Dad
May 16, 2003
DFO 151312/4/83
1. AMEN LORD JESUS, HELP US‚ LORD! Thy will be done. Have Thy way. Give us wisdom, Lord. Bless us in this little time together. Give us a little foretaste & glimpse, Lord, of things to come, to help us know how to prepare for them & operate, in Jesus' name. TYL! You have a lot of things to say in Your Word, Lord, about preparations, to watch, prepare & to beware. So give us wisdom, Lord, in Jesus' name!
2. WELL, FRANKLY, I WAS VERY TIRED AFTER A LONG HARD DAY'S WORK. I must have gone over at least 30 or 40 pages, plus an hour-&-a-half/two-hour lecture to the leadership this morning‚ & a few little side lectures to different ones of you to get you stirred-up, & a few lectures to pass on to other people. You say, "Well, why don't you just let us listen to the tape?" ("Red Alert!", No.1469) Well‚ I have a few other things to say to you besides that! Besides, I want to sort of comfort your heart tonight, believe it or not, & cheer you up!—I hope! TTL! Jesus, have Thy way‚ in Jesus' name. PYL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Be with us, Lord. Give us wisdom, love & patience. Help us, Lord, to say what needs to be said, in Jesus' name. PTL! TYL!
3. THE LORD HAS EVEN GONE TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR US, THAT WHERE HE IS, THERE WE MAY BE ALSO. (Jn.14:2,3) That place is really a refuge, isn't that wonderful? They won't be able to touch you there. In fact, they'll never be able to touch us again, once we've gone to be with the Lord in the Rapture, had our Wedding Supper‚ come back to win a big battle, rule & reign & win another battle, & rule & reign some more! And after that First Resurrection, that'll be the last one for you & me—then we won't have to worry any more!
4. I HOPE YOU'VE BEEN ENJOYING THE MILLENNIAL SERIES! You may think a lot of it is guesswork & conjecture‚ maybe so, but it's just following a pretty reasonable line of logic of what is bound to be the case if what the Bible says is true!—And I believe it‚ don't you? Do you believe the Bible predicts the rise of the Antichrist? Do you believe he's going to reign for seven years? Do you believe the last half's going to be the Tribulation? And do you believe the Lord's going to come & get us out of it & take us to be with Him?—For what? Don't be so bashful! (Family: The Marriage Supper!) Right! You guys are beginning to learn your ABC's of Bible Prophecy & Chronology! That's what I'm trying to get straight—& I hope you get it straight! I've been working hard on it, trying to put the beads on the string so you'll never forget what comes next!
5. ONE MONTH IS A PRETTY GOOD WEDDING PARTY & HONEYMOON! Not everybody gets a one-month Honeymoon! Not too bad‚ huh? Well, we've got a little work to do, to come back here & win a battle in which we have all the power & they have nothing by comparison!—A battle in which your life isn't even endangered, because you're a supernatural, miraculous, immortal being that can overcome any power & is impervious to any type of mortal harm! The Battle of Armageddon will probably be the easiest battle that was ever fought, where they can't touch us & we can just wipe them out!
6. THEN WE HAVE A LITTLE WORK TO DO FOR ABOUT A THOUSAND YEARS! First of all we've got to do what? (Family: Clean up the mess!) Right! In one little tiny country of Israel alone, it's going to take them how long just to bury all the dead? (Family: Seven months!) Where the blood has run how many miles? (Fam: 200.) And in some places as deep as what? (Fam: The horses' bridles.) (Ez.39:12; Rev.14:20) So there's gonna be some horses around, huh? In fact, they say that they've got weapons now that so incapacitate anything electronic or electrical, that none of their fancy gadgets & weapons are going to work! And Russia knows that, & therefore they're preparing thousands & thousands of horses for the battle to fight with conventional weapons, because the fancy electronic wizardry of some of them isn't going to work! But that's, of course, where the worst battle's gonna be, because that's the decisive battle & the victory battle.—The Battle of Armageddon! It's going to take seven months to bury the dead & seven years to get rid of all the junk just in one little country! Quite a mess!
7. AND THEN IT WILL TAKE THE NEXT 993 YEARS TO DO WHAT? What in the World are we going to be doing for 993 years? Well, frankly, I think we're going to be doing just what we're doing now—teaching people, educating people in the things of the Lord! You won't have to say‚ "Know the Lord!" because everybody can see Him & they'll all know He's there! But they need to know a lot of other things, & you're actually going to be doing a lot of what you're doing right now! What's your main job now? How did Jesus put it? (Fam: "Feed My Sheep!") (Jn.21:15-17) And what was the so-called "Great Commission," the Last Commission? (Fam: "Go ye into all the World & preach the Gospel to every creature!") (Mk.16:15) You haven't heard those theological terms very much from me, but you've sure heard me quote the verse, haven't you?
8. I THINK WE'RE STILL GOING TO BE DOING THAT IN THE MILLENNIUM—PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T GET A CHANCE TO HEAR, ALL THE PEOPLE WHO DESERVE AT LEAST ONE CHANCE! Don't you think everybody deserves at least one chance? According to our witnessing stats, everybody in the World has had at least ten chances from us alone! And since obviously we haven't preached that much to everybody, a lot of people have had far more than they deserve!—And yet some people haven't had enough!—A lot of people have never heard! So there must be an awful lot of people that have heard an awful lot of times—20, 30, 40, 50, 100 times, over & over & over again—from the preachers & from us & on the streets & our lit—till if they don't receive it, they get tired of seeing us & tired of hearing about it!—And God's tired of them!
9. BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T HEARD YET? Our little explorers in China run into people all the time that really don't know anything about Jesus, especially the children. A few have heard about Him, but they don't really know much about Him‚ except that it's some other religion of some kind. They probably know as much or even less about Jesus as you do about Buddha or Confucius or some of those old boys! How much do you know about Buddha? Where was he born? What made him famous? What did he do? I daresay most of you here couldn't even tell me. I can't tell you very much either. About all I know is that he used to sit under a Bo tree & philosophise! He was really just a teacher, Confucius the same, & neither one of them ever claimed to be prophets or gods or necessarily even religious men. They were just good teachers & taught fairly good philosophies, but their followers finally wound up turning them into religions & making statues & idols of them to worship them! I don't think they make idols of Confucius though, it's not a very idolatrous religion.—It's more of a moralistic philosophy.
