Patrick Heron

“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, “Come and see.” And I beheld, and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, “A measure of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a days wages, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” Rev. 6:5, 6

Ireland is currently experiencing a financial crisis unprecedented in our short history. Indeed this fiscal uncertainty is not just endemic to Ireland but is spread throughout Europe and the entire world. What does the future hold? Is there any light at the end of the tunnel and will there be jobs for our kids and pensions for us when we are old? Is there no end to the bad news or who can we turn to that we might be saved from an uncertain future?

There is hope but first to the above quote. It is a metaphor as are all of the four Horseman of the Apocalypse. You remember them. They often appeared on album covers back in the ‘60’s as dread, sinister looking evil demons atop raging, snorting horses of colours white, red, black and pale. But what do these metaphors mean and especially in regard to the financial morass in which we find ourselves now ensnared?

To decode this riddle we must go back to a private discourse between the Messiah and some of his closest confidants which occurred on the Mount of Olives almost 2,000 years ago. They asked him what would be the signs of his coming and of the end of this age. Long story short, he told them the first sign to watch for was false prophets claiming to be speaking on his behalf. Finally, one special man would arrive claiming, “I am Christ”. This is the rider on the white horse who goes out clutching a bow with no arrow. (More on him later).

Then Jesus gave a list of signs that would accrue leading up to a coming Apocalypse. He said,

“You will hear of wars and rumours of wars. Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom (ethnos vos ethnos). There will be famines and diseases and earthquakes in many places. All these are the beginnings of birth-pains….There will be great distress unequalled from the beginning of the world until now-and never to be equalled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive…”

Matt 24

The Messiah gave a list of other signs including that in the last generation, the Jewish people would be returned to Israel again after their world-wide scattering. But the four major ones are deception, wars, famines and diseases. He went on to say that these signs would increase as we got closer to the final time and likened it to a woman in labour. Now back to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and how these signs find their fulfilment in them.

The rider on the white horse is he who shall arrive in due course and proclaim, “I am Christ”. He is known as ‘the Antichrist’.

‘Anti’, in Greek means, ‘in the stead of’, and not just, ‘against’. So a world leader is to appear claiming, literally, that he is Jesus Christ. He has a bow but no arrow because he preaches peace but wages war. When the real Messiah returns, according to Revelation chapter 19, he will be riding a white horse. Thus the counterfeit Messiah is the rider on the white horse. He will arise as the ruler of the coming New World Order.

The second sign given regarding the coming Apocalypse is “wars”. This finds its fulfilment in the rider on the red horse. “…and power was given unto 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”

So, widespread wars between nations and ethnic groups would signify that we were approaching the end game. And of course in the last 90 years we have had unprecedented world-wars the likes of which were never seen in all the centuries of world history prior to 1914. The two world wars accounted for the death of as many as 70 to 100 million people alone not to mention Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin, the Congo, Rwanda and the countless other conflicts and pogroms both past an on-going. Despite how much we delude ourselves into thinking we have evolved into well educated, cultured and civilised humans, bottom line is, this last 100 years has been the bloodiest ever. And so it goes on. The birth pains

increase until a future, final battle which will occur in an area in Northern Israel called the Valley of Megiddo.

Now to the rider on the black horse and how it pertains to where we in Ireland, and Europe, now find ourselves.

In 1997, I wrote a short book called Apocalypse Soon. Garret O Callaghan gave me a great interview on RTE One when he was filling in for Gaybo and said, “I read the book in one sitting and was gripped”. It went into the bestsellers after that. But I digress. In that book I surmised that the coming Apocalypse might be preceded by a world-wide financial collapse. I wrote this 13 years ago. Although we are not quite there yet, this is the meaning of the metaphorical rider on the black horse.

‘Black’ in the Bible always denotes famine. And bread by weight denotes scarcity of food. The rider on the black horse says, “A measure of wheat for a day’s wages and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages. And see that thou hurt not the oil and the wine”. If you are receiving a few slices of bread and some barley for a day’s wages, this is signifying an economic and financial collapse and world-wide food shortages. Imagine what would happen in cities of several million people like London or Paris when folks put their card in the ATM machine and nothing comes out. In two days, chaos will reign.

Too far-fetched, I hear you say. Absurd. Well, a respected financial advisor, Carl Dieter, recently said on-air, that just two years ago there were food riots in 23 countries. Some of these were in the EU. Think about it. “And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” This means, I believe, that the elites will be insulated from any famines or shortages. Plus ca change.

Now consider what has been happening in our little country with the present financial and economic failure and consider the third sign prophesied by the Messiah; “There will be famines in many places.” For what we are witnessing right now with this banking and fiscal collapse is a shadow of the rider on the black horse, just as the Messiah said we would see. The contractions intensify.

The whole financial arrangement in Europe and the world is one giant Ponzi scheme. For the money we use is based on confidence and has no intrinsic value. That is, there is no gold backing up the notes we use for buying and selling. It seems every country owes billions and trillions and

is in debt. The world currencies are so inter-related now that the entire system resembles a giant house of cards. And Ireland presently is the weak link that threatens to bring down the European monetary scheme should the contagion spread to the other weak countries known as PIGS. Thus, the present panic.

Perhaps Ireland and Europe will patch up this latest financial problem and stumble on for another period. But the writing is on the wall. I have an inkling of what we might do as a nation but it’s not going to happen because we are wedded to the EU and have already sold our soul for a mess of pottage. Our destiny is already laid out. The bad news is; the Titanic is going down. The good news is; you don’t have to be on the boat. For, there is an escape route. There is an alternative. But that solution is for another day. In the mean time, planting some vegetables might not be such a bad idea.

By the way, the rider on the pale horse is named ‘Death’ and Hades (the grave) follows in his train. These are as a consequence of the fourth sign, diseases, which occur as a result of wars and famine.

I shall leave you with another quote from the man himself, for those who have ears to hear:

“When it is evening ye say, ‘It will be fair weather to day for the sky is red’. And in the morning, ‘it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and overcast’.

O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but ye cannot discern the signs of the times.” Matt 16:2, 3