Millions of churchgoing professing Christians are familiar with the 1,000 years of Christ’s reign. However, the mainstream fundamentalist churches all teach that a man’s soul goes instantly to heaven when he dies, denying a millennial reign on the earth, while one of the major Sabbatarian religions (Seventh-day Adventist) teaches the millennium will be spent in heaven. WHY such confusion? You will be shocked to learn that your Bible absolutely PROVES the Kingdom will rule on this earth!
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them … And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4). Millions have read those words. Millions believe in the literal, bodily second coming of Jesus Christ—and millions are beginning to understand that Christ is going to set up His ruling KINGDOM.
Many years ago, when I was first ordained as a minister of Jesus Christ (1955), the work with which I was then connected was like a veritable “voice in the wilderness,” crying out about the soon-coming Kingdom of God.
Major percentages of the mainstream fundamentalist ministry denied the literal second coming of Jesus Christ; major percentages of those graduating from the theological seminaries during the’50s and’60s did not believe in the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ; His ascension into heaven at the right hand of God, nor His imminent return!
But there has gradually begun a revolutionary change in the thinking of many theologians.
As never before, a tremendous fascination with prophecy; the events of the future, has gripped the minds of millions!
Hal Lindsey, author of several best-sellers, not the least of which was his original The Late Great Planet Earth, as well as many other authors, has contributed to informing countless millions of Americans, Britons, Canadians and those in Europe and other countries that we are, in fact, living in “the time of the end,” as prophesied in the Bible; that a violent REVOLUTION is going to take place on the earth, and that, eventually, the Kingdom of God will be set up!
Yet, for all the ballyhoo over the FACT of Christ’s imminent return; the FACT of the setting up of the Kingdom of God, there remains great CONFUSION in the minds of millions about WHERE that Kingdom will reign!
The Bible Prophesied Confusion
This is hardly a surprise to serious students of the Bible.
Satan the devil is described as that great serpent who “deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), and Jesus Christ clearly prophesied that the time of His second coming would be in a time of mass confusion, deception, delusion and spiritual darkness!
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
“Hereby know ye the spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come [is now coming] in the flesh is of God:
“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is in the world” (1 John 4:1-3).
Millions have heard about the famous “ANTICHRIST,” knowing that there is one individual, called the “false prophet” in biblical prophecy, who will literally proclaim himself to BE VERY GOD, and who will deceive millions!
John also warned: “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 7).
What many do not realize is there are MANY who bear the title “antichrist” and that, while it is true this title may apply to one great false religious leader, it is also plainly true from your Bible that anyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ is able to live His life over within us (Galatians 2:20) is the spirit of antichrist.
That one great false prophet is described in 2 Thessalonians 2.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is GOD”! (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4).
Later, the apostle Paul said that this great false Christ would have such satanic power and lying wonders (verse 9) that multitudes would be completely deceived.
Notice! “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all powers and signs and lying wonders,
“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish [are perishing]; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
“For this cause God shall send them strong delusion [working of error], that they should believe a lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-11).
Satan the devil is the archdeceiver.
However, remember a deceived person is completely innocent, unaware of the fact he or she is deceived.
A person laboring through various forms of mental and religious deception can be a thirsting, questing, sincere person!
He can have only the best of motives; be of impeccable character and integrity; be striving to live a pure and holy Christian life!
Because a person is deceived does not mean he is deliberately wrong!
Oftentimes, our human defenses rise up and ARGUE when an article such as this might begin to tug at the corners of our mind, making us wonder whether or not certain concepts and beliefs we have held to be true are, in fact, false.
We regard it as an attack upon our “empirical self.” Our defenses immediately begin to excuse ourselves; surely WE could not have been deceived?
We tend to believe anything which proves we have been wrong about something we have believed represents an attack upon our character!
Not so!
It has nothing to Do with character! People of good character can be deceived!
Satan the devil is the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), and is identified as the present evil god of this sin-sick, deceived world! (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Satan the devil has his churches (Revelation 3:9; 17:4-6), and Satan has his ministers in those churches! (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
How the Deception Is Being Prepared
As never before, there is a fantastic obsession with life in outer space; the mysteries of bygone civilizations; demonism, witchcraft, the unseen, spirit world, and future events which will affect the earth, such as various alleged “invasions” from outer space!
