Jesus spoke of wars and rumors of war; the world has wars and rumors of war

1887 depiction of the ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’

Jesus said:

6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:6-8)

Well, the news is full of items in many lands confirming Jesus’ statement about wars and rumors of war.

Related to rumors of war, notice the following headline today from NPR:

The threat of nuclear war hangs over the Russia-Ukraine crisis

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/18/1087448484/the-threat-of-nuclear-war-hangs-over-the-russia-ukraine-crisis

Here is some of what is going on between Russia and Ukraine:

March 18, 2022

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces pressed their assault on Ukrainian cities Friday, with new missile strikes and shelling on the capital Kyiv and the outskirts of the western city of Lviv, as world leaders pushed for an investigation of the Kremlin’s repeated attacks on civilian targets, including schools, hospitals and residential areas.

The early morning barrage of missiles on the outskirts of Lviv was the closest strike yet to the center of the city, which has become a crossroads for people fleeing from other parts of Ukraine and for others entering to deliver aid or fight.

Black smoke billowed for hours after the explosions, which hit a facility for repairing military aircraft near the city’s international airport, only six kilometers (four miles) from the center. One person was wounded, the regional governor, Maksym Kozytskyy, said.

Multiple blasts hit in quick succession around 6 a.m., shaking nearby buildings, witnesses said. The missiles were launched from the Black Sea, but the Ukrainian air force’s western command said it had shot down two of six missile in the volley. …

Putin spoke by phone Friday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who urged the Russian president to agree to an immediate cease-fire and called for an improvement to the humanitarian situation, a spokesman for Scholz said.

In a statement about the call, the Kremlin said Putin told the German chancellor that Ukraine had “unrealistic proposals” and was dragging out negotiations. The Kremlin also said it was evacuating civilians, and accused Ukraine of committing war crimes by shelling cities in the east. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-united-nations-europe-antony-blinken-c3310a12490a0cf2e06f5f389e22e3a6

The USA has an economic and trade war against Russia. Plus it is supplying weapons to Ukraine.

The USA also is engaged in economic war against Iran, North Korea, and Syria. And to a lessor degree, against Belarus.

In terms of rumors of war, many in Taiwan are concerned:

Taiwan’s Civilian Soldiers, Watching Ukraine, Worry They Aren’t Prepared to Defend Their Island

March 18, 2022

Eric Chung has been following the brutal war in Ukraine with apprehension. “I didn’t think Russia would invade, but they did, so China could do the same. War has become a reality for us,” the 27-year-old engineer says.

Chung has completed the four-month military service required of all Taiwanese men, but he says he doesn’t feel fully prepared for combat if he is called up. For Chung and the other young men who make up the island’s 1.65 million-strong military reserve, the conflict in Ukraine is prompting soul searching about how they would react if faced with an invasion by a People’s Liberation Army that is far larger and better equipped than Taiwanese forces. ”We’re too small,” says 24-year old Jason Hsu. “China would win.” …

However, even if Taiwan’s military grows, most analysts say that the island would not be able to stop a full-scale invasion on its own—and Ukraine’s situation has sparked debate over whether anyone would come to Taiwan’s aid. https://time.com/6158550/taiwan-military-china-ukraine/

Taiwan realizes that Chinese has the military resources to defeat it, and many are concerned that this may become a reality. Expect Taiwan to become dominated by China.

Here is something else related to China:

March 18, 2022

Rizwangul NurMuhammad, a Uyghur student at Cornell University, has been vocal for years about the Chinese government’s detention of her brother and the atrocities Beijing has committed against the ethnic minority in China. So when her Chinese classmates jeered and walked out of a campus event last week after she asked a U.S. congresswoman about the Uyghur genocide, NurMuhammad saw it as the long arm of Chinese government influence at play. …

The Uyghurs, a largely Muslim minority group heavily concentrated in Xinjiang Province and long oppressed by the Chinese government, have faced forced labor, involuntary sterilization and various other human rights violations. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/03/18/chinese-and-uyghur-students-clash-cornell-university

Afghanistan, where the USA was for two decades, is still a dangerous place:

Afghanistan faces crisis on the ground as tens of thousands hide from Taliban, observers say

March 18, 2022

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Freedom for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), said the National Resistance Front (NRF), based in Tajikistan and led by former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh, so far has had minimal impact and said the Biden administration needs to both arm and fund them, “but the administration does not want to reengage in Afghanistan. It is inclined to work with the Taliban instead.” …

He said al Qaeda and its leadership once again have found themselves a safe haven to operate from if they so choose. “The Taliban-al Qaeda alliance is strong, it was never broken,” he added, while noting, “Other international and regional terror groups such as The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, the Turkistan Islamic Party, the Islamic Jihad Union, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Ansraulah are currently operating” under the Taliban’s protection.

