upgraded January 23, 2007
The Antichrist will steer the world into a train wreck that is going to kill one half of the people that are on the train, and there is not any way that you can stop it!
IF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ANTICHRIST WAS NOT STOPPED BY THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST, THE ANTICHRIST WOULD PHYSICALLY DESTROY EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, INCLUDING HIMSELF!
John 10:10 (NIV) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
World War II reportedly resulted in the death of 6 million Jews, and 9 million Gentiles, or a total of 15 million people. There are currently six billion people alive on the earth. The fourth seal will result in the death of one fourth, or 1.5 billion people by murder, famine, plagues, and wild animals.
Revelation 6:7-8 (NIV) When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8 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.
The A. I. D. S. virus is a fore glimpse of the plagues that will be released on the earth because of man's sin. The A. I. D. S. virus came from a human becoming involved in bestiality with a monkey. Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival recently promoted a film depicting bestiality. Wild animals have always had a fear of man because man was given dominion over them. Because man has deserted his place in God's order, the wild animals will lose their fear of man. Wild animals will turn on man.
The sixth trumpet and the sixth bowl will prepare the world for the Battle of Armageddon. After the destruction of 1.5 billion people because of the fourth seal, the four angels released because of the sixth trumpet will result in one third of the 4 1/2 billion people left on the earth being killed. That amounts to another 1.5 billion people.
Revelation 9:13-20 (NIV) The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number. 17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury. 20 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood--idols that cannot see or hear or walk.
Revelation 16:12-16 (NIV) 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. 13 Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. 15 "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed." 16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
At that point in time, because of the fourth seal and the sixth trumpet, three billion people, or one half of the six billion people in all of mankind living at the beginning of the Tribulation will have been killed.
We know because of Matthew 7:13-14 and many other Scriptures, that certainly not one half, but "only a few" people will be saved.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV) "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Two Scriptures that are widely misunderstood are Matthew 24:36-41 and Luke 17:34-37:
Matthew 24:36-41 (NIV) "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Luke 17:34-37 (NIV) I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left." "Where, Lord?" they asked. He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather."
In "the days of Noah," prior to the flood, the wicked were totally unaware of what was going to happen to them. Noah knew what was going to happen. In Matthew 24:39 referencing Genesis, it was those people who "knew nothing about what would happen" that the flood came and took away. It was not Noah that the flood took away, it was the wicked that the flood took away TO DEATH. THE DAY the Righteous went into the ark, total destruction came on the unrighteous.
This is an identical situation to what will occur at the Second Coming of Christ. The unrighteous will be unaware of what is going to happen until death comes and takes them away. The Bride of Christ is not going anywhere. After meeting Jesus in the air, they will return to the earth to rule with Him for one thousand years.
Because of the fourth seal and the sixth trumpet, three billion people, or one half of the six billion people in all of mankind living at the beginning of the Tribulation will be killed during the Tribulation. Matthew 24:39b-41 and Luke 17:34-37 referenced above reflect that one half of the people, or 50% will be taken by Death during the Tribulation - hence Jesus commented: "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather."
Those people who are committing sin will be weakened by their sin, and they will be the first, and the ones most likely to die. As an example, a large percentage of people who are practicing homosexuality or are sexually permissive will die of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Those people addicted to drugs, tobacco, alcohol, or overeating will have weakened their bodies and be less able to combat the pandemic diseases that the wickedness of man and the wickedness of the Antichrist will effect.