[Rick Shabi] "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars," Christ said that when He was asked what the signs of His coming and the end would be. We have wars going on right now in this world that seem to have no end in sight. And we have rumors of wars too. Talk of World War III, nuclear war, and the threat of China invading Taiwan. Russia and Ukraine are at war, Israel, Hezbollah, and Hamas are in conflict, and now, Iran is clearly involved as they fired a reported 180 rockets into Israel just yesterday. America is in proxy wars with both Russia and Iran. And after yesterday's assault of Israel by Iran, one has to wonder how much longer before this conflict becomes an all-out war.

The cost of war has been enormous. Billions have been spent. Thousands of lives have been lost. And yet the end seems elusive as if war itself has become the goal. But could these wars be another indication of the impending end times? Christ warned of these times. Chaos, killing, destruction, and war are brought on the world as the four horsemen of the apocalypse continue to intensify their ride as the time of Christ's return to earth draws closer. These four horsemen will bring havoc on the earth. Mankind will bring all this upon itself as things get progressively worse, all leading to the ultimate war, Armageddon.

In the last episode, I spoke of the first horseman, the white horse of false religion. But today, let's focus on that second horseman and see what the Bible says about it. We find it in Revelation 6:3-4. "When He," that's Christ, "opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, 'Come and see,' another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another. And there was given to him a great sword." Here's a fiery red horse, and this horse takes peace from the earth.

You know, for the past five years, prior to the outbreak of the Russian-Ukraine War, America entered into no new wars. But suddenly in the last three years, America finds itself engaged in two major wars with no end in sight. Peace has been taken, exactly as Christ said the red horse would do. And the Bible tells us people will kill one another. There's that great sword of the red horseman indicating the killing will be great. Remember, the Bible says that eventually one-quarter of the earth will be killed by these four horsemen of Revelation. That's 2 billion people. Almost everyone would say that there's nothing kind or good about war. It is all about selfish or national ambition.

In James 4:1, the Bible tells us that it's our lusts and desires for self that cause these wars. It's about hate, greed, taking someone else's resources, or simply a quest for personal power and control, and that's been going on for as long as man has existed. It's simply human nature. Think about it. When you learned history, what is the thing you learned the most about? You learned about man's wars, the Revolutionary War, Civil War. The medieval times were marked with wars and invading forces that wanted to take over other kingdoms. In more recent times, World War I and World War II brought about horrific times on earth. It isn't God, it isn't God who brings war to man. "Of mankind," he says, "the way of peace they have not known." How true that statement is.

War comes from Satan. He waged war against God because he wanted to be like God and have what God had. He wanted to be king of the universe. Notice Isaiah 14:12-15, "'How you,'" God says, "'how you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken the nations. For you have said in your heart,'" and notice how many times I shows up in this verse, "'for you have said in your heart, 'I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.'" God says to Satan, "Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol to the lowest depths of the pit."

Yes, Satan is no match against God and he was cast down to earth. And at the end time, Satan will wage war against God, again, and will, again, be cast to the earth. And he and his demons and spirit will bring a time of horrific woe on mankind. Notice what it says in Revelation 12:7-9, "War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought, but they didn't prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out. That serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him." At this time, wars will increase and they will become more deadly. Hate, division, greed, and a corrupt lust for power and control will plunge the world into endless warfare. It all ends where?

It all ends with Armageddon, when Satan leads mankind to literally fight against Jesus Christ. But Satan will not prevail. Satan never prevails. Christ is always the victor, and those who stand with Him will have the victory over evil and this world. But leading up to that time, there will be war, killing, hate, and everything that goes with it. Politics and the governments of men crave war. But there's another reason for war that has permeated history. Believe it or not, it's religion. Last episode, we spoke of the white horse of false religion. At the time of the end, a world-dominating religion will force its will on the world. It will blaspheme the true God and force people to bow to idols and force them to take what is called the mark of the beast. If they refuse that mark, they won't be able to buy or sell.

And this religion will cause the death of many who won't submit to it. Harsh and hard to believe, right? Religion would actually lead to the killing of other people just because they don't believe in the same god as you. Well, it is nothing new. History is littered with stories of religious authorities executing and killing those who differed in belief. You've heard of the Crusades, for example? Notice this from Wikipedia, "The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Roman Catholic Church in the medieval period." The best known of these military expeditions are those to the holy land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that had the objective of reconquering Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim rule.

For 200 years, it was considered a duty of parishioners to fight in these wars. Historians estimate that anywhere from 1 to 9 million people lost their lives in these wars. But the Catholic Church didn't just fight Crusades against Islam. They put to death many different groups that were trying to live by the Bible, keeping its precepts, keeping the Sabbath day created by God, and not bowing to Catholic religion and dogma. Their dogma, which differs from the Bible. Listen to the staggering number of people put to death by this Church. As quoted in "The History of Romanism," we see this, "From the birth of Popery in 606 AD to the present time, it's estimated by careful, incredible historians that more than 50 million of the human family have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by Popish persecutors. That's an average of more than 40,000 religious murders for every year of the existence of Popery."

Becoming one world religion will be in alliance with the autocratic governmental system in power at that time. That's the woman sitting on the beast power that you read about in Revelation 17:3-6, and the other beast that's mentioned in Revelation 13:11-17. Could the history of the Old World with kings and religious wars repeat itself? Well, Roman Catholicism is part of that history. It's one of two major religions on earth today that have a history of waging war and killing people. The other one is Islam. You've heard of Jihad, right? It literally means holy war. And in that religion, it's good to wage war and hate and kill people who don't share your beliefs. Look what Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran say about Israel. They literally hate them and the United States, and they chant, "Death to Israel, Death to America." Islam is determined to take over the Middle East. Right now, Israel and America stand in their way, and that war wages on with no end in sight.

So to add to national aggression, human nature, and greed which cause war, false religion, is also a leading cause, especially as we will see in the end times. Let me just mention briefly that in Daniel 11, beginning in verse 40, there's an end-time prophecy that speaks of war and events that will take place in the end time. Those wars include Islam, they include Eastern powers we now see aligning, and they include the Beast Power. You can learn what these prophecies say about the end time and how the United States is involved by going to ucg.org/redhorse, where you can learn about this in more detail. What you will find there is amazing, and it will explain what's going on in the world today.

Under the sway of Satan, the four horsemen of Revelation, and this red horse of war will bring a daunting, horrible time to mankind. But mankind will survive, even though billions will die in the process of learning that man's way simply does not work. Christ will return. He will resoundingly defeat the armies gathered against Him at Armageddon. Then, then, under Christ's 1,000-year reign on earth, peace, safety, harmony, and joy will abound for all surviving mankind. This is all part of God's plan. Do you want to know the way to peace in this life that not only includes the God-given knowledge of how to resolve personal conflicts but also to have peace of mind? It comes from trusting God and knowing He is in charge.

You can find peace of mind, purpose, and the way to eternal life by turning from this world to God. In light of this red horse, just one of four that ride on the earth, God's words in Ezekiel 18 ring so true. There He says, in Ezekiel 18:31, "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why would you die?" God says, "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies. Therefore, turn, turn to God and live." Please heed what God says. Listen to Him and turn from the ways of this world to Him. He calls on everyone to repent. Yield to Him and He will forgive. Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation in life. You can learn more about all of this at ucg.org/redhorse.