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"hero," as in Beliamy's
Looking
Backward,
and transport
bim
into,
say
A.
D. 2000. At this time, let's
imagine the Old Tes tament Messia–
nic utopía
as
having come to pass
and occupying the known world.
(Appro p r iate O ld Testament
scriptures are placed in boldface
type a t key points in the following
conversation.)
Describing the Messianic
Utopia
To become completely involved
in the plot of the story, imagine
yourself
as the traveler to this díifer–
ent society. Your name is Franklin
Jones. As you are walking down the
concrete pavement of today's city,
the helter-skelter of careening auto–
mobiles assaults your ears. The fa–
miliar smell of industrial man,
coupled wíth dirty aír, clogs your
nos trils. You're hot, you're tíred,
and the irritating city-scape sbocks
your nervous system.
Then suddenly, it happens. By
sorne strange quirk, you are in to–
morrow's world of the 2 1st century.
You' re walking down a peaceful
country road. The clean smeli of the
forest, the bright blue sky and the
peaceful chirping of birds give you a
positive uplift. Farther down the
roact, you see corn or maíze, literaliy
as high as an elephant's eye.
Rounding the bend, you come
face to face with a surprising town–
ship. The buildiogs are neat and
modero. Smiling, energetic people
fill the streets of thís village. You're
obviously curious about thís new
world. Wbat are its people like? Its
customs?
Working your way down the road
and into the town ítself, you come
to what looks líke your world's
counterpart to the sídewalk cafe.
You decide to sít next toa pleasant–
looking stranger. As you sit down,
you are about to ask him a question
when he says, "Hi, you must be new
around here. My name is Dan
James. I'm a teacher at our town's
small college. What's your name?"
28
"Uh, ah ... FrankJin Jones. And 1
am
new here. Can
1
ask sorne ques–
tions about your town? This seems
líke a real nice place."
"Sure, Frank, what wouJd you
like to know?"
"Don't be offended, Dan, but uh,
what's the crime rate like?
I
mean, is
this a safe place to live?"
"Crime rate ...?"
"Yeah, you know. Do you have to
worry about people stealing thíngs?
How many murders - killings are
there? How many robberies?"
"Why, none. No killing. No steal–
ing. Don't you know that it is
against the law to kili or steal?
"Thou shalt not kili .. . Thou shalt
not steal" (Exodus 20:13, 15)
Say, where are you from anyway?"
" Let's just say
r
don't live
in
you r
part ofthe world, Dan."
"Oh, are you from a part we
haven't reached yet?"
"Uh, yeah, right Dan, you say it's
against the law to kili or steal. 1
know it's against the law. lt's also
against the law in my world . But do
people here realiy obey the law?"
"Of course, they do. It's all in the
mind you know."
"After those days, saith the Lord,
1 will put my law in tbeir inward
parts, and write it in tbeir hearts"
(Jeremiah 31:33)
"No, Dan, l'm not sure I under–
stand. But Jet me ask you another
questíon."
"Sure, go ahead."
"Wbat's the latest hot spot on the
globe?"
"Hot spot?"
"Yeah, you know, war - like
Vietnam, the Míddle East ."
"Stranger, those happened a long
time ago in another world. There's
no war here. The world's at peace.
Ever since He returned, we've had
peace...."
"And he shall judge among the
na tions, and shall rebuke many
people, and they sball beat their
swords into plowsbares, and their
spears into pruning hooks: nation
sbaU not lift up sword against na–
tion, neither shall tbey leam war any
more" (lsaiah 2:4)
"May
r
ask a stupid question,
Dan? Who's ' He'?"
"Are you joking?"
"No."
"Oh, l forgot. You're not living
under our system. But how did you
get here?"
"It
doesn't matter for now. Please
tell me who 'He' is."
"'He' is the Messiah. Haven' t you
heard ofHim?"
"Messiah? Oh yeah,
sure
1 have."
"He rules with a firm but loving
hand. People who want to live in
peace, He !oves. But nations that
wanted war paid the consequences.
They were
squashed,
and l mean
squasbed. No one wants to fight
now...."
"He sball not judge after the s ight
of bis eyes, neither reprove after tbe
hearing of his ears: But
with
righ–
teousness shall he judge the poor,
and reprove with equity for tbe meek
of the earth: and be sball smite the
earth with the rod of bis mouth, and
with the breath of bis lips shall he
slay the wicked" (Isaiab 11:3, 4)
"Wow, Dan, that could be dan–
gerous. I mean, that's a lot of power.
You know they talk about ...
talked
about world government and in–
creasing the power of this thing
called the United Nations back in
the 1970's. But you know, no one
really meant it."
"I know what you mean - H itler,
Stalin. But the Messiah is different.
He's just and merciful. Wait, let me
read it from our Book, since you're
obviously unfamiliar witb it."
You watch as Dan pulls out a
PLAIN TRUTH February 1973
.