are as enigmatic today as they were when the apostle John first recorded the visions he received while on the isle of Patmos about 95 CE.
Yet there is a proven way to understand many of the symbols found in Revelation. That method is to use parallel Scriptures that speak of the same events. In this article, I will compare the symbolic "seals" opened in the 6th chapter of Revelation to the prophetic words of Messiah Yeshua recorded in Matthew 24. As you will see, there is an undeniable link between the two passages.
Let's start by setting the scene for the prophecy found in Revelation 6. In Revelation 4, John is transported in vision to heaven and sees the very throne of God the Father. In Revelation 5, John notices that God is holding a scroll in His right hand which is sealed with seven seals (Rev. 5:1). At first, no one in heaven above or on the earth or under the earth is found worthy to open and read the scroll (Rev. 5:2-4). But then the Messiah Yeshua appears on the scene, and he is declared worthy to break the seals and open the scroll (Rev. 5:5-7).
After receiving the praises of the heavenly host (Rev. 5:8-14), Messiah begins opening the seals on the scroll in chapter 6:
REVELATION 6:1 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." 2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. (NASU)The opening of the 1st seal presents a symbolic white horse ridden by one who has a bow and a crown. Using his weapon and his authority, he went forth warring against and defeating his enemies. The phrase "conquering and to conquer" alludes to a continual state of warfare on the part of this entity.
REVELATION 6:3 When he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." 4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. (NASU)When the 2nd seal was opened, John saw a fiery red horse mounted by a rider carrying a huge sword. This rider was allowed to initiate widespread warfare on the earth.
REVELATION 6:5 When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine." (NASU)The opening of the 3rd seal revealed a black horse ridden by a man carrying a pair of scales. The scales were used to weigh out small quantities of very expensive food (a denarius was about a day's wages in the 1st century). The command to avoid damaging the oil and wine shows that these, along with food, would be in scarce supply.
REVELATION 6:7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, "Come!" 8 I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth. (NRSV)The breaking of the 4th seal revealed the last of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." The horse was the pale green color of decaying flesh, and the rider of this horse was Death himself! The grave followed after Death, and he was given power to kill 25% of the earth's population. This widespread destruction of life was caused by the cumulative effects of all four horsemen.
REVELATION 6:9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. (NASU)The opening of the 5th seal symbolically showed the slain martyrs from ages past crying out to God for justice. However, they were told that the time for justice had not yet come. There were still a certain number of believers who had to be martyred (as they had been) before God's wrath would be poured out on those responsible.
REVELATION 6:12 I looked when he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (NASU)The opening of the 6th seal brings about a great earthquake, which is accompanied by signs in the heavens above. All of mankind will realize from this awesome spectacle that God is about to execute His wrath through the Messiah upon the wicked.
Now that we've looked at the symbolic opening of all six seals in Revelation 6, let's look at the introduction to Yeshua's parallel prophecy recorded in Matthew 24:
MATTHEW 24:1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the Temple, and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the Temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." 3 Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" (NKJV)Understandably, Yeshua's statement about the coming destruction of the Temple caused great concern among his disciples. After pondering his words, they came to him and asked for additional information on the calamity he had prophesied for the Temple. Although they likely assumed that the destruction of the Temple and the end of the age would occur at the same time, in fact they asked two separate questions:
- WHEN would the Temple be destroyed?
- WHAT would be the sign of the Messiah's coming and the end of the age?
Multiple fulfillments of the same prophecy present one of the greatest difficulties in properly understanding the Bible. Many times in the Scriptures, we see a prophecy that fits more than one person or event. The guiding principle for understanding these prophecies was stated by King Solomon in Ecclesiastes. He tells us "that which has been is what will be, that which has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecc. 1:9).
In such cases, preliminary fulfillment does not completely satisfy or extinguish the prophecy. In fact, there are two general types of dual prophecies found in the Bible:
- Prophecies that are substantially fulfilled by initial events, where subsequent fulfillments are an echo of the first occurrence; and
- Prophecies where the initial fulfillment is incomplete, and the comprehensive fulfillment of the prophecy is yet future.
Now let's look at the specifics from Matthew 24:
MATTHEW 24:4 And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying I am the Christ, and will deceive many. 6 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. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold." (NKJV)Contained within this passage are events that closely match the symbolic seals found in Revelation 6 (as shown below). The next passage (Matt. 24:13-28) includes information about an event that is not specifically mentioned in Revelation 6, but is addressed in Old Testament prophecy: The siege and capture of Jerusalem by the nations of the world (Zec. 12:2-3; 14:1-2).
While there are many fanciful theories about the nature of the "abomination of desolation" mentioned by Messiah (Matt. 24:15), the primary understanding of it is given in the parallel passage found in Luke's Gospel. Luke states that when armies surround Jerusalem, we will know that its desolation is near (Luke 21:20). Just as Titus and the Roman army surrounded and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 CE (40 years after this prophecy was given), the city will again be subjected to capture in the future, this time by the armies of the world.
