Wallace G. Smith

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

What’s Wrong With the World?

Increasingly, protesters fill the streets—waving signs and chanting slogans. They want change, and they want it now. And honestly, who can blame them? We may not agree with all their individual causes, but only the blind could fail to see that our world truly is broken. And only the heartless could not want to fix it.

How can you and I go about fixing the world? But we can. And no, I’m not just pulling your leg. Yes, the problems are big, and yes, the actions we need to take are great as well. But they are the only actions that will work. Stick with me today, and I’ll explain.

I’ll also give you an opportunity to request our free resource on the Ten Commandments. Like everything we provide our viewers, this resource is completely free of any cost or charge at all. Just keep an eye on your screen for the information you need to get your free copy.

In the 1980s, the pop duo Tears for Fears had a huge hit with the song, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” The song was written with an eye toward the ongoing Cold War between the Western world and Russia (or the Soviet Union), the potential for nuclear war, the possibilities of totalitarianism, and other social concerns of the day.

Frankly, with barely any changes at all, those are our concerns today, as well.

As a teenager listening to the song, it resonated with me, because it was clear that the world was broken. And while I might like to think I’m not ancient,” let’s be honest—I’m not a teenager anymore. And yet the world is still broken.

Current Global Issues

Even as I speak here in our studio today, major wars still rage in the Middle East and on the doorstep of Europe. Haiti continues to suffer under a “gang-ocracy,” and civil war continues to destroy the lives of millions in Sudan.

Within our nations, it is clear that racism is still very real. Poverty is still very real. Broken families are still very real. Fears of violence are still very real.

In the United States, considered by many the most powerful and successful nation in the world, suicide rates have climbed with rare interruption for the last 25 years (“Suicide,” National Institute of Mental Health, nimh.nih.gov/, March, 2025).

Consider the irony of our current situation.

On one hand, we live in one of the most remarkable times in the entire history of civilization.

Scientifically, we may today understand more about how the physical world works than any other generation in the history of man. We may not yet know how to wed quantum mechanics and general relativity, but man’s comprehension of the physical laws of the universe is truly astonishing.

And our level of technological advancement has surpassed levels that many would have found wondrous even just 20 years ago. Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, we’re talking with our machines as if they were people, and some are literally drawing up plans to begin colonies on Mars.

God told Daniel that in “the time of the end…knowledge shall increase” (Daniel 12:4)—and it has.

Yet, for all of that knowledge we’ve accumulated, the knowledge of how to actually live with each other continues to escape us.

Our attempts to address racism in recent years have made relations between the races even worse. Our attempts to expand sex and gender equality to the limits of our secular philosophies have done nothing but thrown sex and gender into utter confusion, to the point that we are surgically, chemically, and irreversibly altering children to appear as the opposite sex. Our approach to sexuality—meant to maximize human freedom and silence moral judgment—is resulting in a world of broken relationships, broken hearts, and broken families that seems to benefit no one but the makers of drugs for sexually transmitted diseases.

Even democracy and democratic republics—supposedly the best of all political systems—result these days in chaos, as stability gets thrown out the door, and each new election threatens to bring in a new party that will spend most of its time throwing out all the decisions of the previous party.

We Need to Change from Our Way to God’s Way

We all want to fix the world. The problem is that no one seems to know just how to do that.

The reality of our world was well summarized by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 59 of his book.

The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace. Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places (Isaiah 59:8-10).

If we’re going to fix the world, we need someone to show us how. And the only “someone” who truly qualifies is our Creator, the Designer of Humanity—the God of the Bible.

God’s Answer Is the Ten Commandments

More than three millennia ago, God gave His people ten simple commands—commonly called the Ten Commandments. They can be found in Exodus 20.

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image [or idol].
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the [seventh-day] Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

These are more than just a list of “religious-y sounding rules” for children to memorize for a prize in church. They are inspired commands from the Creator of life itself—the Designer of humanity, who knows how we should live with Him and live with each other.

How to Love God and Love Your Neighbor

A careful look at the Ten Commandments reveals a structure.

Notice the first four commandments—about having no other gods, not worshiping God with carved images, not misusing His name, and keeping His Sabbath on the seventh day—are all about our relationship with Him.

