. ( ibid. vol. 4. pp. 6-7.) (For parallels, see Dan. 5:3-4 & 2 Sam. 6:7). The Vandals being of the Arian faith and in deadly opposition to the church of Rome, finally were confronted by the powerful Roman emperor, the Catholic Justinian. Under Balisarius, he sent an effective army to Africa where the Vandals were located. "In 533 the Byzantine general, Belisarius, landed in Africa. The Vandals were several times defeated and Carthage was entered and ... the same year they were routed in the decisive battle of Tricameron. In the next year Africa, Sardinia and Corsica were restored to the Roman Empire. As a nation, the Vandals soon ceased to exist." (Nelsons Encyclopedia. Vol. X11 Art. "Vandals" pp 380-381). "...There are few instances in history of a nation disappearing so rapidly and so completely as the Vandals of Africa." (George Finlay. "A History of Greece" Vol. I. p 252.24) "It is reckoned that during the reign of Justinian [the emperor of Eastern Rome] Africa lost 5 millions of inhabitants; thus Arianism was extinguished in that region, not by any enforcement of conformity but by the extermination of the race which had introduced and professed it." (J.C. Robertson. "History of the Christian Church " Vol. I. p 521)

10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.

The third shofar was a falling star or an apostate leader (Jude 14) who caused great bitterness (8:10) on "a third part of the rivers and fountains of waters". This would be the areas where the rivers begin -- the Alpine regions. Gibbon relates that Attila was "king of the (Mongol) Huns" (3:391) (A "falling star" is a short-lived ruler -- Dan. 8:10; 12:3). He ruled over a territory bordered by the Danube, the Volga and the Baltic. He had a large head, square shoulders, swarthy complexion, deep eyes and flat nose. He came from the area around the Illyricum River which in Greek is"Apsinthos" (Wormwood). The absinthe plant -- Wormwood -- grows freely in the Alps and is bitter and is associated with gall in Scripture (cp. Deut. 29:18). Wormwood (Apsinthos) is the name of a river in the Illyrian region ruled by Attila. Therefore, the same name gives us both the local origin of the "great star" and the effect of his war on the Roman third. Attila burnt cities, massacred and enslaved inhabitants and generally caused despair, famine and bitterness. The Huns devastated the inhabitants of the Italian Alps -- the source of the rivers, causing pollution and disease for those who drank. He was known as "the scourge of God" and boasted that the grass never grew on the spot his horses trod. He invaded the Roman Empire in 450 A.D. "The rise of the great Hunnic power which threatened European civilization in the fifth century was as sudden and rapid as its fall." (J.B. Bury. "History of the Later Roman Empire!' Vol. I. p 161). Huns ate, slept, and eliminated while on horseback and used a composite bow, so are symbolized by Sagittarius --a half-human-half-horse creature.

"This invasion is the most celebrated in our people's discourses, of all those which the barbarians have made upon us; and is the most talked of among the vulgar [or common people] ... and now all the countries which were within the Apennine mountains and the Alps, were full of flight, of depopulation, of slaughter, of slavery, of burning and despair." (Sigonius (A Contemporary) cited by William Whiston. Cambridge Professor. "Essay on the Book of Revelation' pp 184-187 (1744)). "He hath filled me with BITTERNESS, he hath made me drunken with WORMWOOD ... Remembering mine AFFLICTION and my MISERY, the WORMWOOD and the GALL" (Lam. 3:15-19). Attila led the Huns from 433-453 A.D. GAttila led the Huns from 433-453 A.D. Gibbon says that ALL of Attila the Hun's major battles were fought on RIVERS. His strategy was to lure Roman armies into crossing the RIVERS after he had feigned a retreat. While the armies were crossing the RIVERS he ordered his troops to attack. They "fell on the RIVERS." Romans knew nothing of the Hungarian nation before 440 A.D. About that time a warrior appeared suddenly, like a METEOR, upon the banks of the Danube RIVER, with 800,000 fighting men. They came from central Asia, marched north of the Euxine Sea through Russia, and crossed the RIVER Danube -- the boundary of the Roman Empire. They rushed west, crossed the RIVER Rhine, and on the RIVER Marne met Rome's forces in battle. Blood of the slaughtered made the river run red (from 150 to 300 thousand bodies lay dead). Then they desolated the RIVER Rhine to its mouth. Turning southward, on the banks of the RIVER Rhone, the armies met again in fury. Then on the banks of the RIVER Po, contending for Italy. "WATERS" are "PEOPLES ... and NATIONS" (Rev. 17:15; Isa. 48:1). Victorius, Attila marched south to seize the Imperial prize. He wore brilliant colored clothes ("burning as it were a lamp"). He regarded himself as devoted to Mars, the god of war. Gibbon describes the time when Attila's horse bloodied its foot and upon retracing its steps, he found the point of a sword sticking out of the ground. Digging the sword out he declared it the Sword of MARS having been CAST DOWN from HEAVEN. He then claimed to be the Son of MARS. A shooting star (or meteorite) is very bright and intense, but it is also very short-lived before burning out and disappearing. Thus this leader’s conquests were very short (451 - 453 A.D.), but very intense.