After warning those in Jerusalem, Yeshua returns to the events outlined in Revelation 6:
MATTHEW 24:29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken." (NKJV)Here we see Yeshua state that immediately after the capture of Jerusalem, signs will appear in the heavens. These same signs are mentioned in conjunction with the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12-14).
At this point (Matt. 24:30-31) the Messiah skips the first six trumpet judgments detailed in Revelation (Rev. 8:1-11:14) and goes to the final part of the 7th seal, which is the 7th trumpet (Rev. 11:15-19). An exposition of this part of the prophecy is outside the scope of this article.
Now that we have covered the Scriptures in question, let's compare the two prophecies to see if any additional understanding can be obtained. For ease of comparison, let's look at a side-by-side list of the seals found in Revelation 6 with the corresponding explanatory Scriptures from Matthew 24:
| REVELATION 6 | MATTHEW 24 |
| 1st Seal = ??? | |
| 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. (Rev. 6:2) | "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying I am the Christ, and will deceive many." (Matt. 24:4-5) |
| 2nd Seal = Widespread Warfare | |
| Another, a fiery red horse, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. (Rev. 6:4) | "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." (Matt. 24:6-7) |
| 3rd Seal = Famine | |
| There was a black horse, and its rider held a scale in his hand. 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!" (Rev. 6:5-6) | "There will be famines . . ." (Matt. 24:7) |
| 4th Seal = Death of 1/4 of Mankind from First Four Seals | |
| There before me was a pale green horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. He was given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and pestilence, and by the wild beasts of the earth. (Rev. 6:8) | "There will be . . . pestilences and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matt. 24:7-8) |
| 5th Seal = Martyrdom of Believers | |
| I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. (Rev. 6:9-11) | "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another." (Matt. 24:9-10) |
| 6th Seal = Heavenly Signs | |
| Behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.(Rev. 6:12-14) | "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken." (Matt. 24:29) |
Since there is such an obvious relationship between most of the elements in these two passages, it's easy to conclude that they are both referring to the same prophesied events. But if this is the case, why does the symbolism of the first seal (Rev. 6:2) appear so different from the first event spoken of by Yeshua (Matt. 24:4-5)? John's vision seems to imply conquest by a righteous ruler, while Yeshua's words appear to indicate religious deception.
A hint at why the initial clue is unclear is found in the proverbs of King Solomon:
PROVERBS 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. (NIV)It is to God's glory to hide things from mankind, but it is to our glory if we put forth the effort and time to seek out those things that He has concealed. If the two passages of Scripture in question were easily reconcilable, the beginning of the end of this age and the coming of Messiah would be plainly laid out for all to see. There would be no need to truly search for understanding. But due to the apparent differences, many have missed the relationship between these two passages.
Assuming that the first seal IS the same as the warning given by Yeshua, how then do we arrive at a correct understanding of the symbolism?
There is a biblical principle that will guide our understanding in this matter:
ISAIAH 28:10 "For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little." (ESV)Most who recognize a connection between Revelation 6:2 and Matthew 24:4-5 usually draw their interpretation primarily from one passage or the other, and then try to harmonize the remaining one. But using the guidance found in Isaiah 28:10, let's combine one prophecy with the other and see the total picture that emerges.
First, we have to define the symbols from Revelation 6:2 to grasp what we are being told. The first symbol is that of a WHITE HORSE. In the Bible (and especially in the book of Revelation, the color white represents "righteousness," "goodness," or "purity" (Rev. 3:4-5, 18; 4:4; 6:11; 7:9, 13-14; 19:11, 14). So the color of the horse is designed to convey to us that, in some sense, the rider is considered good or righteous.
Next, we note that the rider has a BOW for a weapon. The bow represents "military strength," especially military strength that can be projected from a great distance. With the bow, the rider has the ability to strike from long range while being relatively safe from counterattack.
We also see that the rider is given a CROWN. In the Bible, a crown represents governmental power and the authority to rule. Therefore, the rider represents a government or ruling entity.
Lastly, we are told that this "good" governmental power uses its military might to successfully wage war. In fact, the implication of the statement that the rider "went out CONQUERING and TO CONQUER" suggests a continual state of aggressive warfare by this power.
