Facing the Future by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins Page B

seven terrible years, especially the last half, the Glorious Appearing will be all that more glorious. Christ will come back to set up his thousand-year reign on Earth, the Millennium.
    “Let me just briefly outline the seven-sealed scroll from Revelation 5 and 6, and then we’ll hear from Mr. Williams. On the one hand, I don’t want to give you a spirit of fear, but we all know we’re still here because we neglected salvation before the Rapture. I know we’re all grateful for the second chance, but we cannot expect to escape the trials that are coming.”
    Bruce explained that the first four seals in this scroll were described as men on four horses: a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse. “The white horseman apparently is the Antichrist, who ushers in one to three months of diplomacy while getting organized and promising peace.
    “The red horse signifies war. Three rulers from the south will oppose the Antichrist, and millions will be killed.”
    Bruce turned a sheet on his flip chart. “All that killing will likely come within the next eighteen months. Immediately following that, which will take only three to six months because of the nuclear weaponry available, the Bible predicts inflation and famine—the black horse. As the rich get richer, the poor starve to death. More millions will die that way. Sad to say, it gets worse. That killer famine could be as short as two or three months before the arrival of the fourth Seal Judgment, the fourth horseman on a pale horse—the symbol of death. Besides the postwar famine, a plague will sweep the entire world. Before the fifth Seal Judgment a quarter of the world’s current population will be dead. You’re going to recognize this judgment, because we’ve talked about it before. Remember my telling you about 144,000 Jewish witnesses who evangelize the world for Christ? The world leader and the harlot, which is the name for the one-world religion that denies Christ, will murder many of the converts, perhaps millions.
    “The sixth Seal Judgment consists of God pouring out his wrath against the killing of his saints. This will come in the form of a worldwide earthquake so devastating that no instruments will be able to measure it. It will be so bad that people will cry out for rocks to fall on them and put them out of their misery. The seventh seal introduces the seven Trumpet Judgments, which will take place in the second quarter of the seven years. That’s the second twenty-one months.”
    Bruce concluded, “Most believers will be murdered or die from war, famine, plagues, or earthquakes.”
    Vicki was depressed. She found herself actually looking forward to Mr. Williams’s presentation. She knew times would be rough, and she didn’t expect any better. But this was devastating. Whatever Cameron Williams had to say had to be better than this.
    “First,” Mr. Williams said, “I go by Buck. Calling me Mr. Williams makes me feel too old, and calling me Cameron makes me think you’re making fun of me the way kids did in grade school years ago.”
    Vicki couldn’t help but smile. There wasn’t much to smile about these days, but Buck Williams’s rapid-fire delivery was fun to listen to. Her mind had been changed about him immediately. He proved to be an intense, impassioned guy. And he was a natural-born teacher.
    “Remember your vow of confidentiality,” Buck said, “and here we go. My assignment, as I understand it, is to use my own experience and conversations with Nicolae Carpathia to convince you he is who Bruce fears he is. Let me run this down quickly. As you may have seen on the news, he’s asked for resolutions from the U.N. supporting some of the things he wants to do. These include a seven-year peace treaty with Israel in exchange for his ability to broker the desert-fertilizer formula. He’s moving the U.N. to New Babylon. He’s establishing a one-world religion, probably headquartered in Italy. Though he might have trouble