Herbert W Armstrong

   In a day such as ours with footprints of human beings on the moon. Is the Bible really important or is it something like a talisman? A kind of a spiritual exercise in tranquility and inner peace that people file away somewhere in the home, maybe in a dresser drawer or maybe on the top of the piano, the bed stand, ah, not that closes, you might get tempted to pick it up.

   It's in motels always open up to the 23rd Psalm, I notice or maybe somewhere else if the maid happened to close it and forgot where it was, but it always opens the easiest to the Psalm 23rd, and it's once in a great while, at least it used to be back in the days of the DC-7s and some of the early jets and the reading racks of airplanes.

   I have seen Bibles in such places as Mortician offices and even there, I have rarely seen the fact that a Bible looked like it had ever been opened up in read. There wasn't a thumbprint or a dog ear or an underline or a mark to be seen, which brought me to come last time that back during the pre-pornographic days of Forever Amber, it would have been a rather strange conversation to hear a housewife telling her mother that she ran right down to get the book, but she never read it.

   If Forever Amber had been a status symbol to have in your library shelf. Instead of something that people hungrily wanted to devour, it would have been a little bit different. But here we are with a bestseller year by year, a book that has been translated into more languages than any other that is carried by everybody from Bible salesmen and brides going down the aisle toward the altar for marriage to preachers.

   I don't know, even if preachers read them as often as they should, but it's not read by very many people and people are not embarrassed by this. You could in a conversation, display a little bit of ignorance over art, literature, music, or history. And you might be embarrassed, but it's sheik, it's up to the moment if you're sitting there over a steak and said, well, I don't know anything about the Bible. Oh, well, neither do I be my guest.

   I mean, after all, I'm not a saint either. But if we were a religious program and we came on with hands clasped and said, now, you know, my wife Shirley and sister Beverly are going to sing for you. And if I had a guitar, one of my props, you know guitar or if I could have a Bible and hold in my hand and make these gestures, like I was kind of given a karate course or chopping wood, you would know that it was a religious program, the organ music, the lilies and the alter, the choir standing singing there just as I am, but that's not really the way they want you to come up there.

   Because if some guy staggering off the street, you know, and came on down the aisle just as he was, you really do begin to wonder what would happen, religion. The Bible, the space age. It's a kind of a strange combination when you stop to think about it, isn't it? Do people really still believe in the old idea of an ever-burning hell and going to heaven in this modern technological space age of ours with the capacity to annihilate more than 50 worlds like ours.

   I say the only religion that makes any sense whatsoever is the true religion of Jesus Christ of Nazareth the prophecies of the Bible that foretold the exact day in which we would live and there is nothing religious sounding. There is nothing that has the paraphernalia of religious gestures or religious music or religious accompanying phenomena, like all sorts of giant pipe organs and stained glass windows and just a certain way of holding your hand and doing things to appear religious with these biblical prophecies that talk about wheat and grain that talk about oil and barley and corn that talk about the raw minerals and resources of nations that talk about weather cycles and about wars and rumors of wars that talk about earthquakes in different places that talk about the end of governments and the emergence of a new and a different government. Does that sound religious?

   What is religious about an earthquake when people jump up screaming and crockery is falling, and a bookcase just came smashing off the wall, and things are overturning, and the pool is sloshing out back, and the dog is barking, and the cat just climbed a tree, and all the birds have got cramps in their feet from hanging onto the limbs? Is that a religious exercise? And people are screaming? Let's get the kid. Let's get out of here. Here is your Bible that says that kind of thing is going to happen in our day.

   In the 24th chapter of the book of Matthew is the pivotal prophecy of all of the Bible. And that is where Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who was a prophet told you what would be the signs one overlapping another one, one overtaking the other one. Each growing more intensive would indicate that this interruption in human affairs is growing near. Let's see whether or not we are in the picture.

   Now, I've done this several times. I don't want to repeat unnecessarily for those who might have watched or heard earlier. But in Matthew 24 Jesus was being shown by his disciples the buildings of the temple. They were amazed at the size of them. They said, "Look at all of this." And he said, "I tell you, there isn't one here, one giant stone on top of another that shall not be thrown down yet." That hasn't happened yet. So you're left with two choices, as I said a couple of programs ago, either Jesus' lied or was mistaken or else this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled.

