DEAD MEN WALKING

Who is the rider on this white horse?  None other than the Antichrist.  He will become supreme dictator over more people than any leader in all of history.  He will mesmerize people to worship him.  The fact that the crown was "given" unto him tells us that he was elected to his position.  All nations and peoples will happily bestow on him absolute authority over everything, for he will be seen and heralded as the greatest leader in the history of mankind. 

My personal thought here: Obama's already been called "The New World Leader" by several countries and leaders. His ego is huge and he believes he has the answers to everything. He's clearly a megalomaniac and completely clueless. The only peoples who don't see him as the "new world leader" are Americans, as we sit back and watch him destroy everything our nation has stood and fought for since it's beginnings. Could he be the Antichrist? Maybe not, either way the rider on the horse is the Antichrist and he is out to destroy mankind’s relationship with God.

(This seal has already been opened but he (the antichrist) has yet to be revealed)

The "sword" mentioned was a symbol of the lethal weapons of war.  The addition of the word "great" expands the idea to stress an enormous arsenal of deadly weapons.  There are currently 10 known nations in the "Nuclear Club", but many more with arsenals of lethal biological and chemical weapons.  The opening of this seal begins the last 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation, which will surely be the most horrific time in history. This will be about the time of the "Abomination of Desolation" spoken about by the prophet Daniel in chapters 11 and 12, where the Antichrist will set himself up in the Holiest of Holy temples in Jerusalem (the rebuilt temple) and proclaim himself as God.  That cataclysmic event will bring about the wrath of God in it's entirety with the beginning of World War III, with the initial military movement against Israel by Russia and her Muslim-governed allies.  Full-scale nuclear exchange is expected, along with a fair amount of chemical and biological weapons.

(This seal will be opened this summer when there's full-scale war in the Middle-East, the center of the world in God's eyes. I feel that the Rapture will happen shortly before or after this war.)

What we see here is the way life will be after a full-scale thermonuclear war.  The balances/scales carried by the horseman along with the description of costs for food (the expense mentioned in the verse was a days wages back in those days) indicate that meager amounts of food will be costly and scarce.  It will cost a person an entire day's wages to purchase a meager amount of food for his family. One thing that you can expect along with this famine will be millions of people with itchy trigger-fingers.  People will kill to eat.  Along with famine caused by this all-out war, we can expect various plagues to hit mankind as most hospitals will be completely destroyed.  Those that aren't will most likely be without enough power to supply life-sustaining equipment.  Expect those hospitals and care facilities to be booked to the hilt. The reference to the oil and wine is a symbol of luxury, which will only be available to the rich. The trouble is, in order to remain rich during the Tribulation, you'll have to give yourself to the Antichrist, essentially selling your soul for a few years of luxury and an eternity in hell and torment. The rich of course will be blinded about the eventuality of what they've just done, as will those in power.

(This seal is about to be opened as we see world economies failing and there's no way out. The entire world will be sucked into this deepest depression where food will be scarce and people will kill to get it)

The last fragment of verse 8 sounds particularly gruesome where beasts of the earth will take part in the killing of mankind. Other means are used to kill man, but they're means we're all too familiar with.  What are these beasts anyway?  Well, it's difficult for Hal to pinpoint an exact nature because of the context the word was used in. But it can range from actual beasts of the earth such as bears, wolves, animals of the cat world, and other man-eaters, as a kind of revenge for totally destroying their habitats and food sources. Remember, we'll also be having trouble finding food, so it stands to reason that they will too. But there are other reasons to believe that the term "beasts" in this verse points to portions of mankind being reduced to being bestial in nature. Other times that this exact word (in Greek) was used in this context meant demonic beasts. One thing is certain, that it will be "up close and personal". People will literally be eaten alive to a degree never before witnessed in history, and it will be gruesome. The US has a research program called HAARP (High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) that is said to have the capability of completely altering a human being's thought patterns and processes. Essentially, it can make you go insane to an extent of which we don't know. Can that create a mass of humanity reduced to a bestial nature? And if the US has weapons like that, you know that other nations do to. What is also worth noting is that scientists are on the verge of creating what's termed a "transhuman", which is animal and human DNA mixed together to create the ultimate abomination to God.