With no U.S. presence in Afghanistan and bordering countries, he painted a bleak picture for those who were left behind by the U.S. and our ability to fight the terrorists there. https://www.foxnews.com/world/afghanistan-crisis-ground-taliban-hiding

Do not think that the only terror will remain in Afghanistan. Many there feel betrayed by the USA and some will likely be involved in terrorism against the USA and other lands (see Why Terrorism? Is Terrorism Prophesied? and/or watch Afghanis: Potential terrorists?

Here is something related to Yemen and Saudi Arabia:

The Biden administration has been eager to condemn Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are in retaliation for the blockade and often result in no casualties. When Biden was asked in January if he would consider a UAE request that the U.S. redesignate the Houthis as a terror group, he said the move was “under consideration.”

On January 24, the Houthis fired two missiles at Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, where about 2,000 U.S. troops and civilians are stationed. The U.S. military repelled the attacks with a missile defense system and there were no casualties. In response, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that he would send the USS Cole to “conduct a joint patrol with the UAE Navy and a port call to Abu Dhabi” and deploy fighter jets “to assist the UAE against the current threat and as a clear signal that the United States stands with the UAE as a long-standing strategic partner.”

Biden had noted that ending the war in Yemen would require “the two parties to be involved to do it. And it’s going to be very difficult.” Brett McGurk, Biden’s point person on the Middle East, went further in a January 27 event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment: “It takes two to get to a ceasefire and end the war. And right now, the onus is on the Houthis.” …

Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, called the Saudi blockade of Yemen the most “offensive action” the Saudis engage in.

“The blockade is an act of war against the Yemeni people and is directly responsible for the massive humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, especially the malnutrition of children,” said Riedel, who served as a CIA analyst and adviser on Middle East issues to four U.S. presidents until his retirement in 2006. Biden has “broken his promise to make peace in Yemen a top priority,” he said, adding that the blockade “should be investigated as a war crime.”

“The Saudis are bogged down in an expensive quagmire,” Riedel told The Intercept. “The Congress needs to step in and cut off all military assistance to Riyadh.”

Until that happens, more Yemenis will be pushed closer to famine. Acute malnutrition has increased by 284 percent among children and by 374 percent among pregnant women since October 2020, according to U.N. figures.

Last month, the World Food Program’s Beasley was back in Yemen, and noted that “it is worse than anyone can possibly imagine.” https://theintercept.com/2022/03/16/yemen-war-biden-us-support-saudi-arabia/

So, there also is an apparent famine in Yemen related to the war.

Notice also the following:

Bangladesh police have admitted for the first time that an armed group ordered last year’s murder of a prominent Rohingya leader, saying it was threatened by his growing popularity.

The assassination of Mohib Ullah last September sent shockwaves through the sprawling border settlements that house hundreds of thousands of stateless Rohingya refugees who fled a violent crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/16/armed-group-behind-rohingya-leaders-murder-bangladesh-police

Let me add that many assert that the government of Myanmar is engaging in systematic genocide of the Rohingya.

Here is something about Haiti:

Mar 17 (EFE).- Nearly 500 Haitians fleeing intolerable conditions in their homeland have been intercepted upon arrival on or near the southern coast of the US state of Florida in just over seven days, most of whom will likely be expelled.

That response to the migrant surge has prompted criticism from Miami-based Haitian community organizations, who say United States authorities are taking a deportation-only approach to the problem.

Those people are desperately fleeing rampant chaos and violence in Haiti, which is led by a “de facto and criminal” government that is “supported by the United States,” Marleine Bastien, the founder and executive director of the Miami-based Family Action Network Movement (formerly known as Haitian Women of Miami), told Efe. …

That spike has come amid a political crisis in the Caribbean nation triggered by the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moise at his private residence in a Port-au-Prince suburb.

Allegations from political opponents and some observers that Haiti’s current acting prime minister, Ariel Henry, had a role in that killing make the US government’s support for him unacceptable, according to Bastien, who said that political reality is contributing to the country’s instability.

She added that an inflation rate of 24 percent and a rise in kidnappings and killings by increasingly powerful gangs also are spurring the migrant wave. https://www.laprensalatina.com/violence-chaos-in-haiti-spur-migrant-exodus-to-us/

Many parts of Haiti are like living in a terrorizing war zone. And there are famine-like conditions.

