Crisis Evangelism: 7 Bowl Judgments: MOABs 5-6, Rev 16:10-12: #5, Judgment by Pain: Global Blackout; #6, Judgment by Death: 4 Armies Advance on Israel
Revelation 16:10 -	(The Fifth MOAB) Then the fifth pursuivant angel launched his MOAB on the throne of the Beast Dictator.  His entire empire was plunged into darkness and they kept biting their tongues because of the pain,
v. 11 -	and they blasphemed God because of their pain and their ulcers; furthermore, they absolutely did not change their minds because of their works.
		17.	The sudden elevation of global temperatures to the level of physical pain compounds the misery of skin cancer, lack of water, and extreme sunburn.  This drives the people inside and puts an excessive demand on air conditioning systems.  The Fifth MOAB is a global power failure that plunges the world into darkness and intensifies even further the misery and pain experienced by all the unbelievers.
		18.	They encounter yet another crisis that is designed to evangelize them, but they not only reject the offer, they again blaspheme God.
		19.	In physical darkness they reveal not only the total darkness of their souls but also its future destination to outer darkness in Torments.
		20.	Those who signed on with the Roman Dictator are convinced he will deliver them because of their loyalty to him.  This is the curse of religion: it blinds the individual into buying the lie while preventing him from seeing the true Light of the World, the Lord Jesus Christ.
		21.	The fifth MOAB is designed to intensify the pain inflicted by the other four.  The contagion spreads in an environment of intense heat.  The need to orient and adjust to the judgments imposed upon the world’s population has reached critical point.   
		22.	As the judgments intensify so does the pain.  The reason for judgment by pain is to bring unbelievers to a point of objectivity toward the gospel.
		23.	Arrogant people are self-absorbed and when there is no pressure they remain arrogant.  However, arrogance under pressure turns to cowardice.  Pain tempers arrogance as self-absorption seeks a solution.
		24.	The unbelievers of the Tribulation are all forced to critical point: either take the divine solution of faith alone in Christ alone, or take the satanic solution and blaspheme God.
		25.	Rather than respond to the pain with an appeal for divine mercy they react to it with arrogant curses against their only hope of relief.
		26.	Because of universal negative volition by the unbelieving population of the world, the Lord now shifts tactics away from judgment by pain over to judgment by death. The reason this is necessary is discussed by Peter in:
2 Peter 2:20 -	If they [ unbelievers ] after having escaped the defilements of the cosmos, and they have, by means of the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [ gospel hearing ], they are again involved by this false teaching and defeated, the latter end [ defilement from false doctrine ] has become worse than the first [ escape from defilement due to the laws of divine establishment ].
v. 21 -	For it would have been better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness [ salvation through faith in Christ ] than, having fully known it, to turn from the holy commandment [ the gospel ] delivered to them for their advantage.
v. 22 -	It has happened to them according to the true proverb [ Proverbs 26:11 ], “The dog [ male reversionistic unbeliever ] is turned to his own vomit [ false doctrine previously rejected ],” and “A sow [ female reversionistic unbeliever ] that washes returns to her wallowing in the mire.”
		27.	Unbelievers in the Tribulation are dealt with through crisis evangelism.  Once they hear the gospel message and reject it, their latter condition will be far worse than the former.
		28.	Having now established lock-in negative volition, the Lord switches off judgment by pain and initiates judgment by death:
Revelation 16:12 -	(The Sixth MOAB)  And the sixth pursuivant launched his MOAB on the great river Euphrates, and the water there of was dried up in order that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
		29.	This is the first strategic move made by the Lord in executing judgment by death.  The forces that are about to engage in the last military campaign of history include four spheres of influence which are described in summary in:
Thieme, R. B., Jr.  Armageddon.  2d ed.  (Houston: R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, 2002), 11:
Four great spheres of influence are engaged in a power grab for the wealth and control of the tribulational world with Palestine as the central focus.  They are designated in Scripture as the “king of the West,” the “king of the North,” the “king of the South, and the “kings from the East.”  Their identities are derived from their directional relation to Palestine.  Each entity is a group of gentile nationalities united as Satan-inspired combatants for the purpose of destroying Israel.
Among the kings gathered for the campaign of the great day of God, the Almighty is the one whom Daniel called the “king of the North” (Dan. 11:40), the dictator of Russia, but positive identification must await the unfolding of future events.
The “king of the South” or pan-Arabic bloc, “will mobilize an extremely large and might army for war” (Dan. 11:25, 40-43), but is eliminated early in the conflict by the whirlwind attack of the king of the North.
“The kings from the East” lead vast Asian hordes across the dry riverbed of the Euphrates and invade Palestine in the second half of the Tribulation.
The “king of the West” always refers to the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire, the future confederation of western Europe.  During the entire Church Age there have been and will continue to be power struggles among the nations of western Europe.  Near the end of the Church Age the old Roman Empire will be drawn together again and a ten-nation power bloc will emerge.  The ten nation power bloc will consolidate into the Revived Roman Empire which will exist during all seven years of the Tribulation.
30.	The “king of the West” is the Antichrist.  He is Satan-possessed and at the mid-point of the Tribulation breaks the contract he established with the False Prophet which sets off a series of events that culminate in the Armageddon Campaign.
31.	Eventually the armies of the “king of the North,” geographically speaking, present-day Russia, and those of the “king of the South,” Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries, are drawn into combat.  The “king of the North” wants to establish a strategic presence on the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean in addition to securing the land route to these areas.  This is what makes Palestine an objective but it is not the initial objective.  This is the case, however, for the “king of the South.”  The Arabs yet again assemble a coalition army to attack Israel.  The Antichrist cannot allow any of the other kings to gain control of Israel since first, he wants to control the world and secondly, through Satan possession, he wants to annihilate the Jews.  All three armies converge toward a showdown in Israel and they congregate at various places throughout the country.  The king of the West establishes his bivouac at a famous geologic formation called the Valley of Esdraelon \es‑drā‑ē' lon\, also called the Jezreel \jez' re-el\.  It is a large plain about twenty miles long and fourteen miles wide.  The geologic importance of this piece of real estate is described by:
Rasmussen, Carl G.  NIV Atlas of the Bible.  (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1989), 36:
Jezreel Valley.  Although the Jezreel Valley is important from an agricultural standpoint, it is of even greater strategic significance.  The great north-south International Highway had to pass through the Jezreel Valley, while the easiest east-west route through the whole of Israel crossed it.
The east-west connecting route was of extreme importance for one could head northeastward to the southern end of the Sea of Galilee and from there ascend into Bashan and proceed on to Damascus, or one could head east, ford the Jordan River, ascend the hills of Gilead, and eventually join the Transjordan Highway at Ramoth Gilead.
It is evident that whoever controlled this valley also controlled the major highways passing through the country.  From the days of Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III until the present, the Jezreel Valley has served as the stage on which the armies of the world have made their entrances and exits.  Thus it is altogether fitting that this strategic location should be chosen as the setting of the great eschatological battle, the battle of Armageddon.