After another couple months of daily reporting of the grim statistics of the daily disasters, and the impact of the previous two judgments, Jill starts another day wondering when the next Trumpet judgment will come. It will be Trumpet #4 which will cause light from the sun, moon and stars to be diminished by one-third. She did not need to wait long. Today was the day.
As Jill was reporting the daily news, Producer Jack Ford told her there was an eerie and sudden darkness outside. Jill could not see it since her studio has no windows, but she stopped in mid-sentence and asked Weatherman Ross Hoffman to come on air and explain what was happening. The camera showed a stunned Ross as he simply said "I don't know what caused it -- give me a couple minutes."
Jill returned to her duties until after a few minutes Weatherman Ross Hoffman appeared again, looking bewildered. Jill turned to him and simply said "Ross?" Ross replied "Let's just look at the video from when this happened." The video from 15 minutes earlier showed the sun shining normally over the LA basin, having risen to about a 45 degree angel by this time of the morning. Then the video showed the sun dimmed by about 33% -- it just stopped shining at full intensity. No clouds, no partial eclipse, no other interference discernible, it just dimmed significantly. It was immediately darker as during a heavily overcast day with dark clouds. As Ross was reporting the event, Jill chimed in "we just received reports from Asia that the moon and stars also dimmed, and by approximately 33%. The darkness was discernible and caused people anxiety about the future of the universe. If the natural lights of the universe dimmed today, what might happen tomorrow? This was a huge confidence deflater, as if people had much confidence remaining in anything at this point. But if the universe was waning, and possibly the sun would be lost, there was no hope at all. Visibly shaken, weatherman Ross Hoffman stumbled for an explanation but had to admit he had no idea what was happening. But he did say this had never happened in all of human history. Never, ever."
Jill: "Ross, what will this do to the weather?"
Ross: "The coldest climates will become uninhabitable as those areas will soon be far, far colder. For instance, northern Canada, Russia, and most of Greenland will never get above freezing, even in the summer. Winters will be brutal. Food production will decrease dramatically all over the world due to less sunlight, especially farther from the equator. I doubt anyone could grow wheat or corn anywhere north of Texas starting next year."
Jill: "But that eliminates almost all the wheat and corn producing regions in the US."
Ross: "Exactly. It will be devastating, especially on top of the recent destruction of crops this past year."
Jill was already prepared with her Bible study notes. As Ross finished, Jill began to read:
"This was predicted over 2000 years ago. I will read from Revelation Chapter 8:"
Revelation 8:12 “The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, 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 turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.”
Then as become her custom, she reads from her book:
"The fourth Trumpet Judgment is a supernatural judgment against light on the earth, and the image of it leaves John struggling to explain what it looks like. A third of the sun becomes dark so that it shines less time on the earth. This is something which must be seen to understand, but it will be literal. A third of the moon (beyond just moon phases) becomes dark, and a third of the stars stop shining. People on the earth at this point are just trying to survive, and now will have shortened opportunity to do so due to the increased darkness. This Trumpet Judgment targets both light and warmth for the earth. Sunlight is significantly diminished by reducing the daylight hours by one-third, resulting in freezing many to death and eliminating many types of the few remaining crops which survived the first Trumpet Judgment. With the other judgments having taken away so many basic necessities there will be an increased reliance on natural light. But the reduction in moonlight by one-third and fewer stars makes nighttime activity more difficult, so the time available to accomplish basic survival actions is further restricted. This means there will be even more hardship when trying to deal with all the accumulating disasters. Again, divinely caused, literal and real -- not allegory, not symbolic, but real. This is not some gradual climate change or man-caused issue; it is divinely caused, sudden, and catastrophic in its effects."
As Jill ends her reading, she looks into the camera and says "Friends, what will it take to convince you that the Bible predicted all that has happened in the past several years? And if it has been correct about these things, then isn't the Bible the real source of Truth for the world?" This time producer Jack Ford smiles as Jill boldly tells her audience what she believes. Both of them have now lost their fear of the Citizen's Police, which is in disarray at this point, and most members had died in gruesome ways.
Jill ends her daily news show and departs for her apartment. She begins to read about Noah and how he built the Ark to save the human race and also animal life. She notes the parallels to the current period. The world was hardened against the Truth in Noah's day, and the current population of the world mirrors that hardness of soul. She thinks how Noah evangelized the world for 120 years while building the Ark, and his only converts were his own family members. Seven people, in addition to himself, were believers. The rest of the world rejected the Truth, and died in the Great Flood. She wonders if her witness to the current world was having any more impact than Noah. But then she thinks of Jack Ford, and is encouraged by his recent change of view. Then there is a knock at her door.
Jill instinctively thinks the worst. It must be the Citizen's Police. Who else could it be? The knock repeats. Jill asks through the door: "Who is it?" The answer surprises her. "It's Adam, your brother." Jill had not seen or heard from Adam in three years. The last words between them were not very nice.
Adam: "Jill, I am here to say I am sorry...if you will let me."
Jill opens the door and motions him in. She senses a change in him. He is not like when she last saw him. Jill asks "You OK?"
Adam: "Yes. Much better than when I last saw you. And I am sorry for all of that....it was my fault and I just wanted to let you know that, and...well...I have been watching your news show every day lately. You have changed my mind about what I believe, which was not very much about anything before. But now I see that we missed our Messiah. I am now a believer."
"That's wonderful!" Jill said, so happy to hear her own brother had changed his mind, and also because of her message to her viewers. She thinks that is at least two people she has helped see the Truth, her news Producer Jack Ford and now her brother. The two talked for a while and then Adam said he would come see her again tomorrow at the studio. Maybe he could help out or be useful somehow.
As Adam left, Jill had a sense that she was not the failure she had thought she had been, and that her news show served a purpose. A real purpose.