In summary, we have the following symbols and their meaning in the 1st seal:
| SYMBOL/ACTION | MEANING |
| White Horse | Righteousness, Goodness, Purity |
| Bow | Military Strength (Long-Range) |
| Crown | Rulership, Power, Government |
| "Went Out Conquering and to Conquer" | State of Continual/Perpetual Warfare |
Without the context of Revelation 6:2, it would be almost impossible to assign this deception to anything other than a strictly religious arena. However, when all the factors from the two passages are combined, we are left with the following description:
| INTERPRETATION | SYMBOL/WARNING |
| A governmental power... | Crown |
| That appears good/righteous... | White Horse |
| Initiates extended warfare... | "Went out conquering and to conquer" |
| Using long range weapons and tactics... | Bow |
| Yet they are deceiving many people... | "Take heed that no one deceives you" |
| While proclaiming the name of Christ. | "Many will come in my name" |
Most Americans think that our country represents all that is good and right in the world. We think of ourselves as the "good guys." Many of us dislike the fact that the US government is intruding more and more into our everyday lives. However, as a nation we are very prosperous and wealthy, and we want to believe that the people running our government have our best interests at heart.
In response to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, the leaders of our government have initiated a series of initiatives to protect our "Homeland." Shortly after those attacks, President George W. Bush announced his intention to begin a "War on Terrorism." On September 18, 2001, the US Congress authorized President Bush to:
Use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons. (Public Law 107-40, S.J. Res. 23)On September 20, 2001, President Bush presented his response to the attacks in an address to a joint session of the US Congress (and via television and radio to the American people). In this address, he stated:
Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.President Bush laid out for the American people the foundation for a decades-long struggle against terrorists and the states that support them. When America invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, the American public was solidly behind the President. A slimmer majority also supported the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, believing both actions were necessary to defeat "terrorism."
However, this "War on Terrorism" is turning out to be exactly what President Bush promised at the onset - a perpetual war allegedly against terrorist groups and the nations that harbor and supply them. In fact, members of the Bush administration referred to their anti-terrorist policy as the "Long War." President Bush used this new name in his 2006 State of the Union speech, when he said:
"Our own generation is in a long war against a determined enemy." (January 31, 2006)During his 2007 State of the Union address a year later, the president made this telling statement:
"The evil that inspired and rejoiced in 9/11 is still at work in the world. And so long as that's the case, America is still a nation at war." (January 23, 2007)Even though the presidential administration has changed since these wars started, America still has tens of thousands of troops on the ground in the Middle East. However, our military might is not primarily composed of men, but rather of advanced technology. Just as the bow was the long-range weapon of choice in ancient times, unmanned drones, cruise missiles, jet planes, and "smart" bombs are the modern equivalent. For instance, some of the bombing missions flown by the US Air Force in the campaign against Iraq originated from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The round trip time for these flights was generally over 30 hours. Additionally, other combat sorties were flown from the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and off of aircraft carriers stationed in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. America has lost relatively few men in their conquests of Afghanistan and Iraq because we were able to attack from a distance that did not allow our adversaries to respond effectively.
But, most will object, this is where the similarities to the prophecies we are studying end. Certainly our government isn't perfect, but it's the best form of human government in our modern world. How can one say that our government is "deceiving many" people in the name of Christ?
As most Americans would readily admit, the US is predominantly perceived as a Christian nation (although not nearly as much so as 50 years ago). The American leader at the time of the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush, was a member of the Methodist Christian denomination. He said on several occasions that he recommitted himself to Jesus Christ in 1986 in the process of conquering alcoholism. When asked what political philosopher he most identified with in a 1999 presidential campaign debate, Bush named Christ, "because he changed my heart." Former Vice President Cheney was also a Methodist. The Republican party these leaders belong to is generally perceived as representing Christian values and ideals. Many Democrats, especially those from the middle of the country, also identify themselves as Christians. For the most part, our government appears to be run by people who proclaim themselves to be followers (in one fashion or another) of Jesus Christ.
However, these same leaders who espouse Christ are involved in a massive deception that has already cost thousands of lives and, according to biblical prophecy, is leading to a global war that will claim the lives of well over a billion people. What is this deception?
It is the very same event that allowed the rider of the white horse to initiate perpetual warfare against terrorists — the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Any unbiased, logical and thorough evaluation of the evidence pertaining to the events of 9/11/01 will quickly reveal a plethora of problems with the official story. In fact, there are so many holes in the government's version of what happened on 9/11/01 that it would be amazing for anyone who has taken a detailed looked into this event to NOT have questions. Some of the problems with the official story are listed below:
EVENTS BEFORE THE ATTACK INDICATED FOREKNOWLEDGE
Financial Market Transactions
In the days before the attacks, significantly higher than average numbers of stock put options (essentially, bets that a company's stock will decline in value) were placed on several companies greatly impacted by the events of 9/11/01. These companies included:
- United Airlines and American Airlines, two of the airlines used in the attacks.
- Munich Re and the AXA Group, two reinsurance companies that had to cover billions of dollars worth of insurance claims because of the attacks.
- Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America, financial services companies hurt by the attacks.
Additionally, there was an abnormally large increase in the purchase of 5-year US Treasury notes (considered to be very safe investments in times of uncertainty) before the attacks.