This fits the symbol of a STAR FALLING from HEAVEN into the rivers and making them bitter by turning them to blood. In A.D. 451 Halley's Comet was seen ("great star fell" -- 8:10) before the Battle of Chalons which was Atilla the Hun's only defeat or "fall". Undeterred by defeat, Attila invaded Italy in 452 A.D. He made the Alpine lake and river country and the valleys of the Po all desolate (Lombardy). He sacked the cities of Padua, Verona, Milan and Turin. Refugees were driven to marshy islands where they founded Venice. Rome, unable to contend longer, sent a priestly delegation asking him to depart. He was persuaded to turn back by Pope Leo who used rich bribes and worked on his superstition. In 453 A.D. Attila retired to Buda on the RIVER Danube which he made the capital and founded the Hungarian nation. When he died the same year, his followers turned the waters of the Danube from its course, buried him in its bed, and then let them return to flow over the grave of the hero. Beneath the RIVER Danube still lie the bones of the star called Wormwood, that fell upon the RIVERS and had a brief, METEORIC career.

12 Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. 13 And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

The fourth shofar was Odoacer's Heruli (476-490) who conquered Rome in 476 A.D., right when the sea monster Cetus begins and Andromeda (Rome) is in chains. In 476 A.D. Augustulus was made emperor of the west after his father, Orestes, declined the position. Odoacer, the leader of the Heruli, resolved to take Italy at this time, when his ‘demand that a THIRD part of the lands of Italy should be immediately divided among them’, was rejected. (Decline and Fall, Gibbon, chap. 36, vol 4, pgs 52, 53. 1909). One third of the sun was smitten when emperor Augustulus was deposed in 476 A.D. "His reign ... was marked by the extinction of the Roman empire in the West", (Ibid. chap. 36, vol 4, pgs 54, 55, 56.) One third of the moon (Consulship) was extinguished by Justinian in 541 A.D. (Decline and Fall, Gibbon, Vol 4, chap. 40, pg 286). The stars (Senate) kept glimmering until banished from their country by Totila, who was a Goth, and basically meet their fate from lack of power in 553 A.D. (Decline and Fall, Gibbon, Vol 4, chap. 43, pgs 445, 446). Thus Gothic darkness descended on the West. However, in another sense, Belisarius dissolved the Roman Senate and Roman Consulship in 538 A.D.. According to 2 Thess. 2 the Antichrist, or Man of sin (Bishop of Rome), would not appear until after Pagan Rome was removed. The one who restrained him was pagan Rome taken out of the way in 476 A.D. (2 Thess. 2:3-7). Pagan Rome gave its power and seat and great authority to the Papacy by removing its capital from Rome to Constantinople (Rev. 13:2).

"The unfortunate Augustulus ... signified his own resignation to the senate...They solemnly (addressed a letter to Emperor Zeno) ‘disclaim the necessity, or even the wish, of continuing any longer the Imperial succession in Italy; since, in their opinion, the majesty of a sole monarch is sufficient to pervade and protect, at the same time, both the East and the West. In their own name, and the name of the people, they consent that the seat of universal empire shall be transferred from Rome to Constantinople...The republic ... might safely confide in the civil and military virtues of Odoacer; and they humbly request that the emperor would invest him with the title of Patrician and the administration of the diocese of Italy.’” (Ibid. chap. 36, vol 4, pgs 54, 55, 56).

A partial solar eclipse and a partial lunar eclipse are necessarily 15 days (symboling 15 years) apart. From 476 when Odoacer became king of Italy till 490 when Theodoric besieged Odoacer at Ravenna is 15 years (Rev. 8:12). Theodoric the Ostrogoth destroyed the Heruli and their kingdom at Rome and Ravenna and ruled Italy as an independent sovereign from 493 to 526 A.D. In 522, Theodoric's achievements began to unravel even before his death. He had married his daughter Amalasuntha to the Visigoth Eutharic in 515, but Eutharic died in 522, so no lasting dynastic connection of Ostrogoths and Visigoths was established. In 522 the Catholic Burgundian king Sisismund killed his own son, Theodoric's grandson Sergeric. This 120 degrees is 120 years from either 395 to 515, or 402 till 522 or 405 till 526.