10. WELL, YOU SEE HOW LITTLE YOU KNOW ABOUT THE GODS OR RELIGIONS OF THE ORIENT WHICH ARE FOLLOWED BY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE? What do you know about Taoism, the third largest religion in Japan? What do you know about Shintoism, the second largest religion in Japan? What do you know about Hinduism? I guess you guys must not read anything but MO Letters‚ because I haven't told you much about these religions! I didn't think it was worth wasting time on because there's no benefit or salvation in it!—Except if you're going to deal with some of these people, maybe you need to know a little bit about their religion & what they believe, what it has & what it lacks. If you're a missionary in some of these countries‚ you really should study a little bit to know just what their laws‚ customs‚ religions & beliefs are, etc.
11. HERE YOU ARE, SUPPOSED TO BE THE MOST HIGHLY-EDUCATED PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, THE MOST ENLIGHTENED‚ THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE—Americans, North Americans, Europeans—& yet you know very little about the Oriental religions! Well, remember‚ they know probably just as little about yours—maybe even less—because some of these people have been more isolated & more incommunicado with the rest of the World than even you have been. You've probably had more education than they. There's a billion people in China, 800 million in India & at least another half-a-billion or so in the rest of the East, so there's an awful lot of people who never really heard the Gospel & really don't know who Jesus is or what it's all about, never had anybody really tell'm.—Billions.
12. MY GOODNESS, THERE'S MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES THAT DON'T EVEN KNOW THE GOSPEL & DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE SAVED!—Even hundreds of thousands of people going to Church that don't know how to be saved! Maybe even they deserve a chance because nobody ever told them how to get saved! Take the most Gospel-hardened country in the World, the United States, where probably the most Gospel has been preached of any place in the World‚ yet there are millions of people there who still don't know how to get saved! Many of you ought to know—you used to be one of them! They never had anybody tell them actually how to get saved! In other words, nobody ever really preached them the Gospel!
13. WHAT A TRAVESTY ON THE GREAT COMMISSION THAT JESUS GAVE THE CHURCH & THE CHRISTIANS & HIS FOLLOWERS, TO GO & PREACH THE GOSPEL IN ALL THE WORLD TO EVERY CREATURE! They haven't even done it in the United States, & they're rearing a new heathen generation who knows even less! They know very little about the Bible or Jesus or the Gospel or anything! They're a bunch of heathen & pagans—thanks to the failing Church, modernism, infidelity, unbelief, scepticism, evolution & the [ACs]! You can probably give the [ACs] more blame for getting the Bible & prayer & religion out of the schools than anybody else, because they're the ones that fought the most cases to get it out! The [ACs] get someplace, because even though they're so few in comparison with the Gentiles, they're fighters & they yell loud & they go to court & they've got the money to see it through! So they've kicked God, Christ, the Bible, Christmas, prayer & everything religious out of the public schools of America, to where they're just as Godless & atheistic & anti-Christ as those of Russia!
14. I'M JUST TAKING THE EXTREME CASE (U.S.) WHERE EVERYBODY'S SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE GOSPEL & ABOUT JESUS & HOW TO GET SAVED, BUT HONESTLY‚ HOW MANY OF THEM DO YOU THINK DO? You used to be one of those that didn't know. I daresay there are millions there‚ especially the young people & children, who know more about Santa Claus than Jesus! So the Church has failed in the Great Commission—not even having finished the job in the most Christian nations on the face of the Earth of both North America & Europe! They have failed to even teach their own people & their own children enough Gospel to get'm saved!
15. MAYBE YOU SAY, "OH WELL, THEY'RE WITHOUT EXCUSE, THEY COULD HAVE READ THE BIBLE!" How many people do you ever hear of that got saved reading the Bible? Honestly now! How many of you ever tried to read the Bible before you were saved? What happened? How come you didn't get saved?—Because most people begin at Genesis, of course! They figure every book should begin at the beginning! And where was it you got bogged down? Well, if you got as far as the "begats" you did pretty well! But most people‚ after they get to those two or three chapters of "begats," that's it! They're fed up & that's as far as they'll go!—And they'll never get the Gospel that way!
16. THEY COVER SOME OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL DISPUTED CHAPTERS IN THE WHOLE BIBLE, WHICH THE DEVIL ATTACKS THE MOST—INCLUDING CREATION & THE FLOOD, ETC.!—In fact, the hardest to believe & without a bit of Gospel in'm!—No knowledge of Jesus or how to get saved or why or anything, purely historical. I mean, you've got to be saved to believe it—but you're not going to get saved reading it! I never heard of anybody that ever got saved reading Genesis, & that's about as far as most of them get, if they even get through the first few chapters! Very few people have somebody to advise them & wisely counsel them to begin with the Gospel of John, or even the New Testament! And if anybody had told them that‚ it would probably have been the same kind of person who would have witnessed to them & given them the Gospel & told them how to be saved!
17. EVEN IF YOU HAD SOMEBODY TELL YOU, "WELL, YOU'D BETTER READ THE NEW TESTAMENT FIRST," you'd still have had to wade through about three Gospels before you got to one that told you really how to get saved! Matthew was a lot more interested in the Jews & Jesus as being the Messiah. Mark is more or less just a bare skeleton of historical events of the Life of Christ. There're a lot of good things in them, don't misunderstand me, a lot of good quotes from & about Jesus, but I dare you to give me the Plan of Salvation from Matthew! Give me some good Salvation verses from Mark! Come on!—Or Luke!
18. JOHN IS THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION! Matthew wrote mostly with the Jews in mind to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah. Mark, somewhat the same‚ only he was very young, probably even very young when he wrote it, & he was just sort of trying to get the events in order & write the story. He was a teenager in the time of Paul & Barnabas, & they scrapped about him—at least Paul did—because he deserted'm. (Acts 15:37-38) It's rumoured that he went home to take care of his sick mother, & let's hope that was true. Although that's not a good excuse for leaving the work of God & deserting his mentors. But where do you find the Plan of Salvation in Matthew, Mark or Luke? I challenge you to find me some good verses that you could give to anybody to really explain to them how to get saved from Matthew, Mark or Luke!
19. LUKE WAS A LITTLE MORE INTELLECTUAL, SUPPOSEDLY A DOCTOR‚ & VERY LIKELY THE SAME ONE WHO WROTE ACTS. What's the main thing that makes us think that?—Because he starts off both books using the same type of terminology & greeting & writing to the same person: "O Theophilus." We don't know if that was actually the name of some individual or whether it was just like saying, "O beloved" or "O dear ones‚" because what does the word "Theophilus" mean? (Family: Lover of God.) Exactly. It's like saying, "O Lover of God"—Theophilus being a direct transcription straight from the Greek without being translated. And because it was a common Greek name, believe it or not, it was translated at the beginning of both Luke & Acts as the common Greek name of a person—Theophilus. But most likely he was addressing those books to everybody who loved God in general—like I do. When I say, "O beloved," who am I talking to?—I'm talking to all you Beloveds, all you Lovers of God!