And the six commandments that follow—about honoring your parents, not murdering, being sexually faithful to your spouse, not stealing, lying, or coveting your neighbor’s things—are all about our relationship with each other—what the Bible calls your neighbor.

Jesus Christ Himself talked about these two great objectives of the Ten Commandments as the greatest commands of God’s law. We see this in Matthew 22, when someone comes up to Jesus and asks Him a question.

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).

Look at that again, and then look at the Ten Commandments again.

You shall love the Lord your God, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

These ten simple commandments are at the very heart of the way of life Jesus came to exemplify for humanity. In fact, when a young man asked Jesus how to have eternal life, Jesus told Him:

“If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17).

In fact, God’s commandments were so important to Christ, that later His beloved disciple John would say of those who claimed to be Christian:

He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:4).

Now that might sound odd to those of you brought up to think that the Ten Commandments were not important for Christians, or that keeping the commandments wasn’t necessary for Christians. But it is the inspired word of your own Bible.

And it doesn’t take much meditating on the commandments before you realize that keeping them would radically alter our entire world for the better.

For instance, consider the impact of a world that embraced a way of life in which children honor their father and mother like we’re told in the fifth commandment, and in which spouses are faithful to each other like we are encouraged in the seventh.

Imagine a world in which broken families became a thing of the past, a world in which children learned to respect their elders and those in authority, in families that were committed to staying together through thick and thin.

With those changes alone, how much closer to a “fixed world” would we become?

But go further.

Ten Commandments Define How to Love Others

Consider the simplicity of the ninth commandment about not lying. What a radical remake of civilization would be experienced if this value were embraced by the world!

What if honesty were considered one of the highest values of society, to the point that none would dare ever want to utter an untruthful word? What if lies were not expected of our politicians, like they are today, but were unheard of? What if everything you were ever told about the products you considered purchasing could be trusted? What if every news story you ever heard was always true and reliable?

Throw in the sixth and eighth commandments, as well, and you’d never again have to lock a door. Never again have to take the keys out of your car—or even need keys at all. You’d never have to worry about a lost child, or a dark alley. Women would not need to worry about “safe spaces,” because all spaces would be safe.

Even the first four commandments—it’s easy to think those aren’t as important, but of course they are. How much trouble in this broken world is caused by religious confusion—people following gods that aren’t gods? What would it mean for the world for everyone to embrace the true Creator of the world? To worship Him how He wants to be worshiped—not according to our own ideas, which often clash and conflict with each other, but according to His own commands.

How to Change the World: Change Ourselves

Because fixing the world begins with fixing ourselves. Not in the meaningless way such talk is normally used, where “focusing on yourself” is code for simply embracing your character flaws and changing nothing.

No, we need change. I need change. You need to change. And changing the world—99.9999+ percent of which is outside of our control—begins with changing the minuscule part that is in our control. It begins with you deciding to fix your life, your family, your relationship to God, Your Creator, and to Jesus Christ, Your Savior.

Define Repentance: Deciding to Change

That decision to change—to turn around from the direction you’re going and to go a new direction, a direction taking you closer to God in obedience to His commandments instead of in continued rejection of them—that decision to change is called repentance. And it is at the heart of the message that the Son of God brought to this planet 2,000 years ago.

Don’t take my word for it—look at it with me. In Mark chapter 1, we see the very beginning of Jesus’ mission to the world and the message He brought simply put. Look in verses 14 and 15.

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).

Repent. It’s not a word you hear very often anymore, sort of old-fashioned maybe. But the commands of God never go out of fashion. In fact—they are the key to fixing the world.

We Need God’s Power and Help to Change

Now, I know this will sound like I’m undermining all I have said so far, but while the Ten Commandments are vital, they’re not enough.

Even if we could somehow convince every one of the 8 billion human beings on planet Earth to begin keeping the Ten Commandments—worshiping God as He commands us to worship Him, loving our neighbor as God instructs us to—it would not be enough to fix the world.

Don’t get me wrong—it would be wonderful, at least for a while. But it wouldn’t last. How do I know? Because God proved that to us in the experience of the children of Israel.

Gathered together as a free people at the foot of Mount Sinai more than 3,000 years ago, God delivered the Ten Commandments to them—laws of life and living that would build a beautiful society. Before they entered the Promised Land, Moses made clear to them the blessing they had been given in these commands. Read it with me in Deuteronomy in chapter 4, beginning in verse 5.

Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day (Deuteronomy 4:5-8)?

Yet the history is clear. They did not keep those laws. They made covenants and agreements to do so over and over again, but then they broke them, over and over again. Faced with the good, pure, righteous commandments of God and the rich, remarkable, rewarding way of life that they make possible, their selfish, carnal, human nature won out time and again. As the Apostle Paul summarizes in Romans 8:

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:7–8).

And like they did, you will fail, too. Those who choose to turn to the Ten Commandments—the only way of life God blesses and endorses in this world, the only way to true peace and happiness, and the only way to fix the world—will find they inevitably fail. They slip up, and they sin.

“Well, that’s just great,” you might be thinking. You bring us this whole way and tell us that the Ten Commandments are the way to fix our lives and the world—and then you pull the rug out from under us! What’s going on, Tomorrow’s World guy?

Well, I can understand your frustration. But the good news—the VERY good news—is that all of those who seek to truly keep God’s commandments are NOT alone in their efforts. And the help we need is within reach.

How to Change Yourself

We just read that:

The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:7-8).

But read further.

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you (Romans 8:9).

Repent, Be Baptized, Receive the Holy Spirit

For those willing to turn and repent, God makes help available to keep His laws—His commandments. Read earlier in the same chapter.

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:3-5).

Yes, God has not abandoned us to our carnal nature. Jesus Christ died so that we may be forgiven of our sins, and He lives NOW in the lives of those who commit their lives to Him—transforming them through His Spirit so that, day by day, week by week, they learn to keep His laws and commandments, just as He did.

We see this promise of aid and transformation reflected in the words of the book of Hebrews, itself quoting from the Old Testament. Read with me in Hebrews 10, beginning in verse 16.

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:16–17).

And for those who are willing in this life to fix their own worlds—to repent and to embrace the Ten Commandments of God, and to allow Jesus Christ to forgive them of their sins and begin the process of transforming them, from the inside out—there really is good news ahead. Because those who have allowed Jesus Christ to fix their lives in this way, in this life, will be allowed to reign alongside Jesus Christ after His return, and to truly begin fixing the whole world.

Yes, if we really want to fix the world—truly and profoundly fix it, and make it the world of peace, joy, and contentment we’ve always longed to see—then the key is to allow God to fix our own lives first. So, in the end, if we want to join Jesus Christ in finally fixing the world tomorrow, we need to turn to Him in obedience and let Him fix our lives today.

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We’ll see you next time.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of the TV version of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Revealing the White Horse of the Apocalypse

The four horsemen of the apocalypse have inspired wonder, fear, and mystery in the minds of many. Their end-time ride brings terror, catastrophe, and devastation greater than the world has ever known. But their ride begins with the arrival of the first rider on a white horse.

Will you recognize the white horse when it arrives? You can. And after this episode of Tomorrow’s World, you will.

To begin our examination, we need to understand the context of the book of Revelation. That mysterious book represents, as the first verse tells us, “the Revelation of Jesus Christ,” in which the Savior outlines the history of mankind and the Church—from the Apostle John’s day, all the way to ours, describing in detail the end-times and His return from heaven.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

And as he enters the end-time portion of that vision, Christ shows John four mysterious horses and their riders—the infamous four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer (Revelation 6:1–2).

After this first horsemen, three others follow in sequence, one after the other, each on a different horse: a red one, a black one, and finally a pale and sickly one.

Each represents a wave of calamity that will strike the people of earth—in order, each following the other, in the end-times—calamities that verse 8 tells us will devastate a “fourth of the earth.”

The identity of the second, third, and fourth horses are fairly clear. The red horse represents global warfare, the black horse represents severe famine and want, and the pale horse represents devastating disease and pestilence.

The White Horse Is First of the Four Horsemen

Yet, it is the white horse that comes first. All the others follow that horse, which must come first. So, understanding when these difficulties will begin rests on understanding the nature of that white horse and its rider.

On today’s program, we will focus on explaining to you from the pages of God’s word how to recognize the arrival of this white horse and its horseman. And as we do, it will be clear that the groundwork for the arrival of the white horse is already being laid.

So today we are going to lay out seven keys that will help you identify the white horse, the first of the four horsemen of Revelation.

We will begin by looking to the source of the prophecy for the source of understanding.

