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final
purpose
for which Christ carne
into the world.
You will notice that God and
Christ do not have a condemnatory
attitude toward human society! God
is "not willing that
any
should perish,
but that all should come to repen–
tance" (2 Peter 3:9). Jonah was will–
ing that the whole city of Nineveh
should perish. And sorne modero
Christians would like nothing better
than to see the fulfillment of sorne of
the most dire of biblical prophecies.
lf such prophecies carne to pass, this
would place these people, like the an–
cient prophet, in the position of being
one up on those about to perish.
Longtime readers of
The Plain
Truth
magazine, and especially those
who have read Mr. Herbert Arm–
strong's material on
The Vnited
States and Britain in Prophecy,
are
aware, for instance, that the Churcli
of God has always taught the follow–
ing: There are certain prophecies
found in Leviticus 26 and Deuterono–
my 28 which apply to the peoples of
modero Britain and the United
States, and these prophecies have a
"dual" application-that is, an origi–
nal fulfillment fn historical times,
and a modero fulfillment in contem–
porary times. The peoples of modero
America and Britain are the descen–
dants of ancient. Israel's northero
house which went captive to the
Assyrians in 721 -718 B.C.
lt has long been central to the mes–
sage of this Church that God will
soon step in to punish the peoples of
modero Britain and America
unless
they repent and turn to God.
Unfortunately, many have ruled
out any possibility of these nations
repenting. Like Jonah, they are anx–
iously awaiting the fulfillment of
these prophecies. They
want
lo see
literally millions of people "get their
just deserts"!
But what if these nations "pulled a
Nineveh" on us? What if the next
few years saw a
massive
return to
God and to biblical values? What if
God
averted
the punishment of our
peoples?
The " lf" Factor
lf you look closely at the prophecies
under discussion you will note that
there are qualifying words in them.
January
1980
Like so much of Bible prophecy,
these predictions are
conditional.
The key to this understanding is the
biggest little word in the English lan–
guage-':ir' (Hebrew
'!m).
Notice
Leviticus 26:3, for example:
"Jf
you
walk in my statutes and observe my
commandments and do them, then
1
will give you your rains in their sea–
son, and the land shall yield its in–
crease, and the trees of the field shall
yield their fruit."
Now notice a converse prophecy:
"But
if
you will
not
hearken to me,
and will not do all these command–
ments, 1jyou spurn my statutes, and
ifyour soul abhors my ordinances, so
that you will not do all my command–
ments, but break my covenant, I will
do this to you:
1
will appoint over you
sudden terror, consumption, and fe–
ver that waste the eyes and cause life
to pine away. And you shall sow your
seed in vain, for your enemies shall
eat it" (verses
14-16).
Read the entire prophecy and no–
tice how often the word "if" appears.
This shows clearly that the whole
prophecy is conditional.
If
the people
turo to God in worshipful obedience,
God will bless them in every aspect of
life. Conversely, if the people insist
on turning away from God, ignoring
His standards, trampling over His
laws, He will punish them.
The prophetic message of the
Church must include
hope.
lt must
be presented in the spirit of optimism
and faith that God's words wi ll not
"returo unto [him] void" (l saiah
55:1 1). True Christians should sin–
cerely hope and pray for the repen–
tance of all peoples. God has made us
free moral agents. He has given us
the opportunity to help make these
dire propheciesfai/ as did the proph–
ecy on Nineveh.
Can any truly converted person
wish illness, plagues, crop diseases,
hordes of insects, droughts, floods,
ear thquakes, famines, pestilences
and hideous destructive wars on
any–
one?
ls it Christian to wallow in the
potential misery and death of mil–
lions? Surely not. The spirit of Jonah
has no place in modero prophetic
Christianity. It has no place in the
Church of God.
Even the prophetic book of Amos
waros us:
"Woe to you
who desire the
day of the Lord! Why would you
have the day of the Lord? It is dark–
ness, and not light; as if a man fled
from a líon, and a bear met him; or
went into the house and leaned with
his hand ágainst the wall, and a ser–
pent bi t him. Is not the day of the
Lord darkness, and not light, and
gloom with no brightness in it ?"
(Amos 5:18-20.)
Many who desire the destruction
of our modern Westero civilization
don't, in fact, realize what they are
asking. Can any of us really conceive
of how catastrophic it would be if all
of these prophecies were literally ful –
filled?
Let us instead wish and pray for
the national, and international, re–
pentance of all peoples everywhere.
Let us desire a massive, global turn–
ing to the living Creator God in deep
and sincere worship. Let us rejoice in
the possibility that man
can
repent
and that a new era of peace and plen–
ty could burst upon the' world if only
men will adopt the spirit of Nine–
veh.
o
CONVERSION
Sudden experience...
or lifelong process?
How do you define the word
conversion?
An adoption of
religious belief? A "born–
again" experience? Contrary
to popular belief, the Bible
teaches that there is more to
conversion than a singular
event , a one-time change. In
the booklet
Just What Do You
Mean-Conversion?
Herbert
Armstrong supplies va luable
insights on the subject. Re–
quest your
free copy by
returning the
Literature
Request card
in this issue,
or write to
the editor at
the address
nearest you.
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