20. LUKE WAS INTELLECTUAL, & YOU'LL FIND HE WAS MORE INTERESTED IN PROVING, IN SOME WAYS, THE LINEAGE OF CHRIST & HIS MESSIAHSHIP & the authenticity of His claims of being the Son of God & the Messiah through His activities & miracles & lineage, but I challenge you to give me some good Salvation verses from Luke. Think of one! I'm not asking you for a string of'm, just give me one! Ha! Right off the bat you can't think of one‚ not one!—Neither can I!
21. WHAT GOSPEL DO WE GO TO FOR THE PLAN OF SALVATION, where it's explained in detail & made so simple even a child could understand it?—And where we have the real explanation of Salvation & what it's all about & why Jesus came?—The Gospel of John, written by the one who was probably the youngest of all the disciples, of whom it is said, "the disciple whom Jesus loved." (Jn.13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7,20) What's the matter? Didn't He love the rest of them? John was the one who leaned on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper & the one who was often called the Beloved.
22. WHY DID JOHN SEEM TO BE MORE LOVED THAN ANY OTHER DISCIPLE?—EVEN ACCORDING TO THE OTHER WRITERS? Well, most authorities, theologians & historians pretty well agree that they think he was probably the youngest, & perhaps even only a teenager, so of course Christ would have been especially considerate & fond of him & loved him almost like a child. And yet he seemed to understand that Love better than any other disciples or Gospel-writers. He understood the Plan of Salvation & really why Jesus came!—Not just to fulfil all the prophecies about the Messiah, not even to be the Messiah at that time, in a sense, but John explained more clearly & with greater deeper understanding by the power of the Holy Spirit, the real meaning of Jesus & Who He really was!
23. WHO DOES JOHN SAY JESUS WAS? Come on, folks, you must read something besides the MO Letters! (Family: The Word in the flesh.) That was the main point & the most important point. He was the Word! That's the first thing John says: "In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; & without Him was not any thing made that was made." (Jn.1:1-3)
24. JESUS WAS MOST OF ALL THE WORD OF GOD! What does that mean? What is a "word"? The Greek uses the word "logos," meaning "word," but it has a very deep meaning. If you've ever taken Greek, it's a great study. I can brag a little bit, of all the four languages I actually studied, three of them are dead languages! Well, they've revived the Hebrew. I took Hebrew, Greek & Latin, of all things, two of which really aren't even spoken any more. Well, Greek is spoken, but it was classical Greek & they don't really speak that any more. It's about like the difference between Old English & Modern American! Well, no, I'd say Greek has kept its purity better than that. Greek is a beautiful language, such a simple language, about the next most simple language to Spanish. In fact, there is a lot of Spanish in it. Their music is very similar too & I think they had a great deal of influence on each other.
25. BUT WHAT IS A WORD? (Family: Something that you say or do?) A word is something that you say. You can do things without words, & you can say words without doing things. But a word is something you say. It means something. Come on, some of you brains! (Family: A symbol?) "Symbol" is kind of getting close. Come on, there are some other words you can use. (Family: It stands for something.) Stands for something. (Family: Represents?) Represents something. (Family: Spirit?) Well, He said that "the Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit," yes. They convey the Spirit, they are Spirit. (Family: Promise?) Well‚ they can be a promise—but they can also be a curse!
26. YOU'VE BEEN TO SCHOOL & SOME OF YOU HAVE BEEN TO COLLEGE, & MOST OF YOU HAVE LIVED 20 OR 30 YEARS OF YOUR LIVES & YOU STILL DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE WORD "WORD" MEANS!—Ha! What did they teach you in school? (Family: Is it something tangible?) No, it's not something tangible—tangible has to do with something you can touch. You can't touch a word. Well, Jesus was the Word, you could touch Him‚ but He was the Word in a special sense. Come on! Why does this little baby over here have to learn words? (Family: So she can communicate.) For communication! Right! Communicate what? (Family: The Message of God.) What she wants to say! She's not worried about communicating the Message of God, she's more worried about communicating the message that she wants to have a titty! Later we hope she'll be worried about communicating the Message of God! She is the communication of the Message of God in a way, an expression of His Love‚ like Jesus in a way, but most people don't look at it that way. Most modern people nowadays seem to think children are a curse!
27. WHAT IS A WORD? Now think about it! (Family: Communication.) Communication of what? (Family: A way to convey your thoughts.) All right, you're getting very close. A way to convey or give your thoughts or the meaning of something. (Family: To convey your will?) Well, you can convey your will by it. (Family: Well‚ Jesus was the Word...) Forget about Jesus for a minute‚ just think about the word "word"! See, the whole problem is, you guys are trying to get too deep! You're not trying to be simple like a little child. I'd probably have had the right answer out of one of the three little kids if they'd been here!
28. WELL, YOU SAID IT, IN A WAY: IT'S A WAY OF SAYING SOMETHING—SAYING WHAT? My goodness, I didn't expect to give you a sermon on top of what I was going to tell you. I thought it would be simpler. I didn't think you had to bring dictionaries to my classes, but if you don't even know the meaning of the word "word," God help us! (Family: Just to say what you want & what you mean?) You're all very close & very warm‚ but there's one word that I'm trying to get out of you‚ the simplest one of all! You're very close with "convey," that's to put across, & in a sense transportation, but you don't even have to have that. When I say it, it'll be so simple, you'll wonder why you didn't think of it! (Family: Conversation?) Conversation has to be between two people, unless you're talking to yourself. Well, you came close, it conveys an idea, but convey actually means from one to another‚ & of course that's really what speech & language are for, in a way, to communicate an idea.
29. (FAMILY: TO EXPRESS?) YOU GOT THE WORD! That's the best word for it really. To express an idea, or express something. To say something, as somebody said in a very simple fashion, to express something. "Logos" is a kind of a word which means it is an expression, or even a manifestation of something. It's even more tangible, as she said, it's even more like something you could feel!
30. SO JESUS IS THE EXPRESSION OF GOD! The word "logos" is even deeper than that. There's something right behind you that could give you the hint—but I don't see that that picture (belonging to our landlord) expresses anything but confusion! A picture! Something that gives a message, says something! All of you had a lot of good ideas that fit together—it means all of those things. A word shows you something & tells you something, it says something, it expresses something, it conveys a message, communicates!
31. WHAT WAS GOD TRYING TO COMMUNICATE THROUGH JESUS? (Family: His Love.) Love! What is God? (Family: Love!) So what was Jesus? (Family: An expression of Love!) Can you see God? Can you see His Love? Come on, be honest! Can you see God? (Fam: No.) Can you see His Love? (Fam: No.) Show me Love! I want you to show me Love, what does it look like? Somebody show it to me! You say, "Well, I can show you love by loving you"—but you can't see Love. You can only see Love as it is expressed or manifested or put into action, as it is shown by somebody.