Here is something related to Cameroon:

Cameroon Says Frightened Separatists Relocate to Border with Nigeria, Harass Civilians

March 18, 2022

The military said troops carried out operations in many western towns and villages including Kumbo, Ndop, Wum, Bafut and Kom, with at least 20 separatist fighters were killed but no government troops were wounded.

General Valere Nka, the commander of Cameroonian troops fighting separatists in the English-speaking North-West region, said several hundred fighters escaped to villages along Cameroon’s western border with Nigeria. He said troops have been deployed to stop fighters from stealing goods and money from merchants and cattle from ranchers in border localities.

“The president of the republic, President Paul Biya, commander in chief of the armed forces has sent the defense and security forces to protect you, not to kill you,” Nka said during a visit to several border villages this week. “We need your total collaboration to better secure you.”

The military did not say how many troops have been deployed or how long the troops are expected to stay along the border with Nigeria.

Nelson Bwei, a spokesperson for the Abba Village Development Committee, said a military post is needed in the village, which is on the border with Nigeria, to protect civilians from separatist fighters. He said hundreds of the fighters are hiding in the bush along the border, especially in Fungong district.

“Our children are facing harassment,” he said. “Lower Fungong has no security post. The people there are exposed to insecurity. We plead to the general to create military units because we believe that if there is that military unit, it will beef up the security of the subdivision.”

Bwei said the separatists have seized at least 90 cows from ranchers within three weeks. He said fighters have abducted at least 13 civilians for ransom, especially merchants doing business between Cameroon and Nigeria. https://www.voanews.com/a/cameroon-says-frightened-separatists-relocate-to-border-with-nigeria-harass-civilians-/6490791.html

Here is something else related to Nigeria:

The A-29 Super Tucano began its dive, the engine booming over the makeshift camp close to Kukawa along the fringes of Lake Chad in Nigeria’s Borno State. Bullets riddled the camp, creating an eruption of sand, grass, and bush.

As the aircraft ascended back into the February sky, the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) camp lay in ruins. Men lay on the ground, groaning and crying in anguish.

On February 18, multiple reports said top ISWAP Commander Malam Buba Danfulani died in the airstrike along with some of his lieutenants. …

Chief of Air Staff Oladapo Amao told officers that the jet would be important in the fight against the insurgents, but was quick to say it could not end the nation’s security challenges without the assistance of ground troops. https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/03/17/nigeria-tucano-terrorism-fight/

There are also Islamic terrorists and other military issues happening in Nigeria.

Notice the following about Ethiopia:

Ethiopia Tigray conflic: New front raging in Afar region

In Ethiopia, Clashes between local fighters and federal forces is eased in the northern region of Tigray but battle continue to rage on a new front. Since January, Tigrayan forces have been entering the region of Afar and battling local fighters there. https://www.france24.com/en/video/20220317-ethiopia-tigray-conflic-new-front-raging-in-afar-region

Here is something about Somalia:

IntelBrief: Somalia Continues to Deteriorate as Al-Shabaab Gains Ground

March 18, 2022

Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab, a jihadist militant group active in Somalia and throughout the broader Horn of Africa, is experiencing a resurgence.

S. Army Gen. Steven Townsend told Congress that “we may be backsliding” and that the departure of U.S. troops from Somalia has limited Washington’s ability to contain jihadist groups including al-Shabaab.

By drawing down forces in places like South Asia, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa, the U.S. and allies have allowed terrorist and insurgent groups to rebuild their networks and refine their capabilities.

While al-Shabaab was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. in 2008, it remains unsanctioned by the United Nations, an issue that Kenyan authorities have been pushing to change for years.

Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda linked jihadist militant group active in Somalia and throughout the broader Horn of Africa, is experiencing a resurgence. In response, officials from the U.S. Department of Defense have requested a deployment of hundreds of troops to Somalia. https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2022-march-18/

Here is something related to Iran and Israel:

When Iran counterstrikes Mossad in secret war – analysis

Although the focus in recent years has been a list of allegedly astounding Mossad operational successes against Iran and Hamas weapons scientists, the spy agency is not perfect and is made out of flesh and blood like everyone else.

Sometimes Iran or other adversaries counterattack and hit their target. This week may have been one of those weeks.