From the explosive proliferation of electronic games, most of which are whetting the appetite of countless millions of youngsters concerning the Buck Rogers age of space travel (Space Invaders, Pac-Man, etc.) to countless motion pictures, television specials, and tens of thousands of futuristic, science fiction novels, millions upon millions are being prepared for a false belief which will lead directly to the fulfillment of the prophecy of Revelation 17:14.
HOW, one might ask, could anyone in his right mind actually fight Christ at His coming?
Answer?
If he believes the REAL Christ is actually the antichrist, if he does not recognize the actual event of the REAL second coming of Jesus Christ, but believes it to be the evil advent of the ANTICHRIST, then he will be fully prepared, because of a masterful DECEPTION, to attempt to resist the actual arrival of the conquering KING OF THE UNIVERSE, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to this earth!
When it happens—when Jesus Christ actually comes back to this earth—there will be MILLIONS who will be convinced it is (a) an invasion from outer space from strange beings from faraway planets; (b) an invasion from a foreign power with super weapons such as lasers, space mirrors, doomsday nuclear weapons, “space ships” and orbital satellites; or (c) a superhuman attack by the ANTICHRIST and hordes of his demons in a last-ditch attempt to take over the world and rule it!
What is YOUR protection against deception?
What is most important to you?
Are your concepts the traditions, cherished “beliefs,” religious teachings you received as a child growing up, or in the church you attended, or is the criterion you use for belief the yardstick of the holy, sacred, absolute WORD OF GOD?
In this article you will see exposed one of the great false teachers of recent years!
You will see how deliberate distortions of the Bible were perpetrated, and how countless thousands have swallowed them whole, never comparing, carefully, what so-called religious leaders have written with the Bible!
Somehow, as religious people begin looking to a human, religious leader, they subtly begin to exchange that leader for Jesus Christ!
There finally comes a time in this idolatrous type of human worship where the unsuspecting lay member has unknowingly substituted his religious leader for Jesus Christ Himself!
At that point in time, the human religious leader, though fallible, gripped by egotism and vanity, can begin to propound and teach doctrines which are directly contrary to the written Word of God, and the followers will meekly go right along with it; never questioning, convinced they must follow that religious leader “NO MATTER WHAT”!
No longer are they constrained to follow a human religious leader ONLY as he follows CHRIST (1 Corinthians 11:1)—now they will begin to say following that religious leader ONLY as “he follows Christ” is “not good enough”!
For the purposes of the remainder of this article, we will investigate the doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which teaches the saints will be assumed into heaven for the period of 1,000 years for “investigative judgment,” while the earth remains absolutely desolate, with Satan the devil virtually its only inhabitant, endlessly reviewing the awful destruction his rebellion has wrought.
Adventists are very familiar with the doctrine of the saints going to heaven for the 1,000-year millennial reign of Christ, and the “desolate earth” as portrayed in some of the writings of Mrs. E.G. White.
Certainly, none of her books is more cogent to this doctrine than The Great Controversy.
Of course, widespread sensational publicity has recently revealed that leaders in the Seventh-day Adventist Church have themselves begun to debunk Mrs. E.G. White as a false prophetess, and, allegedly, a proved plagiarist, who did not really originate all of the prolific writings with which she is credited, but who may have heavily borrowed from other sources, for which she never gave credit.
The “great controversy,” indeed, now seems to be whether or not Mrs. E.G. White ever was a “prophetess,” as tens of thousands of Seventh-day Adventists have supposed, and whether or not her books truly carry anywhere near the weight it was previously supposed.
Actually, many sincere Seventh-day Adventists placed the writings of Mrs. E.G. White on an equal par with the BIBLE!
Perhaps, unknowingly, some have even elevated her writings to a level ABOVE the Bible—and if they have done, so then the idolatry of the gradual substitution of the writings and sayings of a human leader ABOVE those of Jesus Christ of Nazareth had, in fact, taken place in the minds of those who would go so far in their adulation of another human being!
