I enjoyed your post very much and I love when people (like you) think "out of the box" and question what so called bible scholars have poured in concrete over the years as the absolute truth. >From my perspective there are many aspects of end time scripture that have been force fed to the sheep....... that are in error. False teachers abound in these last days.Obvious to me, one of those errors is that the rapture happens in Rev. 4..... when there is absolutely nothing in that chapter that would indicate an event of that extreme status happening.(You pre-trib guys please hear me out because the rapture will still be pre-trib. Just keep reading...) Other than creation and the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus the next most monumental happening of the biblical spectrum happens at the rapture and some want us to believe it happened in Rev.4 when God didn't dedicate one sentence there to an extreme event such as this. But when the rapture did happen after the opening of the sixth seal God shared the glory of it all in Rev.7:9-17 when untold millions show up in heaven. The scoffers say that this can't be the rapture because verse 14 says that......"These are the people who come out of the great tribulation". Well technically the raptured were in the great tribulation for a few moments after the opening of the sixth seal. God tells us that His great wrath starts at the opening of the sixth seal. And somewhere after the opening probably during the terrible world wide earthquake he snatches us away. So technically we will have ...."come out of the great tribulation".Mary, I read with interest your twist on the seals and I have mine as well. I believe the first five seals have already happened and we are rocking on ready for the opening of the sixth seal.I believe John the Revelator who got his vision in approximately 95AD was given a tour of the entire time frame from 95AD until the end of the Christ's reign on earth. He was first given a tour of the seven early and later churches that would span the time frame from 95AD until the reign of Christ. Then he was given a guided tour of heaven and the strange players that make up that reality. John was given a tour of the complete "end times scenario".John saw that the world and Christ's church from 95AD to the end times would be under constant assault from Satan. And that Jesus Himself by overseeing the opening of the seals would have to intervene at specific times throughout these 2000+ years or we would not have made it. Just like He intervened in the Old Testament for the protection of the children of Israel...... He has intervened for us during these 2000 years. Jesus was the only one in heaven or on earth found worthy to intervene on our behalf by overseeing the opening of these seals and divinely assuring the outcome. I believe that the seven seals are not judgments but interventions for our benefit. And only our sinless Redeemer was worthy and qualified to be the one to intervene. Let me explain.......Let's look at the first four seals to see when Jesus intervened on our behalf from 95AD until the present.Seal 1.....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.There was a time in the last 2000 years that Satan was winning and Christ's church was in jeopardy of being eradicated but Jesus intervened at the first seal. In the Middle Ages the Roman Catholic Church under the Vatican and the papal popes murdered untold millions of true Christians and Jews that would not bow to the demonic authority of Rome. (Satan was winning the battle)This went on for centuries until Jesus intervened by opening the first seal and allowing Napoleon Bonaparte to conquer Europe and put an end to the power of the papal states.... and then the slaughter ended. And yes, Napoleon was famous for riding a white horse. He was the conqueror of Europe (crown) and was a great military man (bow).Seal 2....And another horse, fiery red, 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.There was another time in the last 2000 years that Christ's church, the Jews and the whole earth was in jeopardy of being destroyed. Again I believe that Jesus intervened and oversaw the happenings of this period (this seal) to insure the survival of the Jews, His Church and the earth in general. The period I speak of is World War II. (Satan was winning again) Germany under the demonic Nazis were hell bent on the eradication of the Jews and true Christians. They rolled over Europe and North Africa like a plague. They formed a pact with Japan to conquer the entire world and in the process started a world war and took peace from the earth. The German's were on the verge of perfecting the first nuclear bomb (great sword) which would have given the planet to Satan. But Jesus was there to oversee this period, this second seal, to prevent this from occurring. I believe He delayed Germany and advanced America with the building of the hydrogen bomb which again saved the Jews, the true Christians and the world from Satan's control. Remember....we do not fight flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. So we are badly outnumbered and periodically Jesus has to intervene on our behalf or the bad guys would win....hence seal two.Seal 3....So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.I believe this seal speaks to the