The First Trumpet

Was the Scorched Earth Policy the First Trumpet?

By Irvin Baxter

 

QUESTION: David from Vermont asked how to reconcile some things like the first trumpet where it states that all the green grass was burned up. However, the scorched earth policy doesn’t literally mean burning up the entire earth. How do you tie the two together?

 

ANSWER: Many times in prophecy, God speaks in generalities. He told Abraham that his descendants would be in slavery for 400 years before they would be set free, yet they ended up being in slavery for 430 years. Does that mean the prophecy is untrue? No, it just means that God spoke in general terms. We know that there was a policy called the scorched earth policy during World War I. During this time it was common that whenever allies withdrew, their policy was to burn everything behind them so that when the enemy came in, they would have nothing there to sustain their armies with. So their policy was to just destroy everything. Perhaps not every single blade of grass was burnt up, but nevertheless, there’s a reason why it was called the scorched earth policy.