"On May 22, 1453, the moon, symbol of Constantinople, rose in dark eclipse, fulfilling a prophecy on the city's demise. Four days later (May 26), the whole city was blotted out by a thick fog, a condition unknown in that part of the world in May. When the fog lifted that evening, a strange light was seen playing about the dome of the Hagia Sophia, and from the city walls lights were seen in the countryside to the West, far behind the Turkish camp. The light around the dome was interpreted by some as the Holy Spirit departing from the Cathedral" (and going West). (Wikipedia, "Fall of Constantinople"). Therefore, it was probably on that very foggy night, May 26, 1453, that young Greek Orthodox scholars (Orion) fled Constantinople (came "down from heaven" -- 10:1) secretly ("clothed with a cloud" of the Milky Way fog hiding their escape from Constantinople -- 10:1). This was certainly a real-life Greek Olympic game for these gold-medal champions (The sun symbolized a gold medal -- 1 Cor. 3:12; the light blue sky a blue ribbon -- Nu. 15:38) running for their lives, as they must have been, behind enemy lines (1 Cor. 9:24; Gal. 2:2; 5:7; Philip. 2:16; 3:14; Heb. 12:1) carrying precious Greek manuscripts. After escaping, they probably lit these signal fires to let the citizens of Constantinople know they escaped successfully. The Turks were darkening the sun (Christ, "the sun of righteousness" -- Mal. 4:2) but the light of the Reformation was shining on Orion's face as the sun entered that constellation looking like a halo over his head (The star chart predicted May 26 precisely to the very day). The pillars of fire (feet) and the cloud were leading Israelites (sun, moon and wandering stars [Gen. 37:9-10] all moving toward Taurus or Britain -- Deut. 33:17) westward from Constantinople (which fell to Moslem Turks on May 29th) toward the promised land (Britain) and the "rainbow ... upon his head" (Rev. 10:1) (Milky Way) promised that the flood of Turks would not destroy all Christian flesh (Rev. 9:15). Orion is holding the hyde of a lion "open" and the skin appears to be roaring like a lion when people read it ("the Lion of the tribe of Judah" is speaking -- Rev. 5:5) (10:3). In his other hand is held a Greek "open scroll" (10:2) high to preserve it from the flood. Notice that the sun's orb directly on the scroll makes it a torch. When the Bible is openly read, it becomes a torch. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" (Ps. 119:105; Greek Orthodox Olympic torch). This began both the Renaissance and Protestant Reformation. A closed book is one that is not understood (Isa. 29:11-12; Dan. 12:4). Papal Rome had achieved this by keeping the Bible in Latin which few could read and hidden away in monasteries where few visited. Further, the Papacy forbade the laity from reading the Scriptures in the common language or from even reading Scripture at all without permission. But Catholic armies were too busy fighting the Turks to persecute Protestants; and Greek scholars fled west with their manuscripts and knowledge which they taught. Orion's eastern foot was flooded by the expanding Euphrates (Turks). They escaped to the foot on dry land in the western Roman Empire (see Daniel 2:33,41), thus preserving the Greek manuscripts and opening them up to people's understanding (10:2) just when Gutenberg invented movable type and printed the first Bible on vellum (animal hyde) in 1455. The result was a revival in the study of the classical languages, Greek being taught in Europe for the first time in 1458 A.D. By 1483, in only 30 degrees of time (30 years -- the width of Orion), Caxton published the earliest verses of the Bible to be printed in English (Taurus or Ephraim -- Deut. 33:17). Orion "swore" to "delay no longer" in revealing the scriptures to mankind (10:6-7). The stars in Orion's belt may be Caxton, Erasmus, Zwingli and Gutenberg as well as unnamed runners who escaped Constantinople. Recall that Elijah was such a fast marathon runner that he beat Ahab's chariot from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel -- 23 miles away. Each of these "Elijahs" may be likened to a "chariot of fire" (2 Kings 2:11-12) since the sun forms the wheel of Auriga's chariot at the same time it is a Greek Orthodox Olympic torch. "For behold, the Eternal will come with fire, and with his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire" (Isa. 66:15) -- Auriga with the star Capella -- the charioteer with his chariot superimposed. Anciently, Leo, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor were all given the chariot symbol as well. Then Orion passed off the torch to John who became Castor (4:1; 11:1) who took the "law of the Lord (which) is ... sweeter also than honey" (Ps. 19:7-10) and digested (understood) the Bible and this brought "bitter" persecution when the Bible was obeyed (10:10). Just as the sun in Orion is positioned right before the summer solstice in some of the longest, brightest, and hottest days, so also the events of these 30 years were a time of great illumination and zealous progress for Christianity which added wings to their heels (Perseus). Preserving and distributing the Greek manuscripts (Orion) came just before both the Renaissance and Protestant Reformation (Gemini).

