Bro Dale is presently preparing a book that takes a closer look at the teaching regarding the seventh seal found in the Book of Revelation. Particularly, he is reexamining the time-frame and chart dates that have often been associated with it. For our many website visitors who do not have a Church of God background, you may find this booklet of little interest at all.

For those with such a background, you might find this book at least interesting, and hopefully it will be a challenge to you in your thinking.

The bottom line of the book addresses the following questions: 

1. Did the seventh seal really open up in 1930 and where are we at today with regard to the Revelation message? Where did this date originate? What happened in 1980 to merit including it on the Revelation Charts??

2. Do the seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor represent seven sequential church ages? Are we living in the Laiodician church age?

3. Is the church today lukewarm because it is according to prophesy and therefore we cannot help but be lukewarm? How has this message affected the church and our outreach?

Answers to these questions and many more are presented in this book. Below is a real discussion that took place a few years ago. It will most likely be used as the introduction to the book. Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

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Introduction:

A few years ago, I invited some friends from Michigan to our house for a visit. Ron was from a small conservative holiness denomination. As is the teaching of most holiness denominations, he had been taught “end-time” doctrines such as the secret rapture of the church, the 1000 year reign where the lion would lay with the lamb, and other associated millennial teachings. Over the course of our friendship, which was primarily through the Internet, we had discussed these teachings and realized that we had differing viewpoints along these lines. However, our differences did not negatively impact our friendship or our fellowship as brothers in the Lord.  

Ron had come to be with us in our campmeeting. During one of the breaks in the busy schedule, we were at the house and I had inadvertently left a color copy of a Revelation Chart laying out on the table. As it was eye-catching, Ron noticed it and began to ask me questions about it. I explained to him that this was a pictorial view of the entire book of Revelation, which outlined events surrounding the church from her birth until the end of time. I reminded him that we differed in our understanding along this line, but that if he was really interested, I would give him a brief overview. He wanted an explanation, so I started at the left side of the chart and moved to the right side of the chart, which outlined a progression in time. 

I briefly explained that the book of Revelation is divided up in seven series of symbols. Each series represents different aspects of the church, whether they be the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia, the beast series, the pouring out of the seven vials, the sounding of the seven trumpets, the opening of the seven seals, the two witness series, or the seven plagues. I told him that each of the seven letters and seven seals represented a sequential segment of time, beginning with the day of Pentecost and ending at the second coming of Christ. 

The discussion went something like this: 

The first seal, the time period described by the letter written to the angel in Ephesus, represented the “morning time church” (33 – 270 AD). This is the church we read about in the book of Acts, which was “going forth conquering, and to conquer”, turning the world upside down and spreading the gospel to “every creature”! This church age was the standard by which all other church ages were to be measured. 

Ron seemed to be impressed. 

The second seal, the time period described by the letter written to the angel in Smyrna, represented a time of apostasy within the church. While I didn’t quite know what apostasy had actually taken place in the church during this time period of 270 – 530 AD, and assumed it to be related to the way that the saints dressed and adorned themselves, seemingly I was able to convince Ron that indeed an apostasy had taken place. This was especially apparent in light of developments in the next seal, the third seal. (I have since learned that the apostasy of this time involved the creation of a church hierarchical structure, where a man was elevated above his fellow brethren. Visit www.BiblicalElders.com for more info). 

The third seal, the time period described by the letter written to the angel in Pergamos, represented a time of great darkness. This is what secular historians refer to as The Dark Ages (530 -1530 AD), when Roman Catholicism reigned supreme. It was a time of great persecution for the true saints of God. It was “Be a Catholic, or Die”. As a result, the saints had to meet in caves and catacombs and much truth was lost, being replaced by false teachings.  

Ron definitely could relate to this time in church history as it was a wide-spread event. So far, so good. We seemed to be making good progress. 

The fourth seal, the time period described by the letter written to the angel in Thyatira, represented the time that historians refer to as The Great Reformation (1530 – 1730 AD). Men like Martin Luther took a stand against Roman Catholicism and began to expose the wickedness of that great religious system. It was during this time that the simple teaching that “The Just Shall Live By Faith” spawned a Reformation whose results have lasted until this day. This was the birth of Protestantism! 

Being a Protestant Christian, Ron was right with me up until this point! Only 3 more seals to go….whew! 

The fifth seal, the time period described by the letter written to the angel in Sardis, represented the time that modern historians refer to as The Great Awakening, when holy men like the Wesley brothers brought forth powerful preaching that aimed to convince sinners of their personal guilt and of their need of salvation and sanctification. The teaching of holiness was revived and spread across the entire world.  