(I feel this seal will be opened after this summer's Middle East carnage as everything crumbles, economies, civil societies, everything in disruption. Evil will become commonplace and every human will be fair game. Pray that you've been saved and either taken in the Rapture, or go to heaven when you die with one-fourth of the world's population)

What is being said here is that those who have already died in the name of the Lord have to await their justice until the rest of their brethren, those who have converted over to Christ during the Tribulation, to die as they have. You see, it is during this time after the fifth seal, that mankind will unleash a fury on Christians everywhere, angry at them and God for the first four judgments. On top of that, the world will have already moved toward one world government and one world religion, which will NOT BE CHRISTIANITY, so every Christian will be marked not only for their religion, but their lack of the mark of the beast.  Here in the US we don't witness this firsthand, but Christians worldwide are being persecuted and slaughtered. Communist and Muslim regimes have no tolerance whatsoever for Christians, and they are typically killed in some of the most grotesque ways imaginable. But after the opening of the fifth seal, killing Christians will become "politically correct", even in the US. Hold fast to your Christian faith for your heavenly reward will be equally as great for you as it will be hellishly horrible for those who persecute you. Eternal life with Christ has no earthly description to compare.

(The move toward a New World Order is well under way and will most likely be ushered in after all the economies collapse, America's included.)

The key to these verses is the sight of "the stars of heaven fell unto the earth." Why? Because as some of us know, technological advances in nuclear warfare have made it possible for one ICBM (InterContinental Ballistic Missile) to carry multiple warheads, called MIRVs (Multiple independently-targeted Reentry Vehicles). What that means is that each ICBM can have up to 12 (possibly more on the Russian side) warheads that can all go to a separate location and detonate, with very little warning for the intended target.

For a summary of the Nuclear Stockpile Held By Russia, click HERE (or copy and paste this URL into your browser http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction)

For  a summary of the Nuclear Stockpile Held by the US, click HERE (or copy and paste this URL into your browser http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction)

For a list and summary of the other nations that make up the "Nuclear Club" click HERE (or copy and paste this URL into your browser http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons)

What's of particular note is that when the warheads re-enter the earth's atmosphere, they leave a trail of fire much like a small meteorite, which man has labeled a "falling or shooting star". In a full-scale nuclear exchange between several nuclear-capable countries, hundreds or thousands of these warheads will be reentering the earth's atmosphere within a close space of time together. This will undoubtedly give the appearance of "stars falling from heaven to earth", especially given the context of John's 1st-Century extremely limited technical knowledge. Also worthy of note is how "heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together". Ever seen footage of an atomic or nuclear explosion? Check out this 39 second video of a massive nuclear explosion (great footage) and you can see how John would liken this as a scroll being rolled together. Everything was written on scrolls in that time so it's a natural description. Now turn your attention to the massive earthquake that hits the earth so destructively that "every mountain and island were moved out of their places". This is entirely possible with such a massive amount of nukes detonating within close proximity and timeframe, but more importantly, God is fully capable of creating any natural disaster possible at any time he wants. (If you want proof of this, read a book written by John McTernan titled: "As America Has Done To Israel"). Even the scientists don't know exactly what would happen, but one thing is certain, given today's Nuclear Weapon Yield, an all-out nuclear winter would follow, completely blotting out the sky, including the sun, moon, and stars. Notice how everyone tries to hide from death? From the kings responsible for pushing the buttons, down to every free man, begging the mountains and rocks to hide them from the face of the Lamb.  It's clear to all that the Bible and all it's prophecies are not only true, but inescapable. Yet for the most part they still refuse to ask for forgiveness and submit themselves to Jesus for salvation.

(Man has this capability, but so does God. Either way, people will try to hide from the face and judgments of God. Turn to Jesus today and don't wait for these catastrophes to happen before finally becoming a believer.)

Verse one says it all, a moment of silence in heaven, possibly in observance of the judgments about to come.  We might want to refer to it as the calm before the storm because the next seven judgments, symbolized by the angels blowing their trumpets, will (believe it or not) be even worse than the first seven "seal judgments" already handed down upon the earth and man. These seven angels are the highest order of angels, "archangels" from the order of cherubim, standing in the presence of God waiting for their turn to sound off and send another judgment upon earth. The opening of the seventh seal unleashes the beginning of the seven trumpet judgments, all of which will bring catastrophes of unimaginable magnitude. Now there are four angels with specific power over the elements of the earth (spoken of in Revelation between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals, though they're told not to do any harm yet, until God's servants have been sealed.  Jesus tells us in Luke 21:25-26 "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Many of the prophecies during the tribulation period point out freak weather conditions, so scary that people's hearts will be shaking in fear. After this seventh seal is opened there will be "voices, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake", not intended to kill major amounts of people.  You can see it as a sort of "warning" of what is to come shortly.

