Misconceptions

Check back periodically as I will add to these as I am lead to them or come across them.

1) The Ten Nations of the United Kingdom
There is a common belief that the ten nations of the United Kingdom, once all ten join the union, is a marking point for the entrance to the tribulation. 

This stems primarily from two things, The first one is that Rome will be the Babylon of the end times, thus making the old Roman empire a point of importance.

The second is this verse: Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

When making a determination like this it is necessary to look closely at the working, specifically, "ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast" These are not kingdoms that are already joined going into the tribulation.  These are perhaps world diplomatic leaders, but they do not represent kingdoms.  These ten kings are only going to rise to power with the beast for one hour, the time of the tribulation, and are not kings before this time, nor do they represent a kingdom.  In a one world government, there will probably be a selection of 10 representatives from around the world, but not necessarily.

2) The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

There are several reasons why I believe this interpretation to be wrong.  First off in Revelation 4, after the letters to the church, John is told: Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. God's word is more precise and deliberate than a surgeons scalple.  God's word here says, things which must be hereafter, it doesn't specify the "End Times", but here after.  This means from Johns time on.  The world has just undrgone the most major cultural changing event in history.  The Savior has come, and been crucified, resurrected, and ascended into Heaven.  The Jewish religion has been displaced temporarily for the grafting in of the Gentiles who would accept Jesus Christ as their savior and believe He is the Son of God. Satan on the other hand is furious, his attempt to defeat God's plan has failed and has actually served Gods plan, in other words Satan defeated himself as his attempt backfired in his own face.  God did not ignore what to expect from satan and the world of men for the next 2,000 years, instead he told John, here is what must be, this is how history is going to play out.  We have been given an outline to the rest of world history, as well as a spiritual revelation of Jesus.

Instead of rehashing the four horsemen, they can be viewed on the Revelation 6 page, let's look at why they are not a part of the tribulation.  First off, look at the black horse, bringing in a seperation of classes, the poor and the rich.  For most of the past 2000 years, with the exception of the United States, the world has been controled by Hierarchys and socialist regiems.  People who were poor were opressed and climbing the social ladder was all but impossible except for the lucky few.  Even in the 20th century we have the Titanic as the most renown example of this opression and class division as the poor were locked into the hull of the ship to die without even a fair chance of swimming or floating until recovery, while the wealthy had free access to lifeboats and an even chance to find a way to survive.  Who knows what the outcome might have been if the steerage had been allowed a fair change, they may have had the fight and fortitude to take broken pieces of the ship and create floatation devices that may have saved many more lives.  Maybe God would have even smiled down on the people for having compassion on them, and may have lead the near by ship over to them and the rescue may have been in time to save thousands.

On the other hand, what will the economy be like during the tribulation?  I think we will enter the tribulation and most people will not even realize the tribulation has begun.  The economy will be strong, at least for the beginning.  This is evidenced by the destruction of Babylon, a nation upon whom the worlds merchants were made rich by her desire for luxuries and trinkets.  This is not indicative of an economy where people are oppressed and there are only a few rich and elite, this is a fluid economy upon whom the worlds economy is sustained.  Who is the King of Babylon?  The Antichrist!  The New Testament clearly tells us that you cannot serve both God and Mammon.  We have witnessed money destroying people, and we have seen poverty and oppression lead people to spiritual answers and to God.  Do you think the Devil does not recognize this?  He will be a great speaker, he will seduce the people and you don't seduce people waving poverty before their nose!

This is just one of the horsemen that stands in contradiction of the apocalyptic horsemen, I won't go into the others at this point, but rest assured, the tribulation wil begin and many will not even see it or know it.  Many will not think it has begun because they are expecting to be whisked out of here, and instead they will be living lucrative lives, falling into the trap of not seeing the unexpected because of their predetermined thoughts on how everything will transpire.

Another reason why the four horsemen of the apocalypse are not after the tribulation, they are part of four seals which are broken in succession and in a specific order, yet the tribulation does not begin until chapter 7, after the events of the 6th seal, when the 144,000 of the 12 tribes of Israel are sealed for Gods purpose.  They are prepared to preach the gospel during the tribulation, yet the four horsement are already past, if you put the buggy before the horse and move the first four seals into the tribulation, then you have changed the order of Gods word.  The seals were opened in the succession they were opened in for a specific purpose, to show what will happen first, second, third, etc.  If you deny this sequence, then you might as well print the Book of Revelation on verse each on a piece of paper, then scramble the papers and read in whatever succession you want to see.  God put them there first for a reason, and the first seal is opened right after the Son of God has been shown worthy to open those seals.