The Apocalyptic White Horse and Rider

…continued…

I have done a lot of thinking about the response that Jesus gave to the disciples in Matthew 24 when they asked Him how it would be known that the time of the end had arrived.  The very first warning Jesus gave was, “Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, “I am the Christ, and will deceive many”… (verse 4, NIV).  In verse 23 He continues the thought:  “…at that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’  Do not believe it.  For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect.  See, I have told you ahead of time. (verse 25, NIV)

The deception being served up to today’s world is coming in a number of forms.  Jesus here was warning about those that would actually make claims of being Jesus Christ Himself, as well as the ones that will come along as false prophets.  Other passages of Scripture warn us of being detoured or distracted by anything and everything that will keep us from having a true relationship with the ONE and only Creator GOD.  We have never lived in a time when it is more important for us to have our priorities in order.

There are several characters that have come on the world stage and advertize themselves as being Jesus Christ returned in the flesh.  The world is looking for answers but unless people accept the roadmap left for us to follow, they will follow someone or something else that manages to attract their attention.  There really is only one Almighty GOD.  There is only one true Bible (which was penned at His direction), and there is only one way fallen humanity can possibly bridge the chasm to the Living GOD, and that is through Jesus Christ.

Man in his arrogance and pride does not like to be told that there is only one way, but we are not the ones making the rules.  We are created beings, and we were made to live eternally in GOD’s Presence, but in our fallen condition that is not possible.  A sacrifice had to be made, and GOD stepped into human form and provided what was necessary to save the human race.  But…GOD will not force anyone’s hand.  We have to make that eternal choice for ourselves, and GOD will honor the choice, yes or no.  Even though we will all face the Judge of the Universe, in a way we set our own judgment into stone by our choice.

In the book of Revelation we are introduced to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.  The first of these riders comes onto the world scene riding on a great white horse.  Some people have confused this white horse and rider with the one in Revelation 19, but they are not the same.  The one in Revelation 19 is Jesus Christ Himself coming to set up the Kingdom of GOD on this earth, ruling from GOD’s city, Jerusalem.  For those that understand the Book of Revelation a bit better, for the most part anyway, they assume that the rider on the white horse is the anti-christ.  Because of this, it is also assumed that the opening of the first seal begins what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation.   As I have said before, my opinion is a bit different on both the identity of this rider and also the fact that I don’t feel this is necessarily the beginning of the Tribulation.   I will try and explain why. I have spent many years wrestling with this.

The description of the white horse’s rider is this:  He is given a crown to wear and he rides around the globe with a bow, going out as a conqueror bent on conquest.  Because of the fact that we know the anti-christ will become a world ruler, we assume that this is speaking of a military conquest.  This does not mean that he will not use military force, because he will, but in this description the rider of this white horse carries a bow but notice—no arrows.  I believe this rider’s conquest is for the mind and soul of mankind and has the job of deceiving as many on earth as possible.  His job is a spiritual one.  One might think that the effects of what comes from this rider’s conquest is not as serious as what happens due to the next several riders efforts, but this is not true.  It is the deception of mankind and resultant mass acceptance of the delusion which it brings that brings the worst consequences.

We know from Scripture that all people will one day stand before Almighty GOD and give account for what they have done with their lives.  The Bible says much about the delusion that mankind decides to follow in the last days.  This delusion takes many forms and bridges many belief systems.  Humans were made to have close friendship with GOD, but due to the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, a great gulf was formed between man and GOD.  GOD however, in His sovereign knowledge of all things, had already decided to step in long before, and there was only one way this could be done.  It had to come through the Messiah’s gruesome death as an innocent, and then resurrection from the dead, which essentially defeated sin and also death.  It was a terrible price, much greater than the facts that we know from what any of us really know and understand, but no less would suffice.  The first Adam sinned and brought both physical and spiritual death into the human experience.  The second Adam (Jesus) then reversed the whole process and provided forgiveness and freedom for eternity.  The only thing necessary is recognition of this fact and a bended knee before the GOD of all creation, accepting the forgiveness and allowing Him to be LORD of one’s life from that day forward.  It’s quite the deal!

Yet, as simple as the solution really is, less will accept it than not.  It is a prideful blunder that has eternal consequences.  The Bible says that the road to life is a narrow road and few will walk it, whereas the road to destruction is a wide one and many follow it.

