Herbert W Armstrong

   "And when he had opened the second seal, there went out another horse that was red. Power was given him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, that they should kill one another. And there was given unto him a great sword."

   "And when he had opened the third seal, behold, a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand."

   "When he had opened the fourth seal, behold, a pale horse. And the name of him that sat on him was Death and the grave followed him."

   Now, these four horsemen forecast a tremendous staggering event. A world event that soon now is to explode and to shake this world as it has never been shaken since human beings lived on this earth.

   The World Tomorrow. The Worldwide Church of God presents the World Tomorrow with Herbert W. Armstrong. Ladies and gentlemen, Herbert W. Armstrong.

   Just how close are we now to Armageddon? That's not just a religious term. Armageddon, you hear it on newscasts, reporters speak of it in reporting world events and the things that are happening because they see that we're near the end of things in this world.

   Just what is Armageddon? Well, Armageddon is a Bible term, and it is not speaking of a final World War. It's speaking of the final battle in the coming nuclear World War III. But how near are we to it right now while wars are now escalating?

   And even though events in other parts of the world in Poland down in Argentina and the trouble between them and Britain is occupying a lot of attention recently. There is a Tinderbox in the Middle East. I don't have time to go into that just now. But the condition among the Arab nations and Israel is really poised for something very, very great.

   Many more nations are joining the nuclear club; at least a dozen now have nuclear weapons, and most of them have the hydrogen bomb. And 35 others are on the way and will have nuclear weapons within 2 to 4 years. And then what, what next? Only Bible prophecy can tell you what is going to happen and where we go from now.

   The one book of prophecy in the Bible, the main book of prophecy, perhaps above all others, is the Book of Revelation. It's often called the Apocalypse, especially in the Roman Catholic Bible. It is called the Apocalypse. And it means a revealing, the revelation, and it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, it hasn't been understood.

   The Book of Revelation is pretty largely written in symbolic language. They use symbols not to represent the thing it's really talking about. And you can't interpret that, and only Jesus Christ could interpret it. And so, it is called the Revelation or the revealing of Jesus Christ. He is the one to reveal it.

   And it has been a closed book until now, until the end of the world, God Almighty had intended it to be that way. I'd like to, have you noticed, something clear, clear back in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel, some of the writings of the prophet Daniel were closed. They couldn't understand the prophecies until now.

   We come in the 11th chapter of Daniel to verse 40 (Daniel 11:40). It says, "And at the time of the end," now this is the longest prophecy in all the Bible. It really began in the 10th chapter, which is a sort of an introduction. The main prophecies in the 11th chapter, and the 12th chapter is the final finish of it. And the three of them are just one long prophecy, you might say, and it continues on under the 12th chapter, "the time of the end".

   "And at that time, shall Michael stand up, the great Prince who stands up for the Children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation to that same time. And at that time, thy people shall be delivered. Everyone that shall be found written in the book", (Daniel 12:1-4).

   Now speaking there of the Book of Life, and only those, the dead in Christ was explained in the New Testament, are going to rise in the resurrection. At that time, Daniel heard these things, but he didn't understand them. He said he heard but he didn't understand, but he was writing it down, and the angel who was telling him these things said, "But thou, oh Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, the book he was writing this book of prophecy and seal the book even to the time of the end. Then said I, oh my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" In other words, what's going to come out of all that you've given me and all that you've shown me? "And he said, go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed and sealed up until the end."

   Now, at the time of the end, he says, many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand, (Daniel 12:10).

   And at the time of the end, he said "many will be running to and fro, and knowledge will be increased". Today you'll find people who are going to and fro in automobiles and airplanes in every way. People are running to and fro, and knowledge has been increased so tremendously in this 20th century. In the decade of the sixties, the whole world's fund of knowledge doubled, but the world's troubles doubled also. You know, I've said many times that scientists and educators have said, "Just give us sufficient knowledge, and we will solve all of our problems, and we will kill all of the world's troubles and evils," and knowledge doubled, but troubles doubled also in that same decade because most of the knowledge was in the area of medicine and technology, and it didn't help solve the problems.

   The Book of Revelation is the Revelation of Christ. In other words, He is the one who reveals the meaning of the symbols, and He doesn't reveal it in the Book of Revelation. But it's interpreted by Jesus in the 24th chapter, Matthew, and the 13th chapter, Mark. In the 21st of Luke, there are like three reporters, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all reporting the same general prophecy or speech of Jesus in their own way.

   Now, in the Book of Revelation, in the sixth chapter, you find a general sequence of events from our time now. I should say from the time of Christ, from the time of Christ up until our time now and on into the future and the time of the second coming of Christ, but it is revealed and explained by Jesus in Matthew 24. So, I want to go back to that once again in Matthew 24, and many times I've gone through that.

