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I haven't done too much research, but from what I know about the four horseman, and what i've learned from valid sources, I have a debate to carry on.

First of all, people's idea of what exactly is the Apocalyse (Armaggadon) varies from person to person and from religion to religion. Most of the Apocalypse belief is from the Christian religion. Point is, the topic is very diverse and opinionated.

I will list the four horsemen, and the signs of the Apocalyspe and give reasons of why I believe it is or has already begun.

One
The White Horse of Conquest.
Basically, here, the White Horse symbolizes the rise of the anti-christ, the one who gives people false hope and is a psuedo(fake) phrophet.

I am NOT racist in any sort NOR am I judgemental when it comes to religious belief, so be open minded. I, and several other sources believe Barack Obama, the newly appointed president of the United States to be the anti-christ. He's not even Christian, which furthers my point.

Obama's tag line is, "Yes We Can." And it says in the bible something about the anti-christ stating the same thing, but in old english. So it would be, "Yes Thou Can."

There is also supposed to be a major improvement on technology and spread of nuclear weapons, as stated.

Two
The Red Horse of War.
As you all well know, I'm sure, the war has also been ragging for a good while now, to the point where I just stopped keeping up wth it. North Korea just pronounced that they have active, live nuclear weapons they are ready to launch at the US if they stop anymore of North Korea's ships.
The Red Horseman is said to take away peace from the earth and let humanity slaughter each other inhumanly.
I remember it also stating that there will be ones who will turn against their parents. Which ironcally, had actually happened in the US, in my town to be precise. That's a scary thought.

Three
The Black Horse of Famine.

Included in that, there will be earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, you name it. Illness and disease will spread like wild fire, simular to the Black Plague, which is ironic as well.

The Swine Flu has just swept over the US, as well as several other countires, but I don't think that will be the last of the prenowned virises.
I'm sure this also includes natural reasources, more specifically oil and gasoline. We can all tell by those ridiculous gas prices that that is obvious. I'm not sure of any other countries, but the US is in a recession, almost a depression. That is also included in the Black Horse's arising.

Four
The Pale Horse of Death.

Although it has also been translated as Green Horse of Death, the regard is the same. I haven't got much to say here, mostly because I don't think it's gotten to this point yet. YET.

There are also stories of how the horses symbolize nations, as their riders symbolize that nation's leader.

(As found on Wikipedia)
Listed by colour of horse, it's government, rider nation, atributes, and tasks/conditions.

White--Republic--United States--Leadership/Technology--Win World War II

Red--Autocracy/Oligarchy--USSR/Russia--World Wide Millitary Strength--

Wars of Liberation/World Wide Spread of Communism/Eugenic or Dysgenic War

Black--Monarchy--Saudi Arabia--World Trade in Oil--World Trade War/mega inflation, Religious Unrest/Wars
Pale--Oligarchy--China--(DEATH)--World War III

Another backing concept is the Mayan calander ends on December 21st, 2012 or 12/21/12.
as quoted by Lawrence Joseph, "Part of the 2012 mystique stems from the stars. On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that "whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time,""

So there you have it, my opinion. Feel free to fill in any holes I have left open, state your belief on the Apocalypse, and so forth.

I think "end of the world" is misleading. It won't be the end of the world; just the end of humanity. Or specifically, our civilization. It would take one hell of an event to wipe out all 6.5 billion of us but it would not take much to cause our civilization to crumble.

I personally feel this is the kind of thing you can't really prevent. You can only seek to survive it.

Mkay, let me reapply my Apocalypstick. I just finished reading Revelations (as an aside: Revelations + a nice dramatic soundtrack like Carmina Burana = Yes, yes please.)

First off, the four horsemen thing occurs right near the start of revelations - so, if we are indeed at Revelations-time, we're right at the start of it. As it so happens, the four horsemen aren't given as big a role as you may think - in fact, the "Sevenfold Spirit"/the Seven Angels seem to be more prominent.

The White Horse doesn't symbolise the Antichrist, I don't think - that role seems to be taken up by the Prophet of the Beast (who apparently /isn't/ Satan himself - that role is taken up by the Dragon, apparently). My mental image of the Antichrist is rather akin to Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings - appropriately, the Beast is Saruman, and Satan is Sauron. I didn't see a single reference to "Yes, Thou Can", so I'd like a chapter and verse for that one. As an aside: that should be "I am not racist", not "I am not racial".

Not trying to be a d**k or anything, but Death, War, Famine/Pestilence/Illness and...Conquest? (Not really sure what that horse was doing. o_o) are Big Bad Events That Happen All The Time, so. I'm a little confused about the actual correlation of HorseColour to Affliction, since in the Pale(Green?) horse's section, it stipulates they "kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth". Sword, I assume, stands in for the Red Horse, Famine for the Black... meaning the Pale Horse (usually equated with Death) kills with Plague (or Wild Animals :/) and the White Horse by Wild Animals (or plague). Little iffy there.

Regarding that quote about the Sun aligning with the centre of the Milky Way... In what way does he mean aligned? Any two points can be said to be "aligned" if taken from an arbitrary viewpoint. Does he mean that the Sun will be in between the centre of the Milky Way and the Earth?

As a final note, here is a list of failed religious prophecies.

EDIT: As a final final note, the angel told John that all of this would happen "Soon!" Either angels have a ******** up sense of time, ******** up sense of humour, were mistaken, or John just had a really crazy dream one night.

@mitsh-

Perhaps the angels were speaking in a metaphor? The beginning of the bible said that it took seven days to make everything in the beggining. I think that each "day" was a much longer time period then that, so by "soon," the angels could have meant "a thousand years or so." That's just my theory.