economic factors of the planet. If you are like me you can't understand how the whole deck of economic cards has not completely fallen. Almost every country on the planet is way way way beyond bankrupt. The greed and outright monetary stealing (lawlessness) that is going on with no consequences is unbelievable. Satan is very pleased. What is preventing the complete economic collapse resulting in chaos and anarchy? I believe Jesus is, through His intervention with the third seal. Why? maybe because the fullness of the church is not complete. It doesn't matter how broke the planet is, people still just want to party..party..party. Hence...do not harm the oil and the wine.Seal 4...So I looked and behold, a pale horse. And the name who sat on him was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death and by the beasts of the earth.This is an easy one. This seal speaks of Islam "the religion of Death". A fourth of the world's population and a fourth of the land mass is controlled by Islam. In the lands under their control they kill, starve and butcher anyone they choose who will not join their Death cult. They believe if they die as a martyr for Allah that they will go to paradise but what awaits them and follows them is Hades. We saw the Islamic pale green horse ride on worldwide TV during the riots in Cairo. Satan has the Muslims worked up into a demonic frenzy. They are willing to commit mass suicide around the planet to eradicate the Jews, the Christians and anyone else who won't bow to their demonic religion. I believe it is only because Jesus has once again intervened on our behalf with this fourth seal that worldwide butchery on a massive scale does not break out. Again I believe Jesus has intervened because the time in not yet right and the fullness of His church is not yet complete. (Rev.6:11....was completed)Seal 5....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 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.Have you ever heard the biblical expression---absent from the body, present with the Lord? Well if you die "in Christ", meaning that during your life you made a conscious decision to accept Jesus Christ and the bloody sacrifice He made on your behalf on the cross then you are His for eternity. So when you die, not your physical body but your soul goes immediately to Him (present with the Lord) but the consciousness of your soul is asleep. Now from Christ's sacrifice on the cross to the present, there are untold millions of people that have accepted Him and untold millions who were viciously martyred for Him.(for example--millions of true Christians and Jews were martyred by the Catholic Church in the Middle ages) The souls of all those people have been present with the Lord but asleep since their deaths. 1 Thess.4:13-18 explains this........"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."So the souls of these millions and millions of people who have been asleep some from 2000 years ago ,some from two moments ago, are awaken from their sleep as Jesus opens the fifth seal. A lot of them are very angry because they were violently killed for their belief in Jesus throughout the ages and are crying out to Him. They want to know how long it will be before Jesus judges those on earth who killed them. Jesus gives them all white robes and tells them to rest, and that they will have to wait "a little while longer" until the number of His believers is complete. Obviously there is a total accumulated number of fellow servants, a human goal if you will, a preconceived quantity of believers that has to be reached before the Rapture of the church will happen.( not my words but the Lords...Rev.6:11)We on earth will not know when this total quantity of believers has been reached or when this fifth seal has been opened in heaven but it appears that the first four seals have been opened and the believers in Christ are being added to this total at a rapid rate. Christians are dying and being martyred around the world at an accelerated rate whether it be in Sudan, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesian or most any Muslim country there is.When this total number has been reached Jesus will open the sixth seal. There will be a world wide terrible earthquake, at that same time the rapture of the church will happen where the dead in Christ (those who were asleep) and the alive in Christ will be instantaneously gathered to Him in the clouds. This Rapture "process" and the great worldwide earthquake and I suspect multiple volcanoes will cause the sun to turn black, the moon red, and our sky (our heavenly view looking upward) to roll up like a scroll. Somewhere in this process when the sky is rolled up and open--maybe open to another dimension, God will cast Satan and his fallen angels to earth like late over-ripe figs from a fig tree in a mighty wind. And then as per Rev.6:17 in the sixth seal, Jesus proclaims that the great day of His wrath has come. But He kept His promise that His believers would escape this wrath because still in the sixth seal before the opening of the seventh we all show up in heaven. A great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.The bible says in several spots that He will come to get His bride in the spring. This spring?? I believe we are getting very close.Blessings Mary.......John B