All of these financial transactions were extremely rewarding after the attacks took place.
Avoidance of the Targets
Just before 9/11/01, high government officials began avoiding the targets of the attacks:
- Attorney General John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial airlines in July 2001.
- Pentagon officials canceled travel plans on 9/10/01.
- San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown received a warning on 9/10/01 not to fly from National Security Advisor (now Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice.
- Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel, canceled plans to address Israeli support groups in New York City (NYC) on 9/11/01.
- Silverstein Properties, the lead company in a consortium that had just obtained a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center in July 2001, was supposed to meet on the 88th floor of one of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers to "discuss what to do in the event of a terrorist attack"; however, this meeting was canceled on the night of 9/10/01.
- Jim Pierce, President Bush's cousin, was scheduled to attend a conference on 9/11/01 at his company's office on the 105th floor of the WTC South Tower. But the conference was moved to the nearby Millennium Hotel, allegedly because the group was too large.
- Business executives, some of whom worked in the WTC, were in Nebraska attending a meeting hosted by billionaire Warren Buffett at Offutt Air Force Base on the morning of 9/11/01 (interestingly, President Bush visited that same base later in the day).
- At a cost of $50,000, Zim American Israeli Shipping Co. broke a lease that extended through the end of the year in order to vacate the World Trade Center just days before the attack.
- Two employees of Odigo, an Israeli instant messaging service with offices in the World Trade Center, received e-mail warnings of the attack two hours before it occurred.
- Scotland Yard prohibited Muslim author Salman Rushdie from flying on 9/11/01.
Although the FBI named 19 Arab hijackers responsible for the events of 9/11/01 within two days of the attacks, there is little tangible evidence to support this assertion.
Fatal Flaws in the Hijackers' Plan of Attack
The entire hijack plan was ill conceived and suffered from numerous logistical problems that should have caused it to fail had the US air defense system been operating normally on 9/11/01:
- The originating airport for the flights that struck the World Trade Center towers (American Flight 11 and United Flight 175) was Boston Logan instead of any of several airports nearer to NYC. This created a 40-minute window of exposure for interception of each flight.
- The flight that reportedly struck the Pentagon (American Flight 77) flew from Dulles Airport in eastern Virginia to the western border of West Virginia before returning to Washington DC. It was in the air for an hour and 23 minutes before allegedly attacking the Pentagon. The impact was 83 minutes after the first hijacked flight went off course, 58 minutes after the WTC North Tower impact, and 40 minutes after the WTC South Tower impact. Yet this jet was not intercepted as it flew over what is normally the most heavily protected airspace in the United States (if not the world). Even under circumstances of severely reduced US air defenses, there was still ample opportunity to intercept this flight.
- The flight that reportedly crashed in Pennsylvania (United Flight 93) flew from Newark, New Jersey almost to Cleveland, Ohio before turning around to fly toward Washington DC. Had it reached its alleged destination, it would have been airborne for over an hour and a half.
Lack of Evidence
There is no solid evidence that any of the alleged hijackers were on any of the hijacked flights. In fact, there is substantial evidence that some of the identified hijackers definitely were NOT involved:
- Except for a video allegedly showing the hijackers of Flight 77 released by a third party, no other security video footage of any of the hijackers boarding their flights has been made public.
- None of the alleged hijackers' names appeared on the airlines' passenger lists.
- At least seven of the alleged hijackers have turned up alive since the attack, and one listed as involved was proven to have died in a small plane crash in Florida in 2000.
- None of the four flight crews radioed Air Traffic Control to notify them of hijackings in progress.
- None of the four flight crews took the few seconds necessary to punch in the four-digit hijacking code.
- No public evidence indicates that the remains of any of the hijackers were identified at any of the crash sites.
- None of the contents of any of the black boxes from the hijacked planes have been made public.
- Four and a half minutes of a phone call from Flight 11 Attendant Betty Ong was made public; it describes some stabbings but does not provide any details indicating that Arab hijackers were on board.
The behavior of the alleged hijackers preceding the attack does not exhibit the skill and discipline needed to pull off such an ambitious plan:
- The alleged hijackers are reported to have visited topless bars and drank alcohol, despite being portrayed as fundamentalist Muslims motivated by religious fervor to carry out the attacks.
- Allegedly, Mohammed Atta just barely made it to Flight 11 in time to board, although he had supposedly been planning this event for years.
The proposition that the alleged hijackers were successful using their crude methods and poor skills is difficult to believe:
- The hijackers supposedly took over four jets using only boxcutters.
- None of the four flight crews were able to stop the alleged hijackers, in spite of several of the pilots being war veterans.
- None of the alleged hijackers were good pilots, yet three of the four successfully piloted these technologically advanced planes to relatively small targets and hit them with extreme precision.
