Source-Pravda: CIA infects South American leaders with cancer.
Over 18 months period four progressive leaders of Latin America and their fellow citizens were shocked by the diagnosis delivered by their physicians - cancer. Fernando Lugo, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, Hugo Chavez, and recently Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner were given this diagnosis. The Presidents of Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina suspiciously simultaneously turned out on the verge of survival.
Chavez immediately warned that the disease may be a "new weapon of the empire to eliminate unwanted leaders." Maybe, but oddly enough, the result was the opposite. All politicians not only did not stop their political life and moved away from responsibilities, but on the contrary, dramatically increased their rating and rallied around the supporters.
First, in August of 2010 60-year-old Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo was diagnosed with a tumor of lymphatic system. After six sessions of chemotherapy in Sao Paulo and Asuncion, doctors reported that the tumor was gone. He was elected in 2008 with a mandate for five years. He resigned his ecclesiastical rank and became the second leftist president in the history of the country.
66-year-old former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was diagnosed with larynx cancer in October of 2011, nine months after the transfer of power to Dilma Russef. The doctors did not operate on Lulu, saying that as a result he may lose his voice forever - an extremely important tool for policy and communication.
They argue that after several sessions of chemotherapy the tumor of the ex-president who had a firm intention to return to politics was reduced by 75 percent. Lula, who was in power from 2003 to 2010, reduced poverty in the country, united Latin America and made Brazil one of the world's largest economies.
57-year-old Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez began treatment for cancer at the end of June of 2011. There is still no official data on what type of cancer he has. He was operated in Havana on July 20. After four rounds of chemotherapy, a series of medical tests confirmed a positive trend. Chavez has been in power since 1999 and in October of 2012 he is to run for the third term.
Finally, in late December, the media reported that 58-year-old Argentine President Cristina Kirchner will undergo surgery in early January of 2012 for cancer of the thyroid gland and the prognosis for recovery is quite favorable. Kirchner was re-elected for the second term in December of 2011 and takes a firm anti-American stance.
Hugo Chavez was the first to become suspicious. "I am far from delusions of persecution, but the fact remains - the murder as a way of removing unwanted politicians has been always practiced by the Empire (USA). I have no proof, and yet it is obvious that there is something strange with progressive politicians in Latin America," said Chavez.
He is right, as murder of Fidel Castro was attempted in dozens of ways. Venezuelan writer Luis Brito Garcia counted more than 900 assassination attempts of the Cuban leader organized by the CIA. However, today Latin America is not only united against the USA, but also against Israel, where nearly all the countries recognize the independence of Palestine, so in fact one can search for trace not only of the CIA, but Mossad as well. It is also strange that Chavez's illness and the type of cancer (prostate cancer) was first reported by "a source at the CIA," a newspaper that exists on the money of the State Department - Nuevo Herald.
Is cancer a side effect of new weapons used by the intelligence? Or is it just a coincidence that is successfully intertwined with the "modus vivendi" of the agonizing North American giant? There are several prerequisites for the conspiracy theory. First, there is an obvious one - to prevent the development of South American socialism. Second, methods of operation have been developed, and the most unsuccessful ones are discussed by the entire world. Third, there is a sound scientific basis to invent new kinds of biological, chemical and electronic weapons tested in local wars.
Note that only those whose policies contradict the dominant position of the United States develop the disease. Then remember the "failures". First of all, the strange death of former President of Palestine Yasser Arafat who was suffering from leukemia in 2004. At the conclusion of French experts, he died of a massive brain hemorrhage caused by a disorder of the blood supply, which was provoked, in turn, by an unspecified infection. In the patient's blood platelet count was low and content of white blood cells was high. Similar symptoms may be signs of various diseases, including cancer, inflammation of the lungs and some blood disorders.
Then the mysterious murder of Alexander Litvinenko who died in London in 2006 as a result of a chemical poisoning with polonium-210. Which special services have done this is not known, but he died instantly from a progressive form of cancer afflicting vital organs. Another typical case is poisoning of the former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko with dioxin of high purity, which was produced in the laboratory outside of Russia. Incidentally, this poison causes cancer of nasal and respiratory tract.
Also note that during the invasion in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. tested a number of new weapons. For example, microwave guns that operate according to the principle of conventional microwave oven, but its waves are directed into a narrow beam, and the range of action is much wider. In addition to cancerous effect they have another one, no less terrible. They heat the water contained in the skin cells and the intercellular space. It cannot kill humans, but causes great pain, similar to that from burns. The symptoms are very similar to the symptoms of a heart attack from which president Nestor Kirchner died suddenly on the eve of the nomination.
WikiLeaks reported that in 2008 the CIA asked its embassy in Paraguay (Fernando Lugo!) to collect all biometric data, including the DNA of all four presidential candidates. Knowing the DNA code, it is easy to develop an oncogene for each individual. If we assume that such data was obtained on the eve of the elections in Brazil, then cancer of Dilma Russef in 2009 fits into this theory.
Having partially lost its influence in Latin America, the U.S. may have found a much easier and cheaper way to get rid of unwanted "partners." Over time alpha radiation, electromagnetic waves, or chemicals cause emergence and development of cancer. Using the experience gained, the CIA tested new weapons on the progressive leaders and revolutionaries of Latin America.
The U.S. economy is experiencing a crash no different than that of Greece, and it remains afloat only because it can turn on the money printing machine. Yet, the State Department cannot afford to dominate everywhere by military force, which requires great amounts of money to maintain. Therefore, it is logical to assume that they found new quick and inexpensive methods for the effective destruction of enemies. The most important advantage of these methods is that they leave no traces, disguised as oncology or a heart attack and eliminate the possibility of direct exposure and liability.
Over 18 months period four progressive leaders of Latin America and their fellow citizens were shocked by the diagnosis delivered by their physicians - cancer. Fernando Lugo, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, Hugo Chavez, and recently Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner were given this diagnosis. The Presidents of Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina suspiciously simultaneously turned out on the verge of survival.
Chavez immediately warned that the disease may be a "new weapon of the empire to eliminate unwanted leaders." Maybe, but oddly enough, the result was the opposite. All politicians not only did not stop their political life and moved away from responsibilities, but on the contrary, dramatically increased their rating and rallied around the supporters.
First, in August of 2010 60-year-old Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo was diagnosed with a tumor of lymphatic system. After six sessions of chemotherapy in Sao Paulo and Asuncion, doctors reported that the tumor was gone. He was elected in 2008 with a mandate for five years. He resigned his ecclesiastical rank and became the second leftist president in the history of the country.
66-year-old former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was diagnosed with larynx cancer in October of 2011, nine months after the transfer of power to Dilma Russef. The doctors did not operate on Lulu, saying that as a result he may lose his voice forever - an extremely important tool for policy and communication.
They argue that after several sessions of chemotherapy the tumor of the ex-president who had a firm intention to return to politics was reduced by 75 percent. Lula, who was in power from 2003 to 2010, reduced poverty in the country, united Latin America and made Brazil one of the world's largest economies.
57-year-old Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez began treatment for cancer at the end of June of 2011. There is still no official data on what type of cancer he has. He was operated in Havana on July 20. After four rounds of chemotherapy, a series of medical tests confirmed a positive trend. Chavez has been in power since 1999 and in October of 2012 he is to run for the third term.
Finally, in late December, the media reported that 58-year-old Argentine President Cristina Kirchner will undergo surgery in early January of 2012 for cancer of the thyroid gland and the prognosis for recovery is quite favorable. Kirchner was re-elected for the second term in December of 2011 and takes a firm anti-American stance.
Hugo Chavez was the first to become suspicious. "I am far from delusions of persecution, but the fact remains - the murder as a way of removing unwanted politicians has been always practiced by the Empire (USA). I have no proof, and yet it is obvious that there is something strange with progressive politicians in Latin America," said Chavez.
He is right, as murder of Fidel Castro was attempted in dozens of ways. Venezuelan writer Luis Brito Garcia counted more than 900 assassination attempts of the Cuban leader organized by the CIA. However, today Latin America is not only united against the USA, but also against Israel, where nearly all the countries recognize the independence of Palestine, so in fact one can search for trace not only of the CIA, but Mossad as well. It is also strange that Chavez's illness and the type of cancer (prostate cancer) was first reported by "a source at the CIA," a newspaper that exists on the money of the State Department - Nuevo Herald.
Is cancer a side effect of new weapons used by the intelligence? Or is it just a coincidence that is successfully intertwined with the "modus vivendi" of the agonizing North American giant? There are several prerequisites for the conspiracy theory. First, there is an obvious one - to prevent the development of South American socialism. Second, methods of operation have been developed, and the most unsuccessful ones are discussed by the entire world. Third, there is a sound scientific basis to invent new kinds of biological, chemical and electronic weapons tested in local wars.
