by Summer Lee
“So, if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”
I stopped and looked up. “Carcass? Vultures?”
“Death is associated with evil. The deceivers take the world to this place.”
I continued reading, “Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
I repeated, “The stars will fall?” I wondered about the four blood moons and the eclipse of the sun. I looked up for an explanation, but he told me to.
I inhaled and read again. “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.”
When I paused, Walker said, “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
He then told me to read the next section carefully. It said, “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”
I looked up. “Is the fig tree a metaphor for Israel returning to the land?”
He grinned wide. “Yes, it is. I am glad you see that.”
Amanda walked into the room.
“Did you notice what the Scriptures say about the fig tree?” she asked. She looked at Walker and then back at me. He nodded his approval for her to speak.
“It looks like all of this will happen in a very short period of time,” I said.
“What do you say it means, Amanda?” asked Walker.
“Israel going home was the twigs getting tender. The leaves coming out is symbolic of their prospering in the land,” Amanda said.
Walker spoke firmly: “Notice that the Bible says, ‘This generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.’” There was nothing unpleasant in his voice, but he spoke in tones that meant that there was an urgency in the Scriptures.
“So, maybe it is all over very quickly.” I felt tension in the air.
“It is. You can trust what Jesus aforesaid.” Walker sounded sincere. “Jesus said that Heaven and Earth will pass away, but his words will never pass away.”
Amanda probably knew much more than she was willing to share. However, she said that she would share what she knew about the Second Coming with me.
It was at that point that Walker walked to the window. “You ladies go ahead and talk. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, stepping up on the windowsill and flying away.
I looked into the space where he had stood and then said to Amanda. “I just don’t understand.”
“I know it is hard for you to suddenly be thrust into a ministry. You need to get some rest right now,” said Amanda as she put her arm around my shoulder.
“Tonight, I will read in Isaiah,” I said.
I hugged her and we went to our separate rooms. I had a feeling we were beginning a long-term friendship.
Entering my bedroom made me feel eerie. So often I felt demonic spirits in there. The Prince of Darkness did not want me to complete my mission, and he was doing everything to scare me out of it. The wind began whistling through a crack along the side of the windowsill. I saw little ghosts coming in and hissing at me. I needed to learn the weapons of spiritual warfare. I climbed in bed and covered my head with the covers.
I knew that I lived in the last generation spoken of in Scripture. Jesus had said to occupy until he came. I could do that. I would be aware of the end when I heard the Four Horsemen coming to earth. I would always pay attention and listen for the horses.
Galloping, galloping, galloping.
Interlude
Returning to Isaiah, I read the prophecy about the birth of the Messiah.
It said to make a large signboard and write on it the birth announcement of the son God was going to give me, and to use capital letters. I was to say that his name will be Maher-shalal-hash-baz, which meant, ‘Your enemies will soon be destroyed.’” Isaiah asked Uriah and Zechariah, both known as honest men, to watch him write it so they could testify that it was written before the child was on the way. Then he had sexual intercourse with his wife and she conceived and bore me a son. And the Lord said, “Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. This name means that before this child is old enough to say ‘Daddy’ or ‘Mommy,’ the king of Assyria will invade both Damascus and Samaria and carry away their riches.”
I made notes in my notebook. (This is the scripture used in the New Testament to show Jesus was born of a virgin.)
Then the Lord told Isaiah, “Since the people of Jerusalem refuse my gentle care and are asking kings to come and aid them, I will overwhelm my people with a mighty flood; the king of Assyria and all his mighty armies will rage against them. This flood will overflow all its channels and sweep into your land of Judah, O Emmanuel, submerging it from end to end.”
(Reading the cross references, I saw in Scripture that Assyria did not go to Jerusalem. The Babylonians took them down later. Yet Northern Israel had become attached to Syria.)
Isaiah wrote, “Do your worst, O Syria and Israel, our enemies, but you will not succeed—you will be shattered. Listen to me, all you enemies of ours: Prepare for war against us—and perish! Yes! Perish! Call your councils of war, develop your strategies, prepare your plans of attacking us, and perish! For God is with us.”
(God protected Jerusalem at that time because Jesus came from the tribe of Judah.)
The Lord said to Jerusalem in the strongest terms: “Do not under any circumstances go along with the plans of Judah to surrender to Syria and Israel. Don’t let people call you a traitor for staying true to God. Don’t panic as so many of your neighbors are doing when they think of Syria and Israel attacking you. Don’t fear anything except the Lord of the armies of heaven! If you fear him, you need fear nothing else. He will be your safety.