If one looks back over the last 180 years or so, it is amazing how many belief systems have come along that have taken the simplicity of GOD’s Holy Word, twisted it, and rewritten it to express the imaginations, dreams, or visions of some twisted soul, and brought to humanity as a completion or correction of GOD’s Word as it had been originally provided to us.  It is no wonder that Jude said in the little book before the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, “We must earnestly contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints…”. If GOD is GOD, isn’t He big enough to have managed the task of getting His Word to us in tact?  That leaves every other “holy” book or teachings nothing more than a counterfeit.  GOD made it quite clear in the Bible that anyone that adds anything to it, would have the very plagues described in the Book added to their lives, and anyone taking anything away from it, would lose his part in the Tree of Life which is located in the Holy City of GOD.  Pretty heavy warning!  Yet, look at what people have done!

I am not of the opinion that the Apocalyptic horse and rider were already circling the globe since Joseph Smith claimed to have found the golden plates, but the 1800’s did give birth to several major cult groups that have led many millions astray to this date.  The 19^th century only brought more of the same.  The social revolution of the 1960’s and everything that came with it has set the world up to consider most anything as believable.  There is much that happened to allow this revolution to happen, but there is not enough time in this post to go into the details.

The white horse and rider have been circling the globe for a few years now and have conquered the minds of people in the hundreds of millions.  I suspect that his ride as the one to open the doors for the subsequent riders, has been for several decades—maybe since the 60’s.  This may not fit with your understanding of all this, but that is okay.  It has nothing to do you’re your salvation or mine.  I base this on my own personal experiences in ministry during that time.  I saw much and learned much, and now as I’m in my 60’s and looking back, it is easy to see how much the world changed and how—especially in the church world.  So, where do you stand?  TODAY is the day to make sure that you are on the right side of the fence.  There is only ONE way.  It doesn’t matter if that offends our free-thinking mind.  GOD was the one that paid the price for our freedom, and it only comes one way.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but through ME.” (John 14:6 NIV).

Jesus was not just a prophet.  He was not just some religious leader that happened along at his slot in time.   He is also not coming back as the deputy to the 12^th Imam or Mahdi.  Jesus IS THE MESSIAH, and there is only one.  This is because He was not just a man.  He was GOD stepping into the flesh of a man in order to provide the way of life for us all.  This is GOD who did this!  We dare not make the mistake of ignoring Him, or the price He paid.

As already said, the white horse rider, as the forerunner of the next three riders,  has been paving the way for several years now for what is ahead.  I believe that the rider on the red horse has been released as well.  There was a real change in the sound of the war drums around the world back in 2004 and how things the threats of wars everywhere began to spike, that leads me to believe that the Red Horse and Rider began his ride around the globe stirring the pot, readying the world for planetary conflicts.

The black horse and rider began making their run in 2008 when the economy of the United States began to hemorrhage like never before.  That economic “burp:” affected the whole world, but was only a precursor for what is ahead within months now.  The economy of the world is going to collapse—completely.

I also believe that the pale horse and rider have been released to add his dirty work to the rest.  I believe he made his appearance on international TV when cameras picked up his phantom like form in Cairo during the massive demonstrations there in 2010.  I will spend more time giving detailed information for what I am saying concerning these riders in a different post, but suffice it to say I believe that each of these riders have been circling the globe preparing the world for the Tribulation.  Many things are at the point of exploding into chaos like mankind has never seen.  This will be the subject of another post as well.  I’d better get with the writing, I think.

We also have great threats on their way from the heavens as well—just as Jesus said.  I would like to share some information on Elenin later this week.  There are some very odd things going on.  There is of course also a great deal of mis-information as well.  I would like to share the things that I have learned from many hours of research this last 30 days or so.  This is a time when we really need to keep our focus on what really matters, because everything else is going to be worthless.

I would like to add just a few more thoughts concerning the white horse and rider before I end this article.  I believe that a very large part of his emphasis has been to cause as much destruction to the true Church of Jesus Christ as possible.  The effects of the social revolution hit the church like a bomb.  There were some good things that came out of it as well though.  I remember that at the same time that many were getting sucked into the deceptiveness of what was going on in society, there was a great charismatic revival as well.  The ones that were touched by the Spirit of GOD during this time found a new and vital relationship with their KING.  Many denominational lines were broken as well as people saw that GOD didn’t think the Methodists or Lutherans, Baptists or Nazarene’s weren’t any better than each other in GOD’s sight.  People saw that what mattered was their relationship with GOD.