Note that only those whose policies contradict the dominant position of the United States develop the disease. Then remember the "failures". First of all, the strange death of former President of Palestine Yasser Arafat who was suffering from leukemia in 2004. At the conclusion of French experts, he died of a massive brain hemorrhage caused by a disorder of the blood supply, which was provoked, in turn, by an unspecified infection. In the patient's blood platelet count was low and content of white blood cells was high. Similar symptoms may be signs of various diseases, including cancer, inflammation of the lungs and some blood disorders.
Then the mysterious murder of Alexander Litvinenko who died in London in 2006 as a result of a chemical poisoning with polonium-210. Which special services have done this is not known, but he died instantly from a progressive form of cancer afflicting vital organs. Another typical case is poisoning of the former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko with dioxin of high purity, which was produced in the laboratory outside of Russia. Incidentally, this poison causes cancer of nasal and respiratory tract.
Also note that during the invasion in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. tested a number of new weapons. For example, microwave guns that operate according to the principle of conventional microwave oven, but its waves are directed into a narrow beam, and the range of action is much wider. In addition to cancerous effect they have another one, no less terrible. They heat the water contained in the skin cells and the intercellular space. It cannot kill humans, but causes great pain, similar to that from burns. The symptoms are very similar to the symptoms of a heart attack from which president Nestor Kirchner died suddenly on the eve of the nomination.
WikiLeaks reported that in 2008 the CIA asked its embassy in Paraguay (Fernando Lugo!) to collect all biometric data, including the DNA of all four presidential candidates. Knowing the DNA code, it is easy to develop an oncogene for each individual. If we assume that such data was obtained on the eve of the elections in Brazil, then cancer of Dilma Russef in 2009 fits into this theory.
Having partially lost its influence in Latin America, the U.S. may have found a much easier and cheaper way to get rid of unwanted "partners." Over time alpha radiation, electromagnetic waves, or chemicals cause emergence and development of cancer. Using the experience gained, the CIA tested new weapons on the progressive leaders and revolutionaries of Latin America.
The U.S. economy is experiencing a crash no different than that of Greece, and it remains afloat only because it can turn on the money printing machine. Yet, the State Department cannot afford to dominate everywhere by military force, which requires great amounts of money to maintain. Therefore, it is logical to assume that they found new quick and inexpensive methods for the effective destruction of enemies. The most important advantage of these methods is that they leave no traces, disguised as oncology or a heart attack and eliminate the possibility of direct exposure and liability.
Source-NPR-BIO-TERRORISM
Published: November 17, 2011
by Nell Greenfieldboyce
Scientists and security specialists are in the midst of a fierce debate over recent experiments on a strain of bird flu virus that made it more contagious.
The big question: Should the results be made public?
Critics say doing so could potentially reveal how to make powerful new bioweapons.
The H5N1 virus has been circulating among birds and other animals in recent years. It's also infected about 500 people. More than half died. But this dangerous virus has not caused widespread human disease because, so far, sick people haven't been very contagious.
If the virus evolves to spread as easily between people as seasonal flu, however, it could cause a devastating global pandemic. So in an attempt to stay ahead of H5N1, scientists have been tweaking its genes in the lab to learn more about how this virus works, and what it is capable of.
In September, one scientist made a stunning announcement. At a flu conference held in Malta, he said he'd done a lab experiment that resulted in bird flu virus becoming highly contagious between ferrets — the animal model used to study human flu infection. It seemed that just five mutations did the trick.
News of the results raised red flags for Dr. Thomas Inglesby, a bioterrorism expert and director of the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
"It's just a bad idea for scientists to turn a lethal virus into a lethal and highly contagious virus. And it's a second bad idea for them to publish how they did it so others can copy it," says Inglesby.
No science journal has published the information yet. And Inglesby hopes none of them do.
Biology research usually has a culture of openness. Scientists report their methods and results so others can repeat their work and learn from it.
Inglesby agrees that's the way to go the vast majority of the time. But not this time. "There are some cases that I think are worth an exception to that otherwise very important scientific principle," he says. "I can only imagine that the process of deliberating about the publication of these findings is quite serious."
The researcher who presented these findings at the science meeting is virologist Ron Fouchier, of the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. NPR has learned that his work is now under scrutiny by a committee called the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity.
That's a committee of independent experts the U. S. government set up to give advice on how to deal with biological research that's legitimately important to science but that also could be misused. It can make nonbinding recommendations about such things as whether the findings should be published.
NPR asked Fouchier by email if he intended to publish the details of his study. He replied that he preferred not to comment until the committee made a formal decision.
Research on new and worrisome forms of influenza is a case study showing how, a decade after 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, scientists are still grappling with how to handle sensitive biological research, says John Steinbruner, director of the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland.
"We really do need to develop a better oversight process and a better way of organizing global judgments about very, very dangerous lines of research," says Steinbruner. "And we haven't yet done it."
Scientists say they do think hard about these issues. Princeton's Lynn Enquist, editor in chief of the Journal of Virology, says he and his colleagues carefully considered whether to publish a flu study submitted to the journal that appears in the December issue.
"You have to say, 'Is there more benefit than there is risk?' and that was our judgment on this one, that that was indeed the case," says Enquist.
In that experiment, researchers had taken a bird flu gene and put it in the swine flu virus that started spreading between people a couple of years ago. Mice infected with this lab-created virus got very, very sick.
But Enquist says, this altered virus didn't spread easily. And he points out that this kind of virus combination could happen as bird flu circulates out in nature.
"Scientists in the United States and all around the world are very curious as to how this thing is going to evolve because we have to be prepared for it," says Enquist. "The public would expect us to be prepared."
As part of that effort to get ready, scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been doing work to see how bird flu could adapt to humans. This month, in a different journal called Virology, they described how they created two new versions of the bird flu virus that could spread between ferrets in a limited way.
A spokesperson said no one from the CDC would be made available to comment. And efforts to speak with officials at the National Institutes of Health, which funds flu research, were unsuccessful. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]
Published: November 17, 2011
by Nell Greenfieldboyce
Scientists and security specialists are in the midst of a fierce debate over recent experiments on a strain of bird flu virus that made it more contagious.
The big question: Should the results be made public?
Critics say doing so could potentially reveal how to make powerful new bioweapons.
The H5N1 virus has been circulating among birds and other animals in recent years. It's also infected about 500 people. More than half died. But this dangerous virus has not caused widespread human disease because, so far, sick people haven't been very contagious.
If the virus evolves to spread as easily between people as seasonal flu, however, it could cause a devastating global pandemic. So in an attempt to stay ahead of H5N1, scientists have been tweaking its genes in the lab to learn more about how this virus works, and what it is capable of.
In September, one scientist made a stunning announcement. At a flu conference held in Malta, he said he'd done a lab experiment that resulted in bird flu virus becoming highly contagious between ferrets — the animal model used to study human flu infection. It seemed that just five mutations did the trick.
News of the results raised red flags for Dr. Thomas Inglesby, a bioterrorism expert and director of the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
"It's just a bad idea for scientists to turn a lethal virus into a lethal and highly contagious virus. And it's a second bad idea for them to publish how they did it so others can copy it," says Inglesby.
No science journal has published the information yet. And Inglesby hopes none of them do.
Biology research usually has a culture of openness. Scientists report their methods and results so others can repeat their work and learn from it.
Inglesby agrees that's the way to go the vast majority of the time. But not this time. "There are some cases that I think are worth an exception to that otherwise very important scientific principle," he says. "I can only imagine that the process of deliberating about the publication of these findings is quite serious."
The researcher who presented these findings at the science meeting is virologist Ron Fouchier, of the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. NPR has learned that his work is now under scrutiny by a committee called the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity.
That's a committee of independent experts the U. S. government set up to give advice on how to deal with biological research that's legitimately important to science but that also could be misused. It can make nonbinding recommendations about such things as whether the findings should be published.
NPR asked Fouchier by email if he intended to publish the details of his study. He replied that he preferred not to comment until the committee made a formal decision.
Research on new and worrisome forms of influenza is a case study showing how, a decade after 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, scientists are still grappling with how to handle sensitive biological research, says John Steinbruner, director of the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland.
"We really do need to develop a better oversight process and a better way of organizing global judgments about very, very dangerous lines of research," says Steinbruner. "And we haven't yet done it."
Scientists say they do think hard about these issues. Princeton's Lynn Enquist, editor in chief of the Journal of Virology, says he and his colleagues carefully considered whether to publish a flu study submitted to the journal that appears in the December issue.
"You have to say, 'Is there more benefit than there is risk?' and that was our judgment on this one, that that was indeed the case," says Enquist.