32. LOVE IS LIKE LIGHT! Did you know that light rays are totally invisible? You cannot see the light rays at all. Even those so-called light rays in "Diamonds of Dust" shining through the shutter, those are not light rays. (See No.3.) We couldn't have seen them at all if they had not been reflecting on the diamonds of dust & the particles in the air. If it weren't for the atmosphere around the World‚ it would be pitch dark even in the day time, even if the sun was shining!
33. ASK THE ASTRONAUTS! They can see the sun‚ yes, but all is darkness all around them. Why?—There's nothing to reflect the light. Look at those light bulbs, you're not seeing the light, you're only seeing the effect of the light. You're seeing various substances which are reflecting or translucing the light, allowing it to pass through something that makes it look like it's glowing.
34. WITH THE LIGHT OF A CANDLE, YOU DON'T SEE LIGHT, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, BUT YOU SEE THE HEAT causing little incandescent particles of carbon to glow‚ & that gives you the effect of light, seeing the light of the candle. Well‚ you can't explain all those deep scientific ideas to a little child, so the Bible is in very childlike language, really, & it expresses things the way you see them—not necessarily the scientific way they really happen.
35. GOD WANTED TO SHOW THE WORLD HIS LOVE—SO WHAT DID HE DO? You can't see Love‚ you can't see God, so what did He do?—He sent His Word! He said it in Jesus! He showed it in Jesus! He expressed it in Jesus! He communicated it in Jesus! Jesus expressed all the various things that you've said tonight, the ways in which you tried to describe the word "word"! It's a deep subject, a lot deeper than you realise! This is the depth of the Greek word "logos," meaning a real genuine expression, something that is almost tangible, it's so expressive & so real & says it so effectively with such expression‚ such meaning—all of these words you've heard tonight in trying to define the word "word." Well, that was Jesus, all of that! He was the expression of God's Love, He was the meaning of God's Love‚ He was the communication of God's Love, He said God's Love, He showed God's Love, He symbolised God's Love, He manifested God's Love!
36. AND IT SEEMS THAT ONLY JOHN REALLY CAPTURED THAT & UNDERSTOOD THE SPIRITUAL DEPTHS OF THE LOVE OF GOD & HIS SALVATION & WHAT JESUS REALLY MEANT TO THE WHOLE WORLD‚ & NOT JUST TO THE JEWS. It seemed like Matthew could hardly get his mind off the Jews, he was so thrilled they'd found the Messiah! If you want to read any part of the New Testament that would sort of please the Jews, you could read'm Matthew—except that it's all about Jesus, of course, proving He was the Messiah. And Matthew probably quotes more Scriptures from the Old Testament to prove Jesus was the Messiah, fulfilled prophecy, than any other Gospel. He says it time & again: "That such-&-such a Scripture might be fulfilled," "whereas Such-&-such a writer said." He keeps quoting & quoting Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled!
37. BUT IT SEEMS THAT ONLY JOHN REALLY GRASPED THE DEEPEST & GREATEST MEANING OF JESUS, & IT HAD TO BE BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. It's marvellous that he could show such depth when he was really the youngest! He had to depend on the Holy Spirit to grasp the meaning & convey the real meaning of Jesus, that Jesus was the Word of God, the Expression of God, the Love of God, as well as the Son of God! I believe you'll find Him mentioned more times in John as the Son of God, whereas the others mention Him more often as the Son of Man. It would be an interesting study if you ever have time—which you probably won't, because you're going to have to be reading GNs now! I wanted to come down here & comfort your hearts that I'm not being too hard on you.
38. YOU KNOW, THERE USED TO BE A GREAT CONTROVERSY IN THE CHURCH AS TO WHETHER THE MILLENNIUM WOULD BE A SECOND CHANCE. No, I don't believe the Millennium will be a second chance—not for those who have already had a chance—but for those who haven't, it'll be their first chance! But the Millennium will be a second chance—not for the sinners, not for the unsaved—but for the Christians! What we fail to do here & now, we are going to have to mop-up in the Millennium with all the people who didn't hear & didn't understand & couldn't comprehend & never really heard the Gospel!—Or if they heard it‚ they didn't understand it or how to be saved, nobody ever really told them.
39. WELL, I REALLY DO HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO TELL YOU! I was in bed‚ as Maria knows‚ turned out the light, rolled over on my side & was ready to go to sleep, but the Lord kept telling me to get up & come down here & talk to you! I don't know why it's so important. I kept telling the Lord, "Well‚ why can't I do it tomorrow? I'm tired! I've been working hard all day! Everybody's tired! Why do I have to go down there & afflict them with a conference tonight when everybody's worn-out & tired after working hard all day? Why can't I tell'm tomorrow?" The Lord said, "No‚ now‚ tonight! It can't wait another night!" Why? I don't know! Maybe it's for the sake of just one person here, who knows? But if it helps one person here that might have suffered if I hadn't‚ it's worth it! You're tired?—I'm tired! All you've got to do is sit there & listen!—I've got to sit here & work! What are you griping about? (Family: We're not griping!) Well, don't! Amen! PTL! TYJ!
40. WHAT'S THE MILLENNIUM?—A SECOND CHANCE? Boy, how I've heard the preachers preach against any Salvation in the Millennium! They say, "They're nothing but a bunch of wicked people & we're going to beat them with a rod of iron & beat on'm for a Thousand Years till we get our revenge! And then finally we're going to send'm to the fires of Hell!" Those preachers love to really get them beat down to hamburger like you pound on a steak!—And then finally throw'm in the fire like you do a steak! They've got the whole Millennium figured out for vengeance & for beating the wicked to a pulp until they're nothing but a mass of meat to cast into the fire at the End! To them, that's all the Millennium is for! My Lord, I'd certainly hate to spend a Thousand Years just getting my revenge on all my enemies!—Although it would have a little satisfaction along that line, & it will have. But my Lord, the Lord doesn't have to take a Thousand Years for that! There are a lot better things to do than that!
41. I AM CONVINCED THAT THE MILLENNIUM, YES, IS A SECOND CHANCE!—BUT NOT FOR THE LOST, NOT FOR THE SINNER, NOT FOR THE UNSAVED—IT'S A FIRST CHANCE FOR THEM! Whoever survives into the Millennium is‚ I think, somebody that the Lord just wants to spare to give them their first chance, not another chance. The ones that have had a chance already, they don't deserve another one. I don't know why He wants to give the Church another chance to help others, but they're His children & we're always a little bit more forgiving to our children. If they make a mistake, we try to give them another chance to try again. I think that's what the Millennium's for!—To do the job we failed to do here & now!
