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   Herbert W. Armstrong brings you the plain truth about today's world news and the prophecies of the World Tomorrow.

   Today, we hear a lot of bad news of the world today. But now I want to tell you precisely how and when the world lost the good news that Jesus Christ brought to mankind about the happy, peaceful, prosperous world tomorrow because that's what he proclaimed. He proclaimed the message of the gospel, which means good news of the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God is the world tomorrow. So, listen, it was news 1900 years ago. It's news today because it's just as new to you today as it was to those who heard Jesus himself 1900 years ago because you haven't heard this message. Why? They were astonished at his message, his gospel then. People are astonished at the same identical message, his same gospel, when they hear that precise, same gospel today.

   Yes, it was news and good news, and its news, the best news in 1900 years today. And yet, men hated that good news. They crucified Jesus for proclaiming it. It was the news of a happy world. A world lying at peace. A world of universal prosperity, a world in which men shall enjoy every good thing that the human heart desires. Then why did men hate Jesus for proclaiming it? Why did they hate Jesus for telling them that a time is coming? When we're going to have utopia, happiness, peace, joy, interesting lives, abundant material prosperity for everybody on this earth. Why did they hate him? Why did they crucify him for a message as good as that?

   Well, simply because that desired end can come only by the way that the Creator set in motion that will lead to such a joyous result. And men since Adam have been going a different way; men have been going the way that seems right unto a man. And as God says, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man. The ends thereof are the ways of death. And so, Jesus came saying that he had brought light into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

   Jesus came preaching repentance, preaching that men should forsake their way. As Isaiah had said, the way of salvation is, "let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man, his thoughts and let him return to God because God's ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts", at all. And we need to forsake ours, repent of them, acknowledge that they have been wrong and turn to God's ways. God's thought, think like God does, see things through God's eyeglasses, so to speak. And from his concept, look at it through the mind of God instead of through carnality of the human nature.

   That means that we have to admit we've been wrong. It means we have to forsake our way. And I tell you, my friends, the most difficult thing in human nature is to admit that your way is wrong, to confess that you've been going the wrong direction, to admit a mistake and to repent of it and to really be enough sorry for it that you turn around and go the other way. Yes, men love the darkness rather than the light. And so, they crucified Christ for the very message that I preach to you today.

   Now, my friends, we hear a lot of the gospel today. We hear a lot about Christ. We hear a lot about what we call grace. We hear that won't you just accept Christ? Won't you just receive Christ? But you don't hear very much, my friends today, of what Jesus preached. He said, if you would enter into life, keep the commandments. He said, why call you me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say the apostle Paul preach, that same message, a message of working out your own salvation, even if you please. Yes, that's in your Bible, believe it or not. Maybe you can't understand that since salvation comes by God's grace, it is his own free gift, which it most certainly does. Well, I want to tell you my friend, eye have not seen nor ear have not heard the wonderful things that God has in store for us. Very few of you have any slightest conception of the real reward that is in store for us if we are really saved. Oh, it is so far more than you have ever dreamed. And there is a part we have to play in it. Oh, yes. Everything that comes eternal life, the righteousness, everything that is to come to make up that glorious life, eternal comes from God, but you have to do your part. And as a matter of fact, you have to admit you're wrong, you have to surrender your way. You have to really hunger and thirst for the way of God and turn to it instead of hating that way. And that, my friends, is why men soon sent out that gospel.

   Now, let's see what happened to it. Let's see what was prophesized. Did Jesus say that he would build his church and that the church would never turn the wrong way and the people would never go the wrong way? But that rather did he say that the whole world, the whole Western world at least would come to really love that way and to accept his way and his gospel until Christianity would become a great and a popular religion dominating the world.

   Can you find that in any prophecy in your Bible? Can you find any place in any prophecy in your Bible that this whole world would go the right way and that there would never be any apostasy and that men would never turn away from the truth, that the truth would be so wonderful that men would just, oh, they would all hunger and thirst for it, that men would grasp for it and that they would embrace it, and that they never would turn away from it because it is such a right? And such a good and a happy way and it leads to such a happy result.

   Now, that's all true. It is such a good and happy way. It leads to such a happy result. But can you find any prophecy in your scriptures about the church and about the future courts of the world that they would always just stay on the right track on that way and never turn away from it? Do you know what your Bible says? Do you know what is foretold and prophesied? Do you know what Jesus himself said would happen? Well, now let's go through some scriptures real quickly and I want to show you what he said.

