The Horsemen of Revelation—the Red Horse Unveiled! - Part 4

We have finished covering the first seal of Revelation 6—that of the white horse and rider—which represents counterfeit Christianity. We are now ready in Part Four to examine the red horse. The horror of war has swept the world since Cain killed Abel. This has been the result of man's unrelenting murderous rage toward his fellow man. The fruits of war are many. Consider these: terror, destruction, economic upheaval, orphaned children, population displacement, widespread devastation of the land, *** and other atrocities, hunger, disease, untold suffering, misery, despair, maiming and crippling, death and even genocide. All of this yields greater hatred and revenge, endless retaliation and more war, because nothing is ever permanently resolved through military conflict. And no matter the diligence or sincerity of their efforts, men and nations cannot find a way to peace! The World to Come. The Restored Church of God presents David C. Pack. Author of 80 books and booklets. Editor-in-chief of The Real Truth magazine. Read by countless and growing numbers in every nation and territory of the world. In a violent age full of bad news. Answering life’s greatest questions straight from the Bible, and announcing the wonderful good news of the World to Come. And now, David C. Pack. We return to Revelation 6. In verses 3 and 4, Jesus opened the second seal and John saw a red horse: "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." This part of John's vision has grave implications for all people alive today. Jesus' parallel passage in Matthew 24 interprets this symbolic horseman: "And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…" Verses 4 and 5 relate directly to the first seal—counterfeit Christianity— which seeks to conquer in war. The second seal appears as a direct result. We find that the rider of the red horse has the power to "take peace from the earth"—which of course means war in its place! He represents the awful devastation of armed conflict between and within nations. The phrase "wars and rumors of wars" refers to a general condition of warfare that would be amplified just before Christ's Return. The next statement—"For nation shall rise against nation, and [then] kingdom against kingdom [that’s empires or groups of nations]"—indicates a further intensified state of war to emerge, at this point near the very end of the age—that of world war. Luke 21:9 brings broader understanding: "But when you shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified [as most would of course be]: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by [or yet]." The Greek word for "commotions" means "disorder, confusion and tumult." An expanded definition would include acts and effects of terrorism. Could any thinking person doubt this condition has arrived almost full force? War has existed from the beginning of mankind. How then could Jesus use "wars and rumors of them" as a sign announcing the arrival of "the last days"? The answer: The ever-present grim specter of war has reintroduced itself, having morphed into something with potential for destruction far beyond what has ever been seen before. Now time is running out. It has been observed that human history has primarily been a chronicle of war. What began as family or tribal conflicts later developed into ones between nations. Some international conflicts begin with one-sided action, others with mutual aggression. In addition, long-standing ethnic, tribal and religious differences, coupled with boundary disputes and outright intent to seize the land or property of others, have always served to fuel the next war fought between the same peoples or nations. War has affected all nations in every period of history. Many nations have made war their primary means of livelihood—not just a means of defense, as so many claim. Those who chose not to actively pursue war were still forced to expend much time, money and effort to protect themselves—sometimes having to buy peace by paying tribute to powers that could have dominated or destroyed them. War has been the chief means by which nations have settled disputes throughout history. It has been considered a natural state of equilibrium, while peace has been considered a period of recuperation from the previous campaign in which preparations were being made for the next venture or conquest. A statement by Georges Clemenceau, the World War I French statesman, sums up this idea: "I do not know whether war is an interlude in peace, or whether peace is an interlude in war." In the mid-1960s, a Norwegian statistician programmed a computer to count all wars through the 6,000 years of man's history. It concluded that 14,531 wars had been fought. But this was merely the number known and recorded. How many more were not? And consider that this was several decades ago. Countless more have been fought since. Of course, this does not count the endless stream of individual terrorist acts, such as suicide bombings and other assaults, which occur in undeclared wars. The presidential historian and columnist, Peggy Noonan, summarized the jumbled, awful course that has been human history: "In the long ribbon of history [she wrote], life has been one long stained and tangled mess, full of famine, horror, war and disease. We must have thought we had it better because man had improved. But man