And this evening we return to Revelation chapter 6. Before we look at the text, there's a handout going out, and I want to read from John Flavill's The Mystery of Providence, if, as we have seen, God performs all things for you. God is to be owned by you in all that befalls you in this world, whether it is in a way of success and comfort or of trouble and affliction. Oh, it is your duty to observe His hand and disposal. When God gives you comforts, it is your great evil not to observe His hand in them. Hence was the charge against Israel, for she did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold. That is, she did not actually, artificially consider my care over her and goodness to her in these mercies. And so for afflictions, it is a great wickedness when God's hand is lifted up not to see it.   Oh, look to the hand of God in all and know that neither your comforts nor afflictions do arise out of the dust or spring up out of the ground. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your mercy, the mercy that you've shown us in Christ Jesus. And we pray that this evening, as we look at Revelation chapter six, that you would give us a discerning eye, that you would help us to see, Lord, your goodness in times of blessing and in times of tribulation. In Christ's name I pray, amen. Revelation chapter six follows Revelation chapter five. And since that is the case, the events of Revelation chapter six begin to unfold after the Messiah is enthroned and the Messiah was enthroned at his ascension. It may seem like a very small thing to consider, but the events that begin to unfold from this point forward in the book of Revelation are governed by Jesus Christ. Look briefly at chapter six. Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a loud voice like thunder, come. And I looked and behold, the white horse and its rider had a bow and a crown was given to him and he came out conquering and to conquer. Verse three, and when he opened verse five and when he opened verse seven, when he opened verse nine, when he opened verse 12, when he opened, as the four horsemen and the martyrs and the cosmic events that occur in the book of Revelation, and then after what follows the seals, as all of these events unfold, providentially they are brought upon the earth as a means of blessing and as a means of judgment from the very hand of the risen Lord Jesus. What I wanted to do first is take a look at the Old Testament so that we can understand the imagery and the judgments in Revelation chapter six because the background for the imagery particularly of the horsemen and then the judgments that are coming have been coming upon the earth are being unfolded. We'll see that it's nothing new and then for the structure of Revelation chapter six, we'll take a look at the New Testament. So first let's begin by looking at the imagery and we'll begin with the book of Zechariah. Look at Zechariah and we're going to take a look at Zechariah chapter six. So Matthew, Malachi, Zechariah. First look at chapter one, Zechariah chapter one and beginning at verse seven. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat in the year, second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Barakaius, son of Edo saying, I saw in the night and behold the man riding a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen and behind him were red, sorrel and white horses. Then I said, what are these my Lord? The angel talked with me and said, I will show you what they are. So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, these are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, we have patrolled the earth and behold all the earth remains at rest. Now look at Zechariah chapter six and if we get anything from Zechariah chapter one is that these angelic beings that are revealed to Zechariah in the form of a rider and a horse, they patrol the earth for God. Zechariah chapter six beginning at verse one, again, I lifted my eyes and saw and behold four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses and the fourth chariot dabbled horses, all of them strong. In each instances there are these four sets of horses here there are chariots and multiple horses. In verse one, there are four horses here there are these four chariots but the number four, the first four seals that are broken unleash horsemen. Look at verse four, then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, what are these my Lord? And the angel answered and said to me, these are going out to the four winds of heaven after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. The chariot with the black horse goes toward the north country. The white one goes after them and the dabbled one goes toward the south country. When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go on and patrol the earth. And he said, go patrol the earth. So they patrol the earth. Then he cried to me, behold, those who go toward the north country have set my spirit at rest in the north country. So these here, the chariots, they go out doing the same thing that the horses were doing right in chapter one. They're going to patrol all the earth and in essence to do God's will. Here the passage says, cause my spirit to rest. Some versions say something to the effect that they have dissuaded the wrath of God by their going out. These horses are sent out into all the earth to do God's will. And here in particular, in verse eight, you see the statement, he cried out, behold, those who go toward the north country, the chariots have set my spirit at rest in the north. More than likely what this is, this is a reference to the Persian conquest of Babylon. And the people after that conquest are able to return to the land. The same way that the angels