This reeks of an all-out nuclear exchange between many countries.  Scientists predict that several nukes detonated within a fairly close proximity will cause a firestorm that will virtually burn up entire continents, and this judgment sounds like that prediction come to reality. In the timeline and countdown to Armageddon, Russia and her Muslim allies will be in a position where if the West (led by the Antichrist) were to lead a successful attack on their backend, their supply lines will be cut off. So in a counterattack move, Russia will send multiple nuclear weapons at the US and other Western allies, who will in turn launch nukes back at their nations.  All culminating in a massive firestorm that will wipe out a third part of all forests, along with all green grass.  Most of this devastation will be caused directly by the firestorms, but some will be caused by the after-effects of massive amounts of radiation circling the globe and killing most all plant life. All this hasn't even taken into account the massive body-count from an exchange of this magnitude. Within two weeks of this event, hundreds of millions, possibly billions, of deaths will have occurred.  Imagine the difficultly of dealing with all the dead bodies? There will be rampant diseases, unbearable stench, contaminated drinking water and food. Hell on earth like never seen before. But the truth be known, it will be nothing in comparison to the real hell souls who refuse Christ will be stuck in...

John describes something as a "great mountain burning with fire" cast into the sea. It could be a huge meteor as Jesus himself said that strange occurrences will be happening on all levels, perplexing mankind. Having a massive meteor hitting one of the oceans during a time of untold nuclear horrors already happening could be very perplexing indeed. However, John could also be describing what could also look as such, possibly multiple hydrogen bombs detonated in the ocean. Why would such a thing be done? To destroy the enemies' nuclear missile submarines of course. The Russians for example have the most deadly subs in existence. They're the stealthiest, dive the deepest, and each carry 20 ICBM's with 10 warheads each. One such sub is capable of turning 200 US cities into massive cemeteries within 8 minutes of launch. The only defense against such a submarine is to hope to crush it with the massive pressure created by an undersea nuclear explosion. One third of sea life is killed, along with one third of the ships on the oceans.

These verses are difficult for Mr. Lindsey to decode because the word star in Greek can literally mean "a star, an asteroid or a meteor". It is also used a few times in the Bible to mean "a mighty angelic being". It is difficult however to see how a single meteor or asteroid can poison so much of the fresh water on the planet. But it would be possible due to how such a meteor reentering the earth's atmosphere could break apart and send chunks here and there, full of poisonous liquids that will melt and poison our waters. But he figures it's used to describe another nuclear exchange coupled with chemical/biological weapons that will do such damage to so much of our clean drinking waters. I tend to agree with that theory simply because at this point there's no reason not to. Most of the earth is already destroyed and unlivable, so why not. Either way it's meant, literally of figuratively, water will be scarce to find and very difficult to determine whether or not it's safe to drink. Many men will die due to drinking these waters, and it's my assumption that it will be mostly civilian casualties since the military has means of detecting and/or detoxifying poisoned water. Not to mention they also carry a massive supply of their own water to ensure their fighting personnel have that all-important and critical life-sustaining source to continue in battle.

The first nuclear winter perhaps? Just imaging all of the debris floating around the atmosphere, along with all the soot and smoke from billions of burning trees, buildings, and everything else that will burn. You can believe that most of the sky will be blocked out. And if you haven't yet considered the amount of devastation upon agriculture and farming, it will be completely decimated. Famines will be worldwide and millions will die from that alone, along with the lack of adequate drinking water, massive pollution and radiation in the air, significantly colder temperatures. Not to mention the outbreak of many super-strains of viruses and infectious diseases due to a breakdown in sanitation and undernourished masses with broken-down immune systems. Take a moment to reflect on how many people will have complete mental breakdowns because of the enormity of all the tragedies going on worldwide. Only those who turn their faith to Jesus Christ will be enabled to cope with such soul-wrenching tragedy. Virtually every individual and family will have a loved one or so that has suffered a death under horrific circumstances. Don't look now, but the three woes are about to come:

"And I beheld, and heard an eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!"  (Revelation 8:13)

The original Greek suggests that these woes are directed at the unbelievers, those who actively and continuously cling to the things of this earth with it's world system fashioned in defiance of God.