doesn't really 'improve,' does he? Man is man. Human nature is human nature; the impulse to destroy coexists with the desire to build and create and make better." Looking back on some of the nations familiar from biblical history and prophecy, Egypt was among the first nations to develop the art of war as an organized endeavor. Yet it was the Assyrians who perfected many military techniques. In fact, the sword—the weapon held by the red horse's rider—is said to have been introduced by the Assyrians. Assyrian military advances far surpassed all other powers, due to their ability to borrow effective techniques pioneered by others alongside their own innovations. Although God has often used the Assyrians to punish the nation of Israel as His "rod of correction," there were times that He suppressed the Assyrians' power so they would be out of the picture for a period of time. An example was deliverance of Judah's King Hezekiah and Jerusalem from Sennacherib and his 185,000 elite soldiers besieging the city. God took away Assyria's pride overnight. This greatly weakened the proud nation and removed them from the picture for a time, in order for the Babylonian empire to emerge—serving the next step in God's Master Purpose. After the Babylonian Empire came the Medo-Persian Empire, which defeated Babylon in 539 BC. During the height of this empire, the advancement of the Persians was effectively halted in the Eastern Mediterranean by formidable warriors such as the Spartans. Later, Alexander the Great led the Greek Empire to victory over the Persians in 331 BC. For a period of time, the Greco-Macedonian Empire reigned supreme. The Roman Empire, which emerged about 31 BC and supplanted Greece, was described as being "dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly." Records of the Jewish War of AD 69-70 illustrate the Roman Empire's brutality. While Jerusalem was under siege, and in dire need of food and water, many Jews were captured trying to escape or to bring in supplies. The following graphic account by the famed historian Josephus illustrates the unmerciful bloodlust of Roman legions and soldiers: "So, now Titus's banks [mounds of earth used to breach the walls of Jerusalem] were advanced a great way, notwithstanding his soldiers had been very much distressed from the wall [the account continues]. He then sent a party of horsemen, and ordered they should lay ambushes for those that went out into the valleys to gather food…and when they were going to be taken, they were forced to defend themselves, for fear of being punished; as, after they had fought, they thought it too late to make any supplications for mercy; so they were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city. "This miserable procedure [Josephus continues] made Titus greatly to pity them, while they caught every day 500 Jews; nay, some days they caught more…The main reason why he did not forbid that cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews might perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards be liable to the same cruel treatment. So the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses…" During the period of the Holy Roman Empire, the same merciless brutality abounded. As the White Horse broadcasts made clear, the decisions were not made by military generals but by a church! The most merciless of all wars was the campaign instigated by the Roman Church to ***, by the thousands, citizens of entire towns and villages in Europe (and later in Jerusalem and Palestine). This came to be known as the Crusades. The victims were mostly civilians. Continental Europe would continue to be torn by war through the centuries, usually triggered by animosity between the universal Church and other religious belief systems, primarily Protestantism or Islam. It was also on European soil, but many centuries later, that the horror of war was redefined. Conflict on an unprecedented scale ushered in a new phenomenon: world war. The infamous World War I battle of Verdun (in France) was the most costly battle ever, in terms of human lives. Fought for two years and nine months, it was also the longest single battle in all history. Nearly one million soldiers died in this single battle! Visitors to the battle area are told not to stray from designated walkways. Multiple thousands of unexploded shells, which still occasionally kill or maim, await any who wander onto the battlefield. Imagine the land in that battle after artillery had hit every square meter many times. Such was that war. Today, just scraping the surface with a shoe reveals rusted belt and canteen strap buckles, rifle shell casings and similar items. The constant artillery, as well as chlorine, mustard and nerve gases used, stand as stark testimony to "man's inhumanity to man." And this long battle was waged back and forth over a single, tiny piece of ground! The World to Come will continue after this brief message. Discover more from David C. Pack! Visit our website worldtocome.org. See The World to Come broadcasts, read and order books, booklets and articles, all free of charge. To continue learning about the topics covered in this broadcast, visit worldtocome.org today! Now back to David C. Pack. Some of the most telling effects of war are seen through statistics. These paint a clear picture in terms of casualties and cost, proving that the severity of wars has intensified, beginning