In that experiment, researchers had taken a bird flu gene and put it in the swine flu virus that started spreading between people a couple of years ago. Mice infected with this lab-created virus got very, very sick.
But Enquist says, this altered virus didn't spread easily. And he points out that this kind of virus combination could happen as bird flu circulates out in nature.
"Scientists in the United States and all around the world are very curious as to how this thing is going to evolve because we have to be prepared for it," says Enquist. "The public would expect us to be prepared."
As part of that effort to get ready, scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been doing work to see how bird flu could adapt to humans. This month, in a different journal called Virology, they described how they created two new versions of the bird flu virus that could spread between ferrets in a limited way.
A spokesperson said no one from the CDC would be made available to comment. And efforts to speak with officials at the National Institutes of Health, which funds flu research, were unsuccessful. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]
Source-CNN tons of dead fish in Norway
Tons of dead herring that washed up on a Norwegian beach on New Year’s Eve are now gone, and no one is sure how they got there or where they went.
Local resident Jan-Petter Jorgensen told Norway’s TV2 he went to look at the thousands and thousands of fish after seeing a Facebook posting about them, according to a report on The Foreigner.
Joregensen said it was fortunate the icy cold prevented the mass of dead fish from raising a stink.
“It is 15 degrees below zero today, so the cold means they don’t smell. Nevertheless, the smell will be pretty intense in the long run,” he said, according to The Foreigner report.
Turns out that wasn’t a problem. Views and News from Norway reports that as of Tuesday, most of the dead fish were gone, perhaps pushed out to sea by tides and winds. The local mayor said they’ll likely sink in the ocean, according to the report.
Why they came to be on the shore remains a mystery.
Jens Christian Holst of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway told Norwegian Broadcasting the herring may have been chased ashore by predators, the Views and News report said.
“In this area, we know there is a lot of (pollock) that graze on (herring),” he said.
Seems like a reasonable explanation.
Of course, on the Web there are always more troubling theories around, including that the deaths could be the first sign the end of the world is coming in 2012, as some believe ancient Mayan prophecy predicts.
Tons of dead herring that washed up on a Norwegian beach on New Year’s Eve are now gone, and no one is sure how they got there or where they went.
Local resident Jan-Petter Jorgensen told Norway’s TV2 he went to look at the thousands and thousands of fish after seeing a Facebook posting about them, according to a report on The Foreigner.
Joregensen said it was fortunate the icy cold prevented the mass of dead fish from raising a stink.
“It is 15 degrees below zero today, so the cold means they don’t smell. Nevertheless, the smell will be pretty intense in the long run,” he said, according to The Foreigner report.
Turns out that wasn’t a problem. Views and News from Norway reports that as of Tuesday, most of the dead fish were gone, perhaps pushed out to sea by tides and winds. The local mayor said they’ll likely sink in the ocean, according to the report.
Why they came to be on the shore remains a mystery.
Jens Christian Holst of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway told Norwegian Broadcasting the herring may have been chased ashore by predators, the Views and News report said.
“In this area, we know there is a lot of (pollock) that graze on (herring),” he said.
Seems like a reasonable explanation.
Of course, on the Web there are always more troubling theories around, including that the deaths could be the first sign the end of the world is coming in 2012, as some believe ancient Mayan prophecy predicts.
The Four Horseman of Revelation
The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in just eight verses of the book of Revelation, which is the last book in the bible. The four horsemen appear when the Lamb (Jesus) opens the first four seals of a scroll with seven seals (which is described in Revelation chapter 6). As each of the first four seals are opened a different coloured horse and its rider is seen by the apostle John as described in Rev 6:1-8.
First seal is opened : a white horse appears, its rider held a bow (conquest).
(Rev 6:1-8 NIV) I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" {2} I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
Second seal is opened : a red horse appears, its rider holds a sword (war)
{3} When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" {4} Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
Third seal is opened: a black horse appears, its rider holds a pair of scales (famine)
{5} When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. {6} Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
Fourth seal is opened : a pale horse appears, its rider is called Death
{7} When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" {8} I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
The seven seals (6:1)
2.1. First seal (6:1) a white horse, its rider holds a bow
2.2. Second seal (6:3) a red horse, its rider holds a sword
2.3. Third seal (6:5) a black horse, its rider holds a pair of scales
2.4. Fourth seal (6:7) a pale horse, its rider is called Death
In Revelation chapter 4 we see God seated on the throne in heaven, it is he who is sovereign over earthly events. We should notice first that only the Lamb (Jesus) is able to take the scroll from God and to break the seals and reveal its contents. Each of the four riders is summoned onto human history by one of the heavenly living creatures. Notice the phase 'he was given a crown', 'was given power', 'do not damage the oil and the wine', 'were given power over', all of this indicates that the four riders are under the sovereignty of God. Even if we do not understand earthly events, the message of Revelation is that God is sovereign from the start to the finish. Then his enemies will be defeated and punished and his saints vindicated and rewarded. Followed by a new earth with no more death or mourning or crying or pain.
2. The seven seals (6:1)
Background to the four horsemen.
After taking the scroll from God and being worshipped by all creation (in chapter 5) the Lamb (Jesus, the Lamb of God) now opens the seven seals of the scroll to reveal its contents. The seals as with the trumpets are in a group of four, two and one. The opening of the first four seals reveal the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The opening of the first four seals is introduced by each of the four living creatures in turn. Each one of the four living creatures reveals a horseman, the first three horsemen are summed up by the fourth horsemen, 'They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth'. These are popularly known as the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The power of these horsemen is limited to a quarter, with the trumpets later it is limited to a third. The fifth seal reveals those who had been slain because of the word of God and their testimony, that is the persecuted church. The sixth seal reveals the day of the Lord, which brings the Lamb's wrath to those on the earth. The opening of the seventh seal reveals silence. The seven seals sum up human history from the viewpoint of heaven and the church. There is war, famine and pestilence in general and on the church in particular there is persecution, then the end will come bringing terror to the world, this probably accounts for the silence of the seventh seal.
What is described by the seals is similar to the signs of the end of the age as described by Jesus in Matthew 24. There will be wars, famines and earthquakes (Mat 24:6-8), persecution (24:9-14), the heavenly bodies are shaken (Mat 24:29) and 'at that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn' (Mat 24:30). After the opening of the seven seals the scroll can be read and we find more detail, but this starts in chapter 8. The seven seals describe tribulation that is largely man made (wars, famine and persecution) but under the control of God, the seven trumpets are disasters sent by God with the aim of persuading man to repent, the seven bowls are the final outpouring of God's wrath on impenitent mankind. The fact that the seven seals are opened by Christ indicates his sovereignty over the future. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Rev 22:13), he is sovereign from the beginning to the end of history, and everything in between.
2.1. First seal (6:1)
Rev 6:1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
v1 - I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals - Jesus opens the seals following the worship of all creation but especially that of the church. John watches with anticipation as the Lamb opens the first seal. Jesus opens the seals but not the book, the opening of the seals is preliminary to opening the book. Jesus opens the seals to permit us to see the future course of history which is not hidden from the saints (1:1, 22:6, 10). God has entrusted Jesus to reveal the future course of history to His church cf. 1:1, 'the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy' (19:10).
v1 - Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" - Each one of the four living creatures introduces the first four seals. The thunder emphasises the command, Come! Which calls the first horse onto the stage. Note that the opening of the seals by the Lamb is not passive but it brings events onto the stage of human history.
v2 - I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest - The first of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, this image is taken from Zechariah (Zec 1:8, 6:1-8) in which there are four chariots pulled by different coloured horses, these are the four spirits of heaven going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. The four horses cover each direction of the compass, that is, they affect the whole earth. Some see the rider on the white horse as the same rider as in Rev 19:11 i.e. Christ, see Hendriksen. This is not certain, the rider in Rev 19:11 had a sword, this one has a bow. The bow is more likely to be that of the Parthians who were the only mounted archers in the ancient world. He was given a crown, is this likely to refer to Christ who had many crowns (see Rev 19:12), but see comment on 14:14. The crown is a victors crown (Gr., stephanos) as distinguished from a royal crown (diadema), the victors crown is appropriate for someone going forth to conquer. The crown is not the same type of crown that the beast wears (13:1) or Christ wears in 19:12 who both wear the royal crown (diadema) although the 'son of man' in 14:14 wears the victors crown.