functioned in Daniel, remember Daniel's praying, angel comes to him. He said, sorry, I was delayed. I was doing battle with, he says, with the Prince of Persia. And then he says, after I leave, I'm going to do battle with the Prince of Greece. These angelic beings revealed to Zechariah as chariots with horses and horse and riders with horses are sent out throughout all the earth to bring about peace in such a way as to bring pleasure to God. So this is where the imagery of horsemen comes from. And this is going to come up in Revelation chapter six. Now the judgments themselves are taken from two places. Look at Ezekiel chapter 14. In Ezekiel chapter 14, Ezekiel is one of the major prophets. So right before Daniel, you have Ezekiel. If you find Lamentations or Jeremiah went too far, just go back. Daniel and then Ezekiel. And we're going to go to Ezekiel chapter 14. And in Ezekiel chapter 14, beginning at verse 12, listen to the judgments. And the word of the Lord came to me, son of man, when a land descends against me by acting faithlessly and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it and cut off from it man and beast. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness declares the Lord God. So when God is preparing to come in judgment, particularly with the kinds of offenses that Jerusalem has committed against God, the righteous person saves his own life. There's no need to get into a discussion here about where that righteousness comes from, right? When I'm talking about people who justify themselves by their good deeds before God. That's not at all in view here. So it's God who comes in judgment. Now, verses 15 and 16, then listen to the types of judgment that come. If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they ravage it. So one of the judgments that God will use is wild beasts. Okay, verses 15 and 16. Look at verse 17. Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, let a sword pass through the land. So wild beasts, swords. Look at verses verse 19 through 20 is plagues or pestilence.  So God uses wild beasts. He uses the sword. He uses plagues. Now look at verse 21. For thus says the Lord God, how much more when I send upon Jerusalem, my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beast, pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast. Now this is what God does. This is the way that God brings about judgment, sword, famine, wild beast, pestilence.  And the my four disasters literally is our my four evils verse 22. But behold, some survivors will be left in it. Sons and daughters will be brought out. Behold when they come out to you and you see their ways and their deeds. You will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem. For all that I have brought upon it. Think about that, right? So God will bring these four evils upon Jerusalem for judgment and he will slay men and animals. But there will be certain people who will come out of that judgment. And it will be a consolation for believers. Verse 23, they will console you when you see their ways and their deeds and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it declares the Lord God. God purges sin from the land by means of these four evils. But he also in the midst of bringing those judgments, he purifies the people for himself. Those that are righteous are purified by means of the judgment. God does not bring the judgments upon his people to punish them, but to purify them. And all of these judgments really, I find a background in Leviticus chapter 26 verses 18 through 28 where you have the covenant curses and we are not going to, for the sake of time, we are not going to read those verses, but let me just walk through the sections for you. In 19 through 20, you have crop failure and drought, in essence famine. There's famine because of covenant breaking. In verse 22, beasts of the field again. In verses 25 through 26, sword, death, famine. This is from Leviticus 26. Verse 29 through 33, the desolation and the sword. So God uses these judgments to accomplish his will. And if we take into account Zechariah and of course Daniel, some of this is done by means of angelic beings. However it is that works, however it is that that works, God doesn't tell us. He doesn't say that they're, you know, that they cause hurricanes by flapping their wings. We're not told, right? But we are told that they are, they are ministering spirits and yes, they minister to us, but first and foremost, they serve God and do his will. And part of accomplishing his will is bringing about these calamities. Now the, and this is something that we have to sort of wrap our brains around, right? God has always been in charge this way, right? He is the sovereign of all the universe and Father, Son and Spirit, right? We have a good, robust, Trinitarian theology and we understand that you can't separate the acts of the Father, Son and Spirit right now. Yet after the resurrection, the God-man ascended into heaven and the judgments that are coming upon the earth, as Paul says in Romans 1, the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In part, not in part, not in part. Those judgments now are being mediated through the sovereign will of the God-man. So there is a being, right, God himself, who is 100% God and 100% man, exalted as the Messiah in heaven and he is the one who is mediating judgment from heaven. Before the resurrection, God was doing that, right? And it's not that God is not doing it anymore. But what Revelation highlights specifically is that the God-man now does it. Before the incarnation, he was a spirit, he didn't have a body like man. After the incarnation, he forever has a body like man, now glorified. And consider this, that the one who is seated on the throne