The Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Genocides of the 20th Century

Ezekiel's vision took place at the Chebar Canal, which runs into the River Euphrates. The main concentration camp of the Armenian Genocide was established at the confluence here in the modern Deir-ez-Zor district.

As I argue at considerable length in my book Unveiling the Apocalypse: The Final Passover of the Church, there is a wealth of evidence to suggest that Pope Leo XIII personally believed that his prophetic vision was concerned with the Millennium of Rev 20. Pope Leo XIII's vision, which he witnessed around the year 1886, was chiefly concerned with the imminent arrival of a period in which Satan would be granted greater power. A prophetic experience which proved only too real with the unfolding of the wars and genocides throughout the course of the 20th century.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus refers to the binding of the "strong man" in the same context as His prophecy concerning the Sign of Jonah:

Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house." (Matt 12:22-29)

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.

(Matt 12:39-41)

So the appearance of the Sign of Jonah and the binding of the "strong man" (which took place during Christ's sacrificial death on the Cross and His descent into Hades on Holy Saturday), are very closely associated events.

Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:31-33)

According to the amillenialist view elaborated by St. Augustine of Hippo, it was through the victory of the Cross that Satan was bound throughout the course of the "thousand years", or Millennium of Rev 20:

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. (Rev 20:1-3)

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. (Rev 20:7-9)

St. Augustine of Hippo taught that Satan was bound by Christ in order to allow the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, which had allowed Christianity to become the world's largest religion. However, he also expected the Devil to be unleashed upon the world once again at the end of the "thousand years", during which time Christianity would suffer serious repression leading to an age of apostasy. St. Augustine equated the "thousand years" of Rev 20 with the Sabbath Millennium discussed by the Early Church Fathers. A week of millennia which would last from the biblical date of creation right up to the end-time itself. The Early Church Fathers had calculated this period from the Greek text of the Bible to end around the year 500AD; but as I note in my book, this period can be accurately dated to around the turn of the 20th century, once we take into account St. Bede the Venerable's recalibration of the chronology of the Bible, which he did by using the original Hebrew text.

In my previous blog post The Sign of Jonah and the Binding of Satan, I have already detailed how the Sign of Jonah was an actual historical event which took place during the ministry of the prophet himself, which consisted of a total solar eclipse that appeared over the site of ancient Nineveh. Known as the Bur Sagale solar eclipse, this event is thought by some theologians to have occurred sometime in and around the prophet's entrance into Nineveh described in Jonah 3, and was pivotal in bringing about the repentance of the ancient Ninevites. It is of crucial significance then that the beginning of the period of Satan's greater power foreseen in the vision of Pope Leo XIII was similarly timed to coincide with a total solar eclipse which traversed the site of ancient Nineveh. This was at the start of the First World War, on 21st August, 1914 - the feast day of Our Lady of Knock. A Marian apparition that specifically announced the opening of the scroll sealed with seven seals by the Lamb of Revelation, which sets the entire events of the eschaton into motion with the release of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse described in Rev 5-6:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
(Rev 5:1-10)

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. (Rev 6:1-8)

The significance of the Four Living Creatures is key to understanding the meaning of the opening of the scroll sealed with seven seals and the unleashing of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In order to unravel the mystery behind this portion of the Apocalypse, we must turn to the Book of Ezekiel. It is here that we find that the Four Living Creatures are closely associated with a very precise location centred on the River Euphrates, which was identified with the Chebar Canal:

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.

Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. (Ezek 1:1-20)

Many theologians have identified the Chebar Canal with the River Khabur in the Deir-ez-Zor district in modern Syria, which became the site of the largest concentration camp during the Armenian Genocide, which was perpetrated at the very start of the First World War in April 1915. Between 1915-1923, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were exterminated by the Turkish government, providing a future template which their close allies the Germans would use to implement the Jewish Holocaust. The key architects of the infrastructure used to exterminate the Jews during the Second World War had witnessed the Armenian Genocide first hand, and directly lifted the systematic slaughter devised by the Turks to annihilate a third of the world's total Jewish population.

As I argue in my book, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are one and the same as the four angels bound at the River Euphrates, who are released at the opening of the seals of Revelation in order to kill a third of "the people":

Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of [the people]. (Rev 9:13-15)

The Four Horsemen are released at an exact time which had been prepared for them, which I propose is one and the same as the period of the unbinding of Satan at the end of the Sabbath Millennium - which can be calculated from the text of the Hebrew Bible. We are told that the four angels that are released in order to kill a third of the people are bound at the River Euphrates, which we know was the location of Ezekiel's vision of the Four Living Creatures at the Chebar Canal. And it is the Four Living Creatures who summon the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse at the opening of the first four seals of the Apocalypse. 

It is interesting to note that the River Euphrates had been dammed in the years just preceding the First World War, during the construction of the Hindiya Barrage between 1911-1913:

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. (Rev 9:13-14)

The drying up of the Euphrates is mentioned in the same context as the appearance of the apocalyptic locusts, which occurs at the opening of the Abyss by the angel given the key to Hades, which ties us back into the period of the unbinding of Satan described in Rev 20:

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. (Rev 9:1-3)

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. (Rev 20:1-3)

It is no coincidence that the Wright Brothers had began to develop the first aircraft within a year of Pope Leo XIII's consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1899, which had paved the way for the world's first military airplane being developed in and around the same time as the Tunguska event of 1908 - which is the single most famous event of a star fallen to earth in recorded history. As I argue in my book, the invention of military aircraft is the most plausible explanation of the symbolism of the "apocalyptic locusts" which rise at the opening of the Abyss which takes place at the end of the Millennium of Rev 20. 

All of the above combined prophetic signs indicate that the end of the Sabbath Millennium discussed by the Early Church Fathers did indeed coincide with the vision of Pope Leo XIII and the short time of Satan described in Rev 20. As we shall discuss in more depth in the next post, the fact that Armenia was the world's first Christian kingdom ties in with the prophetic symbolism of the Kingdom of God as the kerygma of Jesus' ministry. The proclamation of coming of the Kingdom and Christ's casting out of unclean spirits was the ultimate sign of the binding of Satan and the inauguration of the millennial reign of Christ through the victory achieved at the Cross at Calvary. 

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. (Matt 12:29-30)