   Now, the test of prophecy is whether or not it comes to pass, it's whether or not it is verifiable by the events that it portends or portrays. So here is a statement by Jesus Christ that there will come a time when there will not be left one giant stone on top of another, those great buildings that formed a portion of the wall of the temple itself and of the buildings that were accompanying are part of the temple structure. But many of those stones still exist. And we have an archaeological dig in which we send students over in cooperation of the Hebrew Exploration Society every single summer in which Ambassador College students from all three of our campuses in Pasadena in Big Sandy Texas and over in Brickwood in England are taking part, and I have been able to see very close up to touch, to look at and so on. The stones which have been unearthed from way down below the level of the soil, all the fill material that had gradually accumulated and been scraped in there over the centuries. And when you get down below where the weather hasn't been able to erode the stones, they are still quite polished and they still show some of the earlier finish that they did during the days that Christ and the disciples later became known as apostles walked that very area.

   The point is this, they are still resting quite conformably one atop another by the thousands. So this prophecy, although there was a former type that appeared to come to pass in 70 A.D. when Jerusalem was destroyed to the accompaniment of wars and rumors of wars to the accompaniment of disease, which nearly always follows because of pollution of surface water, a lack of foodstuffs, moons, dysentery, etc. And also there were earthquakes, there were famines and sometimes those things either precede or follow in the wake of war. But it wasn't the complete and the final fulfillment of this very same prophecy of Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:4-5).

   Now Jesus said, "Take heed that no man deceive you." And then he epitomized what the so-called Christian end quote message would be. He said, "Many will come in my name saying I am the Christ." Not that they are the Christ though I oftentimes think some even go so ours to imply that but that he Jesus is the Christ and shall deceive many. And you know, that is the very embodiment of the so-called Christian message. Is. let me tell you what the Lord has done for me and what he'll do for you just now, just there, right there outside of these walls. The message is that he is nice, he's good, he's gentle. He is the Christ, he is the Lord, he is the savior. And you need to believe on him.

   Now, once you've got all that out of the way and it's a kind of a public confession and the preacher prays for you and all of that. Well, then you're on the road to heaven in spite of the fact that I approve to my television and radio audiences and especially with the TV audiences. Time it again by pointing the scriptures out to them by merely pointing to what the scriptures say that it does say over and over and over, over again to the tune of dozens of times in the Bible that nobody is going to go to heaven.

   But you know, the Christian religion is going to give up a doctrine that is that comfortable and is that much a part of the mainstream Christian thought that easily just because I come along and open up a page of the Bible and let people read it isn't going to change people's minds about what they think they want the Bible to say. But Jesus did say that the embodiment of the message, a deceiving message would be many would be saying he Jesus is the Christ and that is the message today. But you will hear he went on of wars and rumors of wars and that's what our newspapers, yours and mine are made up of.

   They say peace today when there is no peace as we'll see a little later on. But all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. He said nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There shall be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in different places. Then he prophesied a great martyrdom, even religious persecution. And he said in verse 11 (Matthew 24:11), many, not a few, false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many.

   Again, the majority is depicted as being received and going the wrong way. Not a tiny few, maybe snake handlers somewhere in the swamp or maybe people who believe in some kind of a weird religion that got out of a strange lost book, because iniquity, that's a biblical word that means lawlessness, which is law breaking and we're living in a massive avalanche of crime because iniquity shall abound. The love of many shall wax cold, but he that shall endure unto the end of the same shall be saved.

   You mean you got to endure. It's not just an automatic process. A hocus focus bang and they, the switch is all ready at the end of the line to shoot you up somewhere else. Well, Jesus said, he that shall endure, endure what false prophets, false Christs, false messages, wars and rumors of wars, drought, famine, disease, earthquakes. He that endures all of this. He that endures religious persecution shall be saved.

   And then he said in verse 14 (Matthew 24:14), and this Gospel of the Kingdom, what's the Gospel of the Kingdom? Have you heard of gospel music? But you've heard of gospel names, probably, gospel signers. I've heard of them. But what about the Gospel of the Kingdom? Have you heard of that? Shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. It doesn't say it's going to convert them nowhere in the Bible does it say that?

   As a matter of fact, the Bible strongly implies over and over again that people are not going to understand in the main and that the Bible itself is so written and the gospel itself is so designed to be preached in such a fashion that it will not be understood by the majority until a certain time comes, when God is going to allow more minds to be open, it's a witness and then shall the end come. The end of what? The end of an age, he said in verse 21 (Matthew 24:21), for then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world at this time, no, nor ever shall be. And verse 22 (Matthew 24:22), except those days should be shortened.

