The white horseman of the four horsemen of the apocalypse is perhaps the most insidious because it produces universal religious deception. His followers go forth conquering and to conquer based on the false belief that the white horseman is Christ Himself, when in reallity it is Satan in disguise! Their minds and doctrines are so warped that they are preaching 'another gospel' (Gal 1:6-9) and following 'another Christ' (2 Cor 11:4) without even knowing it. They will buy into the lies of the false prophet and false Christ (always looking for signs and wonders) and ignore the warnings of the true prophets. Instead, they will be busy looking for signs and wonders (spiritual toys) and compromise the truth with the nations (such as joining the ecumenical Charismatic Movements) to fight the true Christ when He returns (Rev 19: 15). They are unable to distinguish the truth from falsehood. The Lord Christ will then say to these people, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness (those churches that are outside the Governmental Authority of Christ - Luke 19:27)!' All who refused to be ruled by Christ in the church age will be disqualified to rule in His coming kingdom.
The second seal opens with the red horseman waging religious wars on mankind all in the name of religion! The six thousand years of human history is plagued by conflicts and wars with sufferings and destructions beyond imagination. Was Christ referring to wars in general or any specific war? The answer is both. Mankind has undergone alternating periods of war and peace. But the red horseman refers to a very serious war (probably a nuclear WW III) that could wipe out all humans on earth if not for the divine intervention of Christ Himself (Matt 24:22)!
The key to understanding bible prophecy is to let the bible interprets itself. The Olivet prophecy spoken of by the Lord Christ in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 interprets the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelation 6 penned by the Apostle John. Only those who are under the Government and rule of Christ can understands because only the Lord Christ can open the seal. In Matthew 24:6-7, Christ taught His disciples, 'And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.' In A.D. 70, the city of Jerusalem was ravished by the Roman army with the Jewish population almost decimated and the temple destroyed. Duality of bible prophecy tells us that the anti-type of this will happen again during the Great Tribulation just before Chrust returns!
Many politicians had hoped that World War II was the war to end all wars. But that was not to be. Today the hydrogen bomb can be a thousand times more deadlly and destructive than the atomic bomb. What Christ warned in Matthew 24:22 and in Revelation 6 could not be fulfilled at any other period in human's history. Satan is the mastermind behind all human conflicts when he took away peace at the Garden of Eden. He knew his days are numbered (Rev 12:12) and he is unleashing disasters during the Great Tribulation to do maximum damage before he surrendered the throne to Christ. The damage will be so devastating that even cities will be laid waste, without inhabitant (Jeremiah 4:7).
The first 10 verses of Joel chapter 2 and Revelation 9:17-18 paint a gruesome picture of what lays ahead. The very elect of God who are not taken in by deception will be provided a place of safety (Rev 3:10 ;12:14). The rest will suffer immeasurably worse than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined in August 1945! The very thought of this made prophet Habakkuk sick (Habakkuk 3:16). God in His mercy will intervene at the last minute to prevent total annihilation of mankind. This will happen at the blast of the seventh and final trumpet by the seventh angel with a loud voice declaring, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!' (Revelation 11:15). Jesus Christ will then become the King and Ruler over all nations of the world.
The Good News that follow after the cataclysmic events was the gospel that Jesus Christ came to preach (Luke 4:43- initiated by the Heavenly Father) and expect all His true disciples to do likewise (Mark 1:14-15;16:15). All implements of war will be destroyed (Isaiah 2: 2-4) and converted to useful tools for unimagined productivity. Even the cruel nature of the animal kingdom will be changed (Isaiah 11: 6-9). Deserts and wastland will blossom (Isaiah 35: 1-2) and the weak, the blind, the lame and the deaf will be healed (Isaiah 35:3-6) and much more! The true saints will be in the First Resurrection to minister and preach the whole truth to all the human beings that survived the cataclysmic events ('The people who survived the sword' -Jeremiah 31:2). What a wonderful world that would be.
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