   But now, listen, once again, let's get this straight. Jesus was in the temple at Jerusalem, and they just come out of the temple, and His disciples had shown in the buildings of the temples and pointed to it and made some remark about it (Matthew 24:1-5). And He said, well, I want to tell you those, all these buildings are going to be torn down, and one stone won't be left upon another. Now, they thought that was all gonna happen in their time. And indeed, it was, it happened in 70 A.D., and He was speaking to them about 30 or 31 A.D. When He said that, a little later three of them were with Him up on the mound of Olives, and they came to Him and they asked Him, "Well, tell us when shall these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming?"

   Now, they also understood that He was going to come back to earth again as the King of kings and the Lord of lords to rule over the nations of the world. They did not understand that His second coming would not happen in their lifetime. They thought it would; they thought it was going to happen almost immediately, perhaps in two or three years of their lifetime.

   Jesus answered and said, He answered their first question first because that was going to happen in their lifetime. He said, "Take heed to yourselves that no man deceive you." He was talking to them as disciples, "that no man deceive you". He said to His own disciples, "For many shall come in my name, saying that I am the Christ, and shall deceive the many." They would come as the ministers of Christ, preaching that Jesus is the Christ, preaching Christ to the world, and they've been doing it for 1950 years, and yet He said they'd be deceiving them, money.

   Now, how could that be? How could people believe in Christ, accept Christ as their savior, and still be lost? How could that happen? You know, Jesus said, "In vain do they," speaking of many of them that are deceived, "do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the Commandments of men and making the law of God have no effect by your tradition, traditions and commandments of men instead of the Commandments of God in vain do they worship me?" Jesus taught that not many of those who come in His name as His ministers will tell you that today. But your Bible does if you blow the dust off of it and look at it and see what the Bible says. You know, the greatest surprise that ever came to me in my life was 55 years ago when I began to read in the Bible things that were just the exact opposite of what I had been taught in church all my life. I've been raised in a respectable church from babyhood on, and I found the Bible said just the opposite. In other words, I had been taught just the opposite of what the Bible says. And so have most of you if you would ever open your Bibles and look for yourself, and for yourself see what it says and what it means. But very few have done that.

   Let's turn back now to Revelation, the sixth chapter beginning with verse one (Revelation 6:1-3), "And I saw, it says, here, John is recording what he saw in a vision, and he says, "And I saw when the Lamb," which is Christ in this case, "had opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder." One of the four beasts or living creatures, that can be translated, saying, "Come and see. And I saw and beheld 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. This is not the coming of Christ. It's the coming of false ministers who went out posing as the ministers of Christ but were deceiving the many.

   Now verse four (Revelation 6:4-6), "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 with a sword, and that was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third base say come and see. And I beheld a black horse." Now, here you have the black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. Now here is famine. "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beast say a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny", a scarcity of food, famine, if you will notice, "and see that thou hurt not the oil or the wine", and that was famine.

   Now then, notice the next one, verse seven (Revelation 6:7). "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice say come and see. And I looked and beheld a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was death, and the grave followed him." In other words, pestilence following famine and disease and death. And those things were prophesized to come. And those are the four horsemen. Now the first was a white horse. The second was a red horse, and the third was a black horse, and the fourth horseman was riding a pale horse. Now Jesus explains all of that here in Matthew 24, He spoke of the white horse, the false prophets coming, claiming to be the representatives of Christ, the ministers of Jesus Christ preaching Christ to the nations saying please accept Jesus Christ, begging people accept Christ. Jesus didn't beg anyone to accept him, but nevertheless, they do today.

   And Jesus said in vain, are they worshiping Him even teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Why are we having trouble in the world is the way we're living because we don't live according to God's way of life. God's law, which is a way of living. And people try to say that's all done, way we live, the way we're living, and the way we're living is causing all of today's troubles. That's what's wrong in the world today. Now, if you notice verse six, that is happening next year in Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:6), and He said, what would come later. "You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that you be not troubled for all of these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." So, wars they began to have even then, and they had the war in 70 A.D., and the temple was destroyed at that time. But that was not the end. But that and wars have continued and they're going to continue on to the final climax, the grand smash final World War III, the nuclear war that will end at Armageddon. And that will be at the end in the time of the coming of Christ.

   Now, next we come to the Black Horse, and you'll notice that in Matthew 24, verse seven (Matthew 24:7), "For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences." Now, there will be famines, and that was the Black Horse. And then you find pestilences, the Pale Horse, and you find all of them are the four horsemen of Revelation. That's all explained and all to come up to our time. But that still was not the sign of Christ's coming. So, His disciples had asked Jesus up on the mound of Olives, "What will these things be?" That is the destruction of the temple and the sign of thy coming. Now, He was explaining all of these things down to our present time, but He didn't come to the sign of His coming until a little later.

