Self Help
If these enemies rode openly, on real horses, they would not be
dangerous, because they could be rounded up and put out of
commission. But, they ride unseen, in the minds of men. So silently
and subtly do they work that most people never recognize their
presence.
Take inventory of yourself and find out how many of these seven
horsemen you are harboring.
In the foreground you will find the most dangerous and the commonest of the riders. You will be fortunate if you discover this enemy and protect yourself against it. This cruel warrior, INTOLERANCE, has killed more people, destroyed more friendships, brought more misery and suffering into the world and caused more wars than all of the other six horsemen that you see in this picture.
Until you master INTOLERANCE you will never become an accurate thinker. This enemy of mankind closes up the mind and pushes reason and logic and FACTS into the back-ground. If you find yourself hating those whose religious viewpoint is different from your own you may be sure that the most dangerous of the seven deadly horsemen still rides in your brain. Next, in the picture, you will observe REVENGE and GREED!
These riders travel side by side. Where one is found the other is always close at hand. GREED warps and twists man's brain so that he wants to build a fence around the earth and keep everyone else on the outside of it. This is the enemy that drives man to accumulate millions upon top of millions of dollars which he does not need and can never use.
This is the enemy that causes man to twist the screw until he has wrung the last drop of blood from his fellow man. And, thanks to REVENGE which rides alongside of GREED, the unfortunate person who gives brain-room to these cruel twins is not satisfied to merely take away his fellow man's earthly belongings; he wants to destroy his reputation in the bargain.
"Revenge is a naked sword -
It has neither hilt nor guard. Would'st thou wield this brand of the Lord:
Is thy grasp then firm and hard?
But the closer thy clutch of the blade,
The deadlier blow thou would'st deal, Deeper wound in thy hand is made - It is
thy blood reddens the steel.
And when thou hast dealt the blow - When the blade from thy hand has flown - Instead of the heart of the foe Thou may'st find it sheathed in thine own."