primarily with World War I. During this war, the total mobilized military force of the Allied nations was more than 42 million. Of this number, about five million were killed in action, with over three million civilian casualties. The cost to the Allies was around $194 billion. The total mobilized military force of the Central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) was about 23 million, of which over three million were killed in action. Their cost was over $86 billion. World War I was the first war in which aircraft were more widely used—primarily for reconnaissance purposes. Also, the internal combustion engine allowed for much better logistical support (mobility of troops and munitions). Not-seen-before poison gas delivered by artillery was another invention. Another telling statistic of World War I is the percent of forces lost in battle: Germany, 16.4 percent—France, 16.1 percent—the British Empire, 10.2 percent. The United States lost only about 1.2 percent, partly due to the relatively short time it was involved before the Armistice. World War II, which reflected war with far more sophisticated weaponry, demonstrates even heavier losses. Aircraft had evolved into fighters, dive-bombers, heavy bombers, heavy transports, troop carriers for paratroopers and other specialized aerial-combat machines and weapons. Bazookas, rocket launchers, and a host of other "advancements" were used on the battlefields. Tank divisions were also a force to be reckoned with. And artillery had far greater ranges than previously achieved. As a child, my father told me stories of his extraordinary time as a reconnaissance pilot at the Battle of the Bulge near Remagen, Germany. Another Lieutenant beside him in his tiny Piper Cub directed American artillery in its effort to destroy the German artillery, which was trying to destroy the Bridge at Remagen, and thus halt the Allied advance into Germany toward Berlin as the war was approaching an end. Now here are the combined figures for both the Allies and Axis powers: 105 million total mobilized forces, of which 15 million were killed in action, with up to 34 million civilians killed. The total cost of World War II was $1.6 trillion dollars. The world learned that "total war" casualties draw no boundary between the military and civilians. Never before were so many civilians in harm's way. The percentage of mobilized forces lost in World War II: Germany, 22.8 percent—France, 3.5 percent—the United Kingdom, 6.4 percent—the Soviet Union, 30 percent—and Japan, 20.4 percent. The United States was under two percent. One factor accounting for the lower losses of France and Britain was that they had not recovered from their huge battlefield losses of World War I and were not in a position to field nearly as many troops. Also, France was overrun and defeated in 1940 and thereafter only fielded smaller resistance forces. Although the United States entered the conflict in December, 1941 in the Pacific, and only a little later in the European theater, it is miraculous that their percentage of military losses was so low. Part of the explanation is that no air attacks were launched on the homeland other than Pearl Harbor. There was also God's hand then still at work on America's behalf. No discussion of horror related to World War II would be complete without mention of the Holocaust. This was Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution" to the "Jewish question"—and, for those with eyes to see, it is a foretaste of what will happen again. The Wannsee Conference of January 1942 was convened to formalize a plan to exterminate all Jews within the confines of nations to the East, which were occupied by Germany. For the next three and a half years, until the defeat of Germany in mid-1945, this "Final Solution" was implemented. Let’s read: "There were more than nine thousand camps scattered throughout German-occupied Europe. They included transit camps, prisoner-of-war camps, private industrial camps, work-education camps, foreign labor camps, police detention camps, even camps for children whose parents had been sent to slave-labor camps. More than three hundred camps were for women only. "By mid-1942, within a few months of the Wannsee Conference, six camps served as killing centers where the victims were gassed [their names jump from history]: Treblinka, Sobibór, Belzec, Chelmno, Auschwitz/Birkenau, and Majdanek. The last two also doubled as slave-labor and penal camps." These six killing centers were in Poland. Multiple railroad lines allowed constant flow of trainloads of victims. At Treblinka, 750,000 or more Jews were murdered by a staff of only about 150. Fewer than 100 survivors of Treblinka were found. At Belzec, up to 600,000 Jews and a few thousand Gypsies were murdered, and at Chelmno, up to 360,000 Jews were killed. Here, thousands of Gypsies, Poles and Soviet prisoners of war were also exterminated. Birkenau (Auschwitz II) was the largest and deadliest of all the Nazi death camps. Here were the biggest, newest and most efficient gas chambers, which used "Zyklon B" pellets to kill Jews, Poles, Gypsies and Soviet prisoners of war. Far more Jews—1.1 million—were killed here than from the other groups. At Majdanek, nearly 500,000, from 28 different countries, were murdered. According to Polish sources, about 360,000—more than 60 percent (many of whom were Poles)—died there