This was also the time when the great Christian “Jesus” festivals were held all over the country.  These attracted literally tens of thousands of people and much good came about.  This was also when Christian Book Stores came on the scene, and they did quite well.  Many new Christians shopped for books and Bible study aids as well as contemporary Christian music which began to flow with increasing volume each year.  This was also the time when the song service in churches with a song leader morphed into a worship leader or worship team leading the congregation into great experiences with GOD through praise and worship.

Back to the rider on the white horse though.  Churches and the organizations that they belonged to began to fall for one trap after another as churches began to become more relevant to the average people around them.  One of these things that became a trap came out of the faith movement.  There was much about this movement that was good, but it took a detour and I can only thank Almighty GOD for allowing me to see it before I got into it so deep that I couldn’t see my way out.  The emphasis sounded quite spiritual but it began to detour into an area that became a disaster for many—and it really has hurt the reputation of the Church of Jesus Christ to this day, because many are still caught up in it.  I’m sure I’ll get a lot of flack on my insinuations, but I don’t really care.  We’re way too close to “D-Day” for me to back off.

Some wonderful promises of GOD were used to bring much blessing from the generous and loving GOD we serve, but when the priority of the message as well as how ministries were run went awry, GOD’s hand of blessing was lifted.  I know in my case that GOD caught me, spoke to me quite clearly, and I found an exit where I could still apply GOD’s promises of blessing for those committed to Him, but know where to draw the line.  Was I so smart?  No, I don’t claim to be.  GOD was merciful, and I listened—which I cannot say that I have always done in my life.  How about you??

I won’t go into detail and I won’t get into names, but what eventually came out of this was that the rider on the white horse eventually succeeded in splitting the end-times church.  The Old Testament Aaron’s golden calf came back.  A very good message got twisted to where the “lust of the eyes”, and the “pride of life” took precedence over the pure unadulterated Word of God in the balance that was given to us by the Spirit.  We have no way of measuring the damage this has done over the years.

I remember being pushed by some of the big names in the movement to become a leader in the area where I was at for the movement.  I remember the day that I made my decision to find my way out.  The pendulum had swung too far in an extreme direction and I knew not to go down that path.

I remember another time when I was approached about taking a church that I was told would be a very big step on the ladder of success for me.  I was told that if I followed the instructions given to me by a man that could probably have aided this process to a great extent because of his position of influence, I could eventually end up at the very top, or very close.  Again, GOD spoke and said, “DON’T YOU DO IT”.  Did that make me so very spiritual?  Not really, because none of us are invulnerable from a fall.  But, GOD does honor our decisions if we obey Him, and it is not necessarily visible to us in the physical realm right away.  In fact, much of it won’t be shown for the value it really had until we answer to Jesus the Judge for how we lived our lives.

My reason for bringing all this up is that the true Church has experienced a real hammering by the enemy in these last decades.  It has come in many forms.  One has to do with the great blessings of GOD on this nation.  We have been blessed in so many ways that it has become very easy to forget where all these blessings come from.  We have become a materialistic society.  We have technology out the gazoo and with hundreds of channels on our TV’s, spending time reading, studying the Bible, and prayer seems a real bore to us.  We have no idea the damage this has done to us.

Today we have greater concern which Hollywood star is marrying whom, or what is happening in the NBA, or who is going to win the Superbowl than the things that really matter.  Watching American Idol isn’t a sin, but what place of importance does it take?  Most of these things are wrong within themselves, it is the place they take on our priority list.  If they become a priority over our relationship with GOD, then they become an idol.  We are facing the most turbulent time in man’s history and GOD’s people are by and large not at all prepared for it.  In fact, most reject the warnings being hollered out from those that are aware of what is coming.  It is sad, but that has always been the case back through man’s history.

