David Berg
DFO 145031/10/82
1. THERE ARE GOING TO BE SOME ANIMALS IN THE MILLENNIUM‚ & SOME APPARENTLY IN SPACE CITY! You wonder how that can be? Well, I don't know! All I know is it was!—Ha! I didn't know how it could be 2125 AD either, but he said, "Well, it is!" (No.629) (Family: If William Branham saw his rocking chair‚ surely people would see their pet animals that they grew up with or loved very much!) I think some of them wouldn't be happy if they didn't, because they had some pet that was really dear to them.
2. I WAS PICKING OUT SCRIPTURES FOR THE MILLENNIUM, & my oh my, it's amazing all the animals the Bible mentions that are going to be there! Of course, most of that was about the Millennium, but the New Earth, is going to be very much like the old Earth, at least from what I could see.—Beautiful rolling hills & green grass & trees & flowers! It was beautiful!
3. HOW ELSE COULD THE LORD MAKE A NEW EARTH BUT SOMETHING SIMILAR OR EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THE ONE WE HAVE NOW! I don't know how anything could be much more beautiful than it is now, but evidently He's going to re-create the Earth the way it's supposed to be! All the people that didn't get saved & make it the way we did are going to be farming & living out there!
4. SO WHY SHOULDN'T THERE BE ANIMALS? There's going to be a New Earth with all that grass & trees & everything, why isn't there going to be a whole new creation?—Animals, birds & everything, but without the cursed insects & Devil's pests & thorns & thistles, etc.—The whole beautiful Creation the way God intended for it originally to be, like the Garden of Eden! How else could the New Earth be but that? The Lord certainly must have made the most beautiful place He could possibly imagine for Adam & Eve in the Garden‚ so I believe that that's really the way the New Earth is going to be.
5. OF COURSE, THE EARTH IN THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE THE SAME EARTH, this one as we now know it‚ except for the horrible mess man will have made out of it & awful destruction in the aftermath of the atomic wars & man's wars & the Antichrist, the Wrath of God & Armageddon! When we get this thing back it's going to be quite a mess! No wonder it's going to take a thousand years to kind of get things cleaned up & try to teach some of those people something! But it'll still be the old Earth as it now is‚ particularly the parts that haven't been ravaged & ruined, still the same plants & animals & trees & the birds & the bees & quite a few of the same people!
6. THAT'LL BE A WHOLE NEW EARTH THEN IN THE DAYS OF THE NEW HEAVEN & THE NEW EARTH, but why shouldn't it be just as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than the present Earth?—A restoration of the creation of God‚ the New Earth, only no more seas. Well, I'm convinced that's the way it's going to be, & that's what I saw. I know you can't base everything just on revelations, dreams & visions—although a lot of the Bible is!
7. I CAN REMEMBER THERE USED TO BE PEOPLE IN THE CHURCHES THAT SAID: "WELL, IF IT'S NOT IN THE BIBLE, I DON'T BELIEVE IT! You just can't base everything on dreams & visions & revelations, it's gotta be the Word!"—Real Scribes & Pharisees! Well‚ I wonder what they did with all those dreams & visions & revelations & messages & angelic creatures & whatnot in the Bible? How do they think they got the Bible then!—Ha! It's nothing but one revelation after another, one vision after another—dreams & visions & revelations—so I don't see why you can't base part of your faith on what the Lord's shown you & I saw recently today!
8. AS I LOOKED OUT OVER THE WALL FROM THE HEIGHTS, somewhere way up in the City, I could see right through the City itself, transparent, beautiful rolling green hills‚ trees, grass & what looked like farms, etc.‚ the World renewed again as the Lord originally had intended for it to be, but without the Curse, without the Devil's pests & Devil's demons, a beautiful perfect World! So why should God's plan be defeated if that's what He originally planned?
9. IN THE MILLENNIUM WE'VE STILL GOT THE SAME OLD POLLUTED, WRECKED, RAVAGED & RUINED EARTH that man has made a wreck of & God has not yet completely redeemed. In fact, it's obvious that He could not fully redeem the Earth as long as wicked men were still around that disobeyed the Lord & followed the Devil, as they do at the end of the Millennium. Thank You Lord for a Scripture: "The whole creation groaneth, waiting to be delivered!" (Rom.8:22) Hallelujah! I'll tell you, the Bible's got some corkers! The Lord almost always gives me some Scripture to confirm something to uncork the Truth!