End-Time Signs in Matthew 24 Match Revelation 6

We noted earlier that John’s vision is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ,” and it is Jesus Christ Himself who provided the key to understanding the meaning of the first horse—but not in the book of Revelation. For that we need to turn all the way back to the first book of the New Testament, the book of Matthew.

There, in chapter 24 we read of Jesus’ famous Olivet discourse, providing a prophetic description of what would transpire from the Apostles’ day through ours, much like the book of Revelation does.

Let’s read verses 4 through [7]. Here, Jesus’ disciples have just asked him about the destruction of the temple, His coming, and the end of this age.

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:4–7).

Now, the afflictions Jesus described have been with mankind for centuries, to be sure. And Christ is warning them not to think just any calamity means the last days are actually here.

Yet think back to the four horsemen and their sequence. We have already seen that horses two, three, and four represent warfare, famine, and disease—in order. And what do we see in Christ’s own words?

• WARFARE
• FAMINE
• PESTILENCE

Notice the exact same order. The four horsemen represent extreme and climactic end-time versions of these calamities that Jesus Christ is describing.

Then let’s follow the sequence back one more step to see the very first thing that Jesus Christ describes.

The First Horseman Is False Christianity

What is the first thing that He warned them about? Look again for yourself in verse 4.

“Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:4).

So, we see that before warfare, famine, and disease, Jesus warns us against religious deception. In fact, not just religious deception in general, but specifically religious deception in His own name—in the name of Christ.

Remember, the punctuation present in most Bibles was not in the original Greek. Jesus is literally telling His disciples that people will come proclaiming that He is the Christ, the Messiah, and will then go on to deceive many.

With this crucial understanding in place, provided by the mouth of the Savior Himself, we have what we need to proceed. And from here, we can begin to identify our seven keys that will help us to recognize the white horse of Revelation.

The fact Jesus revealed is the first key we need to look for.

1. The white horse represents a counterfeit Christianity.

We see this aspect of the white horse in other passages of Scripture, as well.

A False Prophet (Imposter of Christ) Emerges

For instance, look a little later in the book of Revelation in chapter 13. There, after speaking of the political, military, and economic titan that will rise in the coming years—the Beast of Revelation—Jesus Christ reveals to John a second beast representing a second figure—this time, a religious one.

“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon” (Revelation 13:11).

The biblical symbolism here should be clear. Notice: This False Prophet to come has the appearance of a lamb—that is, he comes across like Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God—but he speaks like a dragon. That is, the things he actually teaches are the subtle twists and lies of the devil, who is called a “dragon” and the “serpent of old” twice in the book of Revelation.

We will dive into some details concerning those lies and deceptions in a moment. But first, it is vital to understand what this white horse represents—that it’s not just any run-of-the-mill false religion. It will specifically be a false, counterfeit Christianity, bearing the name of Jesus Christ and claiming to represent Him and His teachings in the world.

This False Christianity Has Ancient Origins

Next, we must realize that:

2. This counterfeit Christianity is of very ancient origin, going back all the way to the very beginning of real Christianity.

We see in the pages of the Bible that Paul and the Apostles were wrestling against it even in their own day, in the first generation after Jesus Christ began His Church.

Look for instance, in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, where Paul is warning Christians in Corinth against the influence of this counterfeit. Read it there in verses 3 and 4.

“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” (2 Corinthians 11:3–4).

Notice that! He says that some were preaching about Jesus and preaching a gospel, but it was a different Jesus and a different gospel.

Satan Disguises Himself as an Angel of Light

He warns them later that by teaching these lies disguised as true Christianity, Satan “transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

This corrupting influence of this counterfeit Christianity was so pervasive that Jesus’ brother Jude had to warn the Church in his own letter.

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 3–4).

And for all the talk of an antichrist to come, notice what the Apostle John wrote near the end of the first century, almost 2,000 years ago.

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour (1 John 2:18).

Yes, the false Christianity represented by the white horse will not be a “new” religion. It will have an ancient pedigree, going back 2,000 years to the very origins of Christianity.

First Horseman Champions Lawlessness

Again, it looks like Christianity but speaks the words of the dragon. It is the teachings of this false church that give us our next key for identifying the white horse:

3. This religious system and its leader will be lawless and compromising.

What Is Lawlessness in the Bible?

