The Last Days of Civilization
82-19
Telecast Date: July 22, 1982
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   The World Tomorrow. The Worldwide Church of God presents, The World Tomorrow with Herbert W. Armstrong. Ladies and gentlemen, Herbert W. Armstrong.

   Again, I say, the unthinkable nuclear world war is coming, and sooner than most people expect. Now, only in Bible prophecies can we absolutely know what is coming. And Bible prophecy says it is coming: a war that could erase all human life, every man, woman, and child on this earth. But it will not.

   I want to mention right at the outset of this program, the August number of The Plain Truth magazine will contain the cover article, "Humanity Won't End This Way." On the cover is a picture of a hydrogen bomb exploding. "Humanity Won't End This Way." Here's why, you'll need to get that. I'll anounce that again at the close of the program. And of course, there's no charge, and you can have a copy.

   The Bible prophecies show that we are now in the very last days of this civilization. God is not real to most people, but God is real, and He says definitively it is coming. Humanity won't end, but society as we know it on this earth and civilization as we know it will end. Cities are going to be destroyed, but God will cut that time short, and humanity will be saved alive.

   Now, the public media assume that our one nuclear enemy and that the nuclear war will come from Russia. They are wrong. It's only in Bible prophecies. I say that we can know what is going to happen. And Bible prophecies do not mention a war between Russia and the United States, believe it or not. Russia is mentioned in the Bible prophecies, the United States, believe it or not, is mentioned in the Bible prophecies. And you need to know where it is mentioned, and most of you don't know; you have never seen it. It isn't mentioned by name.

   I have another booklet that I would like to send you, and there's no charge, no request for money: "The United States and Britain in Prophecy." Where are these nations mentioned in the prophecies of the Bible? I'll mention that again at the close of the program. You need to have a copy.

   Bible prophecies regarding the imminent nuclear war begin actually in the second chapter of the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament, where Daniel came before the King Nebuchadnezzar, who was the emperor of the first empire that this world had ever known. Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said (Daniel 2:28), "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and makes known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days."

   This king had had a dream. It amazed him. It shocked him. It was an astounding dream. He demanded that his fortune tellers and astrologers would tell him the dream and what it meant. Of course, they couldn't tell. Daniel said that there is a God in heaven that would reveal it to him, and God did reveal it to Daniel.

   And Daniel said, "The dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed were this." And then Daniel explained to him that he had seen a very stupendous image, a great statue. It must have been, well, what we would call maybe 25 or 30 feet high. It was very, very great, much greater than a human man. His head was of fine gold, and its breast was of silver, its belly and thighs were of brass, its legs were of iron, its feet were part of iron and part of miry clay.

   And Daniel told the king Nebuchadnezzar what the dream meant. He said to the king, "You, king, are the head of gold. It represents you, your Chaldean Empire. And after you shall arise another king after you, inferior to you, and yet stronger militarily, as silver is less valuable than gold. It would be less valuable spiritually, but it would be superior in military strength. That was the Persian Empire. And then a third empire that would be still stronger but less valuable. And then finally, a fourth empire, the legs of iron, stronger than all, as iron is stronger than brass, but of less value morally and spiritually and ethically in every way of that sort. And then the feet were part of iron and part of miry clay."

   Now, he watched it until he saw, and there's a time sequence. It started with him 600 years before Christ. It carries on down through the Roman Empire and into the latter days because Daniel said the dream was to tell him what would happen in these latter days. And he really meant the time that we're living in now, in the last half of the 20th century A.D. And it finally comes down to a resurrection of the medieval Holy Roman Empire that is now in the process of being reorganized, a sort of United States of Europe. And they've been wanting to organize it for a long, long time, and it is going to come. And a stone supernaturally would strike this image on its toes and feet and would blast the whole image. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all of these kingdoms.

   The Kingdom of God is going to take it over, consume all of these kingdoms, these governments. And it shall stand forever. For as much as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands—in other words, not human hands, but coming supernaturally from God—which is the coming of Christ in power and glory, the King of kings, to rule all nations. And that it break in pieces the iron and the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation is sure.

