I just read about a supposed ancient Chinese curse that goes like this, "May you live in interesting times." Well, dear readers, I can't say that these are the "end times" with any certainty, but they are definitely interesting by any definition.
My friends and I, we have fun with symbols. We are not afraid to play with concepts, we don't take ourselves too seriously, and we don't claim to know what in the world is going on. This being said, there is a lot in the world going on right now, and there are so many things to talk about with both your friends and strangers.
Since writing these articles, I am finding that there aren't that many people like me who can just relax and playfully discuss the possibilities of this "Revelations," end of the world business.
Most people just get way too serious when I bring up the topic. These days, I have found myself in an interesting position because I have occupied both extremes: I have been the stalwart Christian with his charts and Tim Lahaye timelines describing the exact chronology of all end of the world events and I have also been the staunch atheist who never shied away from showcasing his talents and abilities to not only mock Christianity and the Bible, but to do so in the cleverest, funniest and most stylish ways possible.
Am I proud of either of these phases in my past? No, not really.
During both these periods of my life I was the fool on the hill, even though perhaps, on different hills at times. Regardless, during both phases, I wagged my finger and waved my flags and spoke in booming voices, and I did this all while possessing that special something of the fool which I no longer possess -- certainty.
Now that I am more humble, I can really have fun. Once you say "I don't know," once you stop trying to be somebody who knows something, you can relax and start doodling. Who knows, you might even find that you are an artist of sorts.
It is with this that I ask the reader to try on this playful attitude now when reading the rest of this article. These symbols were meant to be used, played with, bent and sometimes forced. Don’t worry, you will not break them, you are not big enough or strong enough, though this may come as a disappointment to some.
There is a somewhat popular video on youtube that has grabbed my attention. Like many videos that go viral, this one made a little splash in its time and has been largely forgotten already.
It's 15 minutes of fame, that tiny little moment when it surfaced on the web and got passed around, was that special time a month or two ago when the spirit of revolution set fire to the Middle East in riots and protests and civil wars, and all of us, all of the world, became glued to the news headlines with anticipation.
Already now, it seems that this fire has subsided a bit (though something tells me it will flare up again), and it is important when watching this video to contextualize it in the spirit of those times, and to also hold in mind just how amazingly unprecedented these riots and protests were.
We have already become accustomed to talking about these revolts, but even half a year ago, such courageous revolutions in the Near East would be considered unheard of. Its funny how quickly the magic of things is lost on us.
Most would agree that this government overthow business started in Tunisia. However, right on the heels of this landmark event came the Egyptian protests and riots that ousted Mubarak. The world stood back in amazement and some even claimed that this peaceful overthrow was the perfect model and example to the rest of the world for how this kind of a thing should be done. I
'll never forget hearing on the radio an old man speaking of how proud he was of the youth of his country. He said, "This victory belongs to the young people of the nation. They did this. This is their victory and we are so proud."
When do you ever hear the older generation speaking so proudly of the youth? Such is rare for these modern times. I was deeply moved by this, and at the way the Egyptians took their destiny into their own hands.
Things would soon get more complicated with these revolutions. Victory would prove to be not so well defined, even in Egypt, and many countries and revolutions would not experience such easy transitional power shiftings as those first shining lights that led the way.
The fiasco in Libya was just around the corner, along with Syria and other African nations with their drawn out struggles, and it would soon become apparent to all that nothing is as clearly black and white, good or bad as we all would like them to be.
Against all of this, that initial victory in Egypt stands out all the more as a powerful and special moment in time. There was hope then, and few would deny, there was also goodness and glory.
It is interesting then to consider this video that went viral on youtube around the same time. Amidst footage of the Egyptian riots, towards the end of the clip, there appears a ghostly horseman that hovers up through the crowd. x
To me, this video was obviously fake. I was unconvinced by the texture and movement of the horseman, and thought it looked clearly computer generated.
The title of the video also seemed a bit silly to me, it read: "Fourth Horseman (death) Egyptian Riots."
So we are at the fourth horseman already, huh? What happened to the other three?
It's kind of disappointing to me if they've come and gone already without our noticing. Plus, if this is the horseman of death, you think it would have taken more than 300 lives, which is roughly the tally according to the U.N. in regards to the Egyptian riots.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking angelic forces, but seriously, I've seen better.
All silly You Tube videos aside, I got to thinking about the four horsemen of the apocalypse for the first time in years. I couldn't remember any thing about them.
On my long, late drive home from work I decided I needed a refresher course and my curiosity could not wait. I decided to ask for a lifeline and phone a friend.
My brother is great about fact checking and finding street names for me when I'm out in the world, and he's always more than happy to jump on his computer and answer any question I have. Naturally, he was amused with my horseman inquiry at 12:30 in the morning, but was no less eager to join in and learn along with me.
In short, here's the deal: In the book of Revelations, Jesus has a scroll with seven seals. He opens the first four of these seven seals, and each of these first four correspond to the four horsemen who are thus summoned.
In short, here's the deal: In the book of Revelations, Jesus has a scroll with seven seals. He opens the first four of these seven seals, and each of these first four correspond to the four horsemen who are thus summoned.
One can't help but think of the movie Jumanji at this point, but I will save such critical inquiries for another time.
What follows next is this succession of riders who are all clearly symbolic as their meanings are clearly related by the writer of these visions.
This is one of those rare and precious times in this infuriatingly obtuse book when the prophet actually throws the reader a bone. Mostly, it's all candlesticks and angelspeak.
Courtesy photo / Here is a rendering of the so-called four horsemen.The four horsemen are White, Red, Black and Pale, each corresponding respectively to Conquest, War, Famine and Death.
The first thing my brother and I noticed was the strange and unexpected color pairings with their corresponding symbols. For instance, one would think the black horseman would symbolize death, not famine.
