Over the centuries there have been many instances where people—be it few or many—found themselves in such dark places that they were suicidal in their desperation. Though darkness and desperation settle not only on those who reject the gospel of the Lord God, examples abound of people who very deliberately rejected the Lord and subsequently lost their minds (e.g., Friedrich Nietzsche). In fact, entire civilizations have found themselves in such dark places that they metaphorically chewed their tongues in their anguish (e.g., the angst of the German Reich as darkness closed around them before its collapse). One could even think of today’s North American civilization, where despondency and suicides are at record levels.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish