October 2015 Letters

ByACP

From Vancouver: Dear Brooks, our minister claims the Kingdom is not material or literal but a spiritual kingdom only, existing in the hearts of humans, or in the heavenly realm but definitely not on this earth. But, I believe as you do that it is an earthly kingdom with different divisions and different kinds of people.

Thanks Vancouver: Let me relate what the late Rev. E.J. Springett of our Movement had to say, which would be a good article for your minister to read. He wrote, “It is contrary to all the rest of Scripture to use a statement by Saint Paul [“Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption” 1 Cor. 15:20] as an argument that the Kingdom over which our Lord will reign is a spiritual one — for if that were the case, what reason is there for a Resurrection of the Body at His Coming?

Indeed, a careful study of the Scriptures concerning the Millennial Age of the Kingdom will reveal the fact that during the 1000 years of our Lord’s Reign there will be three kinds of people on earth;

The Saints who reign with Christ over the whole world. These consist of the Resurrected “dead in Christ,” together with those who are “changed in a twinkling of an eye” at the First Resurrection, all of whom are caught up to meet the Lord in the air (I Thess. 1::14-18) and who receive now, incorruptible bodies like that of Christ.

A large human population resident in the Kingdom. These are restored to perfect health, have long life, enjoy a perfect social order, but have not yet received the new body. Children are born under perfect conditions, the law of heredity having ceased as regards the “sins of the fathers upon the children.” Work of various kinds is carried on. Human life and experiences are restored to their normal within the borders of the Kingdom.

A population living in the nations outside the Kingdom –the “outer darkness” — suffering from all the ills caused by disobedience and sin as at present. Sickness heredity, shortened life, struggle and the various forms of the Curse pronounced at the Fall will still be their lot. As they learn to obey the Law of God, and love it, their social conditions will improve, and as they yield to the Call of the Gospel and accept Christ as Saviour, they will come into the Kingdom and enjoy all the blessings operating therein.

Gradually the nations will yield to the Government and Teaching of the Kingdom, and the Kingdoms of the world will become the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ. It will be readily seen that this is literal, social, governmental, political, and concerns the life of the whole world. It is impossible to understand the Bible teaching concerning the Kingdom apart from its place among the nations and peoples of the earth. Saint Paul is simply showing that in order to reign with Christ in the New Age will require an incorruptible body like that of their Lord.

From Toronto: Editor, I’m young and while I work six days a week, I have a job and part-time work, I do many chores on the Sabbath, play some sports sometime and sometimes work at a local pub as a bartender. It doesn’t seem to bother me and I wonder what this six days of labour and one day of rest really means.

Thanks Toronto: Wait until you get older and you will find out. You know, you probably think that the Sabbath is for giving thought to spiritual matters. And it is! But, God also initiated this Law to keep us healthy. You think you are invincible at your age but after six days of work, believe it or not, Toronto, your body needs a rest. Experiments with juggling the days in other ways, like 10 to 1, have been tried but nothing is as effective as 6 to 1. So, God must know what He is doing, eh? Some men and women may get away from ignoring the Law for a long, long time but in the long run, it will show.

From Washington State: Dear Editor: Here is it early August, 2015 and I am just reminding you of your article of a couple of years or more ago, “Looking to 2016”. Are you getting squeamish?

Thanks W.S. Not really! I will leave it to you and other interested readers to review the article but what I was suggesting is that there is a great possibility that something may be on the horizon, I didn’t suggest “what” but that the period since 2001 is highly interesting. If you recall, I had quoted the great Bible scholar J. Dimblely and Great Pyramid scholar David Davidson who both demonstrated that their studies proved that the end of 6 days (or 6,000 years) had its pinnacle at the fall equinox of 2001. Then I employed the extra time (15 years) God awarded King Hezekiah (Hezekiah meaning “Jehovah strengthens) in 2 Kings 18 and asked readers to keep that date in mind. But, let’s look at it another way, and first consider that is the most important autumn equinox since 2001. One of the great Bible scholars of the past, Howard Rand, made these observations years before his death in the 1990’s. He wrote” Between the close of 6,000 lunar years and 6,000 solar years from the fall of Adam, there is an epoch of 180 (one half the cycle of 360) years. This is the transitory period to which the Prophet Daniel gave the designation: the Time of the End. During those years there would be a general increase in knowledge through inventive genius, in the use of new powers developed and in travel. The year 1821 A.D. marked the end of 6,000 lunar years from the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and was, therefore, the commencement of the Time of the End. With this date the world entered upon the epoch of 180 years which will terminate 2001 A.D., the end of 6,000 solar years from Adam’s fall”.

Rand went on, “Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, there had been no practical change in man’s condition. For millenniums he had been laboring by the sweat of his brow to provide for his material needs. During the same years the fastest mode of travel upon land was by horse and upon the sea in sailing vessels. Then sudden changes began to take place”.

Think about what’s happened in transportation, communications, science, medicine and war. God told Daniel, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased”. No one can question the rapid increase in knowledge but we must remember there has been an equally dramatic growth of the knowledge of evil.

So, the fall equinox of 2015 will herald the beginning of the 15th year from 2001 and as I said in my article of 2013, “Who knows what the future will bring”. One thing is certain, the world is at a dangerous quandary now and with ISIS, the Russian situation and hot spots around the world, coupled with a potential massive economic disaster and weak western leadership, anything can happen and happen quickly.