It was the White Horseman, that of conquest, who really caught my attention though. Other sources we found said that this horseman stood for conflict and victory as well as conquest. Theologians were divided and perplexed over the meaning of this horseman because out of the four riders, there is a very clear positive connotation associated with him. This is unusual as very few things coming down from above in Revelations turn out to be good.
It was because of this confusion around the White Horseman that many scholars have assumed that this rider was Jesus himself, due to the crown of victory and the white garments. Some have claimed that this is scriptural evidence that the first thing that will happen at the end of the world will be Jesus coming back and taking his people up in what is usually known as the rapture.
It was because of this confusion around the White Horseman that many scholars have assumed that this rider was Jesus himself, due to the crown of victory and the white garments. Some have claimed that this is scriptural evidence that the first thing that will happen at the end of the world will be Jesus coming back and taking his people up in what is usually known as the rapture.
This however, just didn't seem to make sense to me when I considered that Jesus is also holding the scroll and still has three more seals to open. I'm not doubting the Lord's ability to multitask, believe me, but it just doesn't seem likely that this is what is happening for the sake of the story.
So the first horse, the white horse, is a symbol for conquest and conflict. I mused over this with my brother. Certainly the spreading of the gospel, along with imperialism, has experienced undeniable victory for better and for worse all over the globe.
After all, Christianity still currently maintains its position as the world's number one largest religion. We've no doubt come a long way since the stable.
I thought also that it was strange that the white horseman of conquest and conflict would be different at all from the red horse of war. Logically speaking, conquest/conflict and war seem inseparable as history clearly shows. However, the book of Revelations draws a difference, so perhaps we should assume for giggle's sake that this rider symbolizes conflict and conquest that is done without war.
This got me thinking about the uprisings in the Middle East. Maybe those youtubers got it wrong when they thought that the horse in that video was the pale horse of death.
Perhaps, I thought, this rider might be the white horseman, the first of the seals and the first of the signs. It certainly would be an easy mistake to make confusing the colors white with pale. These victories, these revolutions, they are not the same as war. These revolutions have also been a victory for the people, for humanity really -- there is something positive associated with these events despite of the struggles and trauma or rather amidst all the conflict there also a sense of glory and victory.
You won't find this video on youtube if you search for the white horseman because everyone thought it was the pale horseman. Chances are, if anything else actually happens in real life from the book of Revelations, we will probably miss that too or get it wrong entirely. We've been misunderstanding the Bible for centuries, why stop now?
I'm not exactly claiming that it was indeed the White Horseman of the Apocalypse riding through that youtube video, neither am I claiming that these revolutions in Egypt and other countries are the manifestations of the breaking of this first seal.
I do, however, think that these events are incredibly powerful and defining moments for humanity as a whole and the fact that the best of them took place in such an ancient and potent location as Egypt is not lost on me. Such things should not be overlooked.
When it comes to the video, I think it is likely that some smart, savvy, clever fellow used a computer program and digitally crafted that horseman over pre-existing news footage. Perhaps the artist was playing with meanings as they often do and thought he might use the White Horseman from the Bible as a symbol of celebration for the people's victory over oppression.
This all seems very plausible to me, and I have nothing but massive respect for the inventor of such a video. It just kills me though, and at the same time seems so fitting, that such a statement would go unnoticed or be misunderstood, in much the same way that book of Revelations and the whole Bible have been misunderstood time and again by millions of people. Perhaps God does have a sense of humor after all.
He’d kind of have to, if you know what I mean.
Who knows, maybe it was this very video that God showed St. John the Evangelist while the book of Revelations was being written. What, you don't think God would use You Tube to get a point across? He's gone to much greater trouble, just ask Jonah, or Job for that matter.
It could very well be that this party’s finally getting started, which means that war is next on the way, at least according to John.
It's hard to really say for sure being as how war seems to be always immanent these days, but I did start writing this article before they dropped Bin Laden in the sea, and its starting to look like this event is as meaningful as September 11 was in some ways.
At the very least, I feel there has been a slight shift in the global political atmosphere since that raid, a perceptible hostility and mistrust that is slowly growing in intensity. Lots of questions about Pakista. Lots of questions about our government. Storm clouds gathering on the distance.
The third horseman is Famine and he is symbolized by the color black.
It was my brother who casually pointed out that oil, also is black.
One can only imagine the kind of chaos and lack that would result from the blood supply of oil and gasoline being stopped up or depleted. Already we feel the squeeze at four dollars a gallon. It is this horseman who actually speaks and even mentions oil coincidentally, although John probably wasn’t thinking of fossil fuels when he scrolled down the quotation: “A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
What to make of it? What to say? The Black Horseman also carries a pair of balancing scales and I find my mind wandering to other things like debt ceilings, government shutdowns and the value of the dollar.
Of the pale horse, Death, I have no desire to ruminate. Perhaps another time.
And don’t forget, we have three other seals beyond these.
I, for the time being, will celebrate the White Horseman and cheer him on as he rides forth. The people in the Middle East are walking unarmed into guns and tanks and I’ve heard them say that they are not afraid to die for what they believe. This is why they will win.
I, for the time being, will celebrate the White Horseman and cheer him on as he rides forth. The people in the Middle East are walking unarmed into guns and tanks and I’ve heard them say that they are not afraid to die for what they believe. This is why they will win.
The paid soldiers will put down their guns and wonder where it was their orders came from. There may be a lot of bad, bad things on the way for everyone whether or not the Bible is full of truth or nonsense.
However, come what may, nothing can roll back those liberating moments when people stood up and realized who they really were, and that they had power after all.
A lot of power as it were, and we all have it once we simply realize it. People are indeed realizing it, and yes, there may be serious repercussions as a result.
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