The BIBLE is Translated and Reproduced
Using the Printing Press

We read, "And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth" (Rev. 10:1-2).

Astronomically, the rainbow is the Milky Way upon Orion's head when the sun is in Orion. He holds a SCROLL above his head. Orion's right foot is on the Eridanus ("the sea") and his left on the earth. Historically, in Revelation 10:1-2 we read about an angel -- "the Angel of the Covenant" (Mal. 3:1; Matt. 17:2). His face is like the sun because he is "The Sun of Righteousness" (Mal. 4:2). He is clothed with a cloud because Christ "cometh with clouds" (Rev. 1:7) and "maketh the clouds his chariot" (Ps. 104:3). A rainbow is upon his head because Christ has "a rainbow round about" his throne (Rev. 4:3) and he has feet like "pillars of fire" because Christ's feet are "as if they burned in a furnace" (Rev. 1:15). The Angel's VOICE is like the roar of a lion because He is the "Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5:5). The Reformers here discovered the WORD as the "one Mediator between God and men." He had "a little open BOOK." A closed book is one that is not understood (Isa. 29:11-12; Dan. 12:4). Papal Rome had achieved this by keeping the BIBLE in Latin which few could read and hidden away in monasteries. Not content with this, the Papacy forbade the SCRIPTURES: In 1229 the Council of Toulouse stated, "We prohibit also the permitting of the laity to have the books of the OLD and NEW TESTAMENTS ... in the vulgar tongue." Even in England, by the 7th Constitution of Arundel (Oxford, 1408), "no unauthorized person shall translate any part of the Holy SCRIPTURE into English, or any other language." All reading of the WORD of GOD was also forbidden by this Constitution. The Council of Trent in 1559 prohibited reading the BIBLE without written permission because reading it "will cause more evil than good" (to the Papacy). The more the BIBLE is read, the less the Pope is obeyed. In other words, "the Lord shall consume (Him) with the Spirit of His mouth" (2 Th. 2:8) -- the BIBLE. None but Jesus could open this BOOK (Rev. 5:3) so He must be this Angel. He caused it to be printed and translated in English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish and Italian and be in every public library. Perhaps He set his right foot on Britain and His left in the English Channel to symbolize the act of taking possession of this Protestant Island -- "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof" (1 Cor. 10:26) -- especially Israel. On the Continent, the appeal of the Reformation was to the people ("waters" -- Rev. 17:15) and to the rulers ("mountain" -- Micah 4:1; Jer. 51:25) of Germany for different reasons. The Reformation's success was due to this real, if unacknowledged alliance between the two. Also, the message went across land borders by horse cart and overseas by boat.