   Will you get your Bible and open it so that you can take down the scriptures and don't just write the scriptures alone like so many of you do that I turn to you won't remember the point I brought out about that scripture later, write down the point I'm making and then the scripture which explains that point. And then you have the whole theme, write down notes about everything I'm giving you and you will have quite a course in Bible study. If you do that, of course, you should enroll in the, Ambassadors College Correspondence Course. At the same time, that will show you how to study your Bible. You do need to know how to study very few people know how to study.

   You know, I happen to be the president of a college, Ambassador College, which we feel is a very fine and splendid co-ed institution. It's co-educational and I know something about education and I know something about college life. I have to direct a great deal of it here on our campus and I want to tell you something when we come to the graduation exercises in the spring and the senior class is graduating. They graduate to what? Now we don't call it the ending of a college education. We call it the commencement. It is commencement. What it means is then what is the value of a college education? The number one value, the main value of a college education is it teaches young people how to study. It does not give them an education.

   You know, a lot of people think, well, if you haven't gone to college, you don't have an education. That is not true. Some of our best educated men in the United States and I've known many of them. I've known many multimillionaire heads of great corporations that started out as poor farmer boys and many of them from Iowa and Illinois. Now I came from Iowa myself. So, I can really say that in great loyalty in my own old Hawkeye State. You people back in Iowa and in Illinois, as many of you are listening back there.

   Well, I have lived in Illinois too. I lived in Danville, Illinois for a little while. And I lived in Chicago for seven years and had an office in the loop in Chicago for seven years. So, I have lived in Illinois as well as Iowa. I was born and raised in Iowa, went completely through school in Iowa. But I tell you my friends, I've known many men that were born in those two states and became great executives, heads of great corporations and some of them have never had a college education, but they were educated.

   Now, you just don't get an education at college. And the number one thing that you do get in college is to learn how to study an education is a lifelong process. And every one of you listening, you people past college age, you people in middle age and even in old age, you still need to study. And the first thing you need to study is your Bible.

   Now, study it. When I come on the air, have your Bible open, have pencil and note paper, take down notes and then go over them and study them later. That's the way to increase your knowledge. And it's the most happy, joyous occupation and way to spend your time because you're improving yourself all the time you do it.

   And let me tell you something, you can go out and earn a lot of money. You can earn lots of money. I've known many multimillionaires and they've had lots of money. I knew one multimillionaire that committed suicide when he got into some financial reverses. That was years ago. And sometimes people think that money is the only thing that counts in the world. Oh, no. You know, God wants you to have enough money and God would see to it we all had enough money if we would only follow his ways and obey them. God doesn't want us to be poor, but sometimes it's better for us to be financially poor, monetarily poor and learn some of the truths of life and recapture some of the true values.

   Incidentally, our slogan here at Ambassador College is, "Recapture the true values", yet the true values of life. A lot of people, you know, set store to false values and put false things first. Now, the spiritual values really come first and that you need to know, but you can accumulate a million dollars or 100 million dollars and when you die, you leave it behind. It doesn't go along with you. You cannot take it with you.

   But my friends, when you accumulate the right kind of knowledge and then when you have the will, but, first you have the wisdom to make the right decision to travel in the way of that right knowledge and away from the wrong way that your knowledge discerns and reveals to your mind. And then you have the will to resist the wrong way and to drive yourself in the right way, that is character and all the character, including the knowledge and the ability to utilize it and to put a to in yourself and to govern your own self. All that, that you can acquire in this life you do take with you and you will possess and enjoy forever. And if you don't have that to take with you, you will, you just won't be in the world tomorrow and you aren't going to go on living forever at all because the wages of sin is not eternal life.

   The wages of sin is death. Well, a lot of you believe the wages of sin is eternal life. Haven't you? Eternal life and some kind of continual punishing. You can't find that in your Bible, you can find eternal punishment, but the word ends in, M-E-N-T and not in, I-N-G and eternal punishment is this the punishment is that DEATH which is the cessation of life and it all eternity, you will never be resurrected to life again. There is a second death beyond which you can never be resurrected. And that second death is the penalty of sin and its eternal punishment for all eternity.

   So, you see my friend that you reap the wrong things in this life or sow the wrong things, you reap the wrong things and you will reap that and you just aren't going to be and you aren't going to take it with you. But, the more knowledge you gain that is right knowledge, and the very foundation of all right knowledge is the Holy Bible. If you can understand the most rational book ever written, it's about time we didn't blow the dust off of it and come to realize that it is not a superstition. Many of the things that have been represented in the Bible that people believe the Bible says are superstition, of course. So, when you see what the Bible does say and you don't need to interpret it, take it as it is. Oh, it's the most rational book ever written. It makes sense. I can tell you that.