First, let’s see a description from The Great Controversy of how Mrs. E.G. White imagined the scenario both in heaven and on earth at the time of the beginning of the millennium:
“At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face of the whole earth—consumed with the spirit of His mouth and destroyed by the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His people to the city of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants…The whole earth appears like a desolate wilderness. The ruins of cities and villages destroyed by the earthquake, uprooted trees, ragged rocks thrown out by the sea or torn out of the earth itself, are scattered over its surface, while vast caverns mark the spot where the mountains have been rent from their foundations.
“. . . As the scapegoat was sent away into a land not inhabited, so Satan will be banished to the desolate earth, an uninhabited and dreary wilderness.
“The revelator foretells the banishment of Satan and the condition of chaos and desolation to which the earth is to be reduced, and he declares that this condition will exist for a thousand years” (The Great Controversy, pages 657, 658).
At least one full volume would be required to thoroughly critique the gross errors, flagrant misquotations, distortions and perversions of Scripture which appear in The Great Controversy.
The foregoing represents only portions of two pages in the chapter entitled “Desolation of the Earth” in Mrs. E.G. White’s well-known book The Great Controversy.
Now, please get your own Bible and carefully perform the following experiment:
Immediately below, you will see quoted, word for word, exactly Mrs. E.G. White’s version of Isaiah 24:1, 3, 5 and 6.
Remember, her doctrine (commonly accepted by most Seventh-day Adventists), as briefly set forth above, asserts that the entirety of the earth will be absolutely DESOLATE for the period of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ; that the saints are up in heaven, while Satan the devil is chained to a desolate, uninhabited earth, suffering some alleged mental anguish at seeing all of his attempted plots and plans, the overthrow of God’s throne and His government, destroyed.
But is this what the Bible says?
As you shall see, one would have to be afflicted with a strange case of “tunnel vision,” indeed, to presuppose that Mrs. White, in writing this chapter, with her own Bible open before her to the 24th chapter of Isaiah, did not see the many portions she deliberately LEFT OUT Of her quotation—the very key words and phrases which would have utterly destroyed her entire theory of a “desolate earth” for 1,000 years!
For the purposes of your experiment, if you do not wish to mark in your own Bible, simply write out the words from your own King James Bible that Mrs. E. G. White deliberately omitted!
Is your Bible ready?
Is it open to Isaiah 24, verses 1-6?
If it is, then let us proceed!
This is Mrs. White’s version, found approximately two thirds of the way down on page 657 of The Great Controversy: “At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face of the whole earth—consumed with the spirit of his mouth and destroyed by the brightness of his glory. Christ takes his people to the city of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants.
“Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
“The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.
“Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned” (Isaiah 24:1, 3, 5, 6).
Now go back and underline, or write out, all of the words from verse 1 through verse 6 which were OMITTED from Mrs. White’s quotation.
They are as follows: “and it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver or usury to him.
“The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
“The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; … and FEW MEN LEFT”! (Isaiah 24:6).
What a difference! But now, for the purposes of your experiment, go back and read the entirety of the 24th chapter of Isaiah in its proper context!
Let’s notice some salient points which Mrs. E.G. White apparently (either afflicted with a most remarkable case of “tunnel vision” in all of history, or just plain DISHONEST) failed to notice!
The subject of Isaiah 24 is obviously God’s punishments to come on this earth at the very time of the great tribulation (chapter 24:1-18), the heavenly signs (Isaiah 24:23), the Day of the Lord and the second coming of Jesus Christ (verse 23).
But does the 24th chapter of Isaiah say that the entire earth is completely EMPTIED of all of its inhabitants?
Notice the following statement!
“Behold, the Eternal maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and SCATTERETH ABROAD THE INHABITANTS THEREOF”‘!
Remember, the Hebrew word for “earth” is ehrets, which can mean the land, partitively or commonly. It can apply to the whole world, or it can apply to “the land” being spoken of in the context. In this case, it is speaking (as it is obvious in the context) of “the land” for the simple reason that the Holy Scriptures say God Will “SCATTER ABROAD the INHABITANTS thereof”!