   Now let's go back to Matthew 24 and verse 14 (Matthew 24:14). "And this gospel of the Kingdom," many would come in His name, deceiving and preaching a false gospel. But now He says many will come in My name, deceiving the people. But finally, this gospel of the Kingdom, the same gospel He preached, would be proclaimed in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. It's the sign of His coming just before His coming at the time of the end, my friends. You're hearing that gospel now, you haven't been hearing the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

   Now, what was the gospel that Jesus preached? If you will notice in Mark the first chapter (Mark 1:1), "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God". It talks about John the Baptist preparing the way before Him as he did before His first coming. Another was to prepare the way before His second coming, John the Baptist just described here, and then Jesus being baptized by him in the River Jordan. And then verse 14 (Mark 1:14), "Now after that, John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel." What gospel, what gospel did He preach? The gospel of the Kingdom of God. That is the world rule of God, the Kingdom of God, the government of God, a government that is going to rule over all nations and bring in the world tomorrow. At the end of this world, a world of peace, a world of happiness, a world of great joy and accomplishment and well-being for everybody in it, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand." It was at hand because He had just overcome Satan, the devil, and qualified to sit on that throne which Satan, the devil, had been sitting on. "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, ye therefore, that has changed the way you believe and changed the way you were living. It's the way people have been living that's been causing all of our troubles, and believe the gospel." The gospel was the Kingdom of God. But they didn't believe the gospel very long because a short time later, within 21 or 22 years, as Paul, the Apostle Paul wrote to the people in Galatia, "I marvel that you're so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there would be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ". They had proclaimed another gospel.

   Now, the false preachers that were coming, that Jesus had told them about, and they've come. They came in the time of the early disciples. They came by 53 A.D. or before that time. They had already turned to a different gospel in 53 A.D., as Paul explained in the prophecy that I just read to you. But in II Corinthians, the 11th chapter, and beginning with verse 13 (II Corinthians 11:13), speaking of these false apostles with another gospel, it says, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And they themselves are deceived because the whole world is deceived. Many of them are honest and believe they have the truth, but they have been deceived themselves. "And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed as an angel of light. And therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers, Satan's ministers professing to be the ministers of God. But Satan's ministers also are transformed as the ministers of righteousness."

   And so, we shouldn't be shocked because that kind of thing has happened and it certainly has. And the whole world has been deceived, and the world has been drugged with false ideas of religion, with a false gospel. And the whole gospel is in your Bible. If you just open it up, blow the dust off of it, read it, and open up your mind with an open mind and not a closed mind of prejudice.

   We go back to Matthew 24 once again, and here we find the very next thing to happen comes in verse 21 (Matthew 24:21), "And there shall be, after the gospel of the Kingdom is finally preached to the world as it is now". And you're hearing it on this very program, and it's being fulfilled before your eyes and in your ears this very second, "and there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this same time, no, nor ever shall be." Now, I just read the same thing in Daniel at the time of the end. "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved alive". A time when all humanity could be destroyed. That had to be a time after the hydrogen bomb had been discovered and produced. It never could have happened before. And it had to be at a time when the gospel of the Kingdom was going out again, and it began in January of 1934. And then it went into all Europe in January of 1953, 19 years later. And that's 100-time cycles after they had turned to a false gospel.

   And then after that, immediately after the tribulation, in verse 29 of those days (Matthew 24:29), "The sun will be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken". Now, then I want to go back once again and read to you Revelation, the 6th chapter (Revelation 6:12-14), and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as the sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of the heavens fell to the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and every island were moved out of their places."

   And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath is come", (Luke 21:27) "And they shall see the Son of Man coming with power and great glory". To set up the kingdom of God and to rule all nations and bring in the happy and the peaceful world tomorrow. But we'll have to repent. We'll have to live according to the laws of God. The laws of God are the way God Himself lives and the way Christ lives and the way Christ did live when He was here on this earth, my friends. You need to know about these things. This truth has been hidden entirely too long, and God's time has come.

   Now, I mentioned this book, Are We in the Time of the End? You should get it. "Are We Living in the Last Days?" That is one booklet. Another book that I'd like to have you get, and I'm gonna mention some of these and they're free, and there's no charge and no follow-up or request for money. "The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last," explaining the Book of Revelation which you have never understood. Then another one, and the most important of all, "The United States and Britain in Prophecy." You can't understand prophecy until you understand this, the United States and the British people in prophecy. And all you do is just send your name and address to me, Herbert W. Armstrong, Pasadena, California. That's all the address you need. Just Herbert W. Armstrong, Pasadena, California 91123, or better yet, go to the telephone right now.

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   For the free literature offered on this program write Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123 in Canada Box 44, Vancouver BC or in the Continental United States. You may call this toll-free number 800-423-4444 in California, Alaska and Hawaii call collect 213-577-5555. If the lines are busy, please try again. The preceding program and all literature were produced and sponsored by the worldwide Church of God.