And [there were] stings.—Revivals in which the attendants were stung, doctrinally and financially.
AND in their tails [and] WAS their power [was] to hurt men five months.—One hundred and fifty years, from Wesley's ordination in 1728 to the casting off of Methodism in 1878.—Rev. 9:5.
9:11. [And] they [had a] HAVE THEIR king [over them].—The same king as exercises general rulership over all the ecclesiastical affairs of this present evil world.
[Which is] the angel of the [bottomless pit] ABYSS.—“The prince of the power of the air.”—Eph. 2:2.
Whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon.—And he is “a bad one,” sure enough.—2 Cor. 4:4.
But in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.—That is, Destroyer. But in plain English his name is Satan, the Devil. As a means for preventing people from seeing the Truth, Methodism has been as efficient as any of the five systems previously described, or any that follow. All have been sadly misled and deceived by our great and wily Adversary; “Taken captive by him at his will.”—2 Tim. 2:26.
9:12. One woe is past.—Methodism was the first woe of the epoch leading up to and associated with the Time of the End. It was a serious blow to the pretensions of the Papacy, but its days of usefulness have long since passed.
And, behold, there come two woes more [hereafter].—One outlined in the remainder of this chapter and one in Chapter 10. It was the discovery of Methodism as the first woe that led to an identification of the four movements of the Reformation proper which preceded it.—Rev. 8:7-13.
9:13. [And] AFTER THESE THINGS the sixth angel sounded.—The Evangelical-Alliance-Spiritism movement began in 1846-1848 culminating in the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. The following great denominations which comprise 90% of the Protestant Church membership are represented in this council: Baptist (North), Free Baptist, Christian, Congregational, Disciples of Christ, Evangelical Association, Evangelical Synod, Friends, Lutheran General Synod, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal (South), German Evangelical Synod, Colored Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Protestant, African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Mennonite, Moravian, Presbyterian, Presbyterian (South), Welsh Presbyterian, Reformed Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Protestant Episcopal, Reformed Church in America, Reformed Church in the U. S. A., Reformed Episcopal, Seventh-Day Baptist, United Brethren in Christ, United Evangelical, National Baptist Convention.
