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me in my throne. even as 1 also
ove rcame. and am set down with my
Father in His throne." The Fa th er's
throne is in heaven - where Jesus
Christ is
now;
but Christ's throne. in
which th e saints shall sit wi th Him.
is the throne of David. in Jerusa lem
(Luke 1:32).
Furthe r : "And he that ove r–
cometh and keepeth my works unto
the end. to him will 1 give power
over the nations: and he shall rule
them wit h a rod ofi ron."
Can't Know the TIME
After His resurrcction. on the
Mount of Olives at thc vc ry hour of
His aseen ion to heaven. J e us was
explaining to His disciples how they
would receive the inspiring God-be–
gett ing POWER of the holy spirit on
the approaching day of Pcntecost.
Hi s di sci ples wan ted to know
whether thc Kingdom of God was
to be set up
at that lime! Th e
CHURCH
was
established on that im–
minent day of Pentecost. Was
1hcu
CHURCH, then , to be the se tting up
of the Kingdom?
"Lord," they asked, ' 'wilt thou
at
1his time
restore again th e kingdom
to Israel?' '
Jesus again made plain that the
church is
110 1
th e Kingdom.
"And he sa id unto th em.
lt
i. not
for you to know the times or the
seasons. which the Fathcr hath put
in His own power. But ye shall re–
ceive powe r, after that the Holy
Ghost [Spirit] is come upon you:
and ye sha ll be witnesses unto me
both in Jeru sa lem, and in all
Judaea. and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermo t pan of th e earth. And
when he had spoken thesc things.
while they beheld, he was takcn up:
and a cloud received him out of
their sight" (Acts 1:7-9).
The commission He had given the
CHURCHwas to preach His gospel to
al! the world. They were to receive
the hol y spirit. begetting them as
sa ints - as Christians - putting
them into God's CHURCH. This
would infuse them with the power
to carry out the mission of the
church. But it was NOT the se tting
up or the Kingdom of God . Of that
they were not to know th e time.
J ust wha t did Jesus mean: " lt is
no t for you to know the t imes or the
season ''? He explained it another
44
t ime. lt is recorded in Ma tthew
24:36: There He was speaking of the
end of th is world. and His second
coming:
" But of that day and hour know–
eth no man . no. not the ange ls of
heaven. but my Father only." He
was speaking of His second coming
and the setling up or thc Kingdom.
th e t ime or which no man knows.
but on ly the Father.
However. though we do not. even
now. know the day or th e hour
we
do know.
l"rom God's prophecies,
1ha1 it is today very near!
otice th is.
in Luke 21:25-32: He had been
foretelling the world events,
rigllf
now beginning,
lead ing to "distress
of nations" in wor ld troubles and
world wars. "wi th perplexi ty" -
"men's hearts fa il ing them for fear,
and for looking after those th ings
wh ich a re coming on the earth" -
world trouble such as never before
ex peri enced. "When ye see these
things come to pass. know ye that
thc kingdom of God is nigh a t hand .
Verily 1 say unto you, thi genera–
tion shall not pas away, till all be
fulfilled."
The Two Fateful Alternatives
Th is world trouble bcgan in 1914.
with World War
l.
There was a re–
cess from 1918 until 1939. We are in
a second recess now - a lthough we
a re in what wc call "COLD WAR. "
But now a t last we have nuclear
energy. We have hydrogen bombs
stockp iled in such power and vo l–
ume tha t thcy cou ld blast all human
life off this planet severa! times
ove r. There are two other destruc–
tive weapons today in existence. ei–
ther of which could erase humanity
from the earth.
Today world-famou scientis ts
say only a super world gove rnment
ca n prevent world cosmocide. Yet
MENcannot and
wi/1
not
get together
to form such a world- ruli ng gove rn–
ment.
lt's time we face the hard , cold.
realistic FACT: humanity has two al–
ternatives: either there
is
an Al–
mighty. a ll-powerful Goo who is
about to step in and se t up THE
KJNGDOM OI· Goo to rul e al! na–
tions with supernatural and supra–
nat iona l
FORCE
to bring us PEACE
- or else al l human life wi ll be
oblitera ted (Matt. 24:22).
o
(Continued (rom pa¡;e
1)
or the "new morality' ' has brought
about. first. far more open ness and
fra nkness of discussion a nd conver–
sa ti on about sex and moral : and
second. a much more lax beha vior.
especially among the oncoming
younge r genera ti on. And one of its
grea test dangers i the adven t of a
new and almost total PERMISSIVE-
'ESS.
1
think it proba bly started in the
" Roaring 20s" in the days of the
"Oappcrs." Those. especially the
girls who were in their la te teens
and early 20s
in
the l920s. became
much more permissive. Th ey mar–
ried and became mothers, but they
relaxed authority and parental guid–
a nce over the ir chi ldren . Then
World War 11 produced another
genera tion - sti ll more pcrmissive.
ex~rcisi ng
even less authori ty and
pa ren tal guida nce over growing
children.
Discipline relaxed and vi rtually
disappeared in almost all of the
public schools. And now. in the past
decade. mo t of the college and uni–
vcrs ity campuses ha ve provided
·'co-ed dorms" where men a re free
to visit girls in the ir
room~.
and girls
a re free to visi t men with a lmo
t
no
restrictions.
On Ambassador College caro–
puses th e condit ions have been dif–
fe rent. He re th e re is discipline.
though we have recognizcd that
eve n when using discipline. a proper
ba lance must be maintaincd. Fac–
ul ty and ad mini s tration cannot
build and develop ri ght CHARACTER
in students with a harsh and over–
zealous use of authority. But 1 think
the character of Ambassador stu–
dcnts- and grad uates - speaks for
itse l
f.
Of course the worldwide con–
spiracy against marriage and the a t–
tack agai n
l
the FAMlLY institution
has not. as yet. made any sensa tion–
al dent in th e number of marriages
taking place. But it is becoming a
THREAT which
1
feel our readers
should know about.
O
The PLAIN TRUTH July 1976