42. WELL, I THINK OUR OUTFIT, OUR FAMILY, IS WORKING THE HARDEST & DOING THE BEST JOB OF ANYBODY I KNOW, SO I DON'T THINK WE'RE GOING TO GET THE BLAME FOR IT! That's why we're probably going to be telling them & teaching them & showing them how to do it—the job the church never did—because they wouldn't listen to us & they wouldn't do what we told them to do! Boy, when I went back to those Churches & tried to teach them soul-winning & witnessing, they were the hardest bunch of people you ever tried to deal with! I told Fred that I thought they'd receive it, but he just chuckled & said, "Dave, I tried it! You go ahead & try it, that's the only way you're going to learn. You can try it, but they won't listen!"
43. THEY DON'T WANT TO LISTEN! THEY DON'T WANT TO WORK! THEY DON'T WANT TO WITNESS! They don't give a damn about lost souls! They're just satisfied that they're saved & they've got their fire escape & they're on their way to Heaven—to Hell with the rest of the World! If you ask me, some of those people deserve Hell more than some of the people that never heard!—And I think they're going to get a little taste of some of it somewhere along the line, maybe in the Tribulation or the Wrath of God or whatever!—In the Tribulation if they're saved, maybe also in the Wrath of God if they're not!
44. SO THE MILLENNIUM IS A SECOND CHANCE FOR THE CHURCH, FOR CHRISTIANS TO DO THE JOB THEY DIDN'T DO. I think in that sense we are all going to deliver our souls during the Millennium, if we never did it before, & they too. So that by the end of the Millennium, everybody is going to be without excuse—both saved & unsaved, Christian & sinner, good & wicked, the whole bunch! Both sides of the fence are either going to have done what they're supposed to do or not, delivered their souls or not, received Jesus or not, so that either they won't be to blame or they will, whatever, both saved & unsaved. And therefore God will even be better able to judge accordingly in the next phase as to where they fit in the New World. And they're all going to be there somewhere, whether they're going to be in the heart of the Earth in the Lake of Fire, or outside the City, or inside! Right? It's Bible! You don't have to believe me—although you'd better—just read your Bible! It's all there! Amen?
45. THEREFORE IN THE NEW WORLD—THE NEW HEAVEN, NEW EARTH—LET'S SAY BY THAT TIME ALL THE SCORES WILL HAVE BEEN PRETTY WELL SETTLED. I think all the vengeance the Christians want to take on their enemies will have been pretty well eked out in the Millennium. After beating on the wicked with a rod of iron for a Thousand Years‚ they ought to be satisfied! But certainly the mercy of God should have been satisfied by that time as to who deserves what, & who has done what & who has not done what‚ & what they have done & what they haven't done! That's it‚ in plain English!
46. —THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE SUCH A HARD TIME CORRECTING MY LETTERS! You might as well forget it! I butcher the King's English, but I talk language you understand. At least you understand me! A lot of places I could correct the English, but I don't, because you wouldn't understand it if I used the right English! If I said, "This is I," you'd say, "What's he talking about‚ 'This is I'?"—That's correct English! But if I say, "This is me!"—that you understand! Because that's common usage. And by–&-by the books & the dictionaries & the grammar will have to yield to it—except maybe some diehards—because eventually common usage wins! "Ain't I" is already in the dictionary & a few other things like that! PTL! TYJ!
47. I USED TO THINK THERE WAS NO PLACE FOR THE PEOPLE WHO GOT SAVED DURING THE MILLENNIUM‚ that surely they couldn't be in the same class with us & would have to be outside the City. After all, we're saved now. But if they never heard & they never really had a chance & they finally got saved when they did hear during the Millennium, why shouldn't they have as much right to the City as us? Because there will still be some recalcitrants & people who didn't get the point & still passed up their first chance in the Millennium, on whom God had extra mercy to try to give'm‚ not a second chance, but their first chance. He's giving the Church its second chance to reach all of'm & teach all of'm, get'm all saved, but they don't even make it then. And of course the absolutely reprobate will rebel under Satan in the Battle of Gog & Magog, & most of them probably really deserve Hell!
48. NOW WHAT IS THIS CAMP OF THE SAINTS HE TALKS ABOUT THERE AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM IN THE BATTLE OF GOG & MAGOG? (Rev.20:9) The Devil's forces surround the Camp of the Saints. If we're already angels, what the Hell are we doing campin' out? We ought to be flying around someplace! We don't have to be camped down on the ground & threatened by the forces of evil & natural human beings under the leadership of the Devil! I mean, they can't touch us! We can appear & disappear at will & fly & all the rest! What would we be doing camping on the surface of the Earth? My Lord, the way these preachers give you the crazy ideas! They've got us pictured as huddled-up there shivering & shaking for fear, & that the Devil & all his forces have got us surrounded again at last!
49. WE HAVE SUPERNATURAL IMMORTAL UNTOUCHABLE BODIES!—WE'RE NOT CAMPED OUT SOMEPLACE SURROUNDED BY THE DEVIL! Think about it!—Then who is? We're angelic beings, we can fly, disappear, they can't even touch us! So who are they fighting against?—Us? They couldn't touch us! Who else could it be than those who are also human beings just like them‚ still in human bodies, still tangible, in mortal flesh, with whom they can fight, & of whom they say at the end of the Millennium, 2nd Chapter of Psalms: "Let us break their bands asunder & cast away their cords from us! Let us rebel against them & take over!" (Ps.2:3) My God, we don't have to be worrying about that! We're flying around trying to help them & encourage them to withstand—having put on the whole armour of God & standing! (Eph.6:11)
50. HERE'S A WHOLE NEW BREED OF CHRISTIANS, A WHOLE NEW RACE OF CHRISTIAN MORTALS HAVING TO WITHSTAND AGAIN THE ANTICHRIST FORCES! It even calls them Gog & Magog again, it's so much the same situation, again led by the Devil & his demons!—The rebels of the Millennium, fighting against the saved of the Millennium! What else could it be? You tell me! I just can't picture us who are as powerful & as great & as supernatural & miraculous as the angels of God, huddled-up in a little camp surrounded by the Devil & his mere human forces of human rebels! But I could see how it could affect them, the Christian mortals! Because during the Millennium, the sheep are divided from the goats & there's a final reaping, separating the tares from the wheat, & we have the same picture & the same story almost all over again. And at the end, the Devil & his forces & all the wicked rebels try to wipe out those who have been obedient & gotten saved & followed Christ & been in submission & accepted by the Lord!
