"And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 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." Rev 6:3,4 (KJV)

As I said in yesterday's lesson regarding the Rider on the White Horse, that while many have said that this is the Lord Jesus Himself, that's just not so and today brings us another piece of evidence to that end.

If you have been following along on a daily basis you will remember that we said that the Rider on the White Horse yesterday, was the AntiChrist. And while he is using the colors of white meaning coming in peace and purity as well as humbleness, we must note that a white horse (throughout the years)has also has signified a Savior or "one who rescues" and all we need to do is look at some of our fairy tale stories throughout our childhood to remind ourselves of the rider on the white horse usually a handsome prince or some person coming to save the day ... to see that this ideology is being used here. But what John is showing us, is the method by which the AntiChrist will come. He will come as one who comes in peace; he will come as a Savior and will specifically target the Church that has been left behind and will immediately establish the World Council of Churches(or something similar) as his prophet and begin to do his dirty work "on the sly" - signifying the bow without the arrows. By the way, that crown that is spoken there is not a crown that is given him by The Lord. This is a crown that he will receive from the world and this Rider on the White Horse is signifying his stepping forth and claiming it.

Then in our text for today, John says:

"And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 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."
Rev 6:3,4 (KJV)

You see, the kindness that will be offered the church will be short-lived and the peace that he represents will be revealed as nothing more than counterfeit. We see that begin to change as the Lord then releases the Rider on the Red Horse sent to take away peace from the Earth; and we need to talk about that for a minute because many preach and teach that these Riders are being orchestrated and controlled by the AntiChrist or the devil.

Each one of these Riders on these different colored horses are being released by God to bring about His Will on the Earth and only He knows the span of time each event will take. I see nothing from the scriptures that says these Horses are coming from the heavens - but they appear on Earth and I believe they are already in place but being held back until the proper time when the Lord will allow them to do their thing, and then he will put an end to it all in Revelation 19.

But we see by the Rider on the Red Horse, that God is removing the facade of the counterfeit savior of the world (Rider on the White Horse - AntiChrist) and takes this false peace from the world. Why? Because if there is any chance for those that are left behind to see The AntiChrist or the Rider on the White Horse for the counterfeit that he is . . . his power over them must be broken. Nothing breaks the confidence of a man in charge quicker than when war breaks out. We have seen that here recently with President Bush and the Iraqi War. The Same with Tony Blair. The Iraq war almost ruined any positive mark those two men will ever leave on this world. Someday when the dust all settles they might appear as leaders during a troubling time in history, but in the crisis of warfare there is always unrest, and we see here that the unrest will cause them (meaning the other nations of the world) to see this "would be" Savior for what he really is and they will begin to war against him and it will open their eyes to that "bow without arrows". They will finally see that the current "Savior" was not going to be sufficient for them, and that all he wanted anyway was to control them so they begin to war against him.

Oh that men today would take off the blinders placed on them by the mass media that would like to have us believe that Christianity - and for that matter, all forms of religion are, as Mao Tse Tung said years ago (A Communist Leader in China), "an opium of the masses". If they could get the world to believe that, they would desensitize the world to any thought of God and begin to systematically tearing it down. That is where I believe we are headed and describes what will happen during this portion of the Tribulation Period. It will be the transition from the Rider on the White Horse which feigns peace and purity and reconstruction after millions have disappeared from the earth in one mass disappearance, to eyes being opened by the appearance of the rider on the red horse who will take peace from the world and the feigned savior will then begin to lose his hold on the world. Remember this is an all out war for every last soul that God can win, and in the end He wins the battle, and receives many more souls into the Kingdom in the effort.