   Daniel explained this further in the seventh chapter of Daniel, where he saw a vision of his own, four wild animals. Now, these four wild animals are only symbols. Now, the first was like a lion, but the second was like a bear. The third was like a leopard, but it was a very unusual leopard. It had four heads, not just one head. Now so far, that makes six heads. And the fourth was not like any of these, but it had the characteristics of all of them. And it represented the same thing as in the second chapter of the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament.

   In other words, the lion was the same as the golden head of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream. And the second wild animal, the bear, was the same as the breast and arms of silver on the statue, which was actually the Persian Empire, as we know from history. And then the third was like a leopard. And that corresponded to the belly and thighs of brass, but it had four heads. Now, the Greco Macedonian Empire, which succeeded and overthrew the Persian Empire, did divide into four different kingdoms, and there were the four heads of it. Alexander the Great died at an early age, and his four generals each divided up the empire. And so, it had the four divisions representing those four heads on that third beast.

   And then the fourth beast that Daniel had, strong like iron, was the same as the Roman Empire, which followed that with the strength of iron and ruling the whole world at that time. And the fourth beast then was different than all of the beasts, but great iron teeth. Then he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, and it shall be diverse or different from all kingdoms. And it shall devour the whole earth and shall tread it down and break it in pieces. And then there were 10 horns out of that kingdom, and they will be 10 kings or kingdoms that will arise out of the old Roman Empire. And they did carry down to our time today.

   Verse 27 (Daniel 7:27): "And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." The "him" means Christ.

   Now, the stone that was going to smite the image on its toes and feet is the second coming of Christ. And the saints are the church that will be made immortal at the time of the second coming of Christ, and that will rule under Him. And it is talking here about the literal governments, the literal nations and kingdoms of this earth. And Christ is coming to set up the Kingdom of God, a new kingdom altogether. And it is going to replace the governments of this world, it's going to replace the present society, the present civilization.

   Now, this same thing is pictured again when we come over to the 13th chapter of Revelation (Revelation 13:1), where the Apostle John saw one great beast rising up out of the sea. His mouth was as the mouth of a lion, but it had the feet of a bear, and it had the body of a leopard, but it had seven heads altogether. You find seven heads in Daniel's four beasts because his third beast had four heads. And altogether, there were seven heads, and there were ten crowns, and the ten crowns were on the last beast out of the Roman Empire.

   Then we come to the 17th chapter of the Book of Revelation, and we see a latter end of the same thing coming down to our time today. Now, I want to read to you a little from the 17th chapter. The last remnant of the great Gentile government chain. This chain of Gentile governments, they all rose up after ancient Israel had gone captive. It was the Chaldean Empire of Babylon took the Jews captive. The House of Israel had been taken captive over 100 years before that. But finally, Judah or the Jews had been taken captive between 604 and 585 B.C.

   Now, the Bible essentially is a book of Israel and about Israel, and it concerns other nations that come in contact with Israel, we should know that. In the 17th chapter of Revelation, I want to read verse three to you (Revelation 17:3). Here's John's vision that he saw in a vision, "The angel carried me away in the spirit" or in a vision, "into the wilderness: and I saw a woman set upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns". Here again, the seven heads and the ten horns. But here is a woman sitting on it. And the woman is described as the false religions that have arisen since the true gospel of Jesus Christ was suppressed. It's all described in verse five as a women on her forehead was a name written, "Mystery, Babylon the Great," or confusion in religion, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, persecuting the true church of God and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration."

   She was drunken with the blood of the saints, and yet the saints finally are going to take and possess the kingdom over all of this. And the ten horns which thou saw are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet. And that is true in our time right now, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, shall give their power and strength unto the beast, which is the system of governments as it will finally be in the so-called Holy Roman Empire in Europe. These shall make war against the Lamb, which is Christ at His second coming. They shall make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is now at this time is King of kings and Lord of lords.