In 1453 the Greek scholars fled Constantinople because that eastern foot was flooded by the expanding Euphrates River otherwise known as the Moslem Turks. They escaped to the foot on dry land which was the western Roman Empire in order to preserve the Greek manuscripts as an open book. The Turks had darkened the sun (Christ), but the light of the Reformation was shining. The pillars of fire and the cloud were leading Israel west toward the Promised Land and the rainbow promised that the flood of Turks would not destroy all Christianity. The Greet manuscripts were held high to preserve them from the Turkish flood. The three stars in Orion's belt may be Huss, Luther and Wycliffe. Gutenberg may be another. Erasmus and Zwingli are probably stars within this Orion constellation also. A quarter of the 180-copy edition of Johannes Gutenberg's first Bible printed in 1455 with movable type was printed on vellum (animal hyde). This may be the reason Orion is holding the hyde of a lion and the skin appears to be roaring.

Like a RAINBOW after a thunderstorm, light and knowledge came after oppressive ignorance. Both the Renaissance and the Reformation began after the Dark Ages at the start of the sixteenth century. Also, just as a RAINBOW was first seen after the worldwide flood in Noah's day as a sign that human life would not again be destroyed in a flood (Gen. 9:13), so this RAINBOW is seen as a sign regarding the Turkish flood -- that all European life would not be destroyed by Moslem armies. When Constantinople fell to the Turks (1453), the Reformation followed. Why? First because the armies of "Christendom" (Catholics) were fully employed in warding off the Turkish menace, which had now expanded to its greatest limits, giving time for reform (Protestants) to spread and consolidate before persecution could crush the movement. Emperor Charles V, out of fear of the Turk, could not use his full army against Protestants. Also Constantinople had been the center of Greek Christianity, but with the advent of the Turks, scholars fled to the universities of Western Europe, taking with them their knowledge of Greek and also precious Greek manuscripts of the Bible. The result was a revival in the study of the classical languages, Greek being taught in Europe for the first time in 1458 A.D. Such a Renaissance or "New Learning" meant that the Bible which was written in Greek and Latin was studied afresh. In 1516 Erasmus published his famous Greek New Testament, thousands of copies of which were eagerly read by the numerous scholars who had already learned Greek. Translations of the Bible into the languages of the nations automatically followed so that, instead of being closed to the masses, it became an "OPEN BOOK" for all to read. An English Bible was chained by law to every church.

Why was the angel "clothed with a CLOUD" with "feet like PILLARS of FIRE"? Because"the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a CLOUD, to LEAD THEM the WAY; and by night in a PILLAR of FIRE, to GIVE THEM LIGHT" (Ex.13:21). The newly-printed and newly-translated SCRIPTURES LED these Protestants and GAVE THEM LIGHT.

Also the invention of printing was made at the same time. The invention of movable type and how to make paper from rags and pulp all came when the Bible was rediscovered. Instead of a large book being hand-copied on vellum, a tedious and expensive process, the Bible now became a small book -- one of the first books to be printed. From the sixteenth century onward, millions of Bibles were printed. This is the "LOUD VOICE" of the "Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. 10:3; 5:5). Notice the list of important dates as follows:

1453 -- Flight of Greek scholars to Western Europe
1454 -- Invention of printing in Germany
1458 -- Greek first taught in European Universities
1476 -- Caxton introduced printing into England.
1516 -- Erasmus printed his Greek New Testament
1518 -- Zwingli printed the first Swiss New Testament
1522 -- Luther's New Testament in German
1526 -- Tynedale's English New Testament. A Swedish Bible.
1535 -- Coverdale's Complete English Bible.
1537 -- A Danish Bible. Matthew's English Bible.
1539 -- The "Great Bible" printed under Coverdale's supervision
and placed by Royal Command in every church for parishoners' use.
1611 -- The King James Authorized Version.

"And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not" (Rev. 10:3-4).