Several elements are involved in domestic air defense of the continental United States. The air traffic control system continuously monitors air traffic and notifies the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) of any deviations by aircraft from their designated flight paths or loss of radio contact. NORAD regularly monitors air (and space) traffic and is prepared to react immediately to any threats or emergencies that arise. It has the authority to order units from the Air Force, the Air National Guard, or any other branch of the armed services to scramble fighters in pursuit of jetliners in trouble. This is standard operating procedure for the US air defense system. In the year 2000, interceptors were dispatched a total of 129 times. Between September 2000 and June 2001, jet fighters were scrambled 67 times.
Despite normal intercept times of between 10 and 20 minutes for domestic flights that go off course or lose radio contact, on 9/11/01 the hijacked planes seemingly roamed the skies at will without interference from the US air defense system. For some reason, routine interception procedures were not followed on that day.
Reporting Failures
FAA response times for reporting the deviating aircraft were much longer than the prescribed guidelines:
- According to the official timeline from NORAD, the FAA took 18 minutes to report Flight 11's loss of communication and deviation from its flight plan.
- According to the official timeline from NORAD, the FAA took 39 minutes to report Flight 77's deviation from its flight plan.
Interceptors were only scrambled from distant bases after long delays:
- Despite the fact that Flights 11 and 175 were headed for NYC, no interceptors were scrambled from New York's La Guardia Airport or from Langley AFB in Virginia.
- Despite NORAD having received formal notification of the first hijacking at 8:38 am, no interceptors were scrambled from nearby Andrews AFB to protect the Pentagon until after it was hit at 9:37 am.
Once they finally got in the air, interceptors flew at only small fractions of their top speeds, ensuring that they would be unable to intercept the airliners:
- The two F-15s scrambled from Otis AFB in Massachusetts at 8:52 am flew to Manhattan at an average speed of 483 mph, less than 26% of their top speed of 1,875 mph; they arrived about 8 minutes after Flight 175 had hit the WTC South Tower.
- The two F-16s scrambled from Langley AFB at 9:30 am to protect the capital flew at an average speed of about 411 mph, just over 27% of their top speed of 1,500 mph; they arrived about 12 minutes after the Pentagon was hit.
Nearby fighters on routine patrol duty were not redeployed to intercept the airliners, nor were fighters that reached Manhattan too late sent south to defend the capital:
- Two F-15s flying off the coast of Long Island were not redeployed to Manhattan until after the second WTC tower was hit.
- The two F-15s scrambled from Otis AFB to protect Manhattan could have reached the capital in under 10 minutes once they arrived over NYC . At that time, there were still 26 minutes remaining before the Pentagon would be hit.
Several different war game exercises were in process on the morning 9/11/01 as the attack unfolded. Although there has been only limited information released to the public about these exercises, they reportedly included:
- Operation Northern Vigilance - This exercise, planned months in advance of 9/11/01, redeployed jets that normally patrolled the northeast sector of the United States to northern Canada and Alaska. It was allegedly in response to a Russian exercise in which long-range bombers were dispatched to their northern territory.
- Operations Vigilant Warrior and Vigilant Guardian - These were apparently a pair of war games (attacker versus defender) which involved live-fly simulations of hijackings. Both this pair of operations and Northern Vigilance probably involved the use of "injects" into actual screens to simulate aircraft. These games apparently resembled the real attack sufficiently to confuse military officers.
- The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Plane Crash Drill - The NRO provides our nation its eyes and ears in space. It operates a system of reconnaissance satellites to provide real-time monitoring of objects in the skies. On 9/11/01, NRO headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia were evacuated as part of a drill simulating a small corporate jet crashing into one of the campus' four towers.
- The Tripod II Biowarfare Exercise - FEMA had deployed to NYC on 9/10/01 to set up a command post at Pier 29 in preparation for a biowarfare exercise scheduled for 9/12/01.
WORLD TRADE CENTER BUILDING COLLAPSES
On 9/11/01, three skyscrapers (WTC 1-North Tower, WTC 2-South Tower, and WTC 7-Salomon Brothers Building) totally collapsed, with fire given as the primary cause. Fires have never before or since caused steel-frame buildings to collapse. One of these buildings, WTC 7, was over 300 feet away from the North Tower and was not hit by a plane.
WTC Twin Towers
Both the Twin Towers fell straight down, through themselves, following the path of maximum resistance, a behavior never before observed in spontaneous collapses of any type of vertical structure. The towers also exploded outward into concrete dust and shattered steel, a result inconsistent with the known behavior of steel structures outside of explosive demolition. Although the pattern of destruction was much more complete than normal controlled demolitions, the collapses of both WTC 1 and WTC 2 exhibited features seen only in intentional demolitions:
- Sudden onset accompanied by thunderous bangs.
- Visible explosions ringing the perimeters of the buildings.
- Energetic ejections of dust (called squibs) at regular intervals.
- The production of a huge amount of dust.
