As this age approaches its end it is obvious that every area of man’s existence is changing exponentially in size, scope and personal impact. So much so that it is impossible to accurately predict what the world will be like ten years from now in terms of information availability, social change, political movements, travel, military actions, production of goods and services, etc. The past several decades have brought about tremendous changes in the above-mentioned aspects of human life. Anyone paying attention has noticed that the changes have been taking place ever faster with the passage of time.

Though rapid and life-altering change has been taking place in the physical and social realm, by far the most profound and important changes have come in the spiritual arena where man determines his relationship with his Maker. During this time mankind has been offered a glimpse into the future by those whom God has chosen to reveal it. Beginning in the 1930’s God began removing the seals of Revelation and allowing Daniel’s end-time visions and prophecies to be understood by a man named Herbert Armstrong. Since then his spiritual descendants have been warning the world, specifically the church world, of the coming Great Tribulation and the terror it will bring on mankind. For the first time in some 1900 years the Book of Revelation is being understood by those with eyes to see and ears to hear as the world enters the end of the end times.

In Revelation 1:10 we are introduced to one of the most misunderstood aspects of the Apocalypse–when the vision took place. John said: “I was in the Spirit in the Lord’s Day.” Satan having deceived the church world into believing that God had changed His Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, religious man has been taught that Sunday was the Lord’s Day, and that John’s vision took place on that day. Diligent Bible study by myself and my spiritual superiors reveals that both beliefs are wrong. By using the study method commanded in Isaiah 28:10-13 one finds that we are told that the “Lord’s Day” referred not to a day of the week, but to a prophetic time period referred to in more than 30 prophecies as “the Day of the Lord” and “the great and terrible Day of the Lord.” John was carried forward in spirit more than 2000 years into a year-long time span lying just ahead of us which I believe many people currently alive will live to experience.

The Day of the Lord is described by the Prophet Joel as a time when God will send destruction upon the world’s sinning masses, both churched and unchurched. It is described by Zephaniah as the “day of God’s wrath.” Revelation describes it as a time when God will send a heretofore unheard-of level of natural chaos, famines, plagues and military destruction upon all but a minutely few who will make up His “firstfruits”–His true church whom He will protect as the world around her explodes in never before experienced death and destruction. God’s year-long wrath deluge will take place following 2 1/2 years of horror in which Satan will be allowed to reveal his hatred of mankind through a global outpouring of rage. The Day of the Lord will begin at the end of Satan’s 2 1/2 year reign of terror and  end with the return of the Lord to establish the Kingdom of God on earth where He and His saints will rule from universe headquarters in Jerusalem. See The Kingdom of God. To be continued. L.J.