Posted on 04/05/2011 3:36:06 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.(Revelation 6:3-4)
In Johns vision of the throne room of God, a drama unfolds which is of universal significance. The One who sits upon the throne holds a book in his hand. The book is the Word of the consummation of the plan of God to undo all of the effects of the fall; sin, death, decay, corruption, and to usher in a new creation. Behold I make all things new, saith the Lord.
But as we saw earlier, only a man can open the seals of the book, for by man came death, therefore , By man (must) come the resurrection of the dead. But who is worthy to open the book?
There is only one man who is qualified to open the book and commence the New Creation of God. Jesus of Nazareth, who bears in his own body the marks of slaughter, having offered himself to the Father as a sacrifice for our sins is worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof.
The seals are in effect the necessary preconditions for all that is in the book to begin to come to pass. When the Cherub cried out Come!, it wasnt Christ who came but a White horse and rider.
The rider on the white horse is the spirit of Anti-Christ. He offers a substitute Kingdom of God, and a substitute salvation for the earth. Christ will come to judge the world on a white horse, but first AntiChrist must ride. The actual person, who is designated as the Son of Perdition, also as the Beast, the little horn, arrives in the context of the Spirit of AntiChrist, which pervades the world.
The world he comes to, and which for the most part receives him, has been preconditioned already, to reject anything that smacks of the real Christ, as being judgmental, Homophobic and negative. Those who have helped to prepare the world to embrace the New Christ are the many anti-christs, (false teachers, and false prophets), which John warned about even in his day.
The opening of the second seal unleashes another precondition for the return of Christ, the rider of the red horse. The red horseman brings in a tsunami of wanton violence upon the whole world. As in the days of Noah, when violence covered the earth, so shall it be in the time of the red horseman.
The rider of red horse comes from God to defy the aspirations of all of those who have attempted to construct a beautiful humanistic world of peace without repentance and to the exclusion of God.
How the humanists and atheists long for peace! But it must be denied them. I remember clearly the elation we all felt when the Evil Empire, the Soviet Union and her satellite states collapsed into the dustbin of history. One American sociologist even wrote a book about it called The End of History in which he posited that the west would now usher in a golden age of peace, prosperity and global trade.
But there can be no peace. Not without repentance.How vain is the imagination that we can construct a humanistic Eden without God ? What did we think would become of us ,seeing we sanction the slaughter of the unborn, promote perversions such as homosexuality and fornication? Should we be surprised at the violence and insecurity of the brave New World we have constructed without God?
Radicalized, oil financed Islam is just one of the expressions of the red horse of violence.
We in the west are of necessity now familiar with a new terminology, using Arabic words such as Jihad, Shariah, and al Taqqiya, for it seems as though the temporary restraints have been lifted from the Mohammedans. Through the combination of the folly of immigration policy and multiculturalisms destruction of western civilizational confidence Muslims have never seen better prospects for their long coveted subjugation of the western world.
Think of the billions that have been spent in security, the countless hours spent waiting at checkpoints in airports and other transportation hubs, removing shoes, having magnetic images made of our naked bodies,for entire traveling populations, so that we wont have to profile the adherents of a murderous ideology.
Violence has already been a factor in human history, but several factors contribute to my sense that the Red Horse is Riding across the world. The heavy levels of immigration, legal and illegal contributes to increased levels of ethnic violence, crime, and the overall balkanization of whole populations, especially in the west.
The entertainment media is saturated with violence. Children can soak themselves in vicarious murder and mayhem through the various video games, which are often a virtual orgy of violence. Even our athletics are hearkening more and more to the gladiatorial days, as cage fighters, the obscene parody called pro wrestling, and Ultimate fighting becomes ever more popular.
The culture of death, ie the acceptance of abortion as birth control is itself a phenomena of immense violence. The USA recently passed the 50 millionth abortion milepost.
Why should any be surprised by a Kermit Gosnell, whose clinic was raided after he botched one too many abortions and killed two of his Patients? It was discovered that he had actually brought eight babies to term and murdered them with a pair of scissors. His squalid womens Health center was overlooked numerous times by Philadelphia health inspectors. Why? They wouldnt want to inhibit abortion in any way, thus this animal was allowed to practice medicine for years on the poor and ignorant.
Should we be surprised at the judgments overtaking us? The crime waves, terrorism, illegal immigration and the lawlessness that it engenders, are all manifestations of the red horse of violence who takes peace from the earth.
The homo-sexualization of society on every level portends violence as well. In spite of the best efforts to disguise this unseemly aspect of the perversion, the truth cant be long hidden. Sexual perversion is violent, even murderous. The Bible doesnt portray Homosexuals as poor, oppressed and bullied minorities, but as violently depraved sinners, who will stop at nothing to fulfill their lusts.
There will be no Age of Aquarius or any sort of humanistic utopia fashioned by our godless elite in spite of their best efforts. Already the Red Horse of violence is riding, and the only relief will be found in the new Ark, the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Did I miss the rapture?
LOL- if you did, I did also-
"And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not strive with man forever. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Gen 3, 5
I didn’t think the various horses came out until after the rapture.
No he is telling us that we will run out of gas and have to ride horses again. That produces a lot of horse s**t as you know.
The wholesale self suicide of the west by abortion and importation of our sworn enemies? I know and agree with you the world has always been violent, but I think with the above as well as with the Super destructive weapons we have developed, we are in another dimension.
Hope you are right my friend.
One would think that at some point the Creator will step in and say "Enough!" It happened once before in Genesis 6 prior to the Flood.