suffered at the hands of sinners. According to Psalm chapter 2, he heard them say, let us break the bonds that God has on us. Let's take advantage, the vineyard owner's son is here. Let's crucify him. Let's hang him on a cross. And it is that one who not only was handled in such an evil way by sinners, but who rose powerfully over sin and over the grave and lives now forever glorified. It is that one that now is mediating these judgments. James Corinthians chapter 15 highlights this point. Everything has been subjected to his authority until he exercises his will fully as Messiah, destroys all of his enemies and then hands over the kingdom to his father. So the imagery and the judgments, although consistent with imagery of judgment in the Old Testament, it is now exercised by the Messiah, the God, the God, man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we see in Revelation chapter 6. And that is a powerful, very powerful image and truth for God's people. Next, the structure. I just want to take a look at the structure quickly of the seals, because we've seen this structure before. And if you flip over your page, really the New Testament background, there are a lot of texts. So when Paul speaks in, for example, look at 1 Timothy. If you look at 1 Timothy chapter 3, for example, Paul makes these kinds of statements. Oh, excuse me, chapter 4, 1 Timothy 4, Paul makes these kind of statements. Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to the seatful spirits and the teachings of demons. And again, in 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter 3. Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. So there are a lot of texts in the New Testament that speak about the nature of the last days, the days that we now live in according to the author to the book of Hebrews. He says that in these last days, God has spoken to us through His Son. So those are the days that we live in. And the New Testament has a lot to say about those days. But particularly when we're talking about the structure of Revelation chapter 6, verses 12 through 17, the structure is primarily taken from the Olivet Discourse. So there you have Luke chapter 21 laid out in comparison with the seals. Now, granted, I think that there's more flexibility sort of than a chart can provide. And as we work through chapter 6, we'll see that. But I think it's a fair representation there of how the Olivet Discourse, in essence, lays out the structure for the judgments. So you have in Revelation chapter 6, verses 12 through 17, you have wars, famine, pestilence, persecution, wild beasts, and cosmic disturbances, or cosmic disturbance. And in Matthew, Mark, and Luke's description of the Olivet Discourse, they have all of these wild beasts is missing from the Olivet Discourse. Pestilence is missing from Matthew and Mark. But Luke has war, famine, pestilence, persecution, and cosmic disturbances. That's why I laid it out there for you in that particular way. And what you see is what Jesus promised was going to happen in the Olivet Discourse has begun to unfold. And it began to unfold if you think about some of the statements Jesus makes. For example, if we go down to, you know, believe it's verse 12 in Luke chapter 21.  It will lead you to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourself, for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. But look at what he says in verse 17, and you will be hated by all because of my name.  You ever thought about that?  You'll be fine, right?  They can't do that. But these events, if you just read the book of Acts, already began to occur after the resurrection, you see? So you see how one of the important things to remember is that the book of Revelation is not primarily written to Americans 2,000 years after the cross. But it's written to specific churches in Asia Minor. And historical events that preceded the writing and will come shortly after, or maybe that are occurring at that very point in history, John addresses them. Now what doesn't mean that those historical events that are passed to us lock in what the text means? No, because as the Olivet discourse speaks of historical events that occur during the life of the apostles up to the destruction of the temple, there's also pointers and references towards the future. And Revelation chapter 6 functions in the very same way. So the basic structure and outline, you have that on your handout, so I won't walk through that handout point by point. You have it there to look at. So here, as we go back to Revelation chapter 6, we've already been doing this for a half an hour. So I get to preach Revelation chapter 6 next week. But I think it's helpful to have that background. I'll finish with this quote that is helpful by Beal. And G.K. Beal writes in his commentary on the book of Revelation, believers need to understand the dual role of these calamities so that they can accept them in a positive manner as tools of sanctification, yet also realize that these same trials are punishment upon unbelievers. Take the time this week to read Revelation chapter 6. Meditate upon chapter 6 and consider those judgments because as those judgments have unfolded and continue to unfold in history till the coming of Christ, it is the God, man, the Lord Jesus who is, in essence, opening those seals and displaying his wrath from heaven. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this time in your word. I am grateful for this preliminary work as we begin to wrap our mind around the judgments that unfold as the seals are broken. I ask that you would prepare our hearts, Lord, to accept these things with a willing heart and with eager expectation of your coming. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.