10. SEE, THE WHOLE CREATION IS IN A SENSE UNDER THE CURSE OF SIN & the Devil & his demons & his pests & vipers & thorns & thistles & everything else‚ & it's not going to be completely delivered even in the Millennium.—Although much of the Curse has been removed during the Millennium for those who obey, there are still conditions. But in the New Earth it is going to be completely new & perfect & pure & the way God intended for it to be in the first place, otherwise His whole plan has been defeated!
11. I BELIEVE GOD MADE THE EARTH BEAUTIFUL & A PERFECT PLACE FOR ADAM & EVE TO DWELL IN TO BEGIN WITH, & I believe that's the way it's going to be again, like the Garden of God! And that's the way it looked, at least from where I was! Of course, I was quite a ways away & pretty high up, like looking down from the top of the Empire State Building or something, only a lot higher than that!—Almost more like looking down from an airplane! I only remember that one view, that one time I got to look out over the Earth & see how beautiful it was!
12. (FAMILY: THERE'S A VERSE ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM THAT TALKS ABOUT THE CHILD PLAYING ON THE HOLE OF AN ASP.—Does that mean there will still be some of the Devil's pests?) (Is.11:8) They will be there, but pets!—Not pests! Obviously He says that the asp will be there, even the scorpions will be there, but they'll almost be like toys for the children to play with!—No sting, no poison, no venom!
13. AND OF COURSE THE SCEPTICS ALWAYS MAKE FUN OF THAT SCRIPTURE about "the cow & the bear shall feed, & the lion shall eat straw like the ox." (Isa.11:7) They say‚ "They couldn't possibly do that, they're carnivorous beasts, that's impossible, blah blah blah blah!" Well, nothing's impossible with the Lord! Amen? (Lk.1:37)
14. WHAT DID THEY EAT BEFORE GOD ALLOWED THEM TO EAT EACH OTHER AFTER THE FLOOD? There wasn't enmity between either men or man & beasts before the Flood, think of that. They were not carnivorous before the Flood. Men didn't eat beasts & beasts didn't eat men & they didn't eat each other‚ but they must have lived somehow. (Ge.1:30) Well actually‚ the funny thing about it is that most people don't know that bears, for example, are not normally carnivorous, they are herbivorous, & they eat mostly berries & roots & plants & things like that. You don't think of a bear as being something that just goes around picking berries off of bushes, but they do!
15. YOU PROBABLY REMEMBER THE STORY I TOLD ABOUT MY MOTHER & THE BERRY BUSH! I was a little kid about Techi's size & I can remember it yet, because I can remember my Mother screaming! We were in Yosemite in the days when Yosemite Valley wasn't packed with tens of thousands of people & it was still pretty primitive, & we stopped by the side of the road where there were these nice wild blackberry bushes‚ something like we had at the Farm in France, only those were bitter. We were frugal & trying to economise, trying to scrounge a little‚ so my Mother had us kids out there helping her pick berries off of these bushes that were just lining the edge of the highway.
16. AND ALL OF A SUDDEN SHE REALISED SOMEBODY WAS PICKING BERRIES ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BUSH, & she looked over there & here was this bear standing there on his hind feet, eyeball-to-eyeball, looking at her across the bush, & he was eating berries off the bush too!
17. AND MY MOTHER BEGAN TO SCREAM! She ran for the car & she was so excited, she got all mixed up & said, "Open the windows & shut the doors! Open the windows & shut the doors!" She meant just the opposite, she meant, open the doors & shut the windows so that we can jump in & close the doors! She thought sure that bear was chasing her, but he was just as surprised as she was & went scurrying off through the brush!
18. SO BEARS ARE NATURALLY HERBIVOROUS. They eat berries & plants & they scrub for roots & things like that. They don't normally eat animals or attack man, although there are some beasts that seem to be designed to be carnivorous, such as the lion, & it mentions the leopard in one of those Scriptures too. (Isa.11:6)
19. OF COURSE, WITH SOME OF THOSE NAMES IT'S A LITTLE DIFFICULT TO KNOW EXACTLY FOR SURE WHAT ANIMAL THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT, because they were translated from the original Hebrew. The English translators were pretty sure they got most of the right names‚ but there's been a little controversy about some of those names as to whether they got the right animal or not.
