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row (including the total tameness of
formerly vicious wild animals).
Prophecy
ls a
Mix
The mix of good and bad prophecies
continues throughout the book of
lsaiah. Other prophetic books share
the same distinction. Amos talked
about a devastating round of lam–
ines, droughts and insect-induced
crop failures (Amos 4:6-1 0). He got
real specific about why God was so
upset with the northern nation of
Israel. He talked about the drastic
increase in crime, graft. bribery and
political corruption (Amos 3:9-1
O;
5:12-13).
Yet in spite of the fact that the
nation was ridden with social in–
justice and was so morally bankrupt
that God itemized that country's
evils in the book, Amos' message
was
not
all bad news. Though Amos
minced no words in addressing the
nation's problems, he concluded his
book with a wonderful, long-term
prophecy of agricultura! prosperity
(Amos 9:11-15).
As the bíblica! prophecies and the
Bible as a whole are a mixture of
good and bad news, so must the
message of this Work be. Humanly,
perhaps we have at times empha–
sized the one al the expense of the
other. True, there is coming a new, a
brighter, a different, and a totally
better world than the one we know
today-a prosperous, peaceful, re–
structured world tomorrow under
the government of Jesus Chri st Him–
self. And we must never neglect tell–
ing the world of the guaranteed
real ity of that future utopian society.
But we
cannot
ignore the fc.ct that
today's world is in the death grip of
an evi l system that is automat ically
bringing more and more troubles on
the world with the passing of every
single year.
The predictions that Jesus made
in His Ol ivet Prophecy (Matthew 24 ;
Mark 13; Luke 21) are beginning to
intensify in their overall impact.
World confusion, hatred, strife, war–
fare and terrible destruction are su re
lo increase with rapid acceleration.
The Bible continually points out
that there is a cause for every ef–
fect. Living a certain way brings a
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1977
definitive bag of results. The
blessings and cursings listed in
Deuteronomy 28 and Levi–
ticus 26 are true to this
pat tern. Blessings are
promised for obedience
to the laws of God.
Curses are sure to
come when a nation
insists on living a lile
of rebell ion and dis–
''Nation shall not
lift up a sword
against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more.
obedience. Our West–
ern nations are
But they shall sit every man
under his vine and
plagued by the curses
enumerated in Leviticus
26 and Deuteronomy 28.
ls there a connection? You
figure it out!
Because the citizens of the
United States, Canada, Australia,
Britain, South Africa and Rhodesia
are breaking certain fundamental
laws, they are facing , as surely as
the rising of tomorrow's sun , in–
creased race riots, social deca–
dence, widespread crime, venereal
disease, pornography and the con–
tinuing onslaught of runaway in–
flation. These are the fruits of
disobedience to the Ten Command–
ments of God.
Evil Has a Cause
lt's all a matter of cause and effect .
We should be reaping long lives,
peace and safety in our lands, chil–
dren born minus any birth defects,
rain in due season, a plenteous re–
serve of natural resources and all
the other blessings God guarantees
for obedience to His way
ot lite.
lnstead our cities are cursed with
violen! , senseless , unbelievable
crimes against the person ; sorne of
our most productive agricultura!
areas are in the grip of terrible
droughts; chi ldren with birth de–
fects fill whole hospitals- and
1
could go on and on with all the
curses that plague our Western na–
tions. And so long as the causes
exist that produce these evil effects,
this Work will continue to cry out to
our nations to change-to repent of
their filthy ways-to turn whole–
heartedly to God on their knees.
And we hope against hope for
the best results-knowing that even
though our peoples as a whole may
under his fig tree; and
none shall make
them afraid."
Micah 4:3,4
fail to heed their God, at least sorne
few are turning their lives around,
shoring up their family lives, clean–
ing up their spiritual filth, and begin–
ning to obey the laws of their God.
We rejoice that people in Ghana,
India, Austral ia, Western .Europe,
North, Central and South America,
Indonesia and Mexico are being
moved by the message of the King–
dom of God- their lives profoundly
influenced and changed by the im–
pact of this last-ditch effort of Jesus
Christ.
Our task is so broad and so
monumental that it defies descrip–
tion in just a few words. lt combines
the wonderful good news of the
world tomorrow with the sobering
commission of Ezekiel to his be–
loved nation of Israel. lt includes the
wonderful sacrifice of Jesus Christ
and the fact that we are saved spiri–
tually by His lile. But it also entails
the warnings of Elijah to the proph–
ets of Baal and the stern correct ion
of Jeremiah for the people of Ju–
dah.
We work in the hope that more
and more people wi ll heed our mes–
sage and learn how to make their
marriages happy; how to lovingly
rear their children- in short, how to
obey the laws God has given them
for their good. And we do preach
the message about how humanity
will ultimately be saved in the won–
derful world tomorrow.
o
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