“Israel and Judah refused God’s care and thereby stumbled against the Rock of their salvation and lie fallen and crushed beneath it: God’s presence among them has endangered them! Write down all these things I am going to do, says the Lord, and seal them up for the future. Entrust them to some godly man to pass on down to godly men of future generations.”
I read aloud into the quiet room, “I will wait for the Lord to help us, though he is hiding now. My only hope is in him. I and the children God has given me have symbolic names that reveal the plans of the Lord of heaven’s armies for his people: Isaiah means ‘Jehovah will save his people,’ Shear-jashub means, ‘A remnant shall return,’ and Maher-shalal-hash-baz means, ‘Your enemies will soon be destroyed.’ So, why are you trying to find out the future by consulting witches and mediums? Don’t listen to their whisperings and mutterings. Can the living find out the future from the dead?” The answer is ‘No’.
“Why not ask your God?” suggests the prophet.
“Check these witches’ words against the Word of God!” he says. “If their messages are different than mine, it is because I have not sent them; for they have no light or truth in them.”
Suddenly, I heard a rattling outside my window. I looked at it and saw a darkness swirling about my window, trying to break in. I knew it was a demonic spirit, so I cried out, “Help Lord.” The rattling stopped and the darkness faded. Satan was not happy that God was going to use me. But I had to believe that God would protect me from his attacks.
I read, “My people will be led away captive, stumbling, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rave and sh
ake their fists at heaven and curse their King and their God. Wherever they look there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair.”
That was a bad attitude. This passage, taken from Isaiah 8:1-22, was fulfilled twice for Judah. They were taken as captives to Babyon during the time of Daniel, and scattered all over the world in seventy A.D. Not every Jew believes in God. For them this passage is true.
I placed the Bible on the nightstand. At that moment, I sensed the enemy had entered my room. A black shadow crossed my room, laughing in haunting tones. “I will not give up this project,” I said aloud. “I am serving my heavenly king and no evil power will stop me. I am protected by the power of his blood.”
I saw glittering angels surround me riding on silver horses. I was protected. I closed my eyes to sleep. I dreamed of the horses.
Galloping, galloping, galloping.
Chapter Five
The next day, I told Amanda about the passage that I had read in Isaiah and my demonic attack. “God really wants us to ask His help in everything we do,” I said. “Or else Satan will stop us.”
“Verily!” she replied and I smiled at her archaic language.
We each got out our laptops and spent most of the day writing. Despite not knowing how the electric stove worked, or the funny face she had made when she had first tasted coffee and had then asked for tea, she apparently knew how to use a computer. This was a blessing.
Amanda and I were able to spend an hour talking every evening. I was learning a lot. I was not eager to be alone again and encounter an evil spirit.
***
Several days later, Walker returned.
“Where is your house-guest this morning?” asked Walker, as we sat in my garden.
“Amanda often writes late into the night, and then sleeps days. It’s like her body clock is set somewhere else.”
“I want to talk to you alone anyhow.” Walker had introduced the idea of the Four Horsemen being very important the first time I met him. Now he wanted to go deeper into the subject. “What do you know about the way the tribulation will start?”
“It will be like a woman giving birth. I can tell you that much.” I cocked my head. “Seven seals reveal heavenly information.”
“The scrolls and seals are visible in Revelation,” he said as he began pacing back and forth on the sidewalk. “Everything in Revelation is in sets of sevens.”
“So, there will be seven seals on the scroll,” I said, following beside him. “Seven is the number of God—the number of perfection.”
“That is correct,” he said. “Six is the number of man, and seven is the number from God. Seven being part of the message on the scroll is most important. It shows Jesus is God the Son.”
“When Jesus opened the first, second, third and fourth seals on the scroll, John saw the vision of the Four Horsemen ride forward,” I said. “I read about that last night. They seem to ride out of heaven toward earth with a strong purpose.”
“You are right. They have a purpose,” Walker said. “In the future tribulation, the purpose will be seeing a world reaping what the people of Earth had sown in a sinful lifestyle. Time for change will arrive on the scene quickly.”
“Do they represent a release of demons on earth?” I asked. “It seems that God just turns them loose.”
“You see, Jesus holds everything together by his power. However, when man pulls himself away from God completely, He will let them go. The Four Horsemen represent that separation.”
“It looks like God turns them over to the devil. And then what?”
“People will have an opportunity to repent.”
“But if they don’t, the tribulation will begin just as quickly. Right?”
“Exactly.” He leaned toward me as he spoke. “But don’t worry. Those who trust in God will be protected by him. Look it up in your Bible to acquaint yourself with the text.”
I opened my Bible, turning to Revelation. “Where do I start? Help me with this.”