The forth horse summarises the first three and is distinctly evil, the first horse signifies the lust for conquest which is commonly the cause of war, which is the next seal and famine (third seal), the fourth seal describes death by sword, famine, plague and wild beasts. It should also be noted that in the sixth seal the wrath of the Lamb falls on the kings, princes, generals and mighty (men) among others who are responsible for war. Rev 19:18 also describes the kings, generals, mighty men, horses and their riders and the rest whose flesh the birds flying in mid-air eat. The four horses cover the four directions of the compass, they are of a unity, just as the first four trumpets and bowls affect the whole earth. The first four seals are introduced by the living creatures, the rest are not. The first rider representing conquest is the most straight forward reading of the text, although the fact that he is riding a white horse raises problems for this interpretation, although John may simply be thinking of Zech 1:8, 6:3 which have a white horse. Others argue that Christ cannot be commanded by heavenly creatures therefore the horseman must be the conquest of the word of God as prophesied by Christ (Mark 13:10), however see 14:15 where someone 'like a son of man' is told to reap. There is at least one verse in which an arrow is likened to the word of God 'He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver', (Isa 49:2).
Grimsrud argues that the white horse signifies triumphant warfare because the four horsemen represent war and its attendant evils: war, strife, famine and disease, and makes the following observation: ' Conquer is used 11 times in the book to allude to conquest by a faithful witness (once in each of the seven letters, in 5:5 of the Lamb, and in 12:11 and 15:2 of the faithful servants). Three times it refers to conquest by violence (here, in 11:7 where the beast kills the two witnesses, and in 13:7 where the beast wars against and conquers the saints). In all 'conquering' passages, Christ and his followers conquer by dying; Satan and the evil powers by killing'.
Johnson identifies the rider on the white horse with the antichrist and his forces that seek to conquer the followers of Christ. Each of the first four seals, then, represents conflict directed at Christians to test them and sift out false disciples (v.10). He goes on to say that this interpretation need not necessarily eliminate the fact that the seals may also refer to judgements on humankind in general. Yet since the fifth seal stresses the cry of the martyred Christians, probably the thought of Christian persecution belongs also in the first four seals. Each of them unleashes events that separate false belief from true. The destruction of Jerusalem is a case in point (Lk 21:20 ff.). The white horse goes forth to conquer, and as he does so, judgement falls on the unbelief of Israel (Lk 21:22-23), while at the same time there is testing of believers to separate the chaff from the wheat (cf. Lk 21:12-19).
There are some who see the first horseman as conquest in general, the antichrist in particular (Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible) and who argue:
He is the deceiver; therefore he appears in white (Mat 24:5, 2 Thess 2:11).
The crown he wears is different from the crown worn by Christ in Rev 19. It is the crown of the conqueror (stephanos) not the royal crown of a king (diadema), however note that the one 'like a son of man' seated on a cloud wears a crown (stephanos) of gold on his head, 14:14.
The bow symbolises conquest. In the OT it is always the symbol of military power (Ps 46:9; Jer 51:51; Hos 1:5).
To be consistent one must relate this horsemen to the other three who appear destructive.
Note that this rider already possesses a bow but the crown is given to him and goes forth to conquer and hence is a counterfeit Christ.
a. This rider possesses a bow but Christ possesses no bow; a weapon of war is not part of his being.
b. This rider is given a crown but Christ is not given a crown. He was either crowned throughout eternity or at his ascension.
c. This rider sets out to conquer but Christ has always been conquering men's hearts. This horseman who sets out to conquer is one who already posses a bow and is given a crown at some point in time. From that point, he goes forth to conquer (cf. The little horn of Dan 7; The man of sin and the beast and the ruler of the restored Roman Empire of Rev 13; the abomination of desolation of Mat 24:15).
However the first horse being Christ conquering the nations is more in harmony with the whole book. If the rider is Christ then the conquest is the gospel, the martyrs we see in the fifth seal are there due to the resulting persecution that breaks out because of the conquest of the gospel. Hendriksen's argument that the rider is Christ is as follows:
In 5:5 Christ is portrayed as one who has triumphed.
The horse is white, this colour is associated with the holy and heavenly, e.g. white robe, white cloud, white throne, white stone etc., therefore the rider cannot be the devil or the antichrist.
The rider wears a crown which harmonises with 14:14 where Christ wears a crown of gold.
The word conquer or overcome refers with two exceptions (11:7, 13:7) to Christ or believers, see 3:21b. Compare John 16:33 with Rev 3:21b, see also Rev 5:5 and 6:2.
Compare the rider on the white horse here with the rider on the white horse in 19:11 who is clearly Christ. In 5:5 Christ conquered at the cross, in 6:2 is now conquering through the gospel, and in 19:11 he is going to conquer on the great day of judgement which is why he wears many crowns.
The idea of a conquering Christ is in harmony with the purpose of the book, see above (v) and 1:13 ff., 2:26,27, 3:21, 5:5, 6:16, 11:15, 12:11, 14:1 ff., 14:14 ff., 17:14, 19:11 note especially 17:14.(Rev 17:14) They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."
The rider on the horse in 6:2 is in harmony with Mat 10:34 in which he says that he has not come to bring peace on earth but a sword, referring to persecution. The rider on the white horse is followed by the rider on the red horse who carries a sword, and the fifth seal sees the souls of the martyrs under the altar.
Compare with Psa 45:3-5 see also Heb 1:8 which quotes this psalm in which the rider is the Son.
Compare with Zech 1:8 ff. See also Hab 3:8,9; Isa 41:2.
To sum up the first rider and his relationship to the other seals, there are four views:
a. The first rider represents the lust for conquest and as such forms an integral part of the four horsemen who are all evil and are summed up by the fourth horsemen. Conquest brings with it war, famine and death. However the colour white is usually associated with good not evil, but it can indicate victory (Lenski), the rider wears the victory crown.
b. A step further is to say that the rider is the antichrist who brings havoc and misery on the world as indicated by the second, third and fourth horsemen, the fifth seal shows the resultant persecution of Christians by the antichrist followed by the sixth seal representing the end when Christ returns.
c. The first horsemen is Christ conquering by the power of the gospel and the other seals 2 to 5 represent various forms of persecution resulting from the proclamation of the gospel of the first seal. It is perhaps appropriate that Jesus who is the beginning and the end should appear on a white horse at both the beginning and end of the visions about the future.
d. The first rider is the word of God (see Lenski), this again harmonises with the rider on the white horse in chapter 19 whose name is the Word of God and also with Matthew 24:14 and the Matthew 24 model for the interpretation of all the trumpets (see comments after 6:8). The gospel is preached and during the same time there is war, famine and death from various causes. This view makes the best sense in terms of the purpose of Revelation because persecution arises because of the word of God as indicated by the martyrs of the fifth seal who had been slain because of the word of God (5:9). Consider the two witnesses who are slain because they prophesy (11:7) and those beheaded because of the word of God (20:4). In Isa 49:2 the prophet Isaiah compares himself to a polished arrow concealed in the Lords quiver which in the context of the verse, which also refers to his mouth as a sharpened sword, must be the word of God. Consider that the armies of the Lord, who are the saints (see 17:14), as well as Christ, also ride white horses (19:14) and it is through these that the gospel is preached. Finally consider that the gospel also goes throughout the earth in the four directions of the compass just as do war, famine and death.
2.2. Second seal (6:3)
Rev 6:3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
v4 - Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. - War or persecution? In the light of Mat 24:6-7 and in light of the fourth horse that sums up the other three the balance would be in favour of war. Make men slay each other not make men slay the saints, in the light of the rest of the book the author is quite capable of indicating persecution as such. Some commentators quote the following scripture in support of persecution (Mat 10:34), 'I did not come to bring peace, but a sword'. Compare this with the sixth trumpet (Rev 9:15) in which a third of mankind is killed by mounted troops. The colour red corresponds to its mission of bloodshed. The sword is the Roman short sword (machaira). Note that its rider was given power to make men slay each other, 'was given' indicates God's permissive approval. Hendriksen however persuasively argues that the slaughter is of believers and not warfare in general.
In the context persecution follows the first horse who is Christ and the gospel.
Quotes Mat 10:34 'I came not to send peace, but a sword' (machaira)...
The word slaughter when used by John refers to the slaughter of believers except in 13:3 where the slaughtered head belongs to the beast, cf. 1 John 3:12 (Abel slain), Rev 5:6, 5:9, 5:12 (the Lamb), 6:9 (the martyrs under the alter), 13:8 (the Lamb), 18:24 (the saints).
When the fifth seal is opened it reveals the souls of the slaughtered saints which ties in with the slaughtering of the saints in the second seal.
The machaira when used in scripture refers to a sacrificial knife as in the sacrifice of Isaac.
The book is being written to believers who were being killed so that persecution not warfare is the issue. Whenever the rider on the white horse appears (Christ and the gospel) the rider on the red horse always follows (see Mat 5:10,11; Luk 21:2; Acts 4:1; 5:17 etc.). Consider Stephen and Paul, Publius and Polycarp etc.