Being in high school, I had a lot of fun. I would go to school with the intention, not of doing work, but okay, which one of my friends am I gonna talk to today? Who are we gonna try to make laugh? Who are we gonna engage in some crazy conversation with? Which class am I gonna skip so I can go to an extra PE? So many different things, but a lot of them just really didn't involve schoolwork. But, there are still some things that stuck with me. And one of those things that stuck with me is context clues. And context clues are reading the words around a word to give you the definition of that particular word. And it's the same way in journalism, it's the same way with different reporters. You can't just look at the headline, you gotta look at the context as well. So that's exactly what we're going to do today. Because there was a headline going around that Russell Wilson, he loves Antonio Brown and he was hoping that the Seahawks sign him. So I'm sure if Seahawks fans are anything like Ravens fans, then there was probably a lot of differing opinions on one Antonio Brown joining the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle Seahawks are a team, of course, Russell Wilson one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but that quarterback wants more weapons. He of course has Tyler Lockett, has DK Metcalf, had Josh Gordon for a little bit last year. And then Josh Gordon, he's trying to get reinstated so we'll see what happens with that. But Russell Wilson apparently wants more. Now the Seahawks were in talks with Devonte Freeman about offering him a one year, three million dollar deal I believe with the chance for it to be four million dollars. But he declined, he declined. And then I read a report that said he would be willing to sit out this season if he doesn't get a better deal. And for that, okay, if you feel like you're worth more than that, okay, cool.  Now I do believe in humility and being humble. I'm not saying that, but I just, I am saying that maybe he just feels like there's something better. Maybe he just didn't wanna play for Seattle. I don't know. Maybe he's just trying to drive his price up to another team that could potentially be interested. We'll see what happens with that. But the Seahawks said, you know what? You're not interested. We've been talking to Carlos Hyde on the side so you're not even our only option. We got options. So Seahawks ended up signing Carlos Hyde to a one year deal. And Carlos Hyde, he's been around for a while now, man. He's had like a sneaky long career. He played obviously for the 49ers. I believe he was the first round pick for them or wasn't the second round. I forget. But he played for the 49ers, had some success there, was on the Jaguars briefly, was on the Browns briefly, was on the Texans. And now he goes to the Seattle Seahawks. Very successful organization, a very well run organization. And he gets to step in for the, I believe it was Rashad Penny who was coming back from a torn ACL, I wanna say, but don't quote me on that because I'm not 100% sure. So my apologies if I did get that wrong. But the Seahawks did sign one of Carlos Hyde. So they also brought in Greg Olson. And Greg Olson is a tight end. He's been a tight end with the Bears. He's been a tight end with the Panthers. And he's had a pretty decent career. He came from the U. So he's down here from Miami, at least college wise. But they did ask, so they added that tight end for Russell Wilson. But still as a quarterback, especially as a successful quarterback, you want more. As many options as possible. Of course, DK Metcalf, man, he had a good season last year and he shut a lot of people up. So many people were down on DK Metcalf saying, oh, he can only run one route. He's not agile, he can't do anything. He can't go through a route tree. He's too raw, he's too this, he's too that. He's gonna break. Oh, he's got 1% body fat.  They were saying all type of stuff about one DK Metcalf.   He came out, had a decent rookie season, now he has something good to build off of going into the future. And he came a reliable target for one Russell Wilson. But still, so why would Russell Wilson really want the Seahawks to sign one Antonio Brown? This came from John Clayton. John Clayton, a well-respected reporter for the NFL. He's been doing his thing for a long time now. Long time now. I remember even, I remember seeing John Clayton like on ESPN and stuff way before I got into all this YouTube stuff when I would watch a lot more ESPN back in the day and NFL Network and stuff. I remember seeing John Clayton's face on there a lot. This old gentleman with the glasses and the little BDIs and he would come on there and he was well-respected around the league. And he still is well-respected around the league. But let's see how this headline came to be about Russell Wilson loving Antonio Brown and hoping that the Seahawks sign him. So this was an article that John Clayton put out on, looks like it's ESPN, Seattle. And let's just read a bit of it. He said, early in the off-season, Russell