Tehran claimed that a series of missile strikes killed and injured around a dozen Mossad agents at an alleged facility in Erbil, Iraq, giving specific numbers and details about how the alleged agents were subsequently evacuated. 03/17/22 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-701649

It is not really a “secret war” between Iran and Israel, but more of a clandestine one–one that looks to result in massive damage to Jerusalem one day (cf. Isaiah 22:6-8).

Here is something related to the war in Syria:

March 18, 2022

Two mass graves filled with thousands killed by Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime have been found according to a press investigation. The international community should activate pressure and legitimate accountability techniqes to hold Al-Assad’s regime accountable for its brutal human rights violations, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a statement. https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/syria-mass-graves-discovery-additional-evidence-al-assads-ongoing-crimes

Israel has also bombed Syria several times this year.

Here is something related to calls for war (Jihad) by Hamas:

Hamas, Islamic Jihad call to step up attacks in West Bank, Jerusalem

Leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad called for escalating the fight against Israel, especially in the West Bank and Jerusalem, until “the liberation of Palestine.” 03/16/22 https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/article-701471

In its newsletter today, the Temple Institute had the following:

Palestinians Warn Of Religious War If Jews ‘Storm’ Temple Mount Mahmoud al-Habbash, the PA’s top Islamic judge and presidential adviser on religious affairs, accused Israel of seeking to ignite a religious war “that would burn the whole world.”

The above is also consistent with wars and rumors of war.

There are also conflicts currently between Turkey and Greece, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, etc.

The Book of Revelation prophesies the following:

3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 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. (Revelation 6:3-4)

The literal Greek here for “peace” (εἰρήνην transliterated as eirēnēn) in Revelation 6 can be interpreted to mean taking away prosperity as well (see BibleHub.com). COVID-19 has, to a degree, done that. People are afraid or at least uneasy to a degree we have not seen around the world anytime in the 21st century. Plus there are a lot of protests and then there are the actual conflict and rumors of such.

Barnes Notes on the Bible states:

The power given to him that sat on the horse: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. This would seem to indicate that the condition immediately preceding this was a condition of tranquility, and that this was now disturbed by some cause producing discord and bloodshed. This idea is confirmed by the original words – τὴν εἰρήνην tēn eirēnēn – “the peace”; that is, the previously existing peace. When peace in general is referred to, the word is used without the article: Matthew 10:34, “Think not that I am come to send peace – βαλεῖν εἰρήνην balein eirēnēn – upon the earth.”

So, this rider is not just a rider of war, but taking away THE peace.

It is NOT constant physical warfare everywhere, though physical violence and warfare (consistent with Jesus’ words in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21) will also occur.

But things will get worse.

The old WCG also put out the following:

Where is it all going to end? That was the question the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ posed in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. Christ’s answer, known as the Olivet Prophecy, is quite revealing. “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars,” Christ said, referring to one of the prophetic signals that would herald the end of an age (verse 6).

Certainly there have always been wars. And certainly Christ’s words had particular meaning for that day and age. Within a few short decades Roman legions under the command of Titus sacked, burned and pillaged the city of Jerusalem.

But Jesus’ warning about war was also applicable to another period in history. In the book of Revelation, Christ, speaking through the apostle John, amplified some of His previous prophetic statements. In the sixth chapter, John writes: “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword” (Rev. 6:4).

John was not speaking about the fall of Jerusalem. That war was already some twenty years behind him. John was referring to future events that would bring 6000 years of human history crashing to a cataclysmic close. … John is referring to a time yet ahead of us when “peaceful coexistence” will be a thing of the past. …

It’s no wonder that Jeremiah, in referring to these tumultuous times, stated: “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble …” (Jer. 30:7). (Ritter G. 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – The Red Horse – War, pp. 48, 52; see also Ritter R. The War that could end it all. Good News, December 1975)

There may also be wars in parts of the world that have rarely had them (perhaps, for example, even between some South American nations), as well as wars in areas that have long been especially tense (like Korea, possibly involving other Asian nations). Damascus (capital of Syria) ultimately will be destroyed and could be a signal for destruction to come for Jacob (Isaiah 17:1-4). There will likely be civil unrest and perhaps rioting in scales not seen before, including within some Western nations (such as in Europe and North America). This will lead to military leaders rising up in various parts of the world. And one European (the final King of the North) will, after making one or more false peace deals/pronouncements (e.g. Daniel 9:26-27; 11:27; 1 Thessalonians 5:3), become the final Beast leader (Revelation 13:4) and he will take over many nations (Daniel 11:39-43).