   Now, let's see what Christ said about. Let's take his own prophecy. Men had come to him asking him about the end of the world that is the end of this age, this civilization. And his own disciples had come to him up on the Mount of Olives and he was sitting up there and they were all alone. Nobody else. They came to him privately and they said, tell us, when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world, or the end of the age, the end of this present pattern of society, this way that men have devised and evolved the society of man by man, Jesus proclaim the Kingdom of God.

   And that is the world tomorrow in which it will be God's world ruled by God. All right, Jesus answered and said, unto them, take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my name saying that I am Christ and did he say and protecting people from deception? But saving them and saving the whole world? Oh, no. Did he say that the whole world was going to be saved before the end of the world? No. What did he say would happen before the end of the world? Then would come saying that he is the Christ proclaiming his name and proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ but receiving the many.

   Now, how can you claim He is the Christ and deceived people, my friends, you can accept Christ as your savior. You can go further than that. You can call him Lord. You can absolutely worship him and turn to the seventh chapter of Mark in your Bible. Just jot it down, read it afterwards, the seventh chapter of Mark. And you begin to notice the seventh verse there, especially in the 13th verse, the ninth verse 7th, 9th and 13th, especially read the whole chapter read that, of course, he's talking there about Pharisees.

   There was a local thing there about the Pharisees accusing the son of Jesus' disciples of eating without following the custom that they had set up with having to wash their hands in a certain sort of a ceremony of washing before they ate. And it was nearly a religious ceremony. That was the thing that provoked it. That may have been the immediate event. But Jesus said in vain do they worshiped me teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men. That was just one of the commandments of men. It what was called Judaism at that time, Judaism was not the law that God had given Israel through Moses.

   Oh no, it was that perverted. And with the addition of a lot of pagan and heathen superstitions that had been added and that men had added, perverting the original Gospel of the Old Testament. And that was clearly a materialistic gospel as I've been showing you the last few days in a flash worn materialistic church, the old covenant has gone away. We're under the new now. It's quite different. And he said very well, you reject the Commandment of God that you may keep your own traditions.

   My friend, could you be doing that today? Are you following traditions of men? Listen, do you know where some of the things that are traditional came from? How could you prove that Jesus is the Christ? He gave one, Jesus gave one supernatural sign as an evidence that he was the Christ. And there are two ways you can prove that Jesus is the Christ. One is to verify whether or not that sign was kept a sign in Bible language is a supernatural act of identity.

   That is a supernatural miracle that identifies someone or something. Now, Jesus only sign was that he would be three days and three nights in his grave after he was crucified to be exactly three days and three nights in the grave meant he would have to be there three nights periods and three day period. And Jesus said that we know that there are 12 hours in a day and he was talking about day and night and there were 12 watches in those days in the night, but there are 12 hours in the night now.

   And anyhow, a day and the night Jesus showed there were 12 hours in a day. And you find that the evening, the night period that God called night, the dark period and the light period that God called day way back in the very first chapter of Genesis and a light period. And the day period were the first day and another light period and dark period or day and night were the second day and another day and night was the third day and the three days or the third day or three days and three nights.

   Well, I won't dwell on that any longer, write in for our booklet on the Resurrection. And you will get one of the biggest surprises in your life and you will find a tradition that you probably have grown up accepting and believing and you're going to be surprised.

   Let me just tell you something. This was 50 years ago. It was out west of Eugene, out in the country in the state of Oregon, west of Eugene, Oregon, and a man who had heard me preaching up there told me of something, a brother of his who was quite religious had come up and come out to his house to visit him. And I think he was an important church official of some kind. Anyhow, he was very religious. I don't know anything about what the nomination that wouldn't make any difference anyway. But anyway, he was talking about Easter and about the resurrection of Christ on Sunday morning.

   And this man said, well, he said, was Christ resurrected? Did he rise from the grave on Sunday morning? The man says, why? Of course, he said, well, how do you know? Well, the man says, the Bible says so well, this other man said, well, doesn't he said, well, now I've never found that here. He handed him a Bible. He says, show me and he handed him a Bible. Well, a man began to turn around and come around in the Bible and he couldn't find it. My friend, did you ever try to find it?

   Now, in Mark 16:9, it will tell you what condition Jesus was in early the first day of the week. He was risen and was risen is past perfect tense. He already had risen. That's the meaning, the exact meaning of it there. And so don't try to read into that he was rising because that isn't what it says. Can you find any place in your Bible that it says, Jesus rose early the first day of the week or that he was rising early the first day of the week? No, you can't. It just isn't there, write in for our booklet on the Resurrection.