   So, it comes right down to the time of the second coming of Christ. They will make war against Christ at His second coming. And after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, and he cried with a mighty voice, saying, "Babylon the Great is fallen, has fallen, and has become the habitation of demons and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth have waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues." Now, they are religions that have deceived the world.

   Now, how have they deceived the world? They have been preaching that Jesus is the Christ, but yet they have deceived the many. As I've read to you in the 24th chapter of Matthew, Jesus' disciples had asked him what was going to come in their time? "Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world," of this present society, this present world. And Jesus answered and said to them, his disciples, "Take heed that no man deceive you." Deceive them in that time, "for many shall come in my name, saying that I am Christ. Then shall deceive many."

   They would come in Jesus' name, saying that He, Jesus, is the Christ, preaching Christ to the world, preaching Christ to the nations, and yet deceiving the many. How could that be? How can you preach Christ? How can people receive Christ and be deceived? Well, I've read this to you many a time before in Mark the seventh chapter where Jesus himself said, "Howbeit in vain do they worship me." Actually, not only accepting Christ as Savior but worshiping him, worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, for making the commandment of God of none effect. You hold the tradition of men. In traditional Christianity, you hold the tradition of men, making the law of God of no effect. Saying God's law is done away. God's law is the foundation of His government. The foundation of every government is a law or a constitution, and the law is a way of living. A law is a way that regulates the way you live. Every government has laws, and God has laws that are spiritual laws. And it's a spiritual way of life. It's God's way of life. It's the way that God has lived, and that Christ has lived, and the way they have lived together from eternity because they are immortal and have always lived. It's the way of cooperation. It is the way of love.

   All that is wrong in the world today, all that is causing the heartaches, all that is causing these wars is the way people are living today. They're not living according to God's way of life, according to the law of God, the spiritual way of life. And yet, the religionists today are teaching you in traditional Christianity that that law is done away. Jesus said, "Think not that I come to destroy the law." He said, "I have kept My Father's commandments," and He said He had set as an example that we should do the same thing.

   Now, He said unto them, "Full well, you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition." And they did. Now, what was the gospel of Jesus Christ? What was the gospel that He preached in Mark 1 and verse 1? (Mark 1:1). You read, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ." In verses 14 and 15 (Mark 1:14-15), Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. That's the government of God that is going to take over all of the governments of this world. It's talking about governments. And Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand." And it was 1950 years ago. And He said, "Repent ye." That is, admit how wrong you've been living, how long you've been living? You're not living according to God's way of life, according to God's law, His spiritual way of life, the way of love, an outflow love to other people, and above all, love to God. And believe the gospel, repentance and faith, the twin conditions for receiving God's spirit and immortal life.

   Now, about Christ, you read back in Isaiah how in Ancient Israel it was said that a child was to be born, and He did come from the Jewish people. "The government shall be upon His shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace, there shall be no end." He was coming with government. Christ came preaching the gospel of the government, the Kingdom of God. God's kingdom, God's government, and telling people to repent. And it is a way of life. You repent of sin, and sin is the transgression of God's law, the spiritual law.

   Now, Christ came to pay the penalty of that sin, but we have to repent, and we have to turn from it and begin to accept the way of God according to God's law and God's way of life. If we're going to have any kind of immortal life or receive His holy spirit. Jesus came teaching, as we notice, for example, in I Corinthians, the sixth chapter and in verse two (I Corinthians 6:2). "Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?" Jesus said that the saints are going to judge the world. Daniel's prophecy showed that the kingdom will be given to the saints of the Most High. In Revelation three, Jesus said, "He that overcometh, will I grant to sit with Me on My throne, even as I overcame and am sat down with My Father on His throne in heaven." Jesus is coming to sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem, Palestine on this earth and to rule over all the nations of this earth.