- Unlike the North Tower, the South Tower's core structure was largely undamaged by the off-centered jet impact.
- The South Tower had much less severe fires than the North Tower.
- Smoke from the fires in the South Tower became progressively darker up to the time it collapsed, indicating that they were dying down.
- Audio recordings of NYC firefighters indicate that they reached the crash zone of the South Tower; in fact, they described their plan for using two hoses to control the fires found there.
WTC Building 7
WTC 7 imploded at 5:20 pm on 9/11/01 (approximately 20 minutes AFTER its collapse was announced live on British television by the BBC news crew covering the events of 9/11/01 from New York). As mentioned earlier, it was not hit by a jet. WTC 7 experienced total collapse, allegedly because of fires; however, no steel-frame building before or since has ever totally collapsed due to fire. This building was a 47-story steel-frame skyscraper. Only small fires were visible in it on 9/11/01. Yet this building also collapsed in an almost perfectly vertical fall into a remarkably small pile of mostly pulverized rubble. Buildings only 60 feet on either side of WTC 7 were virtually unscathed from its collapse.
A close observation of the collapse of WTC Building 7 shows that it had all of the features of an implosion engineered by controlled demolition:
- The collapse of the main structure commenced suddenly (several seconds after the penthouse fell).
- The building sank precisely into its footprint in a vertical manner.
- Puffs of dust (squibs) emerged from the building's facade early in the collapse, moving up the side of the building instead of downward (as would normally be expected in an unaided top-down collapse).
- The collapse was total, producing a rubble pile only about three stories high.
- The main structure totally collapsed in under 7 seconds, essentially at the speed of free fall; for comparison, WTC 7 collapsed only about a second slower than it would have taken a brick dropped from the building's roof to reach the ground in a vacuum.
- NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani's Office of Emergency Management had a bomb-hardened command bunker located on the 23rd floor (interestingly, he evacuated his emergency management team to a makeshift command center just as soon as the 9/11/01 attacks began).
- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had offices on the 11th, 12th, and 13th floors. Reportedly, the SEC's offices housed a large amount of evidence for 3,000-4,000 ongoing insider trading cases that was lost when WTC 7 collapsed.
- The US Secret Service had offices on the 9th and 10th floors.
- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had offices on the 24th and 25th floors.
- Reports later surfaced that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also had secret offices located in WTC 7.
The physical evidence from the World Trade Center buildings, as well as the attacking jets, was suppressed or systematically destroyed:
- Controlled Demolition, Inc. submitted a plan for recycling the WTC steel only 11 days after the attack and received approval.
- Most of the steel was quickly shipped to Asia for recycling.
- Investigators were barred from the crime scene and had little or no chance to examine the steel.
- None of the contents of the four black boxes from the hijacked jetliners has been released.
- The National Transportation Safety Board was not allowed to investigate the jet airliner crashes.
In many ways, the Pentagon attack is the most difficult to accept. It defies logic that this home to the military establishment of the world's mightiest superpower and prime terrorist target would NOT have been defended. It also seems very unlikely that a terrorist using a plane as a weapon would have targeted the back side of the Pentagon in an extremely precise aerobatic maneuver, instead of just hitting the front side in a simple head-on collision.
Unprotected Target
The Pentagon was hit after ample warning was given that hijacked planes were being used to attack high profile buildings. The 9:37 am impact occurred well over an hour after the first signs of a hijacking and 34 minutes after the South Tower strike confirmed that an attack was underway. Even though the Pentagon is only about 10 miles from Andrews Air Force Base, where two combat-ready fighter wings were stationed on 9/11/01, no meaningful defensive action was undertaken to protect the Pentagon. The inbound aircraft was monitored on radar as it approached Washington DC. In addition, a military C-130 (seen over the Pentagon immediately after the impact) was reportedly dispatched to observe the aircraft. But no interceptors were sent to stop the incoming plane.
Unqualified Hijacker/Pilot
None of the alleged hijackers were good pilots; none had ever flown jets, let alone large technologically advanced commercial jetliners. However, probably the most ill-equipped of them was the alleged hijacker/pilot of Flight 77, Hani Hanjour:
- Hanjour attended a flight school in Scottsdale, Arizona for four months in 1996 and 1997, but he never completed the coursework for a single-engine aircraft license.
- Failing his courses at the Arizona flight school he was attending didn't seem to bother Hanjour. According to an employee there, "He didn't care about the fact that he couldn't get through the course."
- In August 2001, Hanjour attempted to rent a small plane from an airport in Bowie, Maryland. After taking Hanjour on three test runs to ensure that he could actually fly, his request to rent the plane was declined. The flight instructors who flew with him noted that he had trouble controlling and landing the small single engine Cessna 172.