What happens to these inhabitants—human, living, breathing people—on the earth? Are they utterly destroyed? Is there not a single man, woman or child left? Is the earth to be rendered completely DESOLATE and Empty of all inhabitants?
No! The Bible says the inhabitants (citizens, people, population) are “scattered abroad”! That means they are widely dispersed from one part of the land (ehrets) to another part.
Then follows verse 2, which says there is no respector of persons; that it will be the same with the priest, maid, mistress, buyer, seller, lender, and so on.
Notice verse 4! It says, “. . . The haughty people of the earth DO LANGUISH”! To “languish” means to mourn; to be afflicted, perhaps in desperate straits of hardship, privation, even injury and wounds! But people who are languishing are LIVING PEOPLE!
Notice the next few words in verse 5: “The earth also is defiled UNDER THE INHABITANTS THEREOF”! Notice the earth still has INHABITANTS! The earth is defiled and ruined; God’s judgments will come upon nation after nation until they shall be utterly destroyed and there will be massive loss of human life!
But there are survivors described in this passage of Scripture!
Notice verse 6. “Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate”!
While Mrs. White did quote this portion only of the verses she selected, she went right over it, and then included the words “therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,” and placed a period where a commaactually appears in the Bible!
Note this well!
Turn to Isaiah 24 and verse 6. Notice that following the words “of the earth are burned” you see the words in your Bible “AND FEW MEN LEFT”!
Why did Mrs. E.G. White deliberately OMIT those words—those very descriptive words which PROVE that there are LIVING inhabitants left on the earth after this great destruction?
Yes, WHY did she DELIBERATELY place a period where there is a comma in the Bible, the holy Word of God?
Did she not realize the great curse Almighty God pronounces upon anyone who would “take away” from the Word of God? Now, finish reading the entire 24th chapter of Isaiah.
Notice verse 9: “They shall not drink wine…To them that drink it.” Again, people being described!
Verse 10: “. . . Every house is shut up, that no man may come in.”
Notice verse 13! “When thus it shall be in the midst of the land (ehrets) AMONG THE PEOPLE. . .”
Notice verse 14: “They shall lift up their voice … THEY shall sigh for the majesty of the Eternal, they shall cry aloud from the sea.”
Who? PEOPLE who are LEFT alive! Inhabitants of the earth!
Notice verse 17, and many other verses, where it is proved over and over again in this chapter that the earth is still inhabited!
“Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O INHABITANT OF THE EARTH”!
Do you need more proofs? All one need do is apply this very same experiment to the entirety of the “desolation of the earth” chapter in The Great Controversy and you will see example after example of this type of distortion, perversion, deliberate omission and twisting of the sacred Word of God!
Surely, this represents one of the most blatant and deliberate examples of the wresting and perversion of sacred Scripture on record! However, there are MANY examples to be found in the writings of any number of religious leaders—and a serious, careful, sincere and cautious student of the Word of God will do exactly as God says and COMPARE what these teachers say with the Bible!
Now, what does the Bible really say about where the millennium will be spent?
The Saints Shall Reign ON EARTH!
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them … and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).
The word millennium is never mentioned in the Bible. It is merely an English word which means “one thousand years.” For purposes of reference to this “one thousand years” spoken of in Revelation 20, verses 4, 5, 6 and 7, many use the word “millennium.”
And WHERE will this “millennium,” or 1,000 years, be spent?
It said the resurrected saints, together with those who are to meet Jesus Christ at His return in the air, are to “live and reign” with Him for ONE THOUSAND YEARS!
Where?
Notice!
“And they sung a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof—for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by the blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
“And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests: and we shall reign ON THE EARTH”! (Revelation 5:10).
Jesus said, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne” (Revelation 3:21).
WHERE is that throne Jesus is coming to inherit? It is ON THIS EARTH!
Notice! “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of his father David and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32, 33).
In this salutation to Mary, prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, it was predicted, even as Almighty God had made a covenant with David, that Jesus is coming back to inherit David’s throne.