   I showed last time that [inaudible] the prophecy, there was never a time until this moment in world or earth's history. When you could say that this verse, verse 22 of Matthew 24 was any more poignantly realistic and alive than right now. And that is simply this, that except by divine intervention, all human machinations, governmental manipulations, all sorts of organizations and treaties and parleys and whether moves in trade war or all of the economics, devices that are happening almost daily. It seems these days the floating of various currencies, the attacks on the dollar, the beginning shots of trade war that are already affecting the United States, the shortening then of the event that might lead the world to what it says here, except these days should be shortened.

   Well, then what would happen if they weren't shortened? There should no flesh be saved. We live in a time when human annihilation is a distinct possibility. God says he's going to cut short that time. And your Bible says that is good news.

   Predicting the future has always proved difficult. The pilgrims envisioned a prosperous settlement never dreaming their land would become the most powerful nation on earth. The Wright Brothers predicted success with no idea that their new invention would usher in the possibility of global warfare. Henry Ford's automobile was the work of visionary genius, but he never expected our modern bluffed streets and highways. What comes next? Can you know there is a source which accurately foretells the future of man. It is the Bible.

   The keys to understanding Bible prophecy are explained in a free booklet, How To Understand Prophecy. This booklet doesn't foretell the pilgrims, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford or Captain Cook, but it does bring the Bible alive with meaning and significance. Send for your free copy of How To Understand Prophecy. Send your request to Ambassador College Box 345 GPO Sydney, New South Wales. That's Ambassador College Box 345 GPO Sydney New South Wales.

   Jesus Christ of Nazareth was a prophet. But so are men such as Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and all the Old Testament prophets that are spoken of as the former and the latter prophets. And they also foretold of a time that is absolutely unique in the world's history. In the book of Jeremiah. It foretells a time which is called the Time of Jacob's Trouble a time which is described as being utterly unique. That's in the 30th chapter and verse seven, I want to merely cross identify between this Old Testament Book of Jeremiah, the 30th chapter and verse seven (Jeremiah 30:7) and Matthew 24 and verse 21 (Matthew 24:21), we saw in Matthew 24 and verse 21 that it said, for then shall be great tribulations such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time. No, nor ever indeed never shall be all right. Alright, it's a time then without parallel or completely unprecedented time.

   Back in the book of Jeremiah is the time it is spoken of as a great day (Jeremiah 30:7). Alas for that day is great so that none is like it, even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. Now, Jacob's name was changed to Israel. Jesus sent the disciples to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It says he came unto his own and his own received him not, it says in the book of Jeremiah that the days come when I will bring again the captivity of my people, Israel.

   Now that is a rather confusing term. If you don't understand some of the old Testament technical terminology in the English from the Hebrew, it doesn't mean take them into captivity again. It means bring them back out of captivity again. And here's the point, biblical historians and scholars know that Judah went into captivity under the armies of the King Nebuchadnezzar for that 70 years Babylonian captivity. And then after the days of Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah, they came back out.

   And this is also biblical history as well as even profane historians who testify of it and most people, though, they may be a little bit ignorant of the fact that there are four whole Old Testament books devoted to the separate national histories of the Nation of Israel. On the one hand, and the Nation of Judah, on the other hand, two separate dynasties of kings, two separate national capitals, two separate governments and two separate histories and the very first place in the Bible, II King 16:6 where the word Jew ever appears.

   You see that Jews and the Israelis of that day. In other words, Judah or the Jews and the House of Israel, the northern 10 tribes with capital at Samaria are at war with one another. They went into captivity more than 10 tribes did in 718 through 721 B.C. under the armies of King Shalmaneser of Assyria. And they migrated, they never returned, they never went back to that land. They left their names where they went. You can read that in a book which we have for you. I have advertised on the radio time and again, I don't have a copy of it here to show you called the United States and the British Commonwealth in Prophecy.

   But here's the point, here's a statement in the book of Jeremiah, the 30th chapter that talks about a returning out of a captivity of the people that are called Jacob today, today yes that's right, because the 30th and 31st chapters of Jeremiah are describing an unparalleled time of world trouble just exactly as Jesus himself did in Matthew 24 and verse 21 there can't be two unique times as I explained last time, the word unique is in itself an absolute hyper supportive.

   There is no other word which can, why I say, you know, time and again, I hear people saying it is really unique or that's may be acceptable, but it is very unique. And that is not, because that's a double supportive and you can't have that happening. It's like you might say very, very. And even though we do it, the word unique means absolutely without peer, unprecedented.

   So here in the 30th chapter verse 7, in the book of Jeremiah is a time without precedent. And here in Matthew 24 verse 21 is the same time. The point I would like to make is that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the interpreter of prophecy. I'm not, no man is, no organization of men can interpret Bible prophecy. The Bible and prophecies are of no private interpretations say the Bible itself.

   Jesus is revealed in the book of Revelation as the Revelator, the one who does reveal who unfolds to the minds of his servants, the meaning of biblical prophecy in the prophecies itself or themselves. It says surely the Lord Eternal will do nothing but that he reveals his secret unto his servants, the prophets.

   Now it isn't a matter of reading something and wondering what it means. It is a matter rather of letting the Bible tell you what it means by letting one section of the Bible. It is quite clear, I tell you about another section of the Bible that is not quite so clear.

   Now, Jeremiah was a prophet. Jeremiah was a young man who didn't want to be given the message God gave him. He didn't want to go before leaders of the government. He was afraid. God said, don't be afraid, you've got to do it anyway.

   The last couple of times I showed you what God's prophets were like, how they didn't volunteer, how as if with one voice, they all said, maybe the people will listen to the message I've got for them and maybe if they listen closely enough and they hear what kind of national calamities are going to strike them.

   If don't turn around and go the other way, if they don't obey God's laws, if they don't begin to straighten out their lives, maybe they'll repent and maybe it won't have to happen to them. That was the motive, that was the mood and the attitude of those prophets. They wanted the people to repent.

   But, you know, in almost every single case, their motives were interpreted as being subversive as being contrary to the national interests. I'm going to show you again and quickly wrap this one up in just a moment that Jeremiah himself though so completely involved in his message to the point that it just nodded his vitals.

   He wrote the book of Lamentations of how he bawled and sobbed and cried when he saw off in the future, what was going to happen to his people, which did happen in previous type at that Babylonian captivity. He was very wrapped up in that message. And yet in spite of that though, he took it to the king himself. He was thrown into not just a jail but a dungeon in a slime pit right up to about his lower lip for doing nothing more than carrying a message that included some pretty bad news to the leadership of his day.

   If you ever heard someone say of the literary classic Gone With the Wind, I've never read it. And I don't like books about science or I understand it's all about life in Russia. Wouldn't you want to say? Well, why don't you just read the book? That's all it would take to understand. Gone with the Wind.

   The same solution works equally well with the most widely distributed and misunderstood book in the world. The Bible just read the book. We can't send you a Bible, but we can help you understand it with the keys explained in a free booklet we have for you titled, Read the Book.

   You'll see Bible misconceptions answered and a captivating history of Bible preservation. Be sure to write for your free copy of Read the Book if you've always thought that the Bible wasn't meant to be understood, you need this booklet. Its title is Read the Book. Send your request to Ambassador College Box 345 GPO Sydney, New South Wales. That's Ambassador College Box 345 GPO Sydney, New South Wales.

   I covered last time the section of the book of Jeremiah where after the scroll was written by the man whose name was Baruch, who after all was only like a secretary, the king was sitting there comfortably ensconced in front of his winter fireplace. And this fellow described Seraphim was reading his scroll and as he did, the king would reach over and cut it with his penknife and throw it in the fireplace. This was he made great copy for a Hollywood movie because it showed this character's complete disdain for the writings of this noisome, bothersome, nettlesome prophet called Jeremiah.

   They wondered, what is he looking at me in that tone of voice for? They just didn't like Jeremiah's message. I mean, when they saw Jeremiah coming, he said, here comes old Grump. Here comes Mr. Bad News personified, but Jeremiah's message remained absolutely true. He said in verse nine, the 37th chapter of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:9), don't kid yourself that's in modern language, deceive. Not yourself saying the Chaldeans will depart from us.

   Here was an advancing army. Here was a northern neighbor growing tremendously powerful in military and industrial strength, building up a huge army and they were living and eating and drinking and playing and dancing and having just a gay time. In the meantime, of course, they had violated all of God's laws, they were breaking his laws of farming, of finance, our personal ways of living, of morality, all of the laws of God, they were trampling them under foot.

   Now, the only difference being that God is not just an armchair. God that made a lot of rules to make him happy. He is the God that built the natural forces that act upon us. And when you break the law of God, you're breaking in a sense like a natural force because God is the one who is behind nature. And even though some of these laws are spiritual and you can't see taste or feel or sense them, they act upon you. If you break them laws involving your mind, your body, your health, morality, your marriage, your home, your children, your job, laws involving your relationship to God and your relationship to your neighbor. They were breaking those laws and they were kidding themselves. Maybe circumstances would change. Their nation wouldn't go down. He said, don't kid yourselves.

   Well, then he was accused in verse 13 (Jeremiah 37:13), the last line. He was in the gate of Benjamin, the captain of the ward. His name was Elijah, the son of Shelemiah. They all had various genealogies that were given the son of Hananiah and he took Jeremiah the prophet, which means he arrested him as you can see there on the television screen for those of you that are seeing the program saying you fall away to the Chaldeans.

   Now, that's got to be one of the most classic examples of incredible stupidity you've ever heard. How could he possibly be accused of the 5 colonization if he's standing up telling the king to his face, the country is going under, there's nothing very secretive about that. He's not out blowing up bridges. He's standing there telling the king the whole country is going down the drain if you don't do something about it.

   But this guy says, he arrested him and he said, you fall away to the Chian because he was telling the truth. And Jeremiah said it is false. I do not fall away to the Chaldeans but he didn't listen. Brought him one of the princes, verse 15 (Jeremiah 37:15), one of the princes smote him, put him in prison in the house of Jonathan, the scribe.

   Well, a little later on in chapter 38 and verse four (Jeremiah 38:4), they besought the powers that were to put Jeremiah to death because it says for thus, he weakens the hands of the men of war that remain in this city and the hands of all the people in speaking such words unto them. He told them the truth. He told them what God said. He told them what surely was going to happen and he was accused of bad mouthing his own country. It sort of reminds you of the bumper sticker, doesn't it? America love it or leave it. In other words, like it the way it is, with all of its crime, drugs, pornography, immorality, with all of its heavy taxation, its dollars crisis, its impending worsening, deeping international crises. It's fantastic problems from north to south and east to west like it just the way it is or get out.

   Well, what about the retaliatory bumper sticker that says, America change it or lose it? That's all Jeremiah was saying to his people. People change your way of life, change your country, change your relationship between yourself and your God. Or you are going to lose it all? Well, that's precisely what a, what a employer would tell an employee that wasn't doing a good job, change your work habits or lose your job. That's what happens in every aspect of life. Really. If we don't change when we're going the wrong way, we end up in some sort of a disastrous consequence.

   Jeremiah wanted them to change. He wasn't bad mouthing the country. He was doing the very best job he possibly could for the country in a very great patriotic service. So it said in verse 28 and this to me is really to wrap up. This is the kind of a hollow echo the clanging of the door and the jailer walking away into the distance. Here's Jeremiah. He's thrown in jail for his pains. He said, the Chaldeans are going to come, the city is going to be taken. They wouldn't believe him, they wouldn't listen. They threw him into jail for believing it. And in jail, he remained until, until this verse 28 chapter 38 of the book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38:28).

   So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken and he was there when Jerusalem was taken precisely as Jeremiah predicted it would. And so it came to pass exactly as he said. And here's a lesson for us today, that as much as Jeremiah's prophecies came to pass then. So will the Bible prophecies about our country and our peoples come to pass today and they're going to occur exactly as God's word says. And you've got to know what they are.

   You can take a look at how to evaluate prophecy in this booklet, How To Understand Prophecy. I don't think you've heard me mention this booklet very often how to understand biblical prophecy. It's a fairly new booklet that tells you exactly how to uncover the meaning of vitally misunderstood, often times prophecies of the Old Testament such as some of the book of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Hosea and so on. It tells you who the prophets were, how they were called, how the prophecies were preserved and why they were written and how it is they were written for our day.

   It takes you through very briefly, the introduction of the book of Ezekiel shows you how to understand that better tells you about prophetic time lapses, prophetic symbolism and shows you with proof from the Bible how the Bible interprets itself and the common symbols that are used. It also shows there are certain scriptural, spiritual qualifications for understanding Bible prophecy. This book that is only 30 pages long. It very shortens the point.

   It has very few pictures in it, but just a few and some of them are full color and you can have it by return mail. Absolutely free of charge. There is no price for it. It cannot be sold. It's a free educational service in the public interest published by Ambassador College Department of Theology. It's entitled How To Understand Prophecy. It's a handy guide. Then you from there can go on the books of the Bible and use this guide as a kind of a format, put it to the test in your own Bible.

   You will unlock to your own understanding. Very interesting, exciting portions of the Bible you've never understood before. So this booklet, How To Understand Prophecy is like a handy guide to many parts of the Bible you have never really understood and all you need to do is to request it by sending your letter to Post Office Box 345 Sydney, New South Wales. Be sure to tell us the call letters of your station. We need that. That's all there is no cost, but tell us the name of the radio station at which you've been listening, the call letters and then send your letter to Box 345 Sydney New South Wales. Until next time, this is Garner Ted Armstrong saying, goodbye friends.

   You have been listening to the World Tomorrow. If you would like more information, write to Ambassador College Box 345 GPO Sydney, New South Wales.