The "star" mentioned in verse 1 is not actually a star, but a person as it's used in the original Greek text, not to mention he's given the authority and key to the bottomless pit. Sounds like it's none other than Satan himself, as Lucifer was the key "fallen angel". Now think for a moment about John's 1st century description of these "locusts" from the bottomless pit. The king over these "locusts" was (Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek both mean "the Destroyer") one of the most powerful, vicious, and brutal demons of all, second only in command to Satan himself. They were shaped like horses prepared for battle, with the faces as of men. Having breastplates of iron and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots or many horses running into battle.  Now think about an attack helicopter, armored, with weapons (guns, rockets) jutting out like the teeth of a lion, sounding as loud as many horses running into battle.  Now imagine them outfitted with chemical weapons to spray all over their enemies. One of the tried and true strategies of warfare today is how much more effective it is to have wounded soldiers instead of dead soldiers. The reasoning of course is that it takes a couple of healthy soldiers to evacuate the wounded soldier, thus decreasing the enemies' forces by three. Their torment is so dreadful that they'd rather die than go through the pain being inflicted upon them, but they cannot. Maybe they're being covered with some kind of nerve gas that incapacitates them? Whatever it is (and we know that science has cooked up some dreadful weapons), you know it's horrible and obviously painful. Imagine being in torturous pain so badly that you'd rather be dead, but are incapacitated to the point they can't even take their own lives.

Or maybe the locusts are actually locusts, demonic locusts straight from the pit of hell, enjoying their time to torture mankind. One thing we know about Satan and demons is that they hate mankind unlike any kind of hate imaginable. Why? Because we're created in the image of God himself, and God loves all of us. Anything Satan can do to harm God's creatures, he takes particular pleasure in. If you don't believe me, listen to the first video on the "Enlightening Videos" page of this site. It is one man's (Bill Wiese) description of Jesus taking him into hell to experience the horror so that he could return and tell the world just how real it is. "Why did you put me through this" he asked Jesus? "Because not enough people think about hell and how real it is, even my own people (Christian believers)."

This second woe is especially terrifying in that 4 of the most wicked of the fallen angels are let loose to destroy a third of the remaining people left alive. Remember that 1/4 of the worlds population has been killed by the judgment in Revelation 6:8, and many more perished when a large portion of the worlds water supply was poisoned. Now the remainder of what's left will be reduced by a third. Seems that man is running dangerously close to becoming extinct doesn't it? Now turn your attention to these four "angels" who had been bound by God in the great river Euphrates, (the natural boundary line between East and West on the Asian continent). These are especially powerful emissaries of Satan who control the nations of Asia with their vast population. It seems clear that these fallen angels will immediately mobilize this massive 200 million man army into moving westward toward the battle already taking place between the Russian-Muslim armies and the Antichrist-led Western armies. The battle of Armageddon is taking shape now.

Needless to say, even after all these judgments have been handed down on man by God, the vast majority of people still left alive refuse to repent of their evil deeds and turn to Christ. It would seem that man still can't see that we have no true control over our own destiny without the divine guidance of God.

Here Hal Lindsey doesn't say much about any particular judgment befalling man. We do know that the blowing of the seventh trumpet sets into motion the next seven judgments, the vials (or bowls) of plagues. A series of plagues will fall upon man in rapid succession as by this time in the Tribulation there is very little time before Christ comes to set things right.

It is after this seventh trumpet is sounded that the Antichrist will realize how short a time he has left on earth to deceive the nations and peoples and convince them to come against Israel and the Jews. It will be his plan to try and eliminate Israel and all Jews from the earth in an attempt to stop the Second Coming from happening altogether.

Christians will be hated and killed worldwide as directed by the Antichrist, who convinces the unbelievers that Christians are holding back the world's newfound spiritual progress. The Antichrist will have perpetrated the greatest lie in the history of man, that all religions worship the same God, who has no name, and is really inside us all and that we're ultimately in control. This is the great false religion that the world accepts as the new hope of mankind, created by this "greatest leader ever in the history of the world". This of course is pushed upon mankind by the False Prophet who is a person of religious authority, who directs the faithless to the Antichrist, who's seen as a spiritual person of a different kind, and all knowing, so is easily able to deceive those who don't know the Bible thoroughly, and even those who know some of the Bible.  It is very important that we know the Bible inside and out and what God's true words and intentions for mankind are. I'm sure that Satan, the Antichrist, and False Prophet know it inside and out, and will use their knowledge of scripture to fool billions of people ignorant of the True Word Of God. They will deceive them by using half-truths along with lies that make the Bible's truths out to be a lie. Don't be fooled, get into the Bible today, King James Bible of course.

Revelation 9:6