<p>8:10 <em>And the third angel blew his trumpet, and there fell from heaven a great star-</em> The Olivet prophecy speaks of the stars falling from Heaven (Mt. 24:29), and the context begs us interpret this as referring to the collapse of the Israelite ruling system. The imagery can equally refer to the ruling system of any entity. It seems a specific star or leader is in view, and his fall will result in damage on the earth / land. A great star falling from Heaven to earth recalls Isaiah 14, the parable of the fall of the king of Babylon. And this surely looks forward to the last days. Stars represent rulers or leaders, and Rev. 17:10 speaks of how the five kings supporting the beast system &lsquo;fall&rsquo; s.w.; here in the trumpets we have detail of the fall of at least two of them.</p><p><em>Burning as a torch</em>- This is the language of the earlier vision of the Heavenly throne room, where the seven lamps of fire burn before the throne (Rev. 4:5). The implication is that this is a result of Angelic involvement in the judgment. But there is also a continuation of the theme that the beast kingdom is a fake kingdom of God. It has just been described as a &ldquo;great mountain&rdquo;, which is the language of <em>God&rsquo;s</em> Kingdom. Perhaps the leader who falls will be known as the burning torch or lamp.</p><p><em>And it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of the waters</em>- See on 8:8 <em>burning with fire. </em>Such judgment on water courses is predicted in prophecies about latter day events in the land of Israel. &ldquo;The mountains of Israel... Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers (R.V. &ldquo;water courses&rdquo;; the reference is to wadis) and to the valleys&rdquo; (Ez. 6:3). Ez. 36:4, 6 uses identical language about the land of Israel, again in a latter day context. Before the Assyrian invasion, typical of the latter day desolation of Israel, Joel 1:20 records that &ldquo;the rivers of waters are dried up&quot;.</p><p>The Koran and Hadith speak hundreds of times of paradise as being a place of rivers and fountains of waters. The contrast is with the <em>living</em> &ldquo;fountains of waters&rdquo; which the repentant 144,000 come to (Rev. 7:17). The &ldquo;fountains of waters&rdquo; of the beast system are turned to blood and dried up in the various judgments brought upon them. They are <em>dead</em>. The Muslim concept of paradise will be destroyed and inverted. In seeking to establish a caliphate in the land promised to Abraham, with Jerusalem as its capital and the temple mount as its central point of worship, radical Islam is seeking to establish a fake, imitation Kingdom of God- just as Assyria offered Judah a land where each would sit under their own vine and fig tree, appropriating the language of <em>God&rsquo;s</em> Kingdom to their own. Whilst there may be a literal element to these judgments upon the waters, I suspect that the judgment must be understood in terms of the Islamic conception of paradise.</p>