The Apostle Paul called the system of the antichrist the “mystery of lawlessness,” saying that it was “already at work” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) in His day—and that the coming “lawless one” (2 Thessalonians 2:8–9) will be consumed and destroyed at the return of Christ.

Now, we have to be careful here. “Lawless” does not mean completely without laws or order. Quite the contrary, in fact.

Lawless Actions Described in Daniel 7:25

An important detail about this lawless religious leader to come is revealed in the Old Testament book of Daniel. There, in chapter 7 and verse 25, we read the following description:

He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law (Daniel 7:25).

Notice that. It will change times and laws! This lawless system will have many canons, creeds, judgments, and ecclesiastical determinations. Its “church law” may be robust and detailed, but the law God cares about is His own law. And this false church will cast that law aside.

And it may have a rich and full worship calendar, but that calendar will be a change from the worship times commanded by God in His word. That’s because this system will be one of compromise—combining truths of God with corrupting influences of worldly philosophies and paganism.

Same Lawlessness in Harlot of Revelation 17

We see this in Revelation 17. There this false, counterfeit Christian system is depicted as a harlot or prostitute.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (Revelation 17:1–2).

We’ll read more details about this prophetic harlot later in our program, but right now it is vital to understand that God uses prostitution, fornication, and adultery to symbolize compromising the true faith and practice by mixing it with false and pagan ideas and practices. Examples of this can be found in Hosea (Hosea 1:2), Isaiah (Isaiah 57:3), and elsewhere in Scripture.

Power of False Church Used for Martyrdom

The fourth is that:

4. The white horse represents a powerful, persecuting church.

Let’s read a little more in Revelation 17 about the Great Harlot representing this false Christian church.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication (Revelation 17:4).

The purple and scarlet clothing and the gold, precious stones and pearls, and her drinking out of a golden cup indicate the harlot’s wealth on display for the world to see. This false religious system is one with a vast amount of worldly wealth—and worldly influence. We saw earlier in verses one and two that she sits on “many waters” and mingles with “the kings of the earth.”

John’s angelic guide in the vision explains the meaning of the waters.

The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues (Revelation 17:15).

So, this false church is global in reach, with faithful adherents all over the world.

Drunk with the Blood of the Martyrs (Saints)

And how does this church that pretends to be Christ’s church and carries His name use its wealth and influence? To persecute, murder, and martyr those who seek to follow and obey the true Jesus Christ.

Notice verse 6 says the woman was “drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Revelation 17:6).

This is indicated, as well, in the passage we read earlier in Daniel 7, which said that the saints shall be given into the hand of this false prophet for “a time and times and half a time”—that is, the length of the Great Tribulation.

Recall the original description of the white horse. Revelation 6:2 said that the rider “had a bow” and “he went out conquering and to conquer.” This is not a church willing to convert others through simply preaching and example. And the coming persecution will make the inquisitions of past centuries look like child’s play.

Political Alliance with the Beast of Revelation

An additional, major tool wielded by this false Christianity in its persecution of true Christians makes up our next key for identifying the white horse:

5. This false church will be in an unholy religious-political alliance.

Notice that the Great Harlot of Revelation 17 is not alone. Read John’s description in verse 3.

And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 17:3).

The heads of this beast represent the successive revivals of the Roman Empire in history, culminating in the final, powerful, end-time political entity that will shake the world. And notice this woman sits astride this beast, riding it and influencing its movements.

Interestingly, the woman is said in verse 9 to sit on seven mountains—and Rome is famously known as the City of Seven Hills, after the seven hills on which the city is founded.

This vast, globe-spanning false church is intimately associated with Rome and will participate in an unholy alliance with the final revival of the Roman Empire as Jesus Christ’s return draws near.

Revelation 13 paints a picture of this alliance, in which each party selfishly benefits from the power and influence of the other.

Deceptive Supernatural Signs and Wonders

Among the benefits of this alliance for the Beast will be the next key in our list.

6. This false church will manifest powerful signs and wonders as the end of the age draws near.

The Apostle Paul describes these supernatural signs in the passage we read earlier in 2 Thessalonians 2, where he writes:

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9).

Revelation 13 describes them as well in verse 13.

He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men (Revelation 13:13).

The antichrist or coming false prophet will use these signs and wonders to unify the people and point them to the great Beast, enhancing its authority and worldwide influence and power.