Being a conservative holiness person, Ron was particularly impressed to learn that this era of time was actually prophesied when John recorded it clear back in 96 AD! We were really making progress in our overview of this most misunderstood book of Revelation! 

Explaining the next seal, the sixth seal (1880 – 1930) as described in the letter written to the angel in Philadelphia, might be problematic. I explained to Ron before I jumped in that this was where the Church of God Reformation Movement entered the picture. God not only wanted a justified and sanctified people, He also desired a united people. An “evening time church”. Therefore, He used men like D S Warner to herald forth the message of “Come Out Of Her My People”. As the new birth makes you a member of God’s Church, it is not necessary to attach yourself to any man-made organization, denomination, church group or sect, all of which were “Babylon”. God was making a universal call for all Christians to unite together into one body, The Church of God. 

Being that Ron and I had conversed many times about the Church of God, he understood where I was coming from regarding this teaching of unity. He was also aware of D S Warner as his name sometimes comes up among holiness people. While Ron didn’t agree or disagree with what I was saying regarding this sixth seal, I could tell that he was struggling with this particular time period. He was also personally aware of the many present Church of God schisms and splits and wondered how they might all play into this teaching of “unity”. If unity was a foundational message of the Church of God, why was there so much division? I had no real answer for him. 

Finally, we moved to the next seal, the seventh and last seal, as described in the letter written to the angel of the church in Laodicea. 

It was here that a bomb was dropped on me like never before. Ron looked down at the Revelation Chart and saw where the seventh seal was opened in 1930 AD. He asked me what had happened in this particular year. I had never been asked that question before. 

I began to explain... By 1930, Church of God Reformation Movement had organized and was now headquartered in the small Midwestern town of Anderson, Indiana. Many changes had taken place since 1880. The younger men began wearing neckties, which offended many of the older brethren. The younger women were wearing stylish hats with feathers in them. There was a new focus on education within the movement and the church leaders organized a training center in Anderson, Indiana for ministers. After a tumultuous debate over education among the leadership of the church, this training center was eventually transformed into to a Church of God college, known today as Anderson University. But more specifically, in 1930, the General Assembly of church leaders voted in a man named C E Brown as editor of the church’s magazine. By comparison to F G Smith, the former editor of that same paper, C E Brown was more moderate in his views and began talking about “organizing the work of the church”. That same year, they changed the name of the Church of God publishing company from “The Gospel Trumpet Publishing Company” (which it has been since its birth in the late 1800s) to “Warner Press”, named after D S Warner. All of these were clear signs that the Church of God Reformation Movement had compromised and that God was now setting forth His hand one last time by opening a new seal and ushering in a new spiritual “earthquake”. 

When I finished with my explanation of the seventh seal, Ron looked at me with a blank stare! Does Dale really believe these events he described in 1930 are of such significance to merit the opening of a new church age???? 

No words can describe what happened to me during my “seventh seal speech”. As I was explaining to Ron what had happened in this “significant year” of 1930, I realized for the first time in my life that something was not right with this picture, literally. It is one thing to have been taught and therefore believe something, it is quite another to have to explain it to someone else, especially an “outsider”. All of the other seals, with possibly the exception of the sixth seal, involved world-wide events which any average person can sit down and read about, even in secular historical books. By the time we reach the sixth seal, things start to get a little fuzzy in terms of world-wide impact, and certainly it is a significant stretch to equate the events I described that happened around 1930 within the Church of God Reformation Movement, as having any impact whatsoever on a world-wide scale. It is very doubtful that 99.9999999% of the world population is even aware that there is a city called Anderson, Indiana and just slightly less are aware of the Church of God Reformation Movement with headquarters there! When one begins discussing things like education, a new editor, neckties and feathered hats as cause for the opening of a new seal worldwide, in light of the other world-wide events, it is a lost cause!!! Furthermore, when one begins to consider the seventh seal Church of God movement, i.e., those who have embraced the teaching as I have described, one can only point to a very fractionated body of less than a few thousand individuals world-wide. Even at its height of glory in the 1950 – 1980s, assuming those were the “glory days”, the entire seventh seal movement was not noticeable in a world-wide setting! A drop of water in an ocean. 

What I didn’t tell Ron was that our Revelation Charts used to have an “end time” date of 1980 on them, by which time Communism would have taken over the entire world. That would be another story for another day. Especially since 1980 had come and gone with no prophetic observation or significance whatsoever.  

Thankfully, we removed that date off the old Revelation charts and conveniently left it off of the new ones! Try to explain that one to an outsider!!!!