20. SOME OF THOSE ANIMALS WERE EVEN UNKNOWN IN BRITAIN BY THE ENGLISH, or even in Europe, so they're not even sure whether they got'm all straight or not! When we read those lists of animals, in the unclean animals list, etc., we don't even recognise a lot of those names of the creatures. (Lev.11) So that's a pretty hard thing to do in Europe, trying to translate into English things people are talking about that existed maybe only in the Mideast or somewhere over yonder. But I think they probably got'm as good as they could.
21. ANYWAY, IF OXEN & BEARS & THOSE HUGE ANIMALS CAN LIVE OFF OF PLANTS & GRASS & GRAIN & WHATNOT, WHY COULDN'T THE LIONS & THE LEOPARDS? Hmm? You say, "Well, they don't have a cud." Well‚ not all creatures that eat things like that have cuds either! These guys that are always picking bones with the Bible & always trying to criticise, they say: "Well, how can that be? They weren't designed to eat grain & grass, they're designed to eat flesh!"
22. WELL, APPARENTLY MAN WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED TO EAT GRAINS & GRASS & FRUITS & PLANTS & VEGETABLES, but the Lord turned around & had to give him flesh to eat as well after the Flood‚ or maybe he wouldn't have survived this long. (Ge.9:3) I think flesh was necessary for health, apparently, or God would not have given it to man to eat after the Flood. You notice they then began living very short lives, apparently, because now the cosmic rays came through & shortened life, & the Lord must have known we needed flesh in order to survive & have the necessary strength.
23. SCIENCE DOES SAY THERE ARE CERTAIN AMINO ACIDS IN ANIMAL FLESH WHICH YOU CANNOT GET ANY OTHER WAY, WHICH MAN NEEDS TODAY, which apparently he didn't need before the Flood because man was strictly herbivorous. Did you know that? I'm sure you must have if you've read the Letters! He only ate plants & vegetables & things like that, strictly vegetarian before the Flood.
24. I KNOW LOTS OF THE HIPPIES & ORIENTAL RELIGIONS & THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS & A FEW OTHERS ALL BELIEVE IN BEING STRICTLY VEGETARIAN & they seem to be surviving pretty well & are pretty husky, but I don't think you ever heard of very many Seventh-day Adventists or Buddhist monks who were outstanding athletes or superb examples of strength, as are those who do eat flesh. Apparently we need it now since the Flood.
25. BUT OBVIOUSLY IN THE MILLENNIUM IT'S GOING TO BE LIKE IT WAS BEFORE THE FLOOD, OR EVEN LIKE IT WAS IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN. Apparently we're not going to eat flesh then, we'll all be herbivorous again since the animals will be at peace with man. Both man & beast will return to vegetarianism during the Millennium, because apparently he won't need the extra strength of animal flesh to survive. The Curse will have been at least partially removed & we won't be suffering the ill effects of whatever it was that shortened life after the Flood.
26. LIFE IS OBVIOUSLY AGAIN GOING TO BE LENGTHENED, EVEN IN THE MILLENNIUM, TO GREAT LONGEVITY! If anybody dies at 100 years of age they'll say he was just a child! (Isa.65:20) Before the Flood‚ when men lived to be nearly a thousand years of age, if somebody had died at the age of 100 you would have thought‚ "Poor fellow, just a babe!" That's what it means in that Scripture "for the child shall die an hundred years old." In other words, anybody dying at 100 will be just considered a child!
27. SO OBVIOUSLY THE CAUSE OF MAN'S SHORTENED LIFE SPAN WHICH OCCURRED AFTER THE FLOOD WILL BE REMOVED.—Whether it was cosmic rays or whatever it was. Certainly by the judgements of God, no doubt, man's life had to be shortened, because he became so wicked he would have done even more damage if he'd lived longer.
