And his name that sat on him was Death

Revelation

...
And when he had opened the fourth seal
I heard the voice of the fourth beast say
Come and see.
And I looked,
and behold a pale horse
and his name that sat on him was Death
and Hell followed with him.
And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,
to kill with sword,
and with hunger,
and with death,
and with the beasts of the earth.
...


Jesus opened the fourth seal of the very special book and the fourth beast - the beast like a flying eagle with six wings and covered in eyes back and front- told John to come and see. John looked and saw another horse and this one was the color of pale, not white, but pale. There is no purity here but rather something off color. Recently a doctor saw a friend of mine and immediately noticed how 'pale' he was. To the doctor's trained eye he knew something was wrong instantly where I only partially suspected something was off color. Why was my friend so pale? Because he was extremely sick. When we see someone who is off color- or pale we suspect that there is something wrong. Sometimes it's as simple as having a fright, but more oft than not it's because there is sickness involved. This horse John see's is pale and the rider was named Death. Death! Aren't the majority of sickly people laying upon their deathbeds on the pale side? Seriously. The very ill have that look about them don't they? If you've no first hand experience such as working in a nursing home, or a hospital, or even nursed someone at home who was dying you might not know for yourself personally but surely most people have seen movies with such scenes in them where an actor is made up to be dying and one of the first things happening when applying that camera makeup is working on making that person's complexion pale- sickly. The same with the tortured and wounded, rarely will they simply just look fine other than their wounds. Those horribly abused and near death, those who are awfully sick, they look sick and when we say they look sick we instantly mean off color- pale. Is it any wonder Death is the rider of this time period shown? That Hell(in the margin of the Bible is the word 'the grave'), that the Grave followed Death?


During this period of time the false church is fully entrenched in peoples lives and reigning with an unbelievable power over people. The papacy with it's church/political dual purpose in existing corrupted the purity of any that would be truly God's people. Mingling the pure message of Christ's love and redemption with so much that is worldly clearly shouts falsehood. The papacy during this period had great authority in many, many ways and during that time just as it says- 'And power was given until them over the fourth part of the earth' surely this papal power held such authority and they were able to kill with the sword, with torture such as hunger and yes, the beasts of the earth. For when the civilized powers are gone what remains but beasts to rule? And in another note- during this time the Black Death came into play killing millions and millions of people and what brought the black death but black rats carrying the disease carrying fleas.


Yes, during the middle ages the papacy reached the height of it's power and wield it's awful authority by order of inquisitions and it also suffered it's eventual downfall as the end of this time period drew nigh in the 1500's and the birth of Protestantism began.


To read a bit more on the suject go here- http://www.heijira.com/em_lecture_4.html


No, Protestantism didn't immediately squash the papacy but it had it's beginning there in the 1500's after a terrible reign of rulership for over a thousand years. That the papacy wasn't fully squash until 1798 it's downfall can be noted as beginning in the 1500's.


This fourth horse truly did bring with it the rider called Death and the Grave most certainly followed.


May the Lord bless and keep us as we continue our study, realizing how truly separate God's way is from man's. Jesus did not wield power and authority by any force whatsoever, in fact He acted the part of the Lamb being led to the slaughter only unlike our animal lambs, Jesus was fully aware of the death that awaited Him and He didn't offer any protest at all. He didn't cause an uprising of followers to wage war on the corruption around them, He encouraged love of enemies, doing good to those who misuse you- hate you- despise you and all His followers were to follow that example of His and where can you find that in any way with the things the papacy has done under the guise of being Christ's church? May we today recognize the truth of Jesus' love and call to us to follow Him and know that all else even with it's disguise of purity and goodness is filled with evil and there will be those who cry out to Jesus about knowing him but in truth He will call back He knew them not. May we not be among those, but be safely in the kingdom as true followers of Jesus' love, covered in His righteousness by His mercy, His grace towards us sinners who beg forgivness and repent of all that would keep us from His love, from His knowing us.


Amen.