Mother of Harlots Explained (Revelation 17)

Finally, we come to the seventh key.

7. This false church is a mother of other compromising churches.

This is an easy point to miss, but it’s right there in plain sight in God’s word. Look at it with me in Revelation 17. There, when we carefully read John’s description of the Great Harlot that represents this false Christianity, we see an important detail in verse 5.

And on her forehead a name was written: Mystery, Babylon the Great, the MOTHER OF HARLOTS and of the Abominations of the Earth (Revelation 17:5).

The Great Harlot is not alone, but is a mother to many other compromising harlots—many other false Christianities and denominations which, like their mother, combine elements of God’s biblical truths with human philosophies and pagan practices! All of them claiming to speak in Christ’s name—yet all of them connected to the same, false system.

These seven characteristics, these seven keys, will equip you to recognize the white horse and its rider when they burst upon the scene! And, for those with eyes to see, they can reveal how the system they represent has been working in the world for the last almost two thousand years—falsely claiming the name of Christ and now being prepared for the fateful future God’s word has long prophesied.

Jesus Christ Returns on a Different White Horse

Yet the story does not end with the white horse. After all, it is only the first of the four horsemen. In fact, a great aid in recognizing the first horseman is to recognize that there are not really four horsemen in the book of Revelation—there are five! And the identity of the fifth horseman is, in many ways, the most important of all!

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse… (Revelation 19:11).

Notice how this passage begins with the same words! “Behold, a white horse!” Yet, as we will see, this is a different horse, and definitely a different rider! Let’s continue.

… And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God (Revelation 19:11–13).

Yes, this is no pretender to the throne or false Messiah. This is the real deal—Jesus Christ, The Word of God.

The Real Jesus Wields the Sword of the Spirit

Like the first horsemen, He, too, is armed, as we see in verse 15.

Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations (Revelation 17:15).

And, of course, Ephesians 6 tells us that:

“The sword of the Spirit … is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).

Notice how this account is perfectly in line with our very first point about the first horseman and his white horse being an imposter.

While both ride a white horse, the first horseman of the four wore a single “crown,” but Jesus Christ appears with “many crowns” upon His head. The first horseman of the four “had a bow,” but the Savior charges forward with the “sharp sword” of His mouth. Again—the false Church looks like real Christianity, but with God’s help you can spot the differences!

But the most important fact is stated in verse 16 of Revelation 19: The rider of THIS horse charging from heaven is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”! And He will be bringing with Him a new world—tomorrow’s world.

We here at Tomorrow’s World hope you are looking forward to the ride of that fifth horseman as much as we are.

Thanks for watching. If you found this video helpful, check out more of our content or hit subscribe to stay up-to-date on what we publish. And if you want the free study guide related to this topic, just click the link in the description. See you next time!

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

What Is a Family?

Modern man seems determined to reshape, revise, and redefine the family as God made it until it is unrecognizable.

Philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels declared the family as God designed it to be a tool of oppression, suggesting that the march toward communism would erase the roles God designed and make the rearing of children a function of the communal state.

Many feminists adopted a similar point of view, casting the biblical family structure as a means of suppressing women and robbing them of their rights.

All of these philosophies and their advocates pretend that the family is simply a social construction that can be taken apart and reassembled however we might see fit.

But this is a lie.

God Designed Family Structure

God created the family. It belongs to Him, and He has designed it to serve His own divine purposes. We suffer when we ignore those purposes, and we are blessed as we embrace them.

Now let’s dive into some of God’s divine purposes for the family. First:

1. The family supports the fulfillment of human design.

It Is Not Good for Man to Be Alone (Genesis 2:18)

Western Civilization can focus so much on the individual that we can fail to recognize mankind was never designed to live in isolation—focused on our own individual needs, determining our own individual paths, concerned about our own individual rights. Our natural, carnal inclination is to think this way, to focus on ourselves, but this is not the way toward healthy fulfillment.

It is one thing when we desire a family and simply aren’t yet ready for one or are in circumstances that make having a family difficult. None of us are fully in control of our lives in this life—and faith in God is built on turning that level of control over to Him where it belongs.

