ASIAN INVASION

And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

—Rev. 9:16

IN THE APOSTLE JOHN’S DAY, WORLD POPULATION WAS PROBABLY LESS THAN TWO HUNDRED MILLION, YET THE AMAZING NUMBER WAS RECORDED. NOW, WE KNOW NUMBERS IN PROPHECY CAN BE TRUSTED.

318 History’s Largest Armies

The largest army in history to go into actual battle was under Xerxes I in 481 BC when he invaded Greece. Herodotus estimated it as “2,641,000 fighting men.”

During World War II at the height of the conflict, America had 12 million men under arms.

These records will be exceeded at the end times when the “kings of the east” field 200,000,000 men into the Middle East conflict.

319 200 Million Soldiers

According to an Associated Press release in 1964, there was an estimated 200 million armed and organized militiamen in China. A recent television commentary on Red China, called “The Voice of the Dragon,” said that the Chinese are boasting of their ability to field a people’s army of 200 million militiamen.

The 1977 Guinness Book of Records gives these statistics: “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army, which includes naval and air services, has 3,250,000 regulars, but there is also a civilian home guard militia once claimed to be 200 million strong … ”

320 Road-Building Activities In Kashmir

A force of 200 million soldiers could not be transported by China and its foreseeable allies by air or sea. They do not possess the industry to produce a transportation system for such an army. This necessitates the movement of troops across the land as indicated in Revelation 16:12.

India has revealed an important development. It is reported that 12,000 Chinese soldiers are at work inside Pakistan-held Kashmir on the road which would give Chinese troops in Tibet a shortcut to the subcontinent. India calls the Chinese road-building activities a “threat to peace in Asia.” It was said that “a flurry of road-building throughout the Himalayas is taking on increasing strategic importance.”

—Hal Lindsay

321 Troops Or Tanks In Prophecy

Since the First World War the tank has been considered an absolutely vital piece of military equipment. Indeed, it has seemed that the tank is here to stay. But one of the lessons of the Middle East battlefield is that the lowly infantryman, armed with a missile launcher, has swung the balance against the tank.

There has been a standing debate among students of prophecy concerning the interpretation of military language in the Scripture which speak of the end time. Are allusions to foot soldiers, bows, arrows, and spears to be taken literally, or do they stand for their equivalent in today’s military hardware?

—Prairie Overcomer