CHRISTIAN MEDIA RESEARCH - Newsletter - Islam Rides

or many years we have stated the conventional view of the Christian church regarding the four horsemen is inaccurate. It is widely taught that the first horse, the White Horse of Revelation 6:2, is the Antichrist. This is inaccurate, for it is now clear these four horsemen are kingdoms and eras - and the first three have already gone by.

The fourth horse, the Pale Horse, is actually introducing the warfare inaugurating the Tribulation period. The Greek word for "pale" is chloros - where we get our word chlorophyll. In short, this is the Green Horse, and it introduces the widespread death that is associated with the global conflict with the various sects of Islamic militancy. The Scripture tells us:

"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." - Revelation 6:8

The Green Horse is also going to initiate the global ecological movement in the wake of World War III - a series of regional nuclear confrontations that are largely brought about in various areas through religious conflict initiated by the Islamic strongholds of planet earth. The Green Crescent is the recognized symbol of Islam and marks that hideous spirit of death that has historically animated the Moslem faith. That ancient evil is now riding at full gallop.

While this verse actually introduces the Antichrist and the False Prophet ("death and hell"), the period of their introduction is characterized by a time when "a fourth part of the earth" is going to die. This grim prophecy actually tells us one quarter, or 1.5 billion people, of the present 6 billion population will die during this interval.

There is a very subtle shade to this prophecy that is commonly missed. The Scripture informs us that "power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth...." On one level, it describes a systematic destruction that ultimately affects "one fourth" of the world population.

However, on another level, it is also describing that "one fourth" as the instrument of the terrifying destruction we know as the time of the great tribulation. When "power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill..." we see that one quarter of the world population is subject to the authority of the spiritual presence called "death."

It is not a coincidence that as I write these words, Islam has grown to the degree that fully "one fourth" of the world has been ensnared in this false religious movement. Thus, this crucial prophecy in the book of Revelation appears to be telling us that it is the quarter of the earth that is caught in the Islamic mind set that is the instrument of the terrible destruction that is immediately ahead.

That destruction is said to be of a four-fold nature encompassing war ("the sword"), famine ("hunger"), death ("death" in the generic sense), and pestilence ("the beasts" or creatures of the earth). This four-fold nature of the cataclysms that are about to unfold also helps us to discern the tenor of the conflict. It is not World War III in the historic sense of clusters of nations all allied on one side or the other. This is a "different kind of war" (George Bush's term) that shifts locales on a regular basis.

Military analysts state that Osama Bin Ladin may have Al Quaida cell groups (his particular Islamic militia) in 60 countries. These countries are not all enemies of the democratic states; however each has significant population centers that are Islamic. The stage is now set for a cultural, political, and social conditioning that abhors any form of religion that is not liberal - whether Islamic, Jewish, or Christian.

After militant Islam has dealt a few more destructive blows to America that exceed even the World Trade Center levels of death and chaos, popular opinion will be overwhelmingly against any form of religious fundamentalism. This will ensure a volatile social environment for people of faith.

Indeed, according to Newsweek Magazine, the American democratic party recently admitted they intend to attempt to undermine conservative Christianity by comparing it to the Taliban. Even the New York Times made the same comparison when an article published there a week ago referred to Islamic radicals in Arab states as "the religious right." This is a term that is always used in association with the American Republican party to describe the conservative Christian wing of American politics.

This is obviously a shameless partisan effort on the part of Democrats to regain the political initiative that is in shambles due to the popularity of President Bush and his centrist Republican administration. There are similar patterns occurring in nations around the world as governments seek to grapple with an explosive religious turmoil that threatens to affect everyone. Thus, the stage is set for a religious cataclysm that will be waged on every front.

After the tumultuous events have escalated to the levels of the Pale Horse with death occurring "over the fourth part of the earth," no-one will be interested in the right or wrong of any of it. The world will only be interested in any method available to turn it off. Here is where the Antichrist will be introduced into the political mainstream.

A new global consensus will emerge behind this great leader who is indeed a man of faith. A reasonable man with moderate religious sensibilities, he will have the ability to bring about a consensus form of world dominion that respects all religious "traditions." At that point, the world will hail the new golden age, and the cessation of the war they will be told was the battle of Armageddon. But that "peace" will be short-lived, for nothing is as it seems.

Behold, the Pale Horse approaches.

James Lloyd