There are "things which you have seen", "things which are", and "things which will take place".

The seven churches of the book of Revelation, which actually existed in the 1st Century ("things which you have seen"), also represent seven broad types of churches that can exist at any time in history ("things which are"), and seven generally overlapping periods of church history ("things which will take place"). These letters to the seven churches of Asia can be applied in four main ways:

1. They existed literally and historically at the end of the 1st Century A.D.

2. They are seven types of churches which exist at any time throughout history.

3. They represent seven types of churches that will exist at the end of the age.

4. They correspond quite well to seven periods of church history.

This book examines the history of the church in light of the letters of Jesus Christ to the seven churches in Asia, as recorded by John in his Revelations. Unless learning can be achieved from the errors of the past it is a sure thing that those errors will be repeated.

Ephesus: The Apostolic Age (1st Century)

Smyrna: The Pre-Nicean Church (2nd & 3rd Centuries)

Pergamum: The Rise of the Institutional Church (4th Century to Early Middle Ages)

Thyatira: The Dark Ages (11th Century Onward)

Sardis: The Reformation (16th Century Onward)

Philadelphia: The Great Awakening (18th Century Onward)

Laodicea: The Apostate Church (1950 Onward?)