This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.  For of this sort are they that creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth.

Jesus Christ did not come to establish a religion called Christianity but to make it possible for man to have a Father/son relationship between God and man through the atonement of our sins by Jesus Christ.

After nearly 6000 years of comparative quiet, the world has erupted in chaos and strife, most notably with WWI, near the beginning of this century.  Knowledge has increased exponentially resulting in technological developments that have made possible world-wide rapid transportation and instant communication.  Also, power, forces and energies have been unleashed that have made possible the annihilation of mankind.

Seals 1 through 5 of the book of Revelation are a description of conditions brought about or caused by Satan because he knows that he only has a short time left.

At the same time God is revealing to his true servants the mysteries of God that have never before been known or understood.

The apostle Peter readily admitted that there were many mysteries of the Bible that were hard to understand.  As he stated "Even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you; as also in his epistles, speaking in them of those things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [distort], as they do the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction."

It is written:  As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.  O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to error, and destroy the way of thy paths.  Now go, and write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: that this is a rebellious people, Lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: which say to the seers [visionary], see not and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.

Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the North even to the East, they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord , and shall not find it.  In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst.

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick [living] and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the Truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

There is only one way to learn the Truth. That is to study all of the testimony of all Scriptures that bear on the question carefully, cautiously, prayerfully, with an open mind yielded to and guided by the Holy Spirit.

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His Covenant. Jesus said "Unto you is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.  "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell!

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His Commandments: His praise endures forever.  The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate.

Approximately one third of the Bible is prophecy:  Scripture relating to future events.  Whole books of the Bible such as Ezekial, Jeremiah, and Isaiah are devoted primarily to prophecy.  In Ephesians 2:20 we find that the Church of Jesus Christ is built upon the foundation of these prophets.

Man has continually attempted to unravel the mysteries set forth in the book of Revelation, many without much success, even though we are clearly told that Jesus Christ is the only One worthy to loose the seals thereby revealing the contents of the book.  In the book of John we are told that Jesus Christ is the WORD of GOD.  Therefore to understand the symbolic prophecies of the Bible we must study the WORD of GOD diligently: precept upon precept, line upon line, etc.

The book of Revelation is a narration of future events laid out in chronological order with subsets which cover past, present and future events. John recorded three things revealed to him by Jesus Christ: The Word of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ and things which John saw.

Although John saw the events which he recorded, he did not understand them because they were sealed until "the time of the end."

The theme of the book of Revelation is "the Day of the Lord." This does not refer to a day of the week but rather to a period of time just prior to the return of Jesus Christ during which God's wrath is vented upon the unrighteous and sinning nations of the world.  There are more than thirty prophecies which refer to the "great and terrible Day of the Lord."

Revelation 1:10 tells us that John was in the spirit on "the Lord's Day" giving us the key to his vision in that what he saw occurs in a period of time known as "the Day of the Lord."

Lyle C. Hildebrand