28. THIS IS WHY KING DAVID WRITES BY THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: "THE YEARS OF A MAN'S LIFE ARE THREESCORE & TEN." That's the allotted life span of man in this present age of grace since the Flood. He says, "And if by reason of great strength they be fourscore, yet is their strength labour & sorrow." In other words, if you do manage to be 80, it's just that much more trouble! (Ps.90:10)
29. BOTH OF MY PARENTS LIVED TO BE UP INTO THEIR 80s & so did my Grandfather & nearly all my grandparents as well‚ Maria's too, were all very long-lived. That was the first thing they asked me when I went to take out life insurance when I was young, they were more interested in the health of my grandparents than they were interested in my health for some reason!
30. I SAID, "WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME ALL THAT? What difference does it make how long my grandparents & parents lived?" He said‚ "We have found through experience that the people whose parents & grandparents lived long lives are most apt to live a long life themselves!" No doubt God blessed those people with long lives because they were good & righteous & lived healthfully, & therefore probably taught their children to live the same way. "Therefore you who are taking out this insurance, are most apt to live like them & live a long time like they did."
31. FOR APPARENTLY AFTER THE FLOOD, MUCH WAS ALL CHANGED & they didn't live a thousand years any more, they did very well to make a hundred! A few of them did & it kept getting shorter all the time, if you'll notice, until after the first few hundred years‚ by about the time of the Tower of Babel, men were living lives about the same length as today. Only a rare one ever reached a hundred or more like Moses, 120, due to some special blessing of God.
32. THE AVERAGE MAN LIVED TO BE ABOUT 70, & 70 is still about the average, except for a few who manage to live longer. There are a few who live to be 100 & certain places some of them claim 130, 140! I think that's about the highest they've claimed, somewhere back in the Himalayas or the mountains of Russia. Of course, how are you going to know for sure?—And that's still a far cry from a thousand!
33. SO OBVIOUSLY MAN'S LIFE WAS GREATLY SHORTENED AFTER THE FLOOD, & some of the scientists who are Christians believe it had something to do with the water vapour that disappeared after the Flood‚ which used to cover the Earth before the Flood. You recall that before the Flood they never had any rain, they didn't have to. They had just as much plant life & foliage & grass & farms & all the rest, but it was all watered by a mist that rose from the face of the Earth like a dew. (Gen.2:6)
34. WHO KNOWS, IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A LOT MISTIER THEN. Some of those scientists who are Christians—I don't say Christian Scientists because that means something else—but some of the scientists who are Christians believe that there was some kind of a haze in the atmosphere which protected us from the cosmic rays which now shorten life.
35. BUT WHATEVER IT WAS THAT THE PROTECTION WAS—that or otherwise, natural or supernatural—whatever it is, it's natural with God—the Lord will restore it during the Millennium & men will again live a long time. And there are possibly people who survive the holocaust that precedes it—the survivors that God blesses with survival into the Millennium—who are going to live then for hundreds of years after that!
36. SO THESE PROGNOSTICATORS OF POPULATION EXPLOSION & "we're going to overrun the Earth & there's not going to be enough to eat" are all wet! For one thing‚ an awful lot of people are going to be wiped out in the last days of the atomic wars & the Antichrist & the Tribulation & the Wrath of God & all that! It says in one place two-thirds of the population will be killed! (Zech.13:8) So we'll be back to square one with only one-third as much population!
37. AND IF THEY'RE GOING TO MATURE THAT SLOWLY & LIVE THAT LONG, THEY WON'T GET MARRIED AS YOUNG OR HAVE AS MANY CHILDREN. Just like the early days after the Garden of Eden, before the Flood, you hardly hear of anybody having children before they were up in their 60s & 70s & 80s! Most of them were having their first son when they were in their 60s! Go back & read the genealogies! They aren't there just for a decoration, they tell you something!
38. IN OTHER WORDS, YOU MIGHT SAY THE MATURING IS SLOWER. Apparently they're not as horny & gung-ho to get in a hurry for sex! I don't know about me or some of you, but maybe you'll cool off a bit in the Millennium! Maybe you'll have other interests that are more absorbing. We'll still have sex, but it won't necessarily be a preoccupation as it is today.
39. THEY SAY IT'S A FACT OF SCIENCE THAT IN THE MORE PRIMITIVE CIVILISATIONS THE WOMEN MATURE MUCH MORE RAPIDLY. You'll find that all over the World in the Third World underdeveloped countries‚ girls are mature & of marriageable childbearing capability in their younger teens. I remember I noticed this in my first trip to Mexico, that girls were married women in their early teens & getting married & having children, & they were old ladies by the time they were 40!—And dying in their 50s!