2.3. Third seal (6:5)
Rev 6:5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
v5 - "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. - Black could indicate dried up vegetation or even burned vegetation, see Lam 5:10. Scales are used to weigh food (Ezek 4:16). The scales can also be thought of as representing injustice since the rider only affects those who are poor.
v6 - Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" - This indicates famine or shortage, a quart of wheat is enough good food for one person not his family, poor food (barley) is available, luxurious items such as oil and wine are not hurt. Olives and vines are deeper rooted and are therefore able to withstand drought. Walvoord comments that famine is the aftermath of war. This is the situation with the western and third world today which takes the luxurious food for itself leaving hardly enough basic food for the third world (famine and justice). Babylon is condemned for her excessive luxury Rev 18:3. The merchants traded oil, wine and wheat with Babylon (18:13), but Barley is not mentioned because it is poor mans food and not a luxury. Famine is also one of the conditions leading to the end times, Mat 24:7. Famine can also lead to political instability which is also a cause of war. Hendriksen argues that the poor people who could only afford barley are Christians. From Revelation we learn something of the conditions of the believers at that time:
They could not remain a member of a trades guild which would involve eating food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality (cf. Pergamum and Thyatira) and it would therefore be difficult to earn a living.
Those who did not have the mark of the beast could not buy or sell (13:17).
Generally the poor would tend to become Christians (Jas 2:5, cf. 1 Cor 1:26)
The second and third riders belong together in their mission to persecute God's people as they spread oppression, injustice and economic hardship throughout the centuries of the churches existence.
2.4. Fourth seal (6:7)
Rev 6:7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
v8 - I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! - The horse is sickly yellow green (Greek chloros, from which the word chlorine comes from) like a dead person. This horse sums up the work of the other three i.e. kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. This verse is also similar to Rev 13:10 where the clear indication is to persecution by the beast in the form of captivity, or being killed with the sword.
v8 - Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. - Hades is the abode of the spirits after death and therefore always follows closely behind death. Death and Hades, the abode of the dead, are personified here, as in Rev 20:13. But Jesus has authority over both, see Rev 1:18.
v8 - They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. - They were given power over a quarter of the earth so it was not universal it was limited power. Compare with the trumpets, one third of the earth is affected, and the bowls which have a total effect. See also Jeremiah's four kinds of destroyers, Jer 15:2, and Ezekiel's four dreadful judgements, Ezek 5:12, 17, 14:21 (in the LXX the same word rhomphia is used for the sword). Note the fact that they were given power, indicating the sovereignty of God. The word kill used here is not (sacrificial) slaughter as in the second seal, the sword here is rhomphia not machaira, it is a great long and heavy sword, it refers to war in general (Hendriksen). These are general in character and affect all mankind and are symbolic of all universal woes that affect believers and the rest of the world throughout this current dispensation. For the church these woes are used by Christ for sanctification of the church and the extension of the kingdom (Hendriksen), compare with Rom 8:35.
What is the interpretation of the four horsemen? There is no easy interpretation of the four horses of the apocalypse, however (according to Billy Graham) they have a striking relationship to Mat 24, especially when compared with the opening of the fifth seal which speaks of the persecution of the saints and the sixth seal which parallels Mat 24:29. The seals of Revelation can be considered as a comment on and expansion of Mat 24, which is a history of the world from heavens viewpoint.
This section and in fact the rest of Revelation is also a commentary on Rom 8:28-39..
(Rom 8:28-39) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. {29} For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. {30} And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. {31} What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? {32} He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? {33} Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. {34} Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. {35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? {36} As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." {37} No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. {38} For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, {39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Birth pains (Mat 24:8)- This is a key verse, with a woman in labour the birth pains become more rapid and more intense as birth approaches i.e. earthquakes, wars, famines, false prophets (ending with the antichrist) followed by Christ's coming. The visions in Revelation become more detailed and more intense as they go along. The seals therefore are the unfolding of God's plan in Church and human history.
The four horsemen can be used to show that Christ is sovereign over contemporary events that John would be familiar with (Caird):
AD 60 Earthquakes.
AD 62: Defeat of Roman army by Parthian Vologeses on eastern frontier.
AD 64: Persecution of Christians following the fire of Rome.
AD 70: Four year war of Jews and Romans ending with Jerusalem in ruins.
AD 68 Suicide of Nero, followed by political chaos.
AD 79 Eruption of Vesuvius which obliterated Naples and created a pall of darkness so widespread that men feared that the end of the world had come. When volcanic dust covers the sky the moon would appear red.
AD 92 Serious grain famine.
AD 81-92 Reign of Domitian, institutes emperor worship, persecution.
AD 95 Writing of Revelation.
As with the seven trumpets and seven bowls the first four affect the earth, the last three have a more spiritual significance they affect man directly in his spirit rather as well as his body.
For Albrecht Durer's wood-cut of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" click here 131k
Comments on the 26 Dec tsunami in SE Asia
The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in just eight verses of the book of Revelation, which is the last book in the bible. The four horsemen appear when the Lamb (Jesus) opens the first four seals of a scroll with seven seals (which is described in Revelation chapter 6). As each of the first four seals are opened a different coloured horse and its rider is seen by the apostle John as described in Rev 6:1-8.
First seal is opened : a white horse appears, its rider held a bow (conquest).
(Rev 6:1-8 NIV) I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" {2} I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
Second seal is opened : a red horse appears, its rider holds a sword (war)
{3} When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" {4} Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
Third seal is opened: a black horse appears, its rider holds a pair of scales (famine)
{5} When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. {6} Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
Fourth seal is opened : a pale horse appears, its rider is called Death
{7} When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" {8} I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
The seven seals (6:1)
2.1. First seal (6:1) a white horse, its rider holds a bow
2.2. Second seal (6:3) a red horse, its rider holds a sword
2.3. Third seal (6:5) a black horse, its rider holds a pair of scales
2.4. Fourth seal (6:7) a pale horse, its rider is called Death
In Revelation chapter 4 we see God seated on the throne in heaven, it is he who is sovereign over earthly events. We should notice first that only the Lamb (Jesus) is able to take the scroll from God and to break the seals and reveal its contents. Each of the four riders is summoned onto human history by one of the heavenly living creatures. Notice the phase 'he was given a crown', 'was given power', 'do not damage the oil and the wine', 'were given power over', all of this indicates that the four riders are under the sovereignty of God. Even if we do not understand earthly events, the message of Revelation is that God is sovereign from the start to the finish. Then his enemies will be defeated and punished and his saints vindicated and rewarded. Followed by a new earth with no more death or mourning or crying or pain.
2. The seven seals (6:1)
Background to the four horsemen.
After taking the scroll from God and being worshipped by all creation (in chapter 5) the Lamb (Jesus, the Lamb of God) now opens the seven seals of the scroll to reveal its contents. The seals as with the trumpets are in a group of four, two and one. The opening of the first four seals reveal the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The opening of the first four seals is introduced by each of the four living creatures in turn. Each one of the four living creatures reveals a horseman, the first three horsemen are summed up by the fourth horsemen, 'They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth'. These are popularly known as the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The power of these horsemen is limited to a quarter, with the trumpets later it is limited to a third. The fifth seal reveals those who had been slain because of the word of God and their testimony, that is the persecuted church. The sixth seal reveals the day of the Lord, which brings the Lamb's wrath to those on the earth. The opening of the seventh seal reveals silence. The seven seals sum up human history from the viewpoint of heaven and the church. There is war, famine and pestilence in general and on the church in particular there is persecution, then the end will come bringing terror to the world, this probably accounts for the silence of the seventh seal.
What is described by the seals is similar to the signs of the end of the age as described by Jesus in Matthew 24. There will be wars, famines and earthquakes (Mat 24:6-8), persecution (24:9-14), the heavenly bodies are shaken (Mat 24:29) and 'at that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn' (Mat 24:30). After the opening of the seven seals the scroll can be read and we find more detail, but this starts in chapter 8. The seven seals describe tribulation that is largely man made (wars, famine and persecution) but under the control of God, the seven trumpets are disasters sent by God with the aim of persuading man to repent, the seven bowls are the final outpouring of God's wrath on impenitent mankind. The fact that the seven seals are opened by Christ indicates his sovereignty over the future. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Rev 22:13), he is sovereign from the beginning to the end of history, and everything in between.