“Read chapter five,” he said. “When the end comes, six seals will be unlocked; the first four seals will release the four horses.”
“After all seven seals are opened, life on Earth will be in great disarray. Is that right?”
“That is right. Time is short. You must work on your assignment now.”
“What do I do now?”
“Read the Word and ask the Lord to reveal truth to you.”
I sat down on the lounge chair to read, while he went for a short walk and returned. After reading to myself for a while, I read this aloud to him, “They called to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us! Hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne. Hide us from the anger of the Lamb, because the special day of their anger has come! Who is able to stand against it?’”
“What do you think about that?” he asked in a controlled voice.
Methodically, I said, “I know it scares me. Of course, no human can stand against the Lord Almighty. That includes me.”
“True.” Walker said, “That will be a terrible time of judgment falling on the world. Battleships will sink. Airfields will be bombed. Airplanes will crash.”
“So, nuclear warfare will cause the ships to enter their watery graves during the tribulation. Cars will run off the freeway. Airplanes will crash in the desert. Countless numbers will die from poison gasses and nuclear weapons.”
“That is correct.”
“Do I write about that?”
“Yes,” said Walker. “People need to know the only hope of rescue from the tribulation is faith in Jesus Christ. You are to tell your readers how to find eternal life.”
“I’ll do my best.” My eyes filled with tears. “Why must it all end so terribly?”
“It is the pride of humans, Martha.”
“So, God wants humility.”
“That is right,” said Walker. “Tell the masses around the world that the Great Tribulation is a real event caused by Satanic control. Satan will possess his man. The denseness of the devil’s plan destroys the human soul.”
“The enemy in the tribulation will be devil-controlled? Are you referring to the Antichrist?”
“Exactly. His forces will take a stand against the saints of God. Judgment will begin with the Four Horsemen.”
I thought about it for a moment. “Have you seen the horses?” I asked my angel.
“Yes.”
“Are they spiritual?”
“Yes.”
“So, the only way they could be seen by a human is in a vision?”
His face was stoic. He didn’t answer.
“What is the answer?”
Silence.
I frowned.
“God knows the answer. He will reveal it to you at the right time.” Walker scratched his head. “Just do your assignment.”
“But the horses will be coming soon.” I was confused. “I need to know what I will be looking for.” I opened the Bible again. I saw that in the apostle’s vision included four living beings surrounding the throne of God. They had six wings, and were covered with eyes. I was sure they were brilliantly lit. Each had a different attribute: a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle. Their demeanor was one of worship, like the Cherubim. They said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’ John watched the four living creatures worshiping God; he saw twenty-four elders in heaven praising and worshiping God as well. A beautiful sight!”
The sun moved across the sky as we talked. Fluffy clouds appeared. Hours passed as we discussed the end times. I jotted down important points: “The Apostle John watched as the Lamb opened the first seal.”
I thought about it for a while, and then wrote, “I believe that when the white horse appears on the world scene, it will represent the governments of the West—the entire Western Hemisphere. The purpose will be to conquer the masses and terminate smaller governments and nations. There will be just one government in the West with one president.”
Walker looked over my shoulder
, reading what I had written. He said, “There are three more horses that will arrive. More judgments, more bowls of wrath.”
I looked up at the clouds and said aloud, “Then it will be the end of the age.”
“Exactly.” Walker sighed. “That is what makes this story sad.”
“I believe each horse represents one fourth of the Earth,” I said. “All horses come onto the scene heading different directions: east, west, north, south. The impact that is made on the entire world is astounding and destructive.”
As the sun went down, I knew the whole Earth will hear the horses as I hear them now. They sounded familiar as they came:
Galloping, galloping, galloping.
Chapter Six
It was the next morning. Walker was back, sitting on the couch. A cool breeze came in through the window.
I asked Walker if he would like to go out to the garden with me again. “I write better on the laptop while getting some fresh air.”
“You lead the way.”
I walked out, because I wanted to see some beauty, and get my mind off the ugly wars. We sat on outdoor chairs. The roses of yellow, red and pink were glistening with dew. I inhaled the fragrance and felt peace in my soul.
“Walker, you are from Heaven.” I glanced up when I said that.
“True.”
“Tell me more about Jesus.”
“You know he is God the Son.”
“Yes, I know he is God’s son,” I said.
“He is so much more.” Walker clasped my hand and looked me in the eye. “God is good all the time, even when he must punish evil.”
I realized that. “Why don’t more people want to turn to him?”
“They don’t have the capacity to grasp such awe-inspiring love.” The expression on his face was captivating. “People in general are self-centered. They don’t want God.”
“So, that is why I must tell them that the horses are coming,” I said, slightly confused.