Basic HTML Version
the House of JuDAH were taken lo
Babylon.
Nowhere in 1he book does Ezekiel
record his journey from where he
was in Babylon
to
lhose of 1he
House of Israel who were lhen in
Britain and Western Europe. No–
where does he record his giving of
the message 10 1hem. He merely RE–
CEIVED the message. He merely RE–
CORDED IT IN WR ITING.
There is no reason 10 lhink his
message was ever delivered 10 lhe
House of Israel
in Ezekiel's time.
The message in facl is for 1oday -
and contained a WARNING of lhings
to happen to Brilain, America and
the Western European na1ions NOW
inOUR DAY.
I saw clearly, back in lhose early
days. that Ezekiel's prophecy was a
message 10 be 1akcn by sorne MOD–
ERN TWENTIETH CENTURY servan! Of
God - a "modern Ezekiel" 10
America, Britain. Canada. Austra–
lia. New Zealand and Soulh Africa.
I dwelt in hundreds of broadcasts
on 1his book of Ezekiel and its
WARNING of things IMMINENTLY
NOW lO HAPP EN lO Britain.
the United States a nd Western
Europe.
Of course
1
always did. from the
very beginning of this woRK OF
Goo, proclaim lhe good news of the
coMING KtNGDOM oF Goo.
The original apost les proclaimed
the KINGDOM OF Goo, b.ul lhey also
put very special emphasis on some–
thing that specially applied only to
their time, right then . They were
personal EYEWITNESSES to the death,
burial and
resurrect ion
of Jesus
Christ. In THEIRday. the chief oppo–
sition and persecution carne from
those Jewish leaders who rejected
Christ as the promised Messiah.
DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND. The
Jews as a whole did nol reject
Christ. Indeed , virlually all His fol–
lowers - the 120 that were WITH
HIM and the apost les (Acts
1:
15)
from which the Church started - all
were Jews (or proselyles). The
Church BEGAN as almost 100% Jew–
ISH. The apostle Paul always went
first to lhe Jews, and most of his
churches started out as Jewish. The
persecution was not so much from
the rank and file of Jewish people as
from their Jewish RULERS. who held
political jobs under the Roman gov-
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1977
ernment - the Pharisees - and also
the scribes and Sadducees.
Nevertheless, the EARLIEST oppo–
sit ion and persecution 1he apost les
faced at the BEGINNING of lhe
Church was from these officials who
REJECTED Christ as the promised
Messiah. The aposlles were EYE–
WITNESSES to His life, death and
RESURRECTION. They spenl 40 days
with Him AFTER His resurreclion.
In OUR TIME, God showed me in
the New Testament where He sent
His disciples FIRST 19 the same "lost
sheep of lhe hou se of Israel "
(Matt. 15:24). And so it was that
Christ, th e Head of this Work ,
caused me during the firsl 20 or 25
years of this Work to put SPECIAL
emphasis on Ezekiel's warning to
OUR PEOPLE, IN OUR DAY. (Again,
read the above-mentioned booklet.)
But in the MEANTIME
1
was mak–
ing every etfort, as well as Garner
Ted after he carne on the broadcasl
- 1955 and after, as my chief assis–
lant in God's Work - 10 gel the
GOOD NEWS of the coming KING–
DOM OF Goo into
other countries
AROUND THE WORLD - but with
VERY LITTLE SUCCESS.
In 1hose Genti1e countries, the
government CONTROL$ ALL MEANS
OF PUBLICCOMMUNICATION OR EDU–
CATION. They and their forms of
governmenl seek to control the
MINOS oftheir people.
For years
1
tried to reach coun–
lr ies like India, China, Russia, Ar–
gen tina, Brazi l, etc., and even
Britain, France, Germany, Holland,
Belgium, etc. from radio stations
OUTSIDE their countries but close to
their borders.
These stations were represenled
to us by New York agents as super–
power stations that would give us
huge blanket coverage in the ad–
joining nations we wanted to reach.
We went on them, thinking at the
time that we had found a way to
reach these nations from the OUT–
SIDE. We even started really BUILD–
ING our United States listening
audience - and
Plain Truth
circula–
tion - thr\>Ugh three Mexican sta–
tions just across the border.
But, outside of these, most of the
others proved to be really of vir–
tually no value. They were stations
that had been installed during the
war by U.S. military sources. After
the war, these "smart" agents told
local agents they could keep them
going as profitable businesses by
selling time 10 religious broadcasters
- regarded by them as "suckers"
who wou1d buy anylhing.
But except for Soulh Africa. they
did very little if any good. They sim–
ply were NOT getting .lhe message
out 10 lhe world. The doors lo lhese
nalions we were trying lo reach were
really
closed
lO us, lhen. Closed lO
Christ's message.
But Chrisl said to His Ph ila–
delphia era Church, that
because
we
have but little slrength, He would
open those doors lo us
(Rev. 3:8).
Now
1
want to take you back to
Ezekiel and show you something
1
think VERY EXCITING and MOST IM–
PORTANT!
God said lo Ezekiel: "But thou.
son of man, hear what
I
say unto
thee ... open thy mouth, and eat
that
1
give thee. And wheo I looked.
behold, an hand was sent unto me ;
and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
and he spread it before me; and il
was written within and without: and
there was written therein lamenla–
lions, and mourning, and woe"
(Ezek. 2:8-10).
Continue: " Moreover he said
unto me, Son of man, eat that thou
findes1; eal this roll, and GO speak
unto the house of Israel" (Ezek. 3: 1).
Now let us turn to the book of
Revelation.
Chapter one gives the opening
salutation and the introduction, giv–
ing the real SUBJECT of which the
book is concerned.
lt
is in verse 10:
"1
was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day, and heard behind me a great
voice, as ofa trumpet."
In the opening salutation we find
that it is NOT the revelation of John
at all , but lhe revelation of Jesus
Christ. The aposlle John was merely
the WRITER, who recorded
(1)
the
woRo OF Goo, (2) the testimony -
direct words of - Jesus Christ, and
(3)
all the things that he SAw in
VISION. In this vision he was taken
from the lsle of Palmos, where he
actually was as he wrote, into THE
DAYOF THELORD - a special period
of TIME here called the "LoRo's
DA
Y."
The DAYOF THE LORD is the time
when Goo supernaturally shall IN–
TERVENE in this world's atrairs, the
19