2.1. First seal (6:1)
Rev 6:1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
v1 - I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals - Jesus opens the seals following the worship of all creation but especially that of the church. John watches with anticipation as the Lamb opens the first seal. Jesus opens the seals but not the book, the opening of the seals is preliminary to opening the book. Jesus opens the seals to permit us to see the future course of history which is not hidden from the saints (1:1, 22:6, 10). God has entrusted Jesus to reveal the future course of history to His church cf. 1:1, 'the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy' (19:10).
v1 - Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" - Each one of the four living creatures introduces the first four seals. The thunder emphasises the command, Come! Which calls the first horse onto the stage. Note that the opening of the seals by the Lamb is not passive but it brings events onto the stage of human history.
v2 - I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest - The first of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, this image is taken from Zechariah (Zec 1:8, 6:1-8) in which there are four chariots pulled by different coloured horses, these are the four spirits of heaven going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. The four horses cover each direction of the compass, that is, they affect the whole earth. Some see the rider on the white horse as the same rider as in Rev 19:11 i.e. Christ, see Hendriksen. This is not certain, the rider in Rev 19:11 had a sword, this one has a bow. The bow is more likely to be that of the Parthians who were the only mounted archers in the ancient world. He was given a crown, is this likely to refer to Christ who had many crowns (see Rev 19:12), but see comment on 14:14. The crown is a victors crown (Gr., stephanos) as distinguished from a royal crown (diadema), the victors crown is appropriate for someone going forth to conquer. The crown is not the same type of crown that the beast wears (13:1) or Christ wears in 19:12 who both wear the royal crown (diadema) although the 'son of man' in 14:14 wears the victors crown.
The forth horse summarises the first three and is distinctly evil, the first horse signifies the lust for conquest which is commonly the cause of war, which is the next seal and famine (third seal), the fourth seal describes death by sword, famine, plague and wild beasts. It should also be noted that in the sixth seal the wrath of the Lamb falls on the kings, princes, generals and mighty (men) among others who are responsible for war. Rev 19:18 also describes the kings, generals, mighty men, horses and their riders and the rest whose flesh the birds flying in mid-air eat. The four horses cover the four directions of the compass, they are of a unity, just as the first four trumpets and bowls affect the whole earth. The first four seals are introduced by the living creatures, the rest are not. The first rider representing conquest is the most straight forward reading of the text, although the fact that he is riding a white horse raises problems for this interpretation, although John may simply be thinking of Zech 1:8, 6:3 which have a white horse. Others argue that Christ cannot be commanded by heavenly creatures therefore the horseman must be the conquest of the word of God as prophesied by Christ (Mark 13:10), however see 14:15 where someone 'like a son of man' is told to reap. There is at least one verse in which an arrow is likened to the word of God 'He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver', (Isa 49:2).
Grimsrud argues that the white horse signifies triumphant warfare because the four horsemen represent war and its attendant evils: war, strife, famine and disease, and makes the following observation: ' Conquer is used 11 times in the book to allude to conquest by a faithful witness (once in each of the seven letters, in 5:5 of the Lamb, and in 12:11 and 15:2 of the faithful servants). Three times it refers to conquest by violence (here, in 11:7 where the beast kills the two witnesses, and in 13:7 where the beast wars against and conquers the saints). In all 'conquering' passages, Christ and his followers conquer by dying; Satan and the evil powers by killing'.
Johnson identifies the rider on the white horse with the antichrist and his forces that seek to conquer the followers of Christ. Each of the first four seals, then, represents conflict directed at Christians to test them and sift out false disciples (v.10). He goes on to say that this interpretation need not necessarily eliminate the fact that the seals may also refer to judgements on humankind in general. Yet since the fifth seal stresses the cry of the martyred Christians, probably the thought of Christian persecution belongs also in the first four seals. Each of them unleashes events that separate false belief from true. The destruction of Jerusalem is a case in point (Lk 21:20 ff.). The white horse goes forth to conquer, and as he does so, judgement falls on the unbelief of Israel (Lk 21:22-23), while at the same time there is testing of believers to separate the chaff from the wheat (cf. Lk 21:12-19).
There are some who see the first horseman as conquest in general, the antichrist in particular (Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible) and who argue:
He is the deceiver; therefore he appears in white (Mat 24:5, 2 Thess 2:11).
The crown he wears is different from the crown worn by Christ in Rev 19. It is the crown of the conqueror (stephanos) not the royal crown of a king (diadema), however note that the one 'like a son of man' seated on a cloud wears a crown (stephanos) of gold on his head, 14:14.
The bow symbolises conquest. In the OT it is always the symbol of military power (Ps 46:9; Jer 51:51; Hos 1:5).
To be consistent one must relate this horsemen to the other three who appear destructive.
Note that this rider already possesses a bow but the crown is given to him and goes forth to conquer and hence is a counterfeit Christ.
a. This rider possesses a bow but Christ possesses no bow; a weapon of war is not part of his being.
b. This rider is given a crown but Christ is not given a crown. He was either crowned throughout eternity or at his ascension.
c. This rider sets out to conquer but Christ has always been conquering men's hearts. This horseman who sets out to conquer is one who already posses a bow and is given a crown at some point in time. From that point, he goes forth to conquer (cf. The little horn of Dan 7; The man of sin and the beast and the ruler of the restored Roman Empire of Rev 13; the abomination of desolation of Mat 24:15).
However the first horse being Christ conquering the nations is more in harmony with the whole book. If the rider is Christ then the conquest is the gospel, the martyrs we see in the fifth seal are there due to the resulting persecution that breaks out because of the conquest of the gospel. Hendriksen's argument that the rider is Christ is as follows:
In 5:5 Christ is portrayed as one who has triumphed.
The horse is white, this colour is associated with the holy and heavenly, e.g. white robe, white cloud, white throne, white stone etc., therefore the rider cannot be the devil or the antichrist.
The rider wears a crown which harmonises with 14:14 where Christ wears a crown of gold.
The word conquer or overcome refers with two exceptions (11:7, 13:7) to Christ or believers, see 3:21b. Compare John 16:33 with Rev 3:21b, see also Rev 5:5 and 6:2.
Compare the rider on the white horse here with the rider on the white horse in 19:11 who is clearly Christ. In 5:5 Christ conquered at the cross, in 6:2 is now conquering through the gospel, and in 19:11 he is going to conquer on the great day of judgement which is why he wears many crowns.
The idea of a conquering Christ is in harmony with the purpose of the book, see above (v) and 1:13 ff., 2:26,27, 3:21, 5:5, 6:16, 11:15, 12:11, 14:1 ff., 14:14 ff., 17:14, 19:11 note especially 17:14.(Rev 17:14) They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."
The rider on the horse in 6:2 is in harmony with Mat 10:34 in which he says that he has not come to bring peace on earth but a sword, referring to persecution. The rider on the white horse is followed by the rider on the red horse who carries a sword, and the fifth seal sees the souls of the martyrs under the altar.
Compare with Psa 45:3-5 see also Heb 1:8 which quotes this psalm in which the rider is the Son.
Compare with Zech 1:8 ff. See also Hab 3:8,9; Isa 41:2.
To sum up the first rider and his relationship to the other seals, there are four views:
a. The first rider represents the lust for conquest and as such forms an integral part of the four horsemen who are all evil and are summed up by the fourth horsemen. Conquest brings with it war, famine and death. However the colour white is usually associated with good not evil, but it can indicate victory (Lenski), the rider wears the victory crown.
b. A step further is to say that the rider is the antichrist who brings havoc and misery on the world as indicated by the second, third and fourth horsemen, the fifth seal shows the resultant persecution of Christians by the antichrist followed by the sixth seal representing the end when Christ returns.
c. The first horsemen is Christ conquering by the power of the gospel and the other seals 2 to 5 represent various forms of persecution resulting from the proclamation of the gospel of the first seal. It is perhaps appropriate that Jesus who is the beginning and the end should appear on a white horse at both the beginning and end of the visions about the future.
d. The first rider is the word of God (see Lenski), this again harmonises with the rider on the white horse in chapter 19 whose name is the Word of God and also with Matthew 24:14 and the Matthew 24 model for the interpretation of all the trumpets (see comments after 6:8). The gospel is preached and during the same time there is war, famine and death from various causes. This view makes the best sense in terms of the purpose of Revelation because persecution arises because of the word of God as indicated by the martyrs of the fifth seal who had been slain because of the word of God (5:9). Consider the two witnesses who are slain because they prophesy (11:7) and those beheaded because of the word of God (20:4). In Isa 49:2 the prophet Isaiah compares himself to a polished arrow concealed in the Lords quiver which in the context of the verse, which also refers to his mouth as a sharpened sword, must be the word of God. Consider that the armies of the Lord, who are the saints (see 17:14), as well as Christ, also ride white horses (19:14) and it is through these that the gospel is preached. Finally consider that the gospel also goes throughout the earth in the four directions of the compass just as do war, famine and death.
2.2. Second seal (6:3)
Rev 6:3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
v4 - Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. - War or persecution? In the light of Mat 24:6-7 and in light of the fourth horse that sums up the other three the balance would be in favour of war. Make men slay each other not make men slay the saints, in the light of the rest of the book the author is quite capable of indicating persecution as such. Some commentators quote the following scripture in support of persecution (Mat 10:34), 'I did not come to bring peace, but a sword'. Compare this with the sixth trumpet (Rev 9:15) in which a third of mankind is killed by mounted troops. The colour red corresponds to its mission of bloodshed. The sword is the Roman short sword (machaira). Note that its rider was given power to make men slay each other, 'was given' indicates God's permissive approval. Hendriksen however persuasively argues that the slaughter is of believers and not warfare in general.