Wilson was encouraging the Seahawks to bring in a little star power. The front office responded early by signing Titan Greg Olson. They gave him a deep threat with great speed when they signed receiver Philip Dorsett. I forgot about that one. So that's a nice little, that's a nice little, is Philip Dorsett all that? He obviously never lived up to being that first round pick from the Colts back in the Havillong that was ago. Then he came in for the, he went to the Patriots, played with them for a little bit. Things obviously never really panned out there. He would make an occasional play once in a while. But now he's with the Seahawks. There's a little less pressure on him. And I think there was less pressure on him with the Patriots as well. But with the Seahawks, he's not the number one guy, not the number two guy. He's like a third, fourth option. But anyway, let's continue. So, and based on what we are starting to hear, more star power might be on the way. Mike Silver of NFL Network reported Wednesday that Seahawks off foot former Atlanta Falcons running back to Vante Freeman one year, $3 million contract that could be worth up to four mil. And it's already been known that the Seahawks have been talking to running backs, Carlos Hayden-Malshaun, we don't need to get into that part cause that's the running back stuff. Okay, so anyway, here we go. This is what we talking about Antonio Brown. We already talked about the running back situation. So it's pretty clear the Seahawks want to run the ball even more this year. They have loaded up at tight end and tried to stay big along the offensive line, but it's not out of the question for the Seahawks to add another wide receiver. According to sources, Russell Wilson would love to add Antonio Brown. Brown is also close with backup QB, Geno Smith, whose one year contract with the Seahawks was finalized on Wednesday. I didn't know he was close with Geno Smith, but I think Geno Smith is from down here too. I think he is. So that would make sense if they are close. But anyway, continuing. So John Clay, and this is where John Clay starts to, he said, hey, don't just go for the headline. So he cleared all this stuff up right away.  So he knew that people were gonna take that headline and run with it, run with it. And not that there's anything wrong with what he said, cause he obviously said what he said and he put it in his article, but then the following paragraph, he said, don't expect anything soon in regards to Brown. Boom.  I'm not putting it out there that they are in talks with Antonio Brown. He put it right there. Don't expect anything soon in regards to Brown. Then he said, while it is an option down the road, deals like that are something that John Snyder, the Seahawks GM, waits on as he likes to leave extra cap room for moves in the summer and during the season. And let's not go overboard on the Antonio Brown option. He won't be signed this month. And the Seahawks wouldn't sign him next month. Don't let it be, and this is where he got a little petty. This is where he got a little petty. But before we get into his pettiness, he said, let's not go overboard on the Antonio Brown option. So he's already trying to calm people down like, hey, relax, chill out. But, and he said he won't be signed this month and the Seahawks wouldn't sign him next month. So he's saying that the Seahawks would be in no rush to sign Antonio Brown. This is just one of Russell Wilson's wants. I'm sure Russell wasn't voice it enough. I'm sure he can get some stuff moving, but John Clayton said, don't expect anything right now. So just hold your horses on that. Be patient. But anyway, with the pettiness, here we go. He said, don't let it be a topic like trade talk years ago with the Cleveland Browns or Seahawks drafting Josh Allen. Because we know that Kristen, we did the videos on this channel about those stories, about the, because Chris Sims, Chris Sims, he works with Mike Florio. They do the podcast together and stuff. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, but Chris Sims reported that the Seahawks were thinking about trading one Russell Wilson to the Browns to get their number one overall pick. And if they would have, and Chris Sims also reported like a week later after he reported that, he said that if they would have traded that number one overall pick, then it's likely that they would have drafted Josh Allen. So that's what John Clayton is referring to, but he's also shutting that down. But anyway, he said, don't let it be a topic like trade talks years ago with the Cleveland Browns or the Seahawks drafting Josh Allen. Those things weren't happening.  