Here is the seventh item from my 2021 article 22 items to prophetically watch in 2022:

7. Strife and the Red Horse of War

Notice the following:

3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 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. (Revelation 6:3-4)

Somewhat paralleling the ride of the second horseman of Revelation 6:3-4, Jesus warned about wars and disturbances:

6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (Matthew 24:6-7a)

“Nation … against nation” is literally “ethnos … against ethnos” in the original Greek. Notice how the Orthodox Jewish Bible translates the first half of Matthew 24:7:

For there will be an intifada of ethnic group against ethnic group,

In places like the USA, were are seeing more ethnic strife.

Consider that the opening of the second seal (Revelation 6:3-4) is to result in less peace on the Earth.

While this is commonly called the red horse (or horseman) of war, that is not quite what is stated. Notice that he “takes peace from the earth AND that people should kill one another.” Could it be that events in 2020, such as COVID-19 are consistent with taking “peace from the earth”?

Around the world people are AFRAID. The feeling of normalcy is gone for many around the globe. Consider that the travel restrictions are basically because of fear (and often politics). The media and government officials are saying everything will not go back to how it was and that we need to accept what they have called “the new normal.” Speculatively, could this be related to the opening of the second seal?

Not since World War II have we seen anything affect the entire planet so much. I have had a kind of gnawing feeling that perhaps the second seal was opened the late Spring or early Summer of 2020 (if not in the Fall of 2019) that perhaps we needed to better reconsider the opening of the second seal as possible.

Now we have Delta, Omicron, and other COVID variants causing concerns around the world..

The literal Greek here for “peace” (εἰρήνην transliterated as eirēnēn) in Revelation 6 can be interpreted to mean taking away prosperity as well (see BibleHub.com). COVID-19 has, to a degree, done that. People are afraid or at least uneasy to a degree we have not seen around the world anytime in the 21st century.

Barnes Notes on the Bible states:

The power given to him that sat on the horse: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. This would seem to indicate that the condition immediately preceding this was a condition of tranquility, and that this was now disturbed by some cause producing discord and bloodshed. This idea is confirmed by the original words – τὴν εἰρήνην tēn eirēnēn – “the peace”; that is, the previously existing peace. When peace in general is referred to, the word is used without the article: Matthew 10:34, “Think not that I am come to send peace – βαλεῖν εἰρήνην balein eirēnēn – upon the earth.”

So, this rider is not just a rider of war, but taking away THE peace.

The old WCG taught about the time of the red horse:

John was not speaking about the fall of Jerusalem. That war was already some twenty years behind him. John was referring to future events that would bring 6000 years of human history crashing to a cataclysmic close. … John is referring to a time yet ahead of us when “peaceful coexistence” will be a thing of the past. …

It’s no wonder that Jeremiah, in referring to these tumultuous times, stated: “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble …” (Jer. 30:7). (Ritter G. 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – The Red Horse – War, pp. 48, 52; see also Ritter R. The War that could end it all. Good News, December 1975)

We expect to see more wars, rumors of war, and civil unrest.

We are getting closer to the start of the Great Tribulation than most people realize.

Related to some of this, the Continuing Church of God put out the following sermon on its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:15

Sorrows and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Revelation 6:1-8 shows the opening of four seals and discusses the rides of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Each of which appears to be associated with aspects of the “beginning of sorrows” that Jesus mentions in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. What do each of the horsemen represent? Did the old Worldwide Church of God teach that these rides were still in the future in the late 21st century? Could any have began in the 21st century? Does the rider of the white horse represent Jesus or false religion? Are there ties to the interfaith and ecumenical movements? What might the bow the horseman has represent? Could this be a tie to Satan the Devil? What about the Beast and False Prophet? Has the “beginning of sorrows” started? Could the first seal be opened? Could COVID-19 have anything to do with the second seal? Has “the peace” been taken from the earth? Could the rider of the red horse have begun with an opening of the second seal? What about riots, looting wars, and rumors of war? Are food inflation, food shortages, and famines associated with the opening of the third seal and rider of the black horse of famine? Could human actions such as evolution teachings, genetically-modified crops, and viral research be factors in the rides of the four horsemen? Is more than death related to pestilences associated with the rider of the pale horse, the fourth seal? Why might this be a factor in 666? Will most people fail to recognize the rides of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse until it is too late to take action? What about the fifth seal and the start of the Great Tribulation? Are there problems with Roman and Eastern Orthodox prophecies concerning the end and the Great Monarch? What about prophecies related to Noah, the King of the North, Armageddon, and Antichrist? Dr. Thiel covers these issues and also includes some speculation and analysis.