Overcome Selfishness by Serving Others

Yet, sadly, there are many who could build a family who are increasingly putting off marriage for years, even decades—and putting off children until much later in life, if not indefinitely—out of a desire to pursue their individual careers or dreams of personal accomplishment.

Ironically, such individuals are putting off one of the greatest and most fulfilling adventures they could ever know: building a God-honoring marriage and family and learning to put the needs of their own spouse and children ahead of their own.

And when it comes to children, there is no greater environment for their development and nurturing than a loving family, with their own father and mother. Nothing else even comes close.

Parents Teach and Uphold Family Values

Look at God’s instruction to the parents in ancient Israel, recorded in Deuteronomy 6:7—instruction that all parents would do well to heed today. Speaking of His laws, commandments, and way of life, God tells them:

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deuteronomy 6:7).

More so than in a school room or daycare, it is in the day-to-day, common interactions of life that God’s commands and the teachings of Jesus Christ are made to come to life for our children. It’s commonly said that “values are caught, more than they are taught,” and there is some truth to that.

And it is the environment of family—having meals together, doing chores together, relaxing, laughing, struggling, and working together—it is that environment where children develop in the most important of ways. And, frankly, so do their parents.

Family Guides Interpersonal Relationships

One key way in which we develop is our next divine purpose of family:

2. The family teaches us how to interact with the rest of society.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but if you look around, it is beginning to look like society is forgetting how to be a society. Civilization is forgetting how to be civilized. And such times were not only prophesied to come but, frankly, to get worse.

We see this in many places in Scripture, but for now let’s just look in 2 Timothy 3, starting in verse 1.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away (2 Timothy 3:1–5)!

Pretty bleak! But there is a direct connection with this divine purpose of the family. Did you notice what it mentioned in verse 2? “Disobedient to parents.”

Relationship Skills Start in the Family

Keep that in mind as we turn to Paul’s earlier letter to Timothy and read about the connection between family and the broader culture. In 1 Timothy 5, Paul is instructing the young evangelist about how he should conduct himself as the leader of his congregation.

Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger [women] as sisters, with all purity.

It’s very easy to read that too quickly and miss the lesson. Timothy had many different types of people to deal with, and Paul told him to learn from his interactions in the family to know how to handle himself.

Treat older men as fathers, older women as mothers, and peers as siblings.

Broken Families Destabilize Society

The family is where we all learn to treat everyone else in society with the level of respect, honor, and compassion that is due to them. It’s where we learn how to respectfully interact with those in authority, even when we disagree with them, and serve those weaker than we are.

My friends, it is not a coincidence that we see civilization unraveling around us after decades of media programming in which disrespectful children and dysfunctional families are held up as sources of entertainment and the God-ordained structure of the family has been under sustained attack.

When you dismantle the family—the very schoolroom God Himself designed for each society how to function—then you should expect an increasingly dysfunctional society.

Family Is the Foundation of Civilization

3. The family is the building block of civilization.

Not only does God use families to teach us how to live with others in society, families—themselves—are the foundational building blocks of society. Like God builds matter out of atoms, He builds civilization out of families.

In Genesis 10, for example, we see what is often called the “Table of Nations”—a detailed listing of how the different nations and civilizations of men have descended from ancient families of the past, many often taking their name from an ancient patriarch or forebearer.

“Be Fruitful and Multiply” (Genesis 1:28)

In the beginning, God told Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful and multiply; [and] fill the earth….” This was God’s intention for families from the beginning—such that when families of mankind refused to spread out at the Tower of Babel, He confused their languages and forced them to do so.

Of course, as always, mankind has his own ideas. And we tend to define nations and states on purely political grounds and boundaries, with no thought to family or heritage. And, of course, that is going as well as ignoring God’s desires, designs, and plans has ever gone!

Large Families Became Nations

God’s own plan for the world sees nations as families grown large. Even in the Millennium, when God speaks of Egypt’s possible refusal to come to Jerusalem and keep the Feast of Tabernacles, He calls them “the family of Egypt” and refers to the nations of the world as “the families of the earth” (Zechariah 14:17–18).

In fact, let’s look in Genesis 18:19, where God explains part of why He called the famous patriarch Abraham.

For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.

This is how God thinks. God’s calling of Abraham was never just about Abraham. It was about the family—and, eventually, civilization—He would found through Abraham.