In the context persecution follows the first horse who is Christ and the gospel.
Quotes Mat 10:34 'I came not to send peace, but a sword' (machaira)...
The word slaughter when used by John refers to the slaughter of believers except in 13:3 where the slaughtered head belongs to the beast, cf. 1 John 3:12 (Abel slain), Rev 5:6, 5:9, 5:12 (the Lamb), 6:9 (the martyrs under the alter), 13:8 (the Lamb), 18:24 (the saints).
When the fifth seal is opened it reveals the souls of the slaughtered saints which ties in with the slaughtering of the saints in the second seal.
The machaira when used in scripture refers to a sacrificial knife as in the sacrifice of Isaac.
The book is being written to believers who were being killed so that persecution not warfare is the issue. Whenever the rider on the white horse appears (Christ and the gospel) the rider on the red horse always follows (see Mat 5:10,11; Luk 21:2; Acts 4:1; 5:17 etc.). Consider Stephen and Paul, Publius and Polycarp etc.
2.3. Third seal (6:5)
Rev 6:5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
v5 - "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. - Black could indicate dried up vegetation or even burned vegetation, see Lam 5:10. Scales are used to weigh food (Ezek 4:16). The scales can also be thought of as representing injustice since the rider only affects those who are poor.
v6 - Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" - This indicates famine or shortage, a quart of wheat is enough good food for one person not his family, poor food (barley) is available, luxurious items such as oil and wine are not hurt. Olives and vines are deeper rooted and are therefore able to withstand drought. Walvoord comments that famine is the aftermath of war. This is the situation with the western and third world today which takes the luxurious food for itself leaving hardly enough basic food for the third world (famine and justice). Babylon is condemned for her excessive luxury Rev 18:3. The merchants traded oil, wine and wheat with Babylon (18:13), but Barley is not mentioned because it is poor mans food and not a luxury. Famine is also one of the conditions leading to the end times, Mat 24:7. Famine can also lead to political instability which is also a cause of war. Hendriksen argues that the poor people who could only afford barley are Christians. From Revelation we learn something of the conditions of the believers at that time:
They could not remain a member of a trades guild which would involve eating food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality (cf. Pergamum and Thyatira) and it would therefore be difficult to earn a living.
Those who did not have the mark of the beast could not buy or sell (13:17).
Generally the poor would tend to become Christians (Jas 2:5, cf. 1 Cor 1:26)
The second and third riders belong together in their mission to persecute God's people as they spread oppression, injustice and economic hardship throughout the centuries of the churches existence.
2.4. Fourth seal (6:7)
Rev 6:7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
v8 - I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! - The horse is sickly yellow green (Greek chloros, from which the word chlorine comes from) like a dead person. This horse sums up the work of the other three i.e. kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. This verse is also similar to Rev 13:10 where the clear indication is to persecution by the beast in the form of captivity, or being killed with the sword.
v8 - Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. - Hades is the abode of the spirits after death and therefore always follows closely behind death. Death and Hades, the abode of the dead, are personified here, as in Rev 20:13. But Jesus has authority over both, see Rev 1:18.
v8 - They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. - They were given power over a quarter of the earth so it was not universal it was limited power. Compare with the trumpets, one third of the earth is affected, and the bowls which have a total effect. See also Jeremiah's four kinds of destroyers, Jer 15:2, and Ezekiel's four dreadful judgements, Ezek 5:12, 17, 14:21 (in the LXX the same word rhomphia is used for the sword). Note the fact that they were given power, indicating the sovereignty of God. The word kill used here is not (sacrificial) slaughter as in the second seal, the sword here is rhomphia not machaira, it is a great long and heavy sword, it refers to war in general (Hendriksen). These are general in character and affect all mankind and are symbolic of all universal woes that affect believers and the rest of the world throughout this current dispensation. For the church these woes are used by Christ for sanctification of the church and the extension of the kingdom (Hendriksen), compare with Rom 8:35.
What is the interpretation of the four horsemen? There is no easy interpretation of the four horses of the apocalypse, however (according to Billy Graham) they have a striking relationship to Mat 24, especially when compared with the opening of the fifth seal which speaks of the persecution of the saints and the sixth seal which parallels Mat 24:29. The seals of Revelation can be considered as a comment on and expansion of Mat 24, which is a history of the world from heavens viewpoint.
This section and in fact the rest of Revelation is also a commentary on Rom 8:28-39..
(Rom 8:28-39) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. {29} For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. {30} And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. {31} What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? {32} He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? {33} Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. {34} Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. {35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? {36} As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." {37} No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. {38} For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, {39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Birth pains (Mat 24:8)- This is a key verse, with a woman in labour the birth pains become more rapid and more intense as birth approaches i.e. earthquakes, wars, famines, false prophets (ending with the antichrist) followed by Christ's coming. The visions in Revelation become more detailed and more intense as they go along. The seals therefore are the unfolding of God's plan in Church and human history.
The four horsemen can be used to show that Christ is sovereign over contemporary events that John would be familiar with (Caird):
AD 60 Earthquakes.
AD 62: Defeat of Roman army by Parthian Vologeses on eastern frontier.
AD 64: Persecution of Christians following the fire of Rome.
AD 70: Four year war of Jews and Romans ending with Jerusalem in ruins.
AD 68 Suicide of Nero, followed by political chaos.
AD 79 Eruption of Vesuvius which obliterated Naples and created a pall of darkness so widespread that men feared that the end of the world had come. When volcanic dust covers the sky the moon would appear red.
AD 92 Serious grain famine.
AD 81-92 Reign of Domitian, institutes emperor worship, persecution.
AD 95 Writing of Revelation.
As with the seven trumpets and seven bowls the first four affect the earth, the last three have a more spiritual significance they affect man directly in his spirit rather as well as his body.
For Albrecht Durer's wood-cut of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" click here 131k
Comments on the 26 Dec tsunami in SE Asia
Source-Sciencemag: Scientist create "De-Population" virus
Source-Scientific American: What really happened at Malta?
A view from the ESWI meeting in Malta, where Ron Fouchier first described the contagious H5N1 strain. Katherine Harmon
A controversy over whether the U.S. government should allow details of a deadly new flu strain to be published in scientific journals has recently caught fire in the media. But I first heard the news of the mutated virus months ago in Malta at the European Scientific Working group on Influenza (ESWI) meeting.
The morning was sunny and warm on September 12 in St. Julian’s. Inside the Intercontinental hotel and conference center, young researchers, jaded veteran scientists and jet-lagged policy makers piled their plates with softly scrambled eggs, American-style sausages and an obligatory piece of fruit or two, shoveling in the offerings and mumbling hellos, in the bright, sky-lit hotel restaurant.
Just across the hall, however, in the cannily named Eden Arena, the room was dark, as researchers prepared to mount the stage and explain some of the many ways that humanity might soon be threatened by a truly terrifying flu pandemic.
So maybe it wasn’t quite that dramatic, but perhaps it should have felt more so. Less than an hour later, a suspiciously sniffly Ron Fouchier, a lanky virologist from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam with a wry smile and reassuringly understated manner, would announce that he and his lab had found a way to make the deadly H5N1 that would likely be just as transmissible from one human to the next as the seasonal flu.
Circulating seasonal strains, such as H3N2, are adept at attaching to the human nasal cavity and trachea, making them easily transferable among people via a sneeze, cough or sigh. But fortunately for us, H5N1, as it has circulated in bird populations, has not yet developed this capability. Fouchier and his team wanted to see if it was possible to give it that power.
So they “mutated the hell out of H5N1,” Fouchier said, towering over the podium at the meeting’s Monday morning plenary session. But as it turns out, they hardly needed to. With just a few genetic substitutions, the virus was able to affix to nose and trachea cells—a development “which seemed to be very bad news,” he said. Fortunately for the lab’s test ferrets, a common animal model for human flu transmission, the flu still didn’t seem to pass airborne from animal to animal.
And that was when “someone finally convinced me to do something really, really stupid,” Fouchier recounted. They put the mutated H5N1 into the nose of one ferret, then took a sample of nasal fluid from that ferret and put it in the nose of another. After 10 ferrets, the virus began spreading from ferret to ferret via the air just about as easily as a seasonal flu virus.
In all that ferret hopping, the virus gained only five new genetic substitutions. And that was also “very bad news,” Fouchier proclaimed, adding an “indeed” for emphasis, just in case the ramifications were lost on any of the hundreds of flu folks in the audience.