51. ONE MORE THOUGHT: IT SAYS THEN THAT "FIRE CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN & DEVOURED THEM." (Rev.20:9) Got the picture? Here is the Camp of the New Saints, the Millennial Saints, the Saved of the Millennium, surrounded by the forces of the anti-Christ, anti-God demonic Devil, Satan in person on Earth again!—This time probably not even disguising himself as the Antichrist, but leading the forces personally, all these human rebels. You've got a real good picture of it in the 2nd Psalm & a few other places.
52. FIRE COMES DOWN FROM HEAVEN—TO DO WHAT? What does it say? "Devours them!" Them! Whom? Do you think God's going to send down fire from Heaven to devour His Own Saints? My Lord! What kind of a God have we got?! But if you take it the way the preachers have been interpreting it all these years, that's what you have to believe. I'm just appealing to your reason, to your logic, to common sense. Do you know God? Do you love Jesus? Have you got the Love of God, the Love of Jesus? Are you saved? Does this make sense? Does it make sense that God would send down fire from Heaven & devour not only the Devil's forces‚ but His Own children as well?—His new Children, His new Saints?—His new Millennial Saints?—No! Now I'm going to stretch your faith & your imagination:
53. IF HE'S GOING TO SEND DOWN FIRE FROM HEAVEN & DEVOUR THE FORCES OF THE DEVIL‚ can you possibly imagine by any stretch of your imagination that He's going to send down fire to devour not only the Devil & his forces, but also the Camp of the Lord's Saints? Do you think He's going to allow'm to die in fire & flame, even if they're saved & go to Heaven afterward? Do you think He's going to let'm be devoured by fire? I don't believe it! I didn't expect this to be another message on the Future, but here it is!—A few other things I've been thinking & praying about lately!
54. I DON'T THINK THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS IN THE BATTLE OF GOG & MAGOG IS GOING TO BE DEVOURED BY FIRE! I think their enemies are going to be devoured by fire—the Devil & all his saints—but I certainly don't expect God's Saints to be devoured by fire after they've resisted the Devil's people for a Thousand Years!—There's going to be plenty of the wicked still on Earth during the Millennium, Beloved, sorry to say!—Not the Devil & his demons, but a lot of his people, just as devilish!
55. SO WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS? (Family: A Second Resurrection?) Well, in a way, yes, but He's almost going to have to have another Rapture! "Oh now‚ come on, Dad! My Lord, here you've had two Resurrections, & now you're going to have two Raptures!" What else could it be? There must be some way He's going to save them & take them out! Maybe you're right, I don't know, but it seems to me since they're alive & they haven't died yet & they're not buried, He wouldn't necessarily have to have a Resurrection. So why couldn't He just Rapture'm? That's the way He took the first Saints out, what's the matter with a repeat performance? If it worked the first time, why not the second time?—Under even more difficult circumstances! And this time they're not just surrounded by the Antichrist & his Mark of the Beast beasts, but the very Devil & his rebels in person! Well‚ you don't have to believe that.
56. I CAN'T FIND IT SPECIFICALLY IN THE BIBLE THAT THEY ARE RAPTURED, BUT I DO FIND THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS THERE SURROUNDED BY SATAN & HIS FORCES—obviously the rebels of human nature of the Millennium—surrounding some people who are obviously not supernatural or angelic or able to escape from his forces any other way except supernaturally. We don't have to worry about the Devil surrounding us—he or his human rebels won't even be able to touch us! How ridiculous! So who's this Camp of the Saints? It must be the Millennial Saints, the New Saints, the newly Saved!
57. I'M JUST APPEALING TO YOUR LOGIC & REASON & COMMON SENSE‚ THAT'S ALL! Jesus hasn't told us everything, He expects us to use our noggin a little bit! He says right there what happens, so You ask the Lord: "Lord‚ how come You let all those Saints be burned up in the fire?" The Lord says: "What are you talking about‚ you stupid idiot! Of course I didn't let the Saints be burned up!—That was for the Devil & his forces! You know I wouldn't let that happen to My children! I took them out, I rescued'm! How do you think you got out of the Tribulation?—The same way!" So why not a Second Rapture? You say, "Oh boy, now you really are wild, Dad! You've got some real wild theology!—Wild prophetic interpretation!" Well, you give me a better answer, OK? Can you? Give me a better description!
58. HOW COME THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS IS SURROUNDED AT ALL UNLESS THEY'RE HUMAN BEINGS? And if they're human beings, they must have been saved in the Millennium! So when God sends down fire out of Heaven to devour their enemies, what happens to them? The whole Earth is devoured at the same time, the surface of the Earth is burned up, the atmospheric heavens explode & vanish away‚ depart like a scroll! (Rev.6:14) What in the Heaven happened to those Saints, anyhow? Do you think God let'm go through all that fire? He even condemns people who cause people to go through the fire! It's one of His abhorrences, He abhors it! It's an abomination to God, those that cause their children to go through the fire!
59. WELL, IF HE ABHORS HUMAN BEINGS WHO CAUSE THEIR CHILDREN TO GO THROUGH THE FIRE, DO YOU THINK HE'S GOING TO LET HIS CHILDREN GO THROUGH THE FIRE IN A CASE LIKE THAT? You say, "Well, He's let a lot of His children go through fire, a lot of Christians have died in fires & were burnt at the stake before, so why not?" Well, if you want to believe that they all got burned up with the Devil & his forces, that's okay, you've got a right to your opinion as much as I've got a right to mine! But I think mine sounds a lot more Christian, Godly & like God & the Lord & His Love!
60. MY LORD, IF HE'LL RESCUE YOU OUT OF THE TRIBULATION WITH A RAPTURE, WHY SHOULDN'T HE RESCUE HIS MILLENNIAL SAINTS WITH A RAPTURE OUT OF THE DEVOURING FIRES THAT DEVOUR THE FORCES OF THE DEVIL IN THE BATTLE OF GOG & MAGOG? Well, any way He wants to do it—if He wants to make a tunnel through the Earth that comes out on the other side or something else, He can, but there won't be any safe places on Earth anywhere! I would say if a Rapture was the best way to do it the first time, why not the second time? "Oh my, Dad, now you believe in two Raptures as well!" Well, that's not so unheard of! The Jews & Christian Jews & Christians who love the Jews the way they are, or aren't, or whatever, do you know what they teach? They believe that there's going to be another Rapture for the Jews out of the Tribulation!—That the Church is going to be raptured first before the Tribulation, & then at the end of the Tribulation there's going to be another Rapture for what they call the Tribulation Saints! And of course since all the Christians are gone, they're just Jews, & only the Jews are going to get saved during the Tribulation!—That's what Scofield's evangelicals teach!