   Then again, He said, "He that overcometh, will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron." And we find that the saints are going to judge the world. The saints are even going to judge angels. We're called to come into the knowledge of God and the law of God and the way of God. For example, now we will read in II Peter, the third chapter and the 18th verse (II Peter 3:18). "But grow," this is what saints are to do, what the people in the church are to do, "to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ". You know, that isn't taught today. People don't believe they need to grow in spiritual knowledge. The Bible is the textbook of spiritual knowledge, and it's filled with knowledge, but it's knowledge you can't understand when you read it unless the spirit of God is in your mind and heart, and that comes by real repentance. You've got to admit you're wrong.

   And the hardest thing for any human being to do is to admit he's wrong, and very few will do it. You have to admit you're wrong, and not only that, you have to turn to God's way of life. Now, the second hardest thing to do is to believe God, to believe what He says. So, you have to believe what God says. The Bible is what God says. Very few believe the Bible. The Bible shows you the way to live. It is a teaching on the way of living. And if we live that way and we're filled with the spirit of God, which is the spirit of love, an outflow love, and love is the fulfilling of God's law, and God will give us the only kind of love that will fulfill it. Then we shall rule. And God's people are going to be spared from the holocaust that is coming. They're going to be taken to a place of protection, and they're going to be spared.

   And God is going to stop it in time, and the world is going to go on, but it will be a new and a different world. And it will be a world of peace, and they won't be fighting. They'll beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks and nations will not learn war anymore. Now, let me once again mention this booklet that I did tell you about: "The United States and Britain in Prophecy." You need to know where the United States is mentioned in the Bible prophecy. Have you ever seen it? I'm sure you haven't if you haven't read this booklet, you don't know, and yet this country is mentioned. How could other countries be mentioned that are mentioned in the Bible, and a great country like the United States or like Britain?

   And the British Empire at the time was the greatest empire that had ever ruled on the face of the earth. Their empire is gone now, and it's going to go further. The same thing is going... well, if you want to know what's going to happen to the United States, you need to read this book. It tells you what is prophesized to happen to the United States. If you need to know, and this country it's mentioned, and you will know what is going to happen. Now, write in also for a special booklet: "What is the True Gospel?" That gospel was suppressed. The world has heard a gospel about Christ, but they haven't heard the gospel, which is the message He preached, was a gospel about government and a gospel about living and how you live. Turning from the wrong way of living to the right way of living. And as long as people say that the spiritual law of God is done away and that you're not under the law but under grace, which is the great teaching today.

   You're still going to have trouble in this world. That's why we have the troubles we do in the world. Christ is coming to end all of that. You need to know this booklet, "What is the True Gospel?" that has been hidden from the world for 1900 years.

   Now once again, you get a year's subscription to The Plain Truth magazine. It's one of the world's great mass circulation magazines. Now, over 4 1/2 million copies every month going out. Most of them are subscribers. Some of it is newsstands circulation, but over 2 1/2 million of subscriber circulation, and you have a year's subscription and no subscription price.

   Now, all you do just send your request to me, Herbert W Armstrong at Pasadena, California, Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123. Or you can just go to the telephone that's quicker than writing. And it's a free call. You call toll free 800-423-4444. It's a free call, 800-423-4444. Now in California, Hawaii and Alaska, you call collect call, collect area code 213, we'll pay for the call 577-5555. That's area code 213 then 577-5555. And if the lines are busy, keep trying because we have dozens or scores of people there to take your call, but calls are coming in fast. So, until next time, Herbert W Armstrong, goodbye friends.

   For the free literature offered on this program, write Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123 in Canada Box 44, Vancouver BC or in the continental United States. You may call this toll-free number 800-423-4444 in California, Alaska and Hawaii call collect, 213-577-5555. If the lines are busy, please try again. The preceding program and all literature were produced and sponsored by the Worldwide Church of God.

Please Note: The FREE literature offered on this program are no longer available through the Address and Phone Number given, please visit www.hwalibrary.com for all FREE literature offered on this program.

Telecast Date: July 22, 1982
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