I purchased Billy Graham’s book, Approaching Hoofbeats, not long after its publication in 1983. I cannot remember all that I thought as I read it forty years ago, but I know the book sparked hope regarding the nearness of the Rapture. As a young pastor at the time, I loved preaching about Bible prophecy and Jesus’ appearing.
As I recently skimmed its chapters, the stark differences between then and now leaped off the pages. Some of the signs that four decades ago seemed so indicative of the nearing Rapture pale by comparison to all that we see today.
The Antichrist Rides: It’s only been in the past six years or so that Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have come out of the shadows and revealed their true intentions to the world. They have invited the news media into their once-secret meetings and revealed their true intention to enslave the world under “Build Back Better,” which is a euphemism for their intent to create a Marxist, totalitarian world government.
I am definitely not suggesting that Klaus Schwab is the coming “man of lawlessness” as Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10. However, he does provide an apt illustration of how the antichrist will gain control of our world under the cloak of promoting peace.
By 1983, I had heard of a group called the “trilateralists” who were pushing for a one-world government at the time. Today, however, the emerging framework for the type of world domination that we read about in the book of Revelation is front and center for everyone to see, yet so few are paying attention to the nearness of the time when the white horse will ride across the earth.
The Threat of Nuclear War: In Approaching Hoofbeats, Evangelist Billy Graham wrote about the threat of a devastating nuclear war, which was a major concern at the time. Today, however, this danger has reached the point where most analysts believe it’s likely to occur in the next few years.
Citing the significant risk for a nuclear war, a group called “The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” made headlines on January 23, 2024, by resetting their Doomsday Clock back to ninety seconds before midnight. Below is a quote from their latest press release under a section titled “The Many Dimensions of Nuclear Threat”:
A durable end to Russia’s war in Ukraine seems distant, and the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in that conflict remains a serious possibility. In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to “suspend” the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). In March, he announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. In June, Sergei Karaganov, an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urged Moscow to consider launching limited nuclear strikes on Western Europe as a way to bring the war in Ukraine to a favorable conclusion. Today’s world is exceedingly more dangerous than it was in 1983. The prospect of a nuclear war was a possibility back then; now it’s become a matter of when rather than if.
Economic Peril: In January of this year, the national debt level of the United States reached $34 trillion, and by the end of the month, it stood at an astounding 34.1 trillion. With the announcement came the prediction that by March, this number would exceed $35 trillion.
In 1983, the debt reached $1.377 trillion. The current number is not only unsustainable for the future, but it also tells us that the black horse (Revelation 6:5- 6) will soon ride across America and the entire world. The current debt level in America will surely bring economic catastrophe.
The Lord’s restraining hand is the only reason the world has not yet experienced the worst inflation in its history. Twelve years ago, I read books by economic experts who predicted imminent doom for the U.S. economy. Their reasoning was entirely sound but for the patience of the Lord, allowing more time for people to come to faith in Him and thus escape the wrath of the Day of the Lord.
The Pale Horse: A radio interviewer last year asked me if I thought the riders of the Apocalypse were already active in our world. I replied with a firm “no.” First, I’m convinced the Rapture will happen before the Lord Jesus releases the Seal Judgments as recorded in Revelation 6. Second, although there’s violence, pestilence, and a substantial number of deaths occurring in our current world, the totals fall far short of the horrific conditions described in connection with the hoofbeats of the pale horse.
Revelation 6:7-8 says that “over a fourth of the earth” will perish as the result of Jesus opening the Seals. Even considering the disappearance of people at Jesus’ appearing, that’s still a vast number that will likely exceed one and a half billion people. The total death toll that resulted from WWII, which some place as high as seventy-five million, is horrific, of course, but it pales in comparison to what lies ahead.
The time is rapidly approaching when the world will see the fulfillment of all that John both witnessed and wrote about in Revelation 6:1-8. The Bible says that sudden destruction will overwhelm the world after the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).
Though dreadful for those who will hear the hoofbeats in the future, the nearing of this time tells us that Jesus’ appearing is ever so close. We will be in Heaven before Jesus opens the seal judgments described in Revelation 6.