Bringing up the signs of the times today is uncomfortable for most.  Yet, the non-Christian world is becoming more and more fearful of what is developing.  Non-Christians are more in tune to it sometimes than God’s own people.  I know that one can’t get absorbed in what is going on and forget how we should live, yet when the world around us is crying out for some answers, shouldn’t we be the ones that can give them?  When 30% of the Bible is foretelling what is coming, shouldn’t we have some awareness of it and how it is going to unfold?  It seems that anyone that dares to speak out about it all and sound the alarm is marginalized as a “loose cannon”.  Well, so were the prophets of the Old Testament.  So was John the Baptist, as well as Jesus Himself.  It’s quite interesting that the religious people rebelled against the Baptist and Jesus as well, but the common people ate up everything they had to say.  Why is that?  Because they had answers!  So should we!  America is about to experience probably its greatest shock of its history within very little time, I suspect, and we’re content to live shallow Christian lives—if that.  I’m pointing the same finger at myself because I’ve found myself slacking as well.  That’s well under way of remedy though.  I hope I’m wrong about the ominous warnings I’ve written about, but I know I’m not.  I’ve known it for a long time and one thing after another is being confirmed as time passes.

The Church is about to enter the Presence of the KING of Kings and LORD of Lords.  How should we then live??  We have little to do whatever we’re going to do, so let’s do it.  Jesus said several times that if we really love Him, we will obey Him.  We will also follow His directions and have the same kind of heart for people that He does.  Jesus teaching about the vine and the branches in John 15 is an important passage for us to digest.  It says much more than we might think during a quick read through.  Verse 4 tells us that we need to “remain” in Him.  That actually means to “dwell” in Him.  For way too many, the extent of their experience with Jesus is when they need help, or a shallow “hi” and “bye”, when it is convenient to drop in at church a couple times a year.  That kind of relationship is pretty scary.  Do we have that kind of relationship with those that we really love?  Not if our love is real.

The world around us—no matter how much they may ridicule or laugh, is looking for the real deal.  If we don’t present it to them, who will?  Are we a light on a hill for all to see?  Are we the salt of the earth?  We are commanded to be.  We are in a time when we can act like idiots at football games or other forms of entertainment.  Yet, we look down our noses at those that are enjoying their walk with GOD.  What’s wrong with a bit of excitement there?  How can that be fanaticism?

One thing I’ve touched on before but will mention in passing here is this:  We as GOD’s representatives on this earth are working way too hard at becoming “seeker-friendly”.  People are afraid to use the word “sin”!  We avoid other words like repentance.  We’re afraid people will be offended if we say anything about God’s requirement of a certain kind of “holiness” in His people.  Yet, God says that no one will see Him without it!  GOD help us!  Maybe it would be good for us to go back to square one at times.

Today we can’t afford to have a casual or shallow relationship with GOD.  We are going to have to walk through some traumatic times, even if the Rapture is a true event—which I believe is.  I believe that the world is running out of warnings from GOD, but I don’t think we’ve seen the last one yet.  Each one from this point on is really going to make people think.  Are you going to be able to help someone find their way to GOD?  Are you going to be able to explain to someone asking you what is going on in this fallen world?  How can people explain this to a non-believer if the subject of prophecy is avoided?  Too many of us will have the look of a deer blinded by headlights when we’re asked what is really happening.  We don’t know ourselves!!  It isn’t important that we know it all, but any of us can know the basics.

One thing that is essential is this:  We need to be walking with GOD ourselves.  Without that, it is impossible to help someone else find their way.  We live in a world where evil is becoming more and more prominent.  Wrong is considered right, and right is considered wrong.  The Bible says that “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold”.  That describes today in spades.

It seems that the Church becomes split at the end.  When you read the parable of the 10 virgins, five were taken into the wedding feast of the Bridegroom and five hadn’t paid enough attention to their walk with GOD and missed it.  Two men will be in the field, one taken and the other left.  Two women grinding at the wheel and only one taken into the Presence of the LORD when He makes His call.  We really do need to be concerned about our readiness.  This is not minimizing grace!  It means we should know better than to dare taking advantage of it.   The Bible speaks of both the goodness of GOD, as well as His severity.  He is after all GOD!  We can’t forget that!

Make a determination that the rider on the apocalyptic white horse does not have an effect on you.  Grab onto GOD and what He has given us in His Word, with everything you have…and don’t let go!!  The next weeks and months will require us to have a close relationship with GOD, not a distant one.

I am going to end with a passage in Colossians 3:1, but I’m going to give it to you in the “Message” version:  “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.  Pursue the things over which Christ presides.  Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you.  Look up, and be alert to what is going on around right in front of you.  Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is.  See things from His perspective.  Your old life is dead!  You’re new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in GOD.  He is your life.  When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you…”

Keep Looking Up!

Jake