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in the last days perilous times shall
come. For men shall be lovers of
their own selves, covetous, boast–
ers, proud, blasphemers, disobedi–
ent to parents, unthankful , unholy,
without natural affection, truce–
breakers, false accusers, inconti–
nent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, traitors, heady, high–
minded, lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God; having a form
of godliness, but denying the power
thereof ... ever learning, and never
able to come to the knowledge of
the truth" (verses 1-5, 7).
This is a prophecy, as it plainly
states, for the last days. When 1
was a little boy, ninety years ago,
those conditions were not true or
escalating as they have been within
the last twenty or thirty years.
Now notice again, Jesus said in
Matthew 24:22, that except these
terrifying days should be cut short,
no nesh would be saved al ive. Not
a human being would survive.
A prophecy in Ezekiel 6:6 states,
" In all your dwellingplaces the cit–
ies shall be laid waste, and the high
places shall be desolate.... " That
prophecy is speaking of this same
time. The weapons have never ex–
isted in all history that could have
laid all cities waste until the hydro–
gen bomb of sorne thirty years ago.
How significant tbat this became
possible only during the time while
this gospel of the kingdom has
been going from nation to nation
into all the world for a witness to
all nations.
Great Trlbulation Cut Short
But, here comes the world's one and
only great and supreme hope. J esus
said in Matthew 24:22 that " ... for
the elect's sake [his one true church]
those days shall be shortened." In
other words, God will not move to
cut short the continuation of this
present civilization as we know it,
until humanity has cometo the very
brink of its last gasp. If God delayed
longer, human science, technology,
engineering and government would
be t he Frankenstein monster that
would blast every living person out
of existence.
God is not going to intervene or
send Jesus Christ to set up a better
civi lization and the wonderful,
happy, peace-loving world tomor–
row, until humanity and its Jeaders
March 1986
have had to admit their utter fail–
ure in providing peaceful , happy
and useful lives on this earth. Even
today, most people in the Western
world do not want to hear much
about God. They want God to
"keep himself out of their lives."
The very first man God created,
Adam, rejected the tree of life,
which meant reliance on God and
the gift of eterna! life from God.
lnstead he chose to rely on himself
and his own mind to guide his life
and salve all his problems. To this
very day, the nations and the lead–
ers of this world still try to rely on
themselves and human attempts at
solut ion of their escalating prob–
lems. The world st ill refuses to rely
on God.
lt
is only when the world and its
leaders have come to the place
This work is one
of the evidences that this
world and civilization
as we know it
is very near its end.
where they have to realize their
utter helplessness befare their own
problems and that their only hope
from there on is reliance on and
obedience to God, that God will
intervene and bring about the end
of this world by sendi ng Jesus
Christ.
When Jesus does come in all the
dazzling splendor and the power
and the glory of the great Creator
God, as the King of kings and the
Lord of lords, humanity is going to
be forced to realize that only re–
liance on God by an obedient few
saved humans alive and brought in
peace with happiness, joy, and in–
vigorating productivity.
Also Foretold by Daniel
Now once again back to the 12th
chapter of Daniel. Just after he
spoke of the time of the end
(Daniel 11 :40), Daniel spoke also
of the same great tribulation- a
t ime of trouble greater than ever
befare or ever to come. "And at
that time shall Michael [a great
archangel standing against Satan]
stand up, the great prince which
standeth for the children of thy
people: and there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since
there was a nation even to that
same time: and at that time thy
people shall be delivered, every one
that shall be found written in the
book. And many of them that sleep
in the dust of the earth shall
awake, sorne to everlasting life ..."
(Daniel 12:1-2).
This is speaking of the Ses;ond
Coming of Christ when the dead in
Chri;5t shall rise first. "For the
Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout , with the voice
of the archangel, and with the
trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise first: then we [the
saved of God's true church] which
are a live a nd remain shall be
caught up together with them in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord"
(J
Thess. 4:16-17).
Meeting Christ in the Air-
Where Then?
And where do we go from there?
In that same day Jesus' feet will
descend on the Mount of Olives
overlooking Jerusalem on the east
(Zech. 14:4). (Write for our free
book
The Wonderful World To–
morrow- What l t Wi/1 be Like,
which explains in detail the world
to come.)
We read in Revelation 20:1-2
that at the time of Christ's coming,
Satan shal l be removed from the
throne of world rulership. Jesus
Christ will then sit on that throne
over the whole earth. In Revelation
3:21, J esus said to those in his own
true church that if we overcome
Satan and the evils of this world,
he-Jesus- will grant that we will
sit with him on that throne.
Jesus also said in Revelation
2:26-27 that if we, his own people,
overcome, we will be given power
over the nations and we shall rule
them under Christ. In Revelation
5: 1O, he says that we who are true
believers in his own church shal l be
priests and kings, and we shall
reign on the earth.
o
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