The spiral dive approach to the Pentagon was such an extreme maneuver that experienced air traffic controllers watching on radar thought it was a military jet. The tree-top final approach skimmed objects in the yard and crashed the plane into the first floor of the building. Experienced pilots have wondered if any human pilot could have executed the maneuver. Quite a feat for Hani Hanjour, who couldn't control a single engine prop plane and who had never sat in the cockpit of a jet.
Attack Hit the Only Hardened Part of the Pentagon
The location of the impact was Wedge One, one of five radial sections of the building. It was being renovated, and was only five days from completion when the attack occurred. The renovation program included the following improvements to the building:
- Exterior walls reinforced with steel.
- Exterior walls backed with Kevlar.
- Installation of blast-resistant windows.
- Installation of fire sprinklers.
- Installation of automatic fire doors.
- Creation of a building operations and control center.
Because of the renovation, the stricken portion of the building was sparsely occupied. While about 4,500 people normally would have been working in the targeted area, because of the renovation work only about 800 were actually there.
More than half of the people listed as missing after the attack worked in the Pentagon's Naval Command Center. These personnel were moved into the remodeled areas shortly before the attack. Of the thousands of people in the building at the time of the attack, only 125 people were killed. Of those, none were high-level officials. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was safe in his office on the opposite side of the building.
The fact that the attack targeted the one portion of the building that was mostly vacant is all the more remarkable considering the approach required by the aircraft blamed for the damage. According to National Transportation Safety Board information recently acquired via the Freedom of Information Act, American Airlines Flight 77 approached Washington DC from the west northwest on a heading of 99 degrees. Instead of attacking the huge building in a direct fashion, which would have required simply descending into the Pentagon, the jet executed a 320-degree descending spiral toward the south, losing over 7,000 feet of altitude before leveling out at nearly tree-top height as it made its final approach from the southwest. Additionally, this spiral approach added approximately three minutes to the flight time of the aircraft (time which COULD have been used to intercept the plane).
Lack of Physical Evidence
Due to a suppression of physical evidence by the government, the truth about what actually hit the Pentagon on 9/11/01 remains shrouded in mystery and is the subject of heated arguments among skeptics of the official account. Immediately after the attack, authorities systematically set out to confiscate, destroy or suppress the evidence:
- Video recordings from an adjacent gas station and nearby hotels were seized by the FBI very shortly after the attack. Additionally, traffic monitoring video cameras along the nearby highways maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation have not been released.
- Recordings of security video cameras around the Pentagon have not been publically released. Up until recently, only five frames of security video had been made public (and then only as an unofficial leak) from all the security cameras that monitor the periphery of the Pentagon. An additional release of video on 5/16/06 due to a Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch added nothing of value to what was already available.
- A photographed scrap of aircraft debris that has markings similar to an American Airlines 757 seemingly corresponds to the forward portion of the right side of the plane, yet the scrap was far to the left of the plane's path.
- Few photographs of the Pentagon's interior prior to removal of debris have been publically released.
- Investigators were not allowed access to the crash site until well into October 2001.
- The government has refused to disclose the fate of aircraft debris collected at the Pentagon or disclose the results of any attempts to identify the aircraft parts.
- The government has implausibly insisted that the black boxes recovered from the crash yielded nothing useful.
CASUALTIES FROM THE ATTACKS
The death toll of the attacks, although horrible, was much lower than it should have been if not for numerous favorable target selection and timing factors.
Flights
All four flights had low occupancy rates:
- Flight 11 had a capacity of 158, but had only 76 passengers on board (not counting the alleged hijackers).
- Flight 175 had a capacity of 166, but had only 46 passengers on board (not counting the alleged hijackers).
- Flight 77 had a capacity of 188, but only had 50 passengers on board (not counting the alleged hijackers).
- Flight 93 had a capacity of 182, but only had 26 passengers on board (not counting the alleged hijackers).
The towers were attacked before most people had arrived for work, and were hit high enough to allow most who were there to escape.
- When Flight 11 hit the North Tower at 8:46 am, the World Trade Center buildings were at less than half the occupancy they would have by mid-day of a typical day.
- WTC 1 was hit just 15 stories below the top, and most of the people who were trapped were between the 95th and 110th floors.
- WTC 2 was hit only 30 stories below the top, and the plane missed the core of the building, allowing people to evacuate from above the impact zone. The 17 minutes that had elapsed from the first hit also allowed many people to escape the South Tower while the elevators were still working.
The portion of the Pentagon that was attacked, the West Block, was in the process of being renovated, and so was at low occupancy.
- 125 people were killed in a building containing 20,000 people.
- No high-level Pentagon officials were killed in the attack.
Many events and decisions in the days and months preceding the attacks helped to make the incompetence theory more plausible:
Rules Changes
Procedural changes limited the ability of pilots and military commanders to respond to hijackings:
- A 6/1/01 order stripped field commanders of the autonomy to respond to hijackings.