61. THOSE JEWS, THEY'VE JUST GOT TO GET A CORNER ON GOD & SALVATION SOMEHOW! They know they're so bad, & they know so many of their fellow Jews are so bad‚ they couldn't possibly get saved or raptured now‚ & they haven't, but they just can't bear the thought of any of'm perishing! Therefore they're gonna somehow get saved during the Tribulation & all be evangelists, evangelise each other, & then at the end of the Tribulation they're going to get raptured, before the Wrath of God! I guess they're going to get raptured along with us‚ huh? Some of them even think they're going to get raptured out of the Wrath of God afterward‚ after they see Jesus come & they see us go, & then they suddenly believe for some reason or other!—Of course, Jesus has already come, we're already gone, but they have believed as a result, & therefore‚ although they have to go through the Wrath of God & get a little bit of punishment, God's going to take them out somehow afterward.—That's what some church[es] teach!
62. THERE ARE ALMOST AS MANY KINDS OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION AS THERE ARE CHRISTIANS‚ ALL KINDS OF THEORIES & CRAZY IDEAS—AS WELL AS MINE! So take your choice! You can either take theirs‚ or you can take mine, & I think mine is the Bible's, frankly, & the Lord's!—And I doubt if you'd be here if you didn't believe it! PTL! TYJ! Help us, Lord! Well, that wasn't really what I came down here to talk to you about, I was sort of giving you a little review.
63. "SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO BE DOING ON THE NEW EARTH, DAD?" Well, if you've been reading it—& I hope you've been reading it—it looks like we're still going to have some mopping-up to do! There will still be people who need healing, & what more important healing than spiritual as well as physical, with the Leaves from the Tree of Life! (Rev.22:2) It sounds like the Word to me! What's the Tree of Life?—It's the Word, the Gospel, Salvation!—And the Leaves? What a beautiful picture of leaflets or leaves of a book!
64. YOU SAY, "WELL, DAD, NOW YOU'RE REALLY CONCEITED TO THINK THEY'RE GOING TO BE DISTRIBUTING MO LETTERS IN THE NEW WORLD!"—Ha! Well, they may not be MO Letters, but what kind of leaves are they, anyway? You mean we just have to go around putting leaves like papaya leaves on people's skin to heal'm of cancer or something? Well, maybe so! Who knows? But apparently there are going to be people there who are going to need some kind of healing & spiritual healing & changing even then! Because it says outside the City there are still all these different kinds of sinners—it describes them & names them (Rev.22:15)—so apparently there are going to be a lot of people we still have to help even then.
65. OKAY, YOU'VE READ IT ALL, YOU'VE HEARD IT ALL! You say, "Dad‚ why are you telling us all that again? Why don't you let us go so we can read it & get it done with?" Why?—Because this is our last chance! You say, "Well, Dad, I thought you just got through saying we're going to get another chance in the Millennium?" (Rev.20:5) Yes, we'll have another chance to do some more there, I believe it, but this is our last chance to give an awful lot of people their last chance who may not have another chance if we don't reach'm now, maybe some people who have heard!
66. DON'T BE LIKE MY BROTHER, WHO CAME HOME FROM COLLEGE & SAID, "DAVE, I DON'T REALLY SEE MUCH POINT IN BEING A MISSIONARY!" He went to Wheaton, a Presbyterian College. He said, "If God has already got it all worked out & predetermined & foreordained with predestination, why go out & waste your time being a missionary when everybody that's going to be saved is going to be saved no matter whether you get there or not! And everybody who's going to be damned is going to be damned anyhow whether they hear the Gospel or not!" That was his Presbyterian theology! How do you like that?
67. IT SURE RELIEVES THEIR CONSCIENCE & THEIR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY & THEIR PERSONAL GUILT! At least it salves their conscience & makes them think they're not guilty. "After all, it's God's business, it's God's doing, it's God's affair—why should we worry about it? He's already got it all predetermined, foreordained & predestined as to whom He's going to save & whom He isn't going to save, & there's nothing we can do about it!" That kind of doctrine of predestination & foreordination is a doctrine of devils! I still believe in free will & free choice—do you? Lord help us! Otherwise, what are you doing here, anyhow? You might as well go home & live like Hell like most of the church people & to Hell with the rest!
68. BUT I BELIEVE WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY! I believe we have an opportunity to reach people & help them make a decision & change their minds & hearts & lives, to be saved & enjoy the Rapture with us & go with us when we go! PTL? So this is our chance to reach some people who maybe are having their last chance! They may never get another chance! You say, "Well, if preaching the Gospel to them means that's their last chance, & if they reject that it means they get damned & they don't get another chance‚ we shouldn't go out & be preaching the Gospel‚ because we're just damning a lot of people to Hell!"
69. WELL, THAT'S PART OF YOUR JOB, TO MAKE THEM MAKE A DECISION! If that's the kind of decision they make‚ that's not your fault‚ that's up to them. They could have received, they could have accepted‚ they could have gotten saved, but the Lord wants you to give'm a chance. Do you understand? You say, "Well‚ Dad, if we don't make it this time around, we'll make it in the Millennium." Well‚ fine. Thank God for His mercy. But you're going to be responsible for whatever happens to them in the meantime. You're going to be responsible for whatever they have to go through between here & now & there & then—& they may die first! Lord help us, in Jesus' name! I don't know whether I'm getting the point across or not.
70. BUT ANYWAY, ALL I KNOW IS, GOD GAVE US A COMMISSION & JESUS TOLD US TO GO, & WE'VE GOT TO DO IT WHETHER WE UNDERSTAND IT OR LIKE IT OR NOT! That's our job & He's going to hold us responsible for it, & your reward is going to be dependent upon it—not your salvation, but your reward—& just exactly how you're looked on in the Millennium as well as the next World. I don't know, maybe some Christians will have a little opportunity to redeem themselves during the Millennium for what they failed to do during this Age of Grace‚ I hope so. Because there's going to be millions of Christians who are going to be awful damn ashamed—& for whom you're going to feel an awful lot of contempt—who never did a damn thing to reach the heathen or preach the Gospel or save the lost or help you, or us! So I hope they have another chance, otherwise they're going to be one Hell of a mess! It seems like they deserve Hell almost as much as the sinners—well, we're all sinners—but as much as the wicked who never got saved! "Okay, Dad, what's all this about & why don't you get down to the point?"
71. WHAT I CAME HERE TO TELL YOU IS THAT THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO DO WHAT WE CAN DO HERE & NOW—even though we may have some more opportunity later in the Millennium to mop-up & finish up what we failed to do here & now. There's something about this time now that is special! The ones who are faithful now will receive special rewards, special crowns, special recognition & be praised by the Lord as faithful: "Well done! Enter into the joy of thy Lord!" (Mt.25:21.) Wouldn't you rather hear that than for Him to be ashamed of you?
