Posted on 02/06/2024 5:35:12 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
I purchased Billy Graham’s book, Approaching Hoofbeats, not long after its publication in 1983. I cannot remember all that I thought as I read it forty years ago, but I know the book sparked hope regarding the nearness of the Rapture. As a young pastor at the time, I loved preaching about Bible prophecy and Jesus’ appearing.
As I recently skimmed its chapters, the stark differences between then and now leaped off the pages. Some of the signs that four decades ago seemed so indicative of the nearing Rapture pale by comparison to all that we see today.
The Antichrist Rides
It’s only been in the past six years or so that Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have come out of the shadows and revealed their true intentions to the world. They have invited the news media into their once-secret meetings and revealed their true intention to enslave the world under “Build Back Better,” which is a euphemism for their intent to create a Marxist, totalitarian world government.
I am definitely not suggesting that Klaus Schwab is the coming “man of lawlessness” as Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10. However, he does provide an apt illustration of how the antichrist will gain control of our world under the cloak of promoting peace.
By 1983, I had heard of a group called the “trilateralists” who were pushing for a one-world government at the time. Today, however, the emerging framework for the type of world domination that we read about in the book of Revelation is front and center for everyone to see, yet so few are paying attention to the nearness of the time when the white horse will ride across the earth.
The Threat of Nuclear War
In Approaching Hoofbeats, Evangelist Billy Graham wrote about the threat of a devastating nuclear war, which was a major concern at the time. Today, however, this danger has reached the point where most analysts believe it’s likely to occur in the next few years.
Citing the significant risk for a nuclear war, a group called “The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” made headlines on January 23, 2024, by resetting their Doomsday Clock back to ninety seconds before midnight. Below is a quote from their latest press release under a section titled “The Many Dimensions of Nuclear Threat”:
A durable end to Russia’s war in Ukraine seems distant, and the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in that conflict remains a serious possibility. In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to “suspend” the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). In March, he announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. In June, Sergei Karaganov, an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urged Moscow to consider launching limited nuclear strikes on Western Europe as a way to bring the war in Ukraine to a favorable conclusion.
Today’s world is exceedingly more dangerous than it was in 1983. The prospect of a nuclear war was a possibility back then; now it’s become a matter of when rather than if.
Economic Peril
In January of this year, the national debt level of the United States reached $34 trillion, and by the end of the month, it stood at an astounding 34.1 trillion. With the announcement came the prediction that by March, this number would exceed $35 trillion.
In 1983, the debt reached $1.377 trillion. The current number is not only unsustainable for the future, but it also tells us that the black horse (Revelation 6:5- 6) will soon ride across America and the entire world. The current debt level in America will surely bring economic catastrophe.
The Lord’s restraining hand is the only reason the world has not yet experienced the worst inflation in its history. Twelve years ago, I read books by economic experts who predicted imminent doom for the U.S. economy. Their reasoning was entirely sound but for the patience of the Lord, allowing more time for people to come to faith in Him and thus escape the wrath of the Day of the Lord.
The Pale Horse
A radio interviewer last year asked me if I thought the riders of the Apocalypse were already active in our world. I replied with a firm “no.” First, I’m convinced the Rapture will happen before the Lord Jesus releases the Seal Judgments as recorded in Revelation 6. Second, although there’s violence, pestilence, and a substantial number of deaths occurring in our current world, the totals fall far short of the horrific conditions described in connection with the hoofbeats of the pale horse.
Revelation 6:7-8 says that “over a fourth of the earth” will perish as the result of Jesus opening the Seals. Even considering the disappearance of people at Jesus’ appearing, that’s still a vast number that will likely exceed one and a half billion people. The total death toll that resulted from WWII, which some place as high as seventy-five million, is horrific, of course, but it pales in comparison to what lies ahead.
The time is rapidly approaching when the world will see the fulfillment of all that John both witnessed and wrote about in Revelation 6:1-8. The Bible says that sudden destruction will overwhelm the world after the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).
Though dreadful for those who will hear the hoofbeats in the future, the nearing of this time tells us that Jesus’ appearing is ever so close. We will be in Heaven before Jesus opens the seal judgments described in Revelation 6.
If by chance you are reading this and remain outside of Christ and thus without hope in a world headed for certain judgment, please read my article, Jesus Is the Only Path to Eternal Life. You can know for sure that you will spend eternity in heaven.
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Maranatha!
Good article. We are so, so close to the end of this current age, and to be honest, it’s frightening. Yet, we have the Blessed Hope to look forward to.
Amen brother!
Our Blessed Hope awaits!
AMEN!
I would vastly prefer going up in the rapture, that would be the most awesome thing to be chan ged in an instant andn taken up, all while conscious.
However, whether it’s that way or dying for me personally, is God’s call.
