Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

 Good morning. Now we have the fourth seal and the fourth living creature: an ashen (describes the ashen appearance of the dead) horse and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth (is it geographical or number of people?), to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. If it is number of people, does that mean that a fourth of the people still living were killed, or just affected by these things? When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar (the altar was where the old testament sacrifices were made) the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “how long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth“? This does not sound like they were all the people who died because of the word of God from the beginning of Christianity, but rather recent to this happening, since it talks about those dwelling on earth. One would think that all of the things happening because of the first four seals would be a judgment of those who killed them. Father bring about a complete change in the reader’s life. Make his/her life dramatically new from now on.

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