72. SO WHO'S GOING TO STAND AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT? Well, obviously it's not the ones that are saved now—you're going to escape that because you're already saved & with the Lord—it's only those which have part in the Second Resurrection. That's why it says, "Blessed are ye that have part in the First Resurrection." (Rev.20:6.) The phraseology there is so mixed, the one verse says it so quickly on top of the other that some people get that mixed up. But when He's talking about the First Resurrection, that's when we're resurrected & go up in the Rapture!—This generation, these people—you!
73. THE SECOND RESURRECTION HAS TO DO WITH WHOM?—"THE REST OF THE DEAD!" (Rev.20:5.) Now if the Millennial Saints are going to get a Rapture too—& I can't see any other way that they can get out of it without being burned up with the rest of the World—then who are these dead that are judged at the Great White Judgement Throne after that? It says plainly, "The rest of the dead!" What do you mean, "The rest of the dead"? Who are the first dead resurrected?—We are & the saved who've died before us, those who were resurrected in the First Resurrection at the Rapture. He says plainly, "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the Thousand Years were finished." The others were in the First Resurrection. And of course those who take part in the First Resurrection are the most blessed. So who are "the rest of the dead"? (—Which should have been in parenthesis in this verse!)
74. BOTH US & THE MILLENNIAL SAINTS HAVE ALREADY BEEN RAPTURED, SAVED & NO DOUBT ENJOYING THE HEAVENLY CITY! I didn't always say that, but it's sort of growing as the Lord reveals little by little & it develops. I mean, why shouldn't they enjoy the Heavenly City along with us? They got saved & fought the Devil & his crowd just like we did, suffered for their faith like we did‚ why shouldn't they get Raptured? Why shouldn't they go to Heaven? Why shouldn't they even go to the Heavenly City? They bucked the Devil's wicked crowd during the Millennium, so why not?! You tell me! Have you got a better idea? Come up with it! If you're thinking it, say it!
75. SO WHO ARE THE REST OF THE DEAD?—ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT EVER LIVED!—People before the Millennium, a few who may have died during the Millennium, & all the people who were not saved & were not Raptured at the end of the Millennium! You say, "You mean to tell me, Dad, that you think even some of those people might still get saved?" Yes! What about all the people that lived before the Millennium who never heard the Gospel?—Who never had a chance to hear it now‚ & never had a chance to hear it during the Millennium? Who was Jesus down there preaching to, anyhow? What about all those dead that are raised to face the Great White Judgement Throne of God & are judged out of the books—& the Book of Life!
76. IT SAYS IF THEY WERE NOT FOUND WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE, THEY WERE APPARENTLY CAST INTO HELL! But if there weren't some people in the Book of Life, why even bring it out? Why not throw them all into Hell? So apparently that's going to be, in a sense, the Last Chance at the Great White Throne Judgement for all the people of all ages who died when not yet saved. Maybe some of them deserve to hear & believe & receive—if not our kind of salvation, at least some kind of mercy. And whoever deserves it‚ their names are apparently going to be found written in the Book of Life!
77. HE DOESN'T PULL THAT BOOK OUT FOR US! WE'RE NOT JUDGED OUT OF IT OR ANY OF THE OTHER BOOKS! We're not even at the Great White Throne Judgement! Why have a judgement at all if there's no difference? Why pull out the Book of Life at all if it's a blank Book & nobody's name is written in there at all?—Isn't that ridiculous! So that's going to be some people's Last Chance! Even then the Lord's going to give mercy to some people—"the rest of the dead"! That sounds like a good title, doesn't it? Maybe even some of them will get some rest after that!
78. "THE REST OF THE DEAD LIVED NOT AGAIN UNTIL THE SECOND RESURRECTION"—BUT THEN THEY CAME UP FROM EVERYWHERE!—Out of the sea, out of the grave‚ from past aeons of time, all the unsaved dead that ever lived!—All those who didn't get saved in this Age of Grace during the past 6‚000 years of Earthly history‚ & all those who didn't get saved in the Millennium! All those who didn't get saved in these 7‚000 years are going to be raised in the Second Resurrection at the end of the Millennium after the Battle of Gog & Magog at the Great White Throne Judgement & judged out of the Books!—IT SAYS SO! And apparently some are going to be found written in the Book of Life!—Why?
79. APPARENTLY THEY ARE GIVEN SOME FORM OF LIFE RATHER THAN DEATH, some kind of life instead of the death penalty. With criminals & murderers & whatnot, it's a choice between what?—Life or death! So obviously some people go from the Great White Throne Judgement into death, but some go into life! Well, if that's God's form of life imprisonment, that they live on outside the City on the surface of the New Earth‚ that's not too bad, huh? That's certainly better than going to Hell! Life or death! Those found written in the Book of Life obviously have some other fate than to go to Hell. "But whosoever is not found written in the Book of Life," uh-oh!—That's a different story! So there must have been some people who were found written in the Book of Life!
80. SOMEBODY FOUND SOME KIND OF STAT THAT ESTIMATED MAYBE 7-1/2 BILLION PEOPLE HAVE LIVED ON THE EARTH during the last 10,000 years, I think they said. Of course, there have only been 6,000, so maybe it's less. You can take your choice of guesses. I started trying to add up how many people Noah & his children could have produced in a few generations, & my calculator ran out of steam, ran out of space! You get along about the 5th or 6th step in your calculator & it's beyond its capability! Like that old joke: What would you rather have?—A million dollars?—Or one penny today, two cents tomorrow, four cents the next day & double it every day for 30 days! You'd better choose the 30-day schedule‚ 'cause you're going to wind up with quite a bit more than a million at the end! So we've had 30 or 35 generations so far that could have produced quite a few billion!
81. WELL, HERE I GAVE YOU ALL THIS LITTLE RESUME OF BIBLE PROPHECY & you say, "Dad‚ you've said this so many times, I'm getting tired of hearing you go over & over the same old thing!" You mean you didn't hear anything new tonight? Just like with my dreams, the more I give, the more God gives me! Because I'm faithful in giving you what He shows me‚ He gives me more! I often get things even just while I'm teaching you. I get ideas I never thought of before, & I believe it's from the Holy Spirit! I believe She gives me the thing right on the spot! Because I'm faithful in delivering my soul & giving you what I've already given‚ God pours in as I pour out! I believe it! That's my job‚ to feed His sheep!—To be His Prophet & to give you whatever Word He gives me! PTL?
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family