That is how God builds nations—as families grown large—and it is how He continues to see humanity. In fact, one of the keys to understanding prophecy is to be able to recognize the modern peoples of the world in the families that are mentioned in prophecy.

Yet, the divine purposes of family are not limited to the physical world around us.

Family Structure Helps Us Understand God

4. Let’s next examine how the family teaches us about our relationship with God.

Some wonder when we use words or phrases like “Father,” “Family of God,” or “children of God” if we are forcing human terms onto God where they don’t belong—as if we are trying to force God to fit human social structures.

In fact, the opposite is true.

God Created Family Roles in His Image

God explains in Scripture that He has created the world to reflect Him, not the other way around. Paul writes of this principle in Romans 1:20.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

God intends that we learn about Him through the things He has made—and about Jesus Christ, through whom He made them. And the family is a vital part of that Creation that teaches us about God.

For instance, in marriage and in the God-ordained roles in marriage, we learn profoundly about our relationship to Jesus Christ. Read that in Ephesians 5.

Marriage Shows How to Love Like Jesus Loves Us

After explaining there that a husband is to love His wife selflessly, as Jesus Christ loves His Church, and how a wife is to submit to her husband in the same way that the Church submits to the authority of Christ, he summarizes all of this in verses 31 and 32. Quoting what Genesis says about husband and wife, he writes:

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31–32).

The husband-wife relationship is literally designed by God to teach us about this profound divine relationship between Jesus Christ and the people called together to form His Church.

Becoming Parents Shows How God Cares for Us

And turn to Matthew 7 where we see Christ’s instruction about how to understand God’s willingness to give to us and care for us. After telling us to ask, seek, and knock, He explains:

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him (Matthew 7:8–11)!

Jesus isn’t “forcing” on God the attributes of fatherhood. Rather, God is the ultimate Father, and human fatherhood is designed as a reflection of His eternal qualities—the love, care, and compassion He has for His own children.

Yes, if we will pursue building families as God designed them, and learn to see them that way, then lessons about God and Jesus Christ Themselves and Their relationship with us begun to unfold before our eyes.

God’s Plan Is the Ultimate Family Plan

This last purpose of the family concerns, perhaps, the greatest truth mankind can come to comprehend.

5. The family points us to our eternal purpose and destiny.

This beautiful, divine purpose of the family becomes obvious when you learn just what the purpose of your life really is. And that purpose is to become a part of the Family of God, itself, for all eternity—knowing life as God and Jesus Christ now know it and experiencing reality and existence as They now do.

The Family of God is not a metaphor, though many have a hard time realizing this, and many who do refuse to accept it. Again, we aren’t imposing our own ideas on God, but recognizing that He created the universe to reveal truths about Him, and the family itself is another example of this very thing.

Paul alludes to the Family of God that the Father and Christ are building in Ephesians 3:14–15.

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

There is a reason that the Bible calls converted Christians “sons and daughters.” It is not merely a metaphor.

Read for yourself the emphasis the Apostle John places on this fact, and how He describes our eventual birth at Jesus Christ’s return. His description is in 1 John chapter 3.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:1–2).

We Are Made in the Image of God (Genesis 1:27)

Just as a child grows and develops in the womb until he is born, fully formed and in the presence of his father and mother, so, too, do true Christians develop in the body of Christ, the Church, until that day when they, too, will fully develop and see the face of their Creator. At that time, they will reflect His glory with their own, as fully formed children of God.

It is an astonishing truth of Scripture that is hinted at from the very beginning in Genesis, where we read that, while all the animals were made after their own kind, man is made after the God kind.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26–27).

God Is Creating a Family Through Us

Yes, one of the greatest truths the human mind can possibly grasp is that God the Father and Jesus Christ are expanding Their own family to include more members, nurturing thousands of others in this life who will one day step into eternity to join Them—forever. And the God-ordained design of the family points us to this beautiful and life-changing truth.

My friends, if we will reject the ill-conceived and vainglorious attempts to take what God has created—the family—and reshape it based on humanly devised, devil-inspired philosophies and ideologies and simply embrace God’s own design for it and His divine purposes for it, then the family becomes a source of wonder, instruction, humility, and blessings.

Thanks for watching. If you found this video helpful, check out more of our content or hit subscribe to stay up to date on what we publish.

And if you want the free study guide related to this topic, just click the link in the description.

See you next time.