- The FAA banned firearm possession by commercial pilots two months before the attack.
Several top officials, including the President of the United States, were not available until after the attack was over:
- President Bush remained at the publicized location of Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida until about a half-hour after the news of the attack went on worldwide TV, first listening to second grade students read about a girl and her pet goat, and then holding a press conference.
- General Richard Myers, Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, allegedly remained in a meeting with Senator Max Cleland until nearly the time the Pentagon was hit.
- Brigadier General Montague Winfield had Navy Captain Charles J. Leidig, Jr. (a rookie) assume his watch as Deputy Director for Operations for the National Military Command Center (NMCC) at 8:30 am on 9/11/01; he relieved him after the attack was over.
What was the government response to all the alleged incompetence displayed on 9/11/01 that allowed the hijackers to succeed in their attacks? Did those in positions of authority have to take responsibility for the lapses that left thousands dead? Were they fired or demoted?
Despite the worst failure in history of the military to protect American civilians, and the worst alleged engineering failures in history, there were no honest investigations and no consequences for the responsible authorities.
Air Defense Failures
No one was held accountable for the numerous unprecedented failures in air defense:
- General Richard Myers, Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 9/11/01, was confirmed as Chairman two days later despite being unable to provide any meaningful answers to questions regarding the air defense failures.
- General Richard Eberhard, commander of NORAD on 9/11/01, was promoted to head the newly created US Northern Command (NORTHCOM), which took the homeland defense role from the US Joint Forces Command.
- NORAD's official press release contradicted early statements by high-ranking officials that no interceptors had been scrambled on 9/11/01.
- NORAD's vague timeline raises far more questions than it answers, yet officials have never been required to give a full account of the discrepancies.
- The 9/11 Commission later advanced a new timeline which contradicted NORAD's earlier timeline and the testimony of military officials to the Commission itself.
Based on the official story, the total collapses of WTC 1, WTC 2, and WTC 7 were the three largest engineering failures in history. How were they investigated?
- FEMA was given the sole authority to investigate the collapses even though it is not an investigative agency.
- The investigative team assembled by FEMA consisted of unpaid volunteers.
- The investigators were not allowed access to Ground Zero.
- The investigators were not provided with the blueprints of the buildings.
- The resulting FEMA report states that the causes of the collapse "remain unknown at this time." By the time the report was released, disposal of all the WTC steel had been completed. The fact that WTC 7 supposedly failed in a way that contradicts a century of engineering experience makes it the largest and least understood structural failure in history.
- The 9/11 Commission Report failed to even mention the existence of WTC Building 7.
- The 9/11 Commission Report denied the existence of the Twin Towers' core structures.
- The report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on the collapse of the WTC Towers purports to provide a "probable collapse sequence" for each Tower but truncates its timelines before the collapses even begin.
However, German Nazi leader Adolph Hitler wrote about just such a deception in his defining work, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"):
. . . In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes. . . . (p. 134, James Murphy translation)Hitler, while Chancellor of Germany, went on to implement his version of the "big lie" when he approved a plan to torch the Reichstag building in Berlin where the elected members of government met daily. The Reichstag building was burned on the night of 2/27/33, and Hitler was able to blame this act on his rivals, the Communist Party in Germany. This act, and his response to it, paved the way for Hitler to become the dictator of Nazi Germany.
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda and allegedly one of those involved in the planning of the Reichstag fire, had this to say about his leader's "big lie" concept:
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
Conclusion
With the understanding of the first seal, we can now complete our outline of Revelation 6:| REVELATION 6 | MATTHEW 24 |
| 1st Seal = American Empire | |
| 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. (Rev. 6:2) | "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying I am the Christ, and will deceive many." (Matt. 24:4-5) |
| 2nd Seal = Widespread Warfare | |
| Another, a fiery red horse, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. (Rev. 6:4) | "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." (Matt. 24:6-7) |
| 3rd Seal = Famine | |
| There was a black horse, and its rider held a scale in his hand. 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!" (Rev. 6:5-6) | "There will be famines . . ." (Matt. 24:7) |
| 4th Seal = Death of 1/4 of Mankind from First Four Seals | |
| There before me was a pale green horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. He was given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and pestilence, and by the wild beasts of the earth. (Rev. 6:8) | "There will be . . . pestilences and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matt. 24:7-8) |
| 5th Seal = Martyrdom of Believers | |
| I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. (Rev. 6:9-11) | "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another." (Matt. 24:9-10) |
| 6th Seal = Heavenly Signs | |
| Behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.(Rev. 6:12-14) | "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken." (Matt. 24:29) |
While we as believers can do nothing but pray about the situation and ask for God's protection in the great tribulation that lies ahead, it is comforting to understand WHY these prophesied events are going to happen. May the Eternal Father keep and protect His people as we witness the birth pangs of the coming kingdom of God!
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