The Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Zatha

Are there only Three Horsemen in the Revelation of John the Divine?

Revelation 9:17-18 (King James Version)
17And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

Verse 9:18 begins with “By these three”. This obviously does not fit in with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalyse as proposed in Chapter 6 of the Revelation. Why did the editors of the New King James Version add the word “plagues” after “By these three”? Did they want to hide the inconsistencies in the extant Revelation? The editors of the New King James Version even italicized their added word “plagues”! However, “By these three plagues” is an obvious non sequitur.

Revelation 9:18 (New King James Version)
18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.

It is clear that the (Three) Horsemen of the Apocalypse caused the fire, smoke and brimstone. Verse 9:18 has nothing to do with plagues. Since when do plagues have mouths? It doesn’t make any sense!

There are many Theologians who interpret the White Horse as Jesus Christ. The suggestion according to A.S. is that Jesus Christ was indeed revealed in the First Seal but was not on a horse. The Three Horsemen of the Apocalyspe would therefore consist of the Three Horsemen revealed in the Second, Third and Fourth Seal.

Many will say that this is not enough evidence to question the validity of the extant Revelation. To these people I suggest to also take a look at verses 22:18-19.

Revelation 22:18-19 (King James Version)
18For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

According to A.S.: These verses contain a curse upon those who would dare to make any changes to the book! These two verses contain the threat of dark arts, which is pure sorcery. This contradicts many of the warnings against sorcery and all forms of dark arts that appear throughout the Bible. These two verses, in and of themselves, should have alerted any thinking theologian that something is very wrong with the extant version of the Revelation.

Incidentally, in the case that verses 22:18-19 are indeed the word of god as revealed to his servant John the Divine, then the editors of the New King James Version as well as many other bible editors are in deep trouble, as they added the word “plagues” to the Revelation. Ironically, this would add plagues unto them according to verse 22:18.

Fanny Cradock

Is there a question in this?

Soul Winner

Zatha wrote: »

Are there only Three Horsemen in the Revelation of John the Divine?

Revelation 9:17-18 (King James Version)
17And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

Verse 9:18 begins with “By these three”. This obviously does not fit in with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalyse as proposed in Chapter 6 of the Revelation. Why did the editors of the New King James Version add the word “plagues” after “By these three”? Did they want to hide the inconsistencies in the extant Revelation? The editors of the New King James Version even italicized their added word “plagues”! However, “By these three plagues” is an obvious non sequitur.

Revelation 9:18 (New King James Version)
18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.

It is clear that the (Three) Horsemen of the Apocalypse caused the fire, smoke and brimstone. Verse 9:18 has nothing to do with plagues. Since when do plagues have mouths? It doesn’t make any sense!

There are many Theologians who interpret the White Horse as Jesus Christ. The suggestion according to A.S. is that Jesus Christ was indeed revealed in the First Seal but was not on a horse. The Three Horsemen of the Apocalyspe would therefore consist of the Three Horsemen revealed in the Second, Third and Fourth Seal.

Many will say that this is not enough evidence to question the validity of the extant Revelation. To these people I suggest to also take a look at verses 22:18-19.

Revelation 22:18-19 (King James Version)
18For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

According to A.S.: These verses contain a curse upon those who would dare to make any changes to the book! These two verses contain the threat of dark arts, which is pure sorcery. This contradicts many of the warnings against sorcery and all forms of dark arts that appear throughout the Bible. These two verses, in and of themselves, should have alerted any thinking theologian that something is very wrong with the extant version of the Revelation.

Incidentally, in the case that verses 22:18-19 are indeed the word of god as revealed to his servant John the Divine, then the editors of the New King James Version as well as many other bible editors are in deep trouble, as they added the word “plagues” to the Revelation. Ironically, this would add plagues unto them according to verse 22:18.

For one, the first horseman is not Christ, he is Antichrist. He comes with a bow with no arrow i.e a peace maker. He comes on a white horse because he is the great imitator of Christ who also comes on a white horse later on in the book. It is the Lamb who opens the seals and releases the 4 horsemen, He doesn't release Himself. The other three horsemen do all the damage because the first horseman is busy disguising himself as a peacemaker.

As for the black arts comment. Where are you getting that from? What we have is an English translation of the book. Translators choosing the wrong English words to translate a Greek word is not the same as deliberately altering the text to make it say something else. Sometimes one English words just isn't enough to convey what the some of the Greek words say. Limitations of English are hardly the fault of the Bible translators. Although that does not mean that they are not guilty of using certain words that gel better with their world view over others that don't. Some of the King James translations are just plain awful but probably the best the translators could do at the time, then again maybe not. If they deliberately used words that they knew extracted meaning from the original then they would be likely candidates for the curse, but if they didn't I'm sure God knows it.