At the time, Fouchier declined to specify the exact locations of the mutations but noted that the key substitutions are in the HA and PB2 areas. All of the mutations needed to make the virus an airborne threat have already been detected in the wild, but they have not been found together in a single virus “just yet,” Fouchier noted. The discovery also confirmed that H5N1 would not need to mingle with a mammalian virus before becoming easily transmissible among us.
H5N1 has killed about half of the people who have gotten it (most were likely infected directly from contact with fowl—hence its common nickname, bird flu). For comparison, the 1918 influenza pandemic strain of H1N1 killed between 10 and 20 percent of those who caught it.
“This is a very dangerous virus,” Fouchier said, posing the question so many in the audience had surely been mulling over: “Should these experiments be done?” His answer was cool “yes.” He defends his lab’s work, which was funded by grants from the U.S. government, and he has spent the past weeks reassuring interviewers that the virus is closely controlled. “It’s important that we keep working with these viruses,” he said. And he advocates that the findings have an important power to “send out the message that H5N1 could become airborne,” he said. And that knowledge should spur scientists and policy makers alike to work harder to develop better vaccines and try to eradicate it in the wild.
The virus itself already kills—or necessitates the culling of—millions of chickens in Asia each year, which can be a huge economic hit to local farmers. To say nothing of the danger that each new infection—in human or fowl—ups the odds that these mutations will come together on their own. Knowing which mutations are needed to make H5N1 transmissible among humans could put scientists and those in charge of tracking the virus on closer watch for any of them when they appear in the wild.
At a reception the next evening in Malta, Maria Van Kerkhove, of the Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, told me that from a scientific perspective, she thought this particular recombination has a “low probability” of occurring. But given its exceedingly high mortality rate it’s a “really high-impact thing to prepare against—it’s like preparing against terrorism.”
But that was the end of the terrorism talk—a threat that has repeatedly been raised in arguments against publication of the full findings in Science and Nature (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group). The scientists at the ESWI meeting seemed already in agreement with a concept recently articulated by the film Contagion, released earlier that month. As Laurence Fishburne’s character, an infectious disease expert in the movie says: “Someone doesn’t have to weaponize the bird flu—the birds are already doing that.” Only in the real life case these days, we’re fixated on ferrets. Fluish ferrets—and a switch-by-switch map of the mutated virus—or not, a nefarious influenza plot seems unlikely. Without a vaccine and with such quick and frequent global travel, any group unleashing such a deadly virus would eventually wind up putting half of their own at risk as well.
About the Author: Katherine Harmon is an associate editor for Scientific American covering health, medicine and life sciences. Follow on Twitter @katherineharmon.
A view from the ESWI meeting in Malta, where Ron Fouchier first described the contagious H5N1 strain. Katherine Harmon
A controversy over whether the U.S. government should allow details of a deadly new flu strain to be published in scientific journals has recently caught fire in the media. But I first heard the news of the mutated virus months ago in Malta at the European Scientific Working group on Influenza (ESWI) meeting.
The morning was sunny and warm on September 12 in St. Julian’s. Inside the Intercontinental hotel and conference center, young researchers, jaded veteran scientists and jet-lagged policy makers piled their plates with softly scrambled eggs, American-style sausages and an obligatory piece of fruit or two, shoveling in the offerings and mumbling hellos, in the bright, sky-lit hotel restaurant.
Just across the hall, however, in the cannily named Eden Arena, the room was dark, as researchers prepared to mount the stage and explain some of the many ways that humanity might soon be threatened by a truly terrifying flu pandemic.
So maybe it wasn’t quite that dramatic, but perhaps it should have felt more so. Less than an hour later, a suspiciously sniffly Ron Fouchier, a lanky virologist from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam with a wry smile and reassuringly understated manner, would announce that he and his lab had found a way to make the deadly H5N1 that would likely be just as transmissible from one human to the next as the seasonal flu.
Circulating seasonal strains, such as H3N2, are adept at attaching to the human nasal cavity and trachea, making them easily transferable among people via a sneeze, cough or sigh. But fortunately for us, H5N1, as it has circulated in bird populations, has not yet developed this capability. Fouchier and his team wanted to see if it was possible to give it that power.
So they “mutated the hell out of H5N1,” Fouchier said, towering over the podium at the meeting’s Monday morning plenary session. But as it turns out, they hardly needed to. With just a few genetic substitutions, the virus was able to affix to nose and trachea cells—a development “which seemed to be very bad news,” he said. Fortunately for the lab’s test ferrets, a common animal model for human flu transmission, the flu still didn’t seem to pass airborne from animal to animal.
And that was when “someone finally convinced me to do something really, really stupid,” Fouchier recounted. They put the mutated H5N1 into the nose of one ferret, then took a sample of nasal fluid from that ferret and put it in the nose of another. After 10 ferrets, the virus began spreading from ferret to ferret via the air just about as easily as a seasonal flu virus.
In all that ferret hopping, the virus gained only five new genetic substitutions. And that was also “very bad news,” Fouchier proclaimed, adding an “indeed” for emphasis, just in case the ramifications were lost on any of the hundreds of flu folks in the audience.
At the time, Fouchier declined to specify the exact locations of the mutations but noted that the key substitutions are in the HA and PB2 areas. All of the mutations needed to make the virus an airborne threat have already been detected in the wild, but they have not been found together in a single virus “just yet,” Fouchier noted. The discovery also confirmed that H5N1 would not need to mingle with a mammalian virus before becoming easily transmissible among us.
H5N1 has killed about half of the people who have gotten it (most were likely infected directly from contact with fowl—hence its common nickname, bird flu). For comparison, the 1918 influenza pandemic strain of H1N1 killed between 10 and 20 percent of those who caught it.
“This is a very dangerous virus,” Fouchier said, posing the question so many in the audience had surely been mulling over: “Should these experiments be done?” His answer was cool “yes.” He defends his lab’s work, which was funded by grants from the U.S. government, and he has spent the past weeks reassuring interviewers that the virus is closely controlled. “It’s important that we keep working with these viruses,” he said. And he advocates that the findings have an important power to “send out the message that H5N1 could become airborne,” he said. And that knowledge should spur scientists and policy makers alike to work harder to develop better vaccines and try to eradicate it in the wild.
The virus itself already kills—or necessitates the culling of—millions of chickens in Asia each year, which can be a huge economic hit to local farmers. To say nothing of the danger that each new infection—in human or fowl—ups the odds that these mutations will come together on their own. Knowing which mutations are needed to make H5N1 transmissible among humans could put scientists and those in charge of tracking the virus on closer watch for any of them when they appear in the wild.
At a reception the next evening in Malta, Maria Van Kerkhove, of the Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, told me that from a scientific perspective, she thought this particular recombination has a “low probability” of occurring. But given its exceedingly high mortality rate it’s a “really high-impact thing to prepare against—it’s like preparing against terrorism.”
But that was the end of the terrorism talk—a threat that has repeatedly been raised in arguments against publication of the full findings in Science and Nature (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group). The scientists at the ESWI meeting seemed already in agreement with a concept recently articulated by the film Contagion, released earlier that month. As Laurence Fishburne’s character, an infectious disease expert in the movie says: “Someone doesn’t have to weaponize the bird flu—the birds are already doing that.” Only in the real life case these days, we’re fixated on ferrets. Fluish ferrets—and a switch-by-switch map of the mutated virus—or not, a nefarious influenza plot seems unlikely. Without a vaccine and with such quick and frequent global travel, any group unleashing such a deadly virus would eventually wind up putting half of their own at risk as well.
About the Author: Katherine Harmon is an associate editor for Scientific American covering health, medicine and life sciences. Follow on Twitter @katherineharmon.
Source-UK DAILY MAIL: Mass Blackbird Deaths
First sign of an apocalyptic year to come? Thousands of blackbirds fall to their death in Arkansas town for second New Year's Eve in a row
By MEGHAN KENEALLY
Last updated at 8:00 PM on 2nd January 2012
Ancient Mayan legend says that 2012 will bring the end of the world.
A small Arkansas town might have shown the first example of that as approximately 5,000 blackbirds dropped dead from the sky last night in the early hours of the new year.
As if the incident was not strange enough, it is the second time in two years that the birds have fallen as the calendar year changes.
First sign of an apocalyptic year to come? Thousands of blackbirds fall to their death in Arkansas town for second New Year's Eve in a row
By MEGHAN KENEALLY
Last updated at 8:00 PM on 2nd January 2012
Ancient Mayan legend says that 2012 will bring the end of the world.
A small Arkansas town might have shown the first example of that as approximately 5,000 blackbirds dropped dead from the sky last night in the early hours of the new year.
As if the incident was not strange enough, it is the second time in two years that the birds have fallen as the calendar year changes.
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