The fall of Rome in 476 A.D. caused the education, road-building, culture and commerce to fall into chaos for over a thousand years in the West. The "DARK AGES" got their name directly from Revelation 8:12 which describes the western third of the sun, moon and stars "DARKENED." Odoacer was chieftain of the Heruli. His father Edecon had been ambassador and secretary to Attila the Hun. Odoacer was of the Arian Christian sect which denied the Deity of the Lord Jesus. He received a prophecy from a hermit who said, "Go to Italy and you shall rise to honour and cast away your coarse garment of skin for nobler vestures and your wealth will be equal to the liberality of your mind." Odoacer brought his mercenaries and quickly rose to be a general in the Western Roman Empire. Odoacer's Heruli finally conquered Rome itself terminating Imperial rule by banishing Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 A.D. By a strange coincidence the names of the two great founders of the city and the monarchy were united in their last emperor. Jerome said, "The world's glorious SUN has been extinguished." Odoacer governed Italy from 476 to 490 A.D. Theodoric the Ostrogoth destroyed the Heruli and their kingdom at Rome and Ravenna and ruled Italy as an independent sovereign from 493 to 526 A.D. The Kingdom of Lombardy was set up in 570 A.D. If the SUN is the supreme ruler, the MOON and STARS are subordinate rulers (Gen. 37:9-10). There is a parallel here between the punishment on Pagan Rome (Rev. 8:7,8,10,12) and the punishment on Papal Rome (Rev. 16.). In both the same four symbols are used: "Earth," "Sea," "Rivers" and "Sun" (ruler). See Isaiah 13:10, Amos 8:9 and Acts 2:20. After 476 A.D. the Roman Empire divided into TEN independent nations, the feet of ROMAN IRON and GOTHIC CLAY (Dan. 2:42). "We (ISRAEL) are the CLAY" (Isa. 64:8; cp. Jer. 18-19 & Rom. 9:21). Today their names are Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Israelite clay is mixed in these nations.

The Vandals, Heruli and Ostrogoths were all finally uprooted by the pope (Dan. 7:8). These three powers were Arian and did not believe in the trinity or the authority of the Papacy. Emperor Justinian destroyed the last of the Ostrogoths in 538 A.D, at that same time Justinian made the Pope of Rome sole ruler of Europe and the final word on Scripture. The distance from Sagittarius to Aries is 120 degrees or one "THIRD" of the starry sky just as the "THIRD part" (8:7-12) of the Roman Empire was invaded by Goths in 395 A.D. and Huns shooting arrows symbolized by Sagittarius since Huns ate, slept and eliminated on horseback and used a composite bow. They eventually killed the Roman eagle (Aquila) in 476 A.D. as it rotated (fell) from the sky. The other two-thirds (two birds -- Lyra is an eagle and Arabs sometimes refer to Cygnus as an eagle also) of the empire kept flying. The flying angel ("eagle" -- RSV) shouts "Woe, woe, woe" (Cygnus -- Arab Woe, Aquila -- Turkish Woe and Lyra -- French Revolution Woe or Bolshevik Woe).

Historically the first four Trumpets (stages in decline of "Christian" Roman Emperors), like the first four Seals (stages in decline of the pagan Roman Emperors), stand apart from the last three, and resemble one another.

Notice that the first six trumpets of Revelation 8 and 9 predicted the division of the Roman Empire into thirds. The Goths conquered the Western third of the Roman Empire which we've just covered. Arabs conquered the southern third and Turks the eastern third as we shall see. The Roman world was divided into THREE PARTS for about 1000 years: "From the age of Charlemagne to that of the Crusades, the world was occupied and disputed by the THREE great EMPIRES, or nations of the Greeks, Saracens, and the Franks" (Gibbon, ch.53). "The THREE great NATIONS of the world, the Greeks, the Saracens, and the Franks, encountered eachother on the plains of Italy" (ch. 56). "THREE CLASSES of men are conspicuous, the Saracens or Arabians, the Latins or Franks, inhabitants of Western Europe, and the Byzantine Greeks" (Phil. Inquiries, part III). The first four trumpets by the barbarians are covered in just six verses suggesting a SHORT time period. But the 5th and 6th trumpets occupy 21 verses indicating a much LONGER time period.

Within this 120 degrees, only one "THIRD" of Drago is visible, symbolizing Rome the red dragon (Rev. 12:3-4; 17:3; Dan. 7:23-24). Hercules may represent the Goths clubbing one "THIRD" of the three-headed dragon of Rome (from 383 to 387 the empire was divided into THIRDS). Naphthalite or White Huns (Naphtali) and Sciri (Issachar) may have been allied with the oriental Huns. This chart is so inspired that 606 to 610 is in Cancer -- signifying the ten horns. We believe that the four Spanish trumpets (bocinas) that bring down the western United States (paralleling the Roman Empire) will be Chicano groups like "La Raza," "MEChA," "Mexica Movement" and "Voz de Aztlan" making way for a "Holy Roman Empire." Remarkably, Spain was in the extreme western Roman Empire just as Spanish California is in western U.S. Los Angeles is built on seven hills and therefore may be the "New Rome" of the Catholic Pope. "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done" (Eccl. 1:9). God says, "I change not" (Mal. 3:6). He is "the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb. 13:8).