Basic HTML Version
shows this to be the t ime JUST
BEFORE Christ returns bringing
SALVATJON to His saints, and set–
ting up the KtNGDOM OF Goo.
Satan is here the
accuser
of God's
people.
Verse 12 warns the world of
the
woes
to come on the world as
a result of Satan's WRATH. He
now knows that he has but a short
time- because when Christ
comes in supreme POWER to
RULE the earth, Satan shall be
removed and imprisoned.
Verse 13 shows Satan angrily
startíng a new PERSECUTION against
the true Chu rch of God. The Cali–
fornia government's massive armed
assau lt agains t the Worldwide
Church of God January 3, last year,
1979, may well be that real Church–
wide persecution!
THEN WHAT? Verse 14. To the
true original Church of God of
this gcneration are GtVEN, in
symbolic language, "two wings of
a great cagle" that she might FLY
to a place in the wilderness- a
place of PROTECTIO and SAFETY
from the " GREAT TRIBULATION"
that Satan is now about to bring
upon the whole world- cspecially
the United States and the British
peoples (see Jeremiah 30). T his
GREAT TRtBULATJON is men–
tioned by J esus in Matthew
24:2 1-22, immediately fo llowing
the time when this same Church
has PROCLAIMED C II RIST's Gos–
PEL oF TIIE KtNGDOM OF Goo IN
ALL THE WORLD FOR A WITNESS
TO ALL NA TI ONS (Matthew
24: 14 ). For doing thi s very
t hi ng- proclaiming this TRUE
GosPEL mcssage before kings and
heads of governments in all conti–
nents of the earth, we were
accused by the s tate of California
of "siphoni ng off millions of dol–
lars every year" for our own prí–
vate accounts. Judges of the Jew–
ish faith have no understanding
whatsocver of proclaiming
Christ 's GosPEL into all th e
world. Judaism does no such
thing.
It
is curious, at this point, to
notice that a former, but excom–
municated, angry minister now
accuses God's Church of planning
to go off into the wilderness to die
of starvation- following the ex-
2
ample of the cultist J im Jones!
This unfrocked exminister ought
to read his Bible.
1t
says specifi–
cally in Goo's WoRo, in this
14th verse of Revelation 12, that
Goo HtMSELF will provide these
"two wings of a great eagle"-the
means of transportation- that we
shall be TAKEN to a place, and
there NOURISHED-well fed- for
the nearly 3 '12 years of the Great
Tribulation. THtS ts Goo's doing,
not ours!
Incidentally, this samc genera–
tion of God's own true Church is
pictu red in Revelation 3:7-13.
We are pictured as having but
little human strength- we have
gone by living faith in the power
of God, but we have KEPT Goo's
WORD FAITHFULLY, and have not
turned away from it, or watered it
down! So God has OPENED DOORS
before us to go to kings, emper–
ors, presidents and prime minis–
ters over thc world with C I-IRIST'S
Gospel message ( Revclat ion
3:8).
Now back to Revelation
1
2:17:
Satan shall be full of WRATH
against the REMNANT- thc last
remaining generation of the
Church- the "Laodicean"
Church, and will terribly perse–
cute her. But Matthew 25 shows
that though that final generation
of the Church shaJI be LUKE–
w
ARM- not less emot ional, but
more "liberal,' ' more secular and
less spiritual- less strictly bibli–
cal-yet ha! f of them shall be
SAVED at Christ's comi ng, though
half shall be spewed o ut of
Christ's mouth ( Revelation
3:16).
Other prophecies speak of vari–
ous phases of things covcred in
Revelation 12-especially of the
Great Tribula tion.
Speaking of the
present
" Ph ila–
delphia" era, it says in R evelation
3:1 O, that because we have kept
God's Word faithfully, not liber–
alizing nor watering down, God
will keep us from the "hour of
temptation, which shall come
upon all them that dwell on the
earth" to try and test them. The
original Greek words indicate this
is speaking of THE GREAT TRIBU–
LATION. The Faucett
Critica/ and
Experimental Commentary
says,
"the bour of temptation: the
appointed season of affiiction; the
sore temptation coming on;. t he
GREAT TR tBULATION before
Christ's second coming."
This same time o f trouble,
greater than any on earth befare
or after, is mentioned in Daniel
12 : 1, as being j u st prior to
Christ's return.
Jt
is mentioncd in
Jeremiah 30 as a t rouble especial–
ly on the United States and the
British nations.
All sígns in world events imply
st rongly we are now on the very
cve of these events to shake the
world as NEVER BEFORE, just
pr ior to Christ's return, and the
COming of thc HAPPY J>EACEFUL
WORLD TOMORROW!
J esus taught us to pray, " THY
kingdom come." We should now
want God to delay no longer what
MUST SHORTL
Y
COME!
Up to this point
J
havc cov–
ered that sequcnce of evcnts
revealed in Revelation 12, with
a
brief reference to other scr ip–
tures speaking of a certain phase
of it. Tbis chapter hits the high
spots, speeding through t he time
from O ld Tcstament Is r ae l,
through the birth of Christ,
Satan's attempt to destroy Him,
carly and Middlc Age pcrsccu–
t ion by Satan of t he true
Church, Satan's
second
at–
tcmpted invasion of God's hcav"
en trying to dcthrone God Al–
mighty- his being cast back
down to earth, his persecution of
the true Chu rch, the flight
of
the Church to a place of protcc–
tion against the GREAT
TRmu–
LATIO - then the G reat Tribu–
lation caused by Satan's wrath,
and the final pcrsecution of the
very last generat i on of the
Church-the Laodicean era.
But remembcr, the Biblc is
like a jigsaw puzzle. This puzzle
is made up of many pieccs,
which must be properly fit to–
gether. Each piece by itself gives
no one picture. Pu t together in a
manner in which they do not
properly fit together , you have
confusion. But when al! is put
together properly, o ne sees a
beautiful picture.
1 have covered one chapter of
(Continued on page 29)
The
PLAIN TRUTH