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PART7
ATALE OF TWO PROPHETS
H
ave you noticed lately how
many bíblica! phrases are
being used by nonreligious
people and organizations? A Ph.D.
who wrote in
Scientific American
as
far back as 1970, focusing on tbe
single problem of nuclear prolifera–
tion and the resultant possibility of
"the war to end all wars," stated
that he felt civilization and mankind
had only a 50-50 chance of making
it to 1980- and none at all to the
year 2000. He went on to say that
we are living in an age of a "crisis of
crises"- food, fue!, water, soil, air,
political, racial, nuclear weapons
crises.
He sounds like Daniel-or Jesus–
or John in the book of Revelation!
A science-fiction writer recent ly
produced a book called
Doomsday,
1989.
Another equally serious, yet
more factual book appeared at the
beginning of this decade titled:
Famine 1975! America's Decision:
Who Wi/1 Survive?
(Though 1975
has come and gone, the threat of
massive famine still haunts the four
billion occupants of earth!)
In the heart of Cheyenne Moun–
tain, where the defense systems of
the United States are buried in rela–
tive safety deep underground, there
is a piece of electronic communica–
tion gear all refer to as "the Arma–
geddon button." If it is lighted up, it
wiU indicate that that unthinkable
war between the supergiants of nu–
clear power has been ignited ; the
balloon is up; the end of the world
is
a distinct possibility!
The End of the World!
Fe~
scoft at that expression any–
more. There are too many horrible
means by wbich our world could be
The
PLAIN TRUTH August-September 1977
byJon
Hill
In this, the concluding insta/1-
ment of this series, we wi/1
learn that the good news of
the Kingdom of God ls what
Jesus preached. That King–
dom is composed of His
Father, Himse/1 as a 1/rstborn
Son among many, and those
many, being God as God is
God. That Kingdom is a real
kingdom, governing nations
here on this earth-not just an
ethereal, nebulous, spiritual
·
thing divorced from the reality
of lile. Sons of God wi/1 be
busy bringing this earth godly
government, active/y involved
In every facet of living, In re–
storlng and healing thls pol–
luted p/anet, in brlnging
genu/ne peace among al/ the
peoples of the earth. Maybe
you would like to partlcipate
in those active, practica/
goals of the Kingdom ofGod–
they are better than harp–
plucking, cloud-sitting and
psalm-slnging.
terminated. The end of the world
has become deadly real!
In the past we have tended to
think that the concept of the end of
the world was just a religious idea to
scare people into worship! This old
world has been around a long time
with all kinds of people predicting
the end- and we' re still here!
But with the power available and
in the hands of mankind now since
about 1950, more and more non–
religious people have begun to seri-
ously predict terminal worldwide
problems ending in the annihilation
of all!
This generation suffers from
unique
problems among all the gen–
erations of our history.
The concept of the end of the
world that so many laughed at be–
fore was a little awry from what the
Bible says anyway. The end of the
world was fixed in many people's
minds as being the breakup of the
actual planet-an idea strictly un–
biblical, yet, like so many other tra–
ditional religious ideas far removed
from Scripture, considered to be just
another bíblica! myth.
Perhaps that misconception carne
from the question the disciples
asked Jesus: "What shall be the sign
of thy coming, and of the end of the
world?" (Matt. 24:3.) The word they
used for "world" was the Greek
aion.
We have the word "eon"
in
English for that, or "age"- it had
nothing to do with the planet itself. •
Yet
in
Jesus' answer, He used an–
other Greek word,
cosmos,
meaning
civilization, the present order of so–
ciety (see verse 21). Admittedly, the
end of the age of man- as opposed
to a coming age of God-on this
earth wiU oe accompanied by suf–
ferings of the very planet itself, its
llora, fauna, its total ecology- and
that's bíblica!. But the phrase "end
of the world" and those things to
look for which would signa! it dealt
with age and civilization.
The Time of the Signa
Let's look at sorne of those things
which Jesus said would signa! the
end. But first, let's get His overview
so we understand what He did say
in
context. "Now learn a parable of
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