Noah and his family were saved from GOD’s wrath by entering the ark, just as anyone who put lambs blood on their doorposts were spared during the Egyptian plagues, when the Angel of Death took all of the firstborn in Egypt. These were a foreshadowing of the end times tribulation period when believers in Christ will be taken before GOD’s wrath begins.
Some days after I received the Lord as Savior (March 1981), I had dream/vision of the Rapture.
I was asleep, and in my dream/vision I was clothed in my work clothes, which at that time was dark blue pants and a light blue shirt. I remember walking down a hallway, then all of a sudden I saw like a circular image, like the front of a trumpet, I heard a blast (for lack of better words) and I looked up in astonishment. Then I was soaring through the clouds. I heard a voice say, "Come to me My Son" and I replied "I come to you my Father." Then I woke up.
But then right after I woke up, I saw the two most devilish, evil eyes in the darkness and I immediately pulled the covers over my head for the rest of the night. :-) I told a friend of the dream and the eyes and he said satan had to make sure I knew he wasn't pleased.
I also remember having a dream when I was just a little kid, and all I can remember from that dream was that something dramatic happening in the 2020's. That's it. Don't ask me why I had such a dream at such a young age. I can't explain it.
But those are the only instances in my life where I had a heaven sent vision/dream. I don't fear death, but on the other hand, death seems to be all around us/me these days, and it's terrifying to see how fast people are dropping. If I go by way of physical death, I hope I have a chance to say goodbye to my kids. But if I go by way of Rapture, well, we'll see what happens I guess.
.
.. my dream/vision...
You said you didn’t questioned the dream didn’t you? I believe that every child has some kind of message related to what the Lord has for them. I was about 2-8 yrs old. My dream was about the end of the world. Everything was red and burning but I was not afraid, And I knew it was the end time. Strange that I should have known that since our family lived in the deep country with nothing except what we grew from the dirt to survive, but I was loved. I never have forgotten that dream. I had a lot of reasons to know it. God is good when you reach out to Him. If not, He might have a message for you. So listen.
This Blessed Hope we have would be much more blessed if more people would read, study, & believe what it says in Revelations. It is a truly frightening time yet to come & especially for those who are non-believers. It’s bad now, but Revelations shows what happens when it gets MUCH worse for this world.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are indeed coming.
All according to Satan’s plan:
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
1 - White Horse): World “political leader/messiah”
2 - Red Horse): War
3 - Black Horse): Famine through high prices
4 - Pale Horse): Pestilence (disease through hunger, fighting and the beasts of the Earth)
Revelation 6:1-8
King James Version
1) And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4 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.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+6%3A1-8&version=KJV
Not sure I understand your question.
Too true. If people could wrap their heads around just how many people are going to perish during the Tribulation, and when, and then how much suffering there is going to be, maybe it would motivate them. Then again........
[Too true. If people could wrap their heads around just how many people are going to perish during the Tribulation]
From how the Scripture reads to me, 50% will die in those 7 years. As the world is now (reportedly) around 7.75 billion people then the deaths would be nearly 4 billion people.
The most dramatic, devastating time, EVER, on Earth.
Josephus described the state of Jerusalem before the fall in 70 AD
"The madness of the seditious did also increase together with their famine, and both those miseries were every day inflamed more and more; for there was no corn which any where appeared publicly, but the robbers came running into, and searched men's private houses; and then, if they found any, they tormented them, because they had denied they had any; and if they found none, they tormented them worse, because they supposed they had more carefully concealed it.Violence and famine afflicted Jerusalem at the end of the siege, just as John foresawThe indication they made use of whether they had any or not was taken from the bodies of these miserable wretches; which, if they were in good case, they supposed they were in no want at all of food; but if they were wasted away, they walked off without searching any further; nor did they think it proper to kill such as these, because they saw they would very soon die of themselves for want of food.
Many there were indeed who sold what they had for one measure; it was of wheat, if they were of the richer sort; but of barley, if they were poorer. When these had so done, they shut themselves up in the inmost rooms of their houses, and ate the corn they had gotten; some did it without grinding it, by reason of the extremity of the want they were in, and others baked bread of it, according as necessity and fear dictated to them: a table was no where laid for a distinct meal, but they snatched the bread out of the fire, half-baked, and ate it very hastily."
There will be an increase in evil at the end (as Paul notes in places like 2 Timothy 3:1-5, but with no timeline on the length), with the return of Jesus happening after the man of lawlessness is revealed (see 2 Thessalonians 2), and the church will experience these things. Therefore, there are many who say that Christians will remain until the end and experience the sufferings of the last times.
In Matthew 24:21–22. “For then there will be a great tribulation such has not occurred since the worlds beginning until now, no nor will occur again. In fact unless those days were cut short, no flesh will survive, but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.” So yes all those faithful Christians will survive through the tribulation.
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