Except the timing of Parousia has nothing to do with the degree and extent of wickedness, for if so, would imply that there is a remarkable amount of sin and lawlessness that God is comfortable with. A holy God is not comfortable with any sin, and in Peter's second letter we discover two things relevant to this conversation: (a) The Flood was proof that God can and will do total global destruction at the last Day, (b) that our LORD will return when the last of the Elect has been redeemed. (3:9)
It works out for us better that way. If degree and extent of wickedness influenced God's timetable, then wouldn't those of us saying "Maranatha" actively encourage others to sin so that we get there faster? Since Redemption is the trigger point, then its the Father, Paraclete and the Gospel preached along with Godly living that will hasten that day. (v11-12).
Not for another 1000 years or so.
Nobody knows whether the Rapture will be Post-tribulational, Pre-tribulational or Mid-tribulational.
irvin baxter has:
the red horse as communism,
the white horse as catholicism,
the black horse as capitalism,
and the green horse as islam.
“Nobody knows whether the Rapture will be Post-tribulational, Pre-tribulational or Mid-tribulational.”
God knows.
His word tells us.
Interesting theory, but I see a number of problems with it:
First of all, you refer to today being more violent than the past. I think it’s pretty simple to demonstrate this is not the case. While there are wars currently being fought - and with vastly superior technology - the day-to-day life of your average human is significantly LESS violent than at any point in our history.
In your piece you yourself point to “gladitorial sports” as being a harbinger of the Red Rider. Yet, by the very reference you point out that, in the past, gladiatorial combat was something that actually happened. Yes, Ultimate Fighting is violent, but it is several orders of magnitude LESS violent than watching slaves be actually murdered by professionals for entertainment.
Secondly you point out that children are exposed to violence on TV and in films. Well, it used to be that they were exposed to violence in their daily lives. Most children would lose at least one or two siblings to disease, starvation or violence while they were children. To say nothing of what they would have witnessed during an event such as plague or war. These are things that would have been common at the time the book of Revelations was set down, so if you’re going to use it as prophecy, it should be done relative to what would have been seen as just ordinary life at the time of its writing.
Also, it should be pointed out that we are not experiencing any kind of “crime wave”. Crime statistics are down almost universally in the western world, particularly violent crime. Nor, do I believe, are homosexuals, or homosexual acts written anywhere in the book of Revelation as a sign of any of the horsemen. It could easily be argued that it is sinful, but in Leviticus 11:10 we see exactly the same language used to describe eating shellfish as is used to describe a homosexual act “Abomination”, and the consumption of shellfish is VASTLY more prevalent and widespread than homosexuality, so that would probably be a better ‘sin’ to use to argue the point that sin is SO widespread that the Rapture is at hand.
I think that what has happened is that you are LOOKING for this prophecy to be fulfilled because you have, with good cause, a strong dislike for things like homosexuality, illegal immigration and non-constitutionally authorized wars. I would suggest that this is one of those times when the bible should be used as inspiration, not revelation. Find the passages that give you the strength to change that which you find repulsive instead of fearing that the Horseman War has been unleashed on Earth.
Good point THeophilus. I too believe that when the last of the elect come in,the end comes. It is important also to note that it is God who summons these “horsemen” as judgments upon the sinful society which has rejected him. In other words the “degree and intensity of violence” is as a result of the Holy God giving us over to our sins. As in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be...
Vlad the Impaler once had approx 20,000 people impaled. Covering an entire valley so the enemy army would come across it before reaching his army.
Genghis Khan had a battle where bodies were strewn for 30 miles. He had entire cities slaughtered for failing to surrender fast enough.
IMO the end times are near but not yet started.
My pastor is giving a series right now on the end times. He’s covered this pretty well and far better than I can. According to the verses he gave us the rapture is the first thing that happens and then the tribulation times begin.
Thanks for your insights Behemoth. I agree with you that violence was as prevalent in the past,although with the phenomena of abortion (50 million in the USA since 1973) I know full well that there wasn’t violence on such a scale in the past, particularly such culturally suicidal violence.
My point is not to say that we are more violent than in the past, rather it is that in spite of our best efforts at creating a more advanced and humane (Humanistic) society, it seems to me that The Red Horse has been unleashed, “THere is no peace saith my God for the wicked!”If the Red Horse hasn’t been unleashed yet, I tremble for when he is, because we have certainly been inundated with an increase in violence already and it looks to be intensifying.
I am indeed looking for the fulfillment of prophecies and trying to interpret our situation in the light of them, I agree with that and appreciate your caveat, however, I believe that the relevance of these prophecies has been heightened by the prophesied rebirth of Israel, something which previous generations did not experience. That makes our own day unique as far as prophecy fulfillment goes. Thanks Behemoth I will think about your points- God bless
Thanks for your insights Behemoth. I agree with you that violence was as prevalent in the past,although with the phenomena of abortion (50 million in the USA since 1973) I know full well that there wasn’t violence on such a scale in the past, particularly such culturally suicidal violence.
My point is not to say that we are more violent than in the past, rather it is that in spite of our best efforts at creating a more advanced and humane (Humanistic) society, it seems to me that The Red Horse has been unleashed, “THere is no peace saith my God for the wicked!”If the Red Horse hasn’t been unleashed yet, I tremble for when he is, because we have certainly been inundated with an increase in violence already and it looks to be intensifying.
I am indeed looking for the fulfillment of prophecies and trying to interpret our situation in the light of them, I agree with that and appreciate your caveat, however, I believe that the relevance of these prophecies has been heightened by the prophesied rebirth of Israel, something which previous generations did not experience. That makes our own day unique as far as prophecy fulfillment goes. Thanks Behemoth I will think about your points- God bless
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