Of this throne, the prophecies say that it was to be “overturned, overturned, overturned [three overturns!] and be never more overturned until He come whose right it is”! (Ezekiel 21:27).
Notice how God promises Jesus Christ will reign on the earth, “Behold, the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth” (Jeremiah 23:5).
One of the most important scriptures which absolutely destroys Mrs. E.G. White’s “desolate earth theory” is Isaiah the 11th chapter!
Read this interesting, important chapter with your own eyes!
Notice some excerpts from it: “But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the EARTH and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked … The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
“And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
“And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp [puff adder] and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den [the den of a poisonous snake],
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the EARTH shall be full of the knowledge of the Eternal, as the waters cover the sea.
“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse [CHRIST], which shall stand for an ensign for the people; to which shall the Gentiles [nations on this earth!] seek: and His rest [the millennial reign of Christ] shall be glorious.
“And it shall come to pass, in that day [shortly after the second coming of Christ, and as the government of God is being set up on the earth], that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the Islands of the sea.
“And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel [remember those who were ‘scattered abroad’ in Isaiah 24?] and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth … And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be LEFT, from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came out of the land of Egypt” (Isaiah 11, selected verses).
Read Ezekiel 36, how the waste places will be rebuilt.
Then read the magnificent prophecies of Isaiah 2 and Micah 4!
Both are concerned with the establishment of the KINGDOM OF GOD on this earth!
Notice: “And it shall come to pass, in the last days, that the mountain of the External’s house [a type of the KINGDOM OF GOD] shall be established in the top of the mountains [a symbol of larger nations], and shall be exalted above the hills [a symbol of smaller nations]; and all nations shall flow unto it!
“And many people shall go and say, ‘come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Eternal, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Eternal from Jerusalem.”
“And He shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many PEOPLE: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more”! (Isaiah 2:2-4).
Read the parallel account in Micah’s prophecy where Micah says, “. . . Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
“But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make him afraid: for the mouth of the Eternal of hosts hath spoken it.
“For all people will walk everyone in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the Eternal our God forever and ever.
“In that day, saith the Eternal, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted:
“And I will make her that halteth [the remnant of Israel] a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Eternal shall reign over them IN MOUNT ZION from henceforth, even forever”!
Can anything be more PLAIN?
Actually, these are but a few samples of the literally DOZENS of scriptures which absolutely PROVE that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is coming back down to this earth—that He is going to establish His great Kingdom here, ON THIS EARTH, and that He will rule over human, physical nations on this earth for the period of the millennium—for 1,000 years!
Are there lions, poisonous snakes, leopards, cows and little children in heaven? Certainly, no thinking, rational, right-minded person can read these many thunderous pronouncements from the Eternal God, from the words of sacred Scripture, and not be absolutely CONVINCED and CONVICTED that the Kingdom is going to rule ON THIS EARTH!
Read Zechariah 14:4! This plainly shows, “In that day,” when Jesus Christ returns, His “feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives”—that He is coming back EXACTLY as the angelic messenger said He would (Acts 1:11), “in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven”!
When we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and the surrounding verses that those who are alive at the second coming of Christ will be “caught up together with them [the ones having just been resurrected] to meet the Lord in the air,” we know that, true to the prophecy of Matthew 24:31, the angels will gather the redeemed from around the world, they will be collected together to MEET the returning, conquering Christ in the air (and the AIR is very much a part of this earth’s environment, its immediate atmosphere), and continue on down to the Mount of Olives in that very same day!
The idea of a prolonged “rapture,” wherein the saints are taken away into heaven, is as false as any other lie which Satan the devil has ever concocted!
Surely, it is a shock to sincere, believing people to realize religious leaders have (sometimes deliberately) deceived them!
Your ONLY protection against that kind of deception is very careful comparison between everything they say or write and the sacred Word of God!
The events of the future are grouped together in three broad prophetic divisions in the book of Revelation. They are: (1) the coming Great Tribulation, (2) the heavenly signs, (3) the Day of the Lord!
If you memorize the following two scriptures, no one Will EVER deceive you again with regard to the order of events very clearly set forth in the Bible! Simply read Joel 2:31, and then Matthew 24:29!
