Pentecost Pandemonium

Monday, June 1st, 2020

In a nod to the calendar, I ought to mention that yesterday was Pentecost Sunday. Yesterday was Holy Spirit distribution and installation day. Yesterday was the birthday of the Church Universal. She is almost 2,000 years old, or young. Happy Birthday, Bride of Christ!  

It was a rough birthday for the Church, though. At least, it was rough here. This past weekend fit the definition of pandemonium. Protests, unrest, rioting, vandalism, and looting occurred in many cities across the United States. Here in this country, we had plenty of pandemonium on Pentecost. The pandemonium was everywhere on social media and everywhere in the news. It was nearby; and it was unsettling. Even now, we are hoping and praying it all calms down.  

Until someone else mentioned that it was Pentecost, I had forgotten. Yesterday we spent part of the day visiting my parents. One of them mentioned that it was Pentecost. “Oh, yeah,” I thought as I was startled to recollection. I had completely forgotten. The pandemonium of the previous days had me preoccupied. Until that moment, immediate circumstances and events had loomed a lot larger than a long-past historical event, however significant. The immediate overwhelmed the permanent. Yet the spiritual effects of Pentecost are permanent and eternal, while this present pandemonium is only sporadic and passing. The Holy Spirit is here to stay, as long as the Church remains on Earth below. 

Did you know that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is referenced symbolically in the Book of Revelation? I did not know that until last year. But I hope to show it to you and convince you that it is there. The birthday of the Church Universal is mentioned in Revelation. More accurately, it is symbolically depicted in Revelation. But the depiction is easy to miss, because it is veiled in oblique references to the Old Testament and in surprising symbolism. 

Are you ready? The Pentecostal birthday of the Church Universal is depicted in Revelation chapter 8, verse 7. If you go read it, you’ll come away wondering if I am a bit crazy. You may suspect that I’m seeing things that are not there. A trumpet is blown. Hail and fire follow, mixed with blood. The hail, the fire, and the blood are thrown upon the earth. A third of the earth is burned up. A third of the trees are burned up. All the green grass is burned up.  

Yep, that is Pentecost. That is how Revelation depicts the Pentecostal birthday of the Church way back in the first century AD. Admittedly, this claim requires a lot of interpreting and explaining. I cannot do it all here, because it will take too long. But I will, eventually. Let me say a few initial things here. First, the seven trumpets symbolically depict seven chronological events, most of which have already occurred. The first four occurred in the first century. Those first century events can be precisely named and dated. The first event is the Pentecostal birth of the Church Universal, which you can read about non-symbolically in Acts chapter 2.

None of this makes any sense unless you pick up on the fact that the seven trumpets are decoded by referencing the Old Testament. What is symbolized by the hail, the fire, and the blood? These are actually allusions, or subtle references, to Old Testament events and prophecies. Once you know that, you can begin to piece together what the events and prophecies point to. You can begin connecting the dots. In the case of the first trumpet, the dots connect in a portrait of Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church. 

You don’t need to believe me yet. Just give me a chance to make my case, which I will attempt to do in upcoming posts.