from starvation, exhaustion, disease and beatings. Seven gas chambers were employed, as were two wooden gallows. Many contemporary historians and scholars view the Holocaust as an anomaly—a freak occurrence, impossible to happen again. They believe man has developed to a higher order, more considerate and tolerant than the ancients. The Holocaust should destroy all idealistic reasoning. All "baser instincts" are still with us. This action by the Germans was in the tradition of their forefathers, the ancient Assyrians. These also believed themselves a master race, and carried out organized deportation and genocide whenever they saw fit. In a 1995 television interview, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stated of Germany, "I, to this day, cannot understand why so many Germans, who are so highly intellectual…let Hitler do the things he did…There is something in the character of the German people which led to things which should never have happened…Some people say, 'You have got to anchor Germany into Europe, to stop these features ever coming out again.' You have not anchored Germany to Europe. You have anchored Europe to a newly dominant, large Germany…In the end, my friends, it will not work." Beginning with the conclusion of World War I—originally called the Great War or "The War to End All Wars"—the world slowly began to ratchet up towards the next great world conflict, only 20 years later. Toward the end of World War II, the world entered a new and yet more frightening era. On August 6, 1945, man's destructive capabilities greatly intensified, and the scope of war would never be the same. A turning point had been reached—when all life on Earth could be erased in a single brief *** of war! The awesome evil of nuclear weapons, unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States, sobered prominent leaders and thinkers. They realized that survival of the human race was now at stake. Consider carefully their words: Adlai Stevenson — "No physical peril greater than atomic war has confronted mortal man since the Flood." Albert Einstein — "Rifle bullets kill men, but atomic bombs kill cities. A tank is a defense against a bullet, but there is no defense in science against a weapon which can destroy civilization." French President Charles de Gaulle — "To destroy these weapons by common consent, to enter the commitment not to manufacture any others, to open up all territories to reciprocal supervision, there is no other hope for the future of our species." Weapon proliferation is today escalating at an alarming rate, with many volatile, aggressive nations seeking to join the nuclear club. Today, the power that once destroyed a city—the atomic bomb—only serves as a mere "trigger" for the hydrogen bomb! Weapons of mass destruction, so incomprehensibly destructive that they boggle the mind, now threaten humanity as never before. War has forever changed. According to an article in the Encyclopedia Britannica on the advent of nuclear weapons, "These revolutionary characteristics of nuclear weapons have given rise to a phenomenon that is entirely new: there is no longer any relation between power and numbers." In an instant, political influence and the balance of world power can now shift. Notice Jesus' words: "Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh [no human beings] be saved: but for the elect's sake [God's people still alive on Earth] those days shall be shortened [He said]." Near the end of 6,000 years of going his own way, man is approaching the brink of extinction on several fronts. The Bible summarizes the decadent condition of human character in the last days, just before Christ returns. Paul wrote: "This know also [and I would tell the viewer, know this!], that in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…" Brutal dictators and despots, who would do anything to stay in power, have always existed. But now, in this age, we are witnessing individuals of the worst character ever having access to the worst weapons ever! In our time exists the ultimate nightmare! The world entered what experts call "The Age of Conflict," and this set the stage for what the Bible terms the red horse—wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom, all on top of endless commotions—in the years following World War II. Let's ask: Were governments sufficiently horrified by the sight of mushroom clouds over Japan to say, "This must never happen again"? The answer is a thundering no—they were not! In fact, the occurrence of war has increased nearly four times since 1946, unleashing an incredible arms race. Dr. Herbert York, an American nuclear physicist who helped unleash the devastating power of nuclear weapons as a member of the Manhattan Project, and Jerome Weisner, who was a science advisor to President John F. Kennedy warned, "The arms race is a steady downward spiral to oblivion." No one comprehends what lies ahead. Do not miss the next part in the series revealing much more about the red horse of war. Until next time, this is David C. Pack saying, "Goodbye, friends." This program was made available by Restored Church of God members and donors from around the globe. Explore our vast library of literature and other World to Come programs, which are all made available free of charge. To order literature featured in this program, call toll-free 1-855-828-4646. That number again: 1-855-828-4646. 3