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HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG
P.O. BOX 431, TUCSON, ARIZONA 85702
Pasadena
January 22, 1982
Dear Brethren and Co-Workers with Christ:
I have exceedingly good news for you--but right now the newspapers and
newscasts are filled with bad news. What's going to shock and stun the whole
world, next, in world news? I can tell you--but only as foretold in Bible
prophecy.
But where are we, now, in the panorama of prophesied world events? As
former Prime Minister Winston Churchill said before the U.S. Congress during
World War II, a PURPOSE is being worked out here below. Bible prophecy
reveals in advance the various world events working out that PURPOSE.
It's very important that we pinpoint where we are at the present moment
in
that chain of world happenings. And it's revealed in the principal prophecy of
Jesus in Matthew 24. Nothing is more important for us to UNDERSTAND!
Follow this with me in your own Bible. Jesus and His disciples had just
left
the temple in Jerusalem. Referring to the buildings of the temple, He said, "See
ye
not all these things?" Then He told them the temple was going to be
destroyed--not one stone left on another. A little later, on the Mount of
Olives,
some of the disciples asked, "When shall these things be?" referring to the
coming destruction of the temple, "and"--they also asked Him about another
event that they supposed would occur at the same time, very soon in their own
lifetime--"what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
Jesus had told them He was going to ascend into heaven, and then return
to
earth. "If I go," He had said (John 14:3), "...I will come again." They knew His
return as King of kings to rule all nations meant the end of this present world
swayed by Satan, and the beginning of a new world of peace, happiness and
salvation for all. Actually His Second Coming as world Ruler was not to happen
for more than 1,950 years, but they supposed it would occur in their lifetime.
The
destruction of the temple did occur in their time, in A.D. 70.
So Jesus answered their first question first--events to happen in their
time
leading to the destruction of the temple.
"Take heed that no man deceive you," He answered, speaking of false
prophets deceiving people in their time, "For many shall come in my name,
saying [thatl, I am Christ; and shall deceive many" (Matt. 24:4-5). This did
happen
in their lifetime, and has continued to this day.
Jesus spoke these words, in A.D. 31. Approximately two decades later the
apostle Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia, that false preachers were already