   Now, there are two truths that Jesus is the Christ. One is the Old Testament. Without the Old Testament, you can't prove it by the scriptures. You need the Old Testament writings because they prophesized about him. And we know they were written wrong before him when he came, fulfill those prophecies in such a remarkable manner, you know that he was the Christ, but he gave one miracle to prove it, one divine sign by a miracle from God.

   And that was that he would be three days and three nights in the tomb. And how can you count that between Good and Friday at sunset when they know he was buried just before sunset? Because Matthew tells us that and Mark tells us that and so does Luke and so does John. So, we have four gospels that prove that point. Now, can you count three days and three nights between Friday night and Sunday morning.

   All Friday night is one night and all-day Saturday would be one day and all Saturday night is another night. There's two nights and one day and Sunday morning is resurrected. There, you are just one day and two nights, two nights and a day. How do you get three days and three nights? My friends. there is a great trouble and it's a little problem so simple that a child in the second grade can figure it.

   Now, I know that there are some theologians that can't figure that. But I tell you, sometimes children can figure simple things easier than the wise and prudent. Jesus said, I thank thee O, God of heaven that thou hast revealed these things for the babes, but hidden them from the wise and the prudent. We'll write in for our booklet on the Resurrection.

   Now, Jesus said, many will come in my name saying I am Christ and deceiving people. Now further than that, he said that many false prophets would arise. And when we get down very near the end time, then he said in verse 11 (Matthew 24:11), many false prophets shall arise and deceive many. He didn't say a few, he didn't say some long-haired fanatical soap box orator climbing up on a cheap old soap box down on skid row somewhere and deceiving a few old drunken sops that don't know any about it. You know, a lot of people think that's what that means. That isn't what Jesus said. He said there would be many deceiving the many, not the few.

   Now again, right here in the same chapter, verse 24 (Matthew 24:24), there shall arise false christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect, great signs and wonders. And I tell you, there are people already today being deceived by so called signs and wonders. You need to be careful.

   Now, I want you to turn real quickly with me to just a few scriptures. We only have a very few minutes. The 20th chapter of Acts verses 29 and 30 here's Paul had called, the elders of Ephesus. He didn't have time on this particular journey to go over to Ephesus. He was coming down the sea coast to Jerusalem and he wanted to see all the elders that is the pastors and the preachers and ministers at the church. It was a very large church up at Ephesus. So, he sent word from Melius and had them come down to meet him and he was having a meeting with them and notice now what he said to these ministers in verses 29 and 30 is the 20th chapter of the book of Acts (Acts 20:29-30).

   For this I know he said, now you told him take heed to yourself and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to feed, what church, the Church of God. That's the name of the church in your Bible, my friends. The church that Jesus said he would build is the Church of God. That's its name. And here it is, which he has purchased with his own blood. For I know this that after my departing shall grieves wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, watch and remember that for the space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears. You see what the prophecy was? Falling away departing from the truth.

   Now, real quickly, will you turn over to II Corinthians? And I want you to notice something over here in II Corinthians, the 11th chapter of II Corinthians and the 13th and 14th and 15th verses (II Corinthians 11:13-15), speaking here of false apostles such as false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. They're pretending to be the ministers of Christ. They say I'm a minister of Jesus Christ and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Satan doesn't come around as an angel of darkness or error. He comes pretending to have the truth and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also are transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works.

   Now, he said above, I fear lest by any means a serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ, many false prophets deceiving the people. That is what is prophesized, my friend.

   Now in the II Timothy, in the fourth chapter (II Timothy 4:3), the third verse, the time will come, they will not endure. That's the people of the Western world will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lust, shall they heap to themselves teachers, have the itching ears, that is the people have the itching ears and they want teachers that will teach things to tickle their ears, that's all, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned on the fables.

   My friend, is that true, has that happens? Did God know what he was talking about when he inspired that prophecy? The Apostle Paul wrote that I want to go a little further and I want to show you more of that history. I'm going to have to leave off there. And in the next program, I'm going to show you the history, the actual history of the church that Jesus didn't found. Where is the true church that Jesus said he would build, where is that church today? I'll give you the actual history in the next program.

   19 centuries ago, a group of local authorities challenged the identity of Jesus Christ. How could this common carpenter be? The Son of God? Christ offered them one dramatic proof, for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly. So shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth?

   That sign came to pass exactly as Christ predicted when he walked out of the tomb, 72 hours after his burial, the traditional good Friday burial and Easter resurrection concept preached today, does not allow three days and three nights. The actual 72 hour prediction fulfilled by Christ. Why has this simple truth been obscured for the plane fact, request the challenging booklet, The Resurrection Was NOT on Sunday. Your copy is free of charge, The Resurrection Was NOT on Sunday.

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