I love John Clayton. I gotta follow him on Twitter because this was straight up. It's a little petty too now. But this is John Clayton saying, stop it, stop it. And even, this is him even saying, stop it before things get started about Antonio Brown. He said, stop it. Don't do it. Don't start. And then he said, those things weren't happening. If the Seahawks would do something with Antonio Brown, it would be in late July or August. And then he made another good point. He brought up Alden Smith, who just got reinstated. But let's just read. He said, another option might be brewing out of the blue on Wednesday, the NFL reinstated lying back at Alden Smith, who had been on an indefinite suspension. I don't really think that was out of the blue because I mean, Dallas signed him like a year ago. I mean, a month ago, not a year ago. They signed him like a month ago. So he's been on the contract with them. So you would expect him to get reinstated. I already thought he was reinstated when the cowboy signed him. But anyway, he says Smith, Alden Smith hasn't played since 2015, but he signed a one year, $2 million deal with the Dallas Cowboys. Smith and his representatives had been frustrated by the slow movement to resolve his status. But now he's on the roster as an active player. His return could open the door on at least two more suspensions being resolved. One being Cowboys defensive end, Randy get Gregory. And two, wide receiver, Josh Gordon, who spent most of 2019 with the Seahawks. Gregory and Gordon could be reinstated at any point. If Gordon comes off suspension, the Seahawks would be interested. He liked it in Seattle and the Seahawks liked him. So there you go. So he said, the Seahawks liked Josh Gordon too. So those would be two pretty good options. And you know, Seahawks could afford both of them. Neither one of the two was gonna command any crazy money. Josh Gordon, they already got him. I think, I believe they would have his rights. Or did they cut him? I gotta look into that because I don't remember for sure. I don't remember for sure. But they both would be low risk, high potential guys. Low risk, high reward. If they were to go to Seattle and they would give Russell Wilson like, ooh, yikes. Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Philip Dorsett, Tony O'Brown, Josh Gordon. Russell Wilson wouldn't know what to do with himself. He wouldn't know what to do with himself. He would be so happy. He would, if Russell Wilson got all of those guys, and it's possible. But if Russell Wilson got all of those guys, this dude, he would probably get on IG Live and start Blast In Future. Cause he would just be so happy. He wouldn't care about, nothing would be able to phase him. Nothing. But we'll see what happens. But anyway, shout out to John Clayton. Cause he became the king of the shutdown, man. I absolutely love how he wrote that article. And I love how he covered himself. He was like, hey, if anybody takes this and runs with it, they need to read the whole thing because he shut it all down. Team Keep It Clean, I love y'all. I appreciate y'all. Thank you for listening and I'm out.


The Chairman of the Independent National Electric Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmoud Yacoubou today, December 12, 2023, swung in nine resident electric commissioners to fuel vacancies in nine states of the Federation. Four out of the nine swung in at career offices of the commission, and nine out of the ten regs screened and confirmed by the National Assembly, were all swung in at a ceremony while the 10th reg designates will be swung in next month on exploration of the 10th of the reg representing Acquirebom State, who is currently deployed to Delta State. The Chairman of the Independent National Electric Commission, Professor Mahmoud Yacoubou cautioned with the newly swung in regs on the difficult task ahead as involved so much emotions with desperate politicians and supporters prepared to win at all costs. Professor Mahmoud warned them to understand and operate within the limits of their delegated powers and responsibilities. Among the nine resident electrical commissioners swung in today, four have been career officers of the commission, rising to the rank of director. They have been involved in elections and electoral activities, both in the field and at the headquarters. Their experience is traversed electoral operations, election and party monitoring, and electoral litigation. This is the first time that several INE career officers are appointed as resident electoral commissioners. You are not new to the conduct of elections, there is no learning curve for you. Consequently, there can be no excuses for failing to hit the ground running and for making a huge difference to the quality and transparency of elections. Speaking on behalf of the newly swung in regs, Oluwatoyi Babalola, the understate reg, thanked the commission for giving them the privilege to serve in a capacity that worked directly with critical stakeholders from each state. We have just subscribed to the oath of allegiance and oath of office. Sir, we pledge to be loyal to this oath and commit ourselves to high ethical and professional standards, discipline and hard work for the achievement of the vision and mission of the commission. We will be fair, fair, impartial and non-partisan to all political parties, all political actors and acts respectfully and decorously towards all electoral stakeholders.