Third Vial - Rivers turned to Blood

Vial - God's Judgement on the Papacy (Second Beast)

Revelation 16:4 - And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

Revelation 16:5 - And I heard the angel of the waters saying: You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things.

Hosea 13:15 - Though he is fruitful among his brethren, An east wind shall come; The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness. Then his (Ephraim) spring shall become dry, And his (Ephraim) fountain shall be dried up. He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.

It was in 1797 that Napoleon Bonaparte uttered the remarkable threat, "I will prove an Attila (Third Trumpet) to Venice". Slaughters in papal lands watered by the Alpine fountains and streams, and by the boundary rivers, the Rhine and Danube, followed. It seems natural to apply the Third vial to this dreadful retributive judgement.

During the year 1792, war was declared by France against Germany, and the next year against Sardinia; consequently all those towns watered by the Rhine and Alpine streams became scenes of carnage. Metz, Worms, Spires; the towns formerly desolated by Attila the Hun, suffered.

Another French army entered upon the countries situated on the Meuse, a branch of the Rhine; a third advanced into Piedmont, the Alpine frontier. In 1793 and 1794, war still raged in the same quarters. The French advanced to Holland. In many places the success fluctuated, but in most instances they were victorious.

In 1797 Napoleon Bonaparte attacked the Sardinians and Austrians. The course he tracked was from the Alpine rivers through Northern Italy, till he reached Venice. Every river was a scene of carnage, and he crossed seven in succession. The Alpine rivers were turned to blood.

Again in 1799 the "fountains of waters" were dyed with blood, the French having suffered reverse and been driven out of all the places they occupied in North Italy with much bloodshed. The war soon recommenced. In 1800, that terrible and decisive Battle of Marengo was fought, and the Danube river became the scene of Judgement. One victory after another succeeded, till the memorable Battle of Austerlitz completed the overthrow of the Austrian power.

The reason (given by the angel) for the Judgement is remarkable — They are worthy, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink.

Was it not so that the cruelties of the French rulers, against the Waldensians and Albigenses, the Huguenots and Calvinists, from the end of the 13th - 18th century, and of Austria against the Hussites, the Waldenses and Lutherans in Lombardy, Moravia, and the Netherlands already related did call out for retributive justice?

Revelation 6:10 - How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?.

Revelation 16:6 - For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

Revelation 16:7 - And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your Judgements.

Isaiah 49:26 - I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, And they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. All flesh shall know That I, the Lord, am your Savior, And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

To understand why the French people deserved the wrath of God, here is a summary of some of the persecutions of the saints in France:

1487 A.D – When Pope Innocent VIII commanded a crusade against the Waldensian Christians in southern France, Roman Catholic soldiers responded by murdering many thousands of these Bible-believing Christians – men, women, and children.

1540-1570 A.D – Papal Rome sent army after army of Roman Catholic soldiers into southern France and surrounding areas in an attempt to exterminate the Waldensian Bible-believing Christians.

These Roman Catholic armies butchered up to 900,000 Waldensian Christians – men, women, and children – during that 30-year period.

1572 A.D – Roman Catholic soldiers butchered upwards of 100,000 French Protestants (Huguenots) during the St. Bartholomew Massacre that started in Paris. Butchery of Protestants then spread to the countryside.

1685 A.D – Roman Catholic French King Louis XIV (Louis the Great), at the urging of his priest-confessor, Jesuit priest François de la Chaise, revokes the Edict of Nantes that had granted religious liberty to all Frenchmen.

King Louis XIV then orders his murderous dragoons to persecute the French Protestant Huguenots which resulted in 500,000 innocent Protestants (men, women, and children) being butchered!

You can read the gruesome details as recorded in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

It is clear that the French people had obeyed the orders of the Popes, to shed the blood of the saints in France; and now it is time for their blood to be shed, as Jesus exacts vengeance for His saints.

Revelation 6:10 - How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?.