Prophetic Interpretation Page 2: Dangerous Interpretations

For example, it was reported to me that one of you had actually read current events and suddenly formed a theory about the “End Times”.  It was stated, “We are currently living out the events of the book of Revelation.  We are currently living at the time of the Black Horseman and are about to step right into the time of the Pale Horseman.  Do you not see?  The White Horseman is World War 2.  The rider is Hitler.  He went forth conquering and to conquer.  The Red Horseman is the 911 attacks that took away peace from the world.  The rider is Osama Bin Laden.  The Black Horseman came so shortly after 911 that it would be easy to miss if you are not looking for it.  The horse is the Enron Scandal of October 2001 and the horseman was Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow of Enron.  And beware most of all!  The beast in the book of Daniel that is the fourth beast is the United States of America and President Obama is the little horn, the Anti-Christ or Son of Perdition!”

Oh what terror and outrage immediately grips my own heart at the hearing of this!  Is this stated to bring people peace or to bring them to a place of hysteria and hostility?  After all, what comes next is the last horseman, the Pale Horseman.  With him is Death and Hell!  Some have even predicted that the horse is the US and Obama, who they are certain is the Anti-Christ, is the horseman and he is the harbinger of World War 3.  They are convinced it will soon break out as tensions are rising in the east and world economic troubles drive people to revolt.  They say Obama will begin to use this as his platform for his conquests and will persecute Christians in particular in the most terrible of ways. 

Now I confess I can see some parallels between these things.  The horsemen in Revelation appear to affect the world on a global scale.  Events today appear to be happening on a global scale.  The White Horseman could be symbolic of Hitler, for scripture says that he went about conquering and to conquer and Hitler certainly did that on a global scale.  The Red Horseman is said to take away peace in the world, and certainly the 911 attacks affected the world, putting fear in the hearts of everyone around the world.  The Enron Scandal does seem to have been a prelude to world economic troubles, including that of the US.  I will even go so far as to admit that the argument about the fourth beast in the book of Daniel parallels the United States of America in some ways. 

After all, is it not written in Daniel 7:23 “The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms.”  Is not the US different from all other kingdoms?  Is it not a melting pot of diversity?  “And shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces.”  Some nations feel that the US is a beast that tramples everyone in its path, that it interferes in affairs that are not its own.  Further down it says, “He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law.”  This, of course, speaking of the actual king that would be the Anti-Christ.  Could he be a US President?  Is this symbolic of the entire country?  After all, does not the majority of the US now “speak pompous words against the Most High?”  Isn’t President Obama doing things that make it seem that he intends to “change times and law?”  After all, has he not just recently issued the executive order to make legal a group of immigrants without forcing them to go through the standard channels to receive citizenship?  Did he not just create “Obama-Care?”  Is this not going against the traditional laws of the country?