You will see that the heavenly signs come immediately after the great tribulation (Matthew 24:29), and that the heavenly signs occur just BEFORE the terrible Day of the Lord (Joel 2:31).
The “rapturists” presuppose that because of the horrors of the period identified as “the great tribulation” it is inconceivable that any of the “saints” are still on the earth at this time!
But the Bible clearly shows they ARE!
Those who are overcoming, growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, watching world conditions, praying and being deeply involved in the work of God—including not forsaking their own very important personal witness when required—will be supernaturally PROTECTED, even as God protected the Israelites in the land of Goshen, during the plagues upon Egypt!
We are now about to enter the time of that great tribulation!
That means there are impending national calamities about to befall the people of the United States, Britain, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Commonwealth countries and the democracies of Northwestern Europe!
It also means the rapid deployment of a multilateral force from Europe at the behest of the papacy into Palestine and the Middle East! (See Daniel 11:40 to the end of that chapter.)
A great worldwide TRADE WAR. is just ahead! Global economic collapse is just ahead!
Out of the terrible poverty soon to strike many of the major nations of this earth will arise militarists, despots, dictators!
Serious protectionism, “dumping” of various products in order to gain a profit, tariffs, surcharges, exorbitant export-import taxes, and trade wars are beginning, NOW, and major reverberations are soon to be felt throughout the international banking community!
Remember, the mysterious “mark of the beast” is ECONOMIC as well as spiritual in nature! It plainly says that unless a person receives this “mark” (WILL it be some sort of invisible personal identification number actually tattooed into the foreheads of those who accept it?) no man may “buy or sell”!
Finally, when the Western nations lie prostrate, under the heel of a new DICTATOR, at the head of 10 nations in Europe, Almighty God Will HALT all human activity just short of a global NUCLEAR WAR between the new European power and the Soviet Union!
Such a war would mean the literal extermination of all of humankind!
God intends STOPPING IT (Matthew 24:21, 22) just short of that time!
What event halts it?
Read the last of Revelation 6 and Revelation 7!
This prophecy ties directly in with Joel 2:31 and Matthew 24:19! Almighty God rolls back the heavens, SHOCKS all of humankind with a dramatic display of His “heavenly signs,” wherein leaders from many nations are so terrified they literally cry out for the rocks to fall on them and hide them!
Then, swiftly, as those who have been lethargic, lukewarm, or who have “lost their first love” are SHOCKED into awareness—as millions who have heard the message but never really HEEDED are STAGGERED into stunned realization of what is really happening and beginning to cry out to God to be CONVERTED, Will follow, immediately, the dreadful DAY OF THE LORD!
The Day of the Lord consists of seven trumpet plagues, the last three of which are called “three woes,” and the last of these “three woes” is made up of the “seven last plagues.”
Christ does not come to this earth until the outpouring of the last and FINAL of the seven last plagues!
Once you understand this step-by-step ORDER OF EVENTS in Bible prophecy, and prove it to yourself thoroughly by careful study of the book of Revelation in the light of Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, you Will NOT be deceived by false leaders who would deliberately wrest and twist the Bible for their own purposes, merely to gain a following!
It is because of the masterful deception of Satan the devil that the MILLIONS are utterly blinded to the very PURPOSE for human life!
HOW FEW comparatively, really understand that this human life is like “boot camp” or primary training for the very Kingdom of God!
HOW FEW understand that we are to be busily QUALIFYING to become “KINGS AND PRIESTS” and to actually sit on exalted THRONES, ruling with Jesus Christ of Nazareth, making far-reaching judgmental decisions, edicts, issuing orders which will enforce PEACE upon a sin-sick, war-torn world at last?
This earth is where the problems are!
It is here on this earth, that Jesus Christ intends cleaning house—solving the problems—ushering in an era of absolute compulsory joy!
Yes, the saints will reign ON THE EARTH!
Remember Jesus’ admonition (Luke 21:36), and ask yourself are you watching world news and conditions; and are you praying always, that you might “be accounted worthy to escape ALL THESE THINGS that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man”?
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This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.
The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.