Astronomically, Orion's scroll is so powerful it is like a roaring lion which Orion is holding in his other hand. Historically, Revelation 10:3 has the "Angel" crying "with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth" which pictures the Lion of the tribe of Judah shouting through the pages of scripture to the Church of Rome through the writing and preaching of Reformation leaders such as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and Knox. Historians often refer to Papal Edicts and Bulls as the "thunders" from the seven-hilled city of Rome. Therefore we read that "seven thunders uttered their voices" (Rev. 10:3) in reply. Gibbon even uses the word and says "The spiritual thunders of the Vatican depend on the force of opinion" (ch. 70). Luther said, "Terrible as the lightning and the thunder, fulminatory Bulls and anathemas impended over the heads of those who incurred pontifical displeasure" (Antichrist Revealed, p.47). John was told to "write them not" (10:4) because he was only to "write ... true and faithful" words (Rev. 21:5). Similarly, Luther replied to the Pope's final Bull thundered in June 1520, by gathering an audience outside the walls of Wittenberg where he deliberately burned the Papal Bull and Edicts. In this manner the "seven thunders" were "sealed up" (Rev. 10:4). They were nothing more than the formation of the Society of Jesus by Ignatius Loyola in 1534; the excommunication of Henry VIII and his deposition by Papal Bull in 1536 and the Council of Trent in 1546-1564.

"And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets" (Rev. 10:5-7).

Astronomically, Orion's hand is lifted up to heaven as it holds an open scroll. Historically, "There should be TIME no longer" (Rev. 10:6 ) refers to the fact that a "TIME" is 360 years and that the last one is the "TIME of the End" (Dan.9:35) from 1557 to 1917. The accession of Queen Elizabeth and the permanent establishment of the Protestant Church in England began in 1558. This was the seventh or last TIME of the Gentiles as the Angel said. On December 9th 1917, (during the Festival of Hanukkah) British General Allenby liberated Jerusalem from the Turks. Or alternately, January 15th 1559, Queen Elizabeth was crowned. If we add 365 years to 1559 we arrive at 1924 when the Turkish Caliphate was abolished.

"And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter" (Rev. 10:8-10).

Then John ate the little book. "The law of the Lord is ... SWEETER also than honey" (Ps. 19:7-10). Historians record that in the Reformation the Bible became the most treasured thing in all the world, diligently read by millions, carried about in the bosom, studied and committed to memory, so SWEET was its heavenly manna to men and women hungry for spiritual guidance. However, along with more knowledge comes more responsibility. After studying and digesting the message of the Bible, Protestants now had to obey it (Jer. 15:16; Ps. 119:103). Roman Catholic doctrine had to be condemned and abandoned. Obedience to the Bible brought "BITTER" persecution from Rome.

During the 30 years after Luther's protest, all Europe experienced the Inquisition which condemned multitudes of true Christians to torture and death because they studied the Scriptures. In England, when Tyndale was executed October 6th, 1536, his last words were, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." Within less than a year, a royal decree ordered a copy of the whole Bible placed in every parish church. By 1540 this order became a reality. Henry VIII and Edward VI both placed Bibles in all churches with the injunction that it be read and taught. Then came Roman Catholic Mary's reign when nearly 300 Protestants, including Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer, were burned alive. During those same years, from 1st October, 1553 to 17th November 1558, on the Continent tens of thousands of Protestants were imprisoned, tortured, buried or burned alive, crucified on trees and badly treated -- merely because they possessed Bibles and had tasted its SWEETNESS.

As Queen Elizabeth passed under a triumphal arch erected in Cheapside a Bible was let down into her hands by a white-robed child called "Truth." The queen received it, kissed it and pressed it to her heart, replying that this present was more acceptable to her than any of the more costly ones the city had given her that day of her accession (Walter's History of England).

"Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings" (Rev. 10:11).

John wrote the Revelation once in his own life while imprisoned on Patmos. The Reformers preached from it "AGAIN" because Revelation was a very popular book.

If you'd like to know more, we publish a book called European History Foretold, a total of 197-pages ($15.00). Use this link to pay with a credit card:

- US orders ($1.50 shipping)

- Canada/Mexico orders ($1.80 shipping)

- International orders ($3.75 shipping)

Next Lesson: Constantine Defeats Paganism & Christian Israel Flees to Britain | Back to Home | Email Us