40. THEY ALSO BEGIN MENSTRUATING VERY EARLY IN PRIMITIVE CIVILISATIONS, SOME GIRLS AS YOUNG AS 7, 8 & 9 YEARS OF AGE! In fact, I've mentioned before the famous case in Mexico where a 7-year–old boy had sex with a 5-year-old girl & she had a child! He was apparently able to have semen & she was already menstruating‚ in fact, her mother said she'd been menstruating since she was three!
41. IT SEEMED ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE, but it was authenticated by American doctors who went down there & investigated. At five years old she had a child! You say, "How could that be possible?" Well, I don't know how it was possible‚ but it happened! And later on I remember seeing a picture of her & her son when he was 16 years of age, he was a great big tall fellow & she was almost like a little pygmy standing alongside of him!—And she looked like an old lady already!
42. I GUESS THIS IS ANOTHER LETTER IN THE MILLENNIAL SERIES! I didn't intend for it to be, I was going to let you guys relax tonight! Maybe you are! But apparently during the Millennium we're going to live a long time. Of course, you & I are going to live forever! That's quite a song they've got now that's so popular: "I'm going to live forever, I'm going to learn how to fly!" Have you heard it on the radio? All the pop groups are singing it, & they sing it with real fervour & inspiration: (See No.1348)
43. "I'M GOING TO LIVE FOREVER‚ I'M GOING TO LEARN TO FLY!" We ought to get a recording of that! I'd like to hear all those words. I've listened to it several times & it sounds to me like maybe one of our own people or somebody like us cooked it up! It goes on something like: "So baby, remember my name‚ because I'm going to live forever" I don't know whether all the words are what they oughtta be or not, I haven't been able to fathom it all, but it's really amazing!
44. SO YOU & I ARE GOING TO LIVE FOREVER! When the Rapture & the Resurrection come, of course, our bodies shall rise from the grave, we'll be renewed, regenerated, restored & will have resurrection bodies that are immortal, eternal, on which death will no longer have any hold! In other words, we will be supermen, supernatural‚ miraculous, in super bodies that are eternal, united with our eternal spirits.
45. WE'LL HAVE BODIES WHICH HAVE ALL KINDS OF AMAZING QUALITIES CONSIDERED SUPERNATURAL TODAY, WHICH WE DON'T HAVE RIGHT NOW, but has happened even on occasion to some people!—Like the transporting of Philip, Jesus walking through the mob even before He was resurrected & things like that!—Transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration! There were quite a few supernatural things that happened before His resurrection. (Ac.8:39,40; Jn.8:59; Lk.4:30; Mt.17:2,3)
46. BUT AFTER THE RESURRECTION, OF COURSE, JESUS COULD APPEAR & DISAPPEAR AT WILL, & we will have all those properties & qualities & capabilities, because we will have our supernatural resurrected bodies, our eternal bodies during the Millennium. Whereas the people that survive the holocaust will still be in natural human bodies.
47. I call that really the holocaust, the combination of man's wars, atomic wars, the Antichrist, the Tribulation, the Wrath of God & finally Armageddon! To those who survive that, certainly God is merciful, because that means they will get to enter the Millennium!
48. THE LORD SAYS TO DANIEL: "BLESSED IS HE THAT SHALL SURVIVE UNTO THE 1335 DAYS." (Dan.12:12) And if you figure that out, that is through the Wrath of God into the Millennium! They will still be in natural‚ normal human bodies just like you & me are today. But we, having been resurrected & raptured, gone to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb & returned in the great Battle of Armageddon to conquer the World, will have our supernatural angelic bodies just like the angels of God & like Jesus has!
49. WE'LL BE LIKE HIM‚ GOD'S WORD SAYS SO! (1Jn.3:2) He was born of woman, flesh, He died like a man, like flesh dies, but He was resurrected like we'll be resurrected, being in a sense part spirit & part flesh. He was not purely spirit because He said: "Touch Me, feel Me, see it is I! A spirit hath not flesh & bone as ye see Me have!" (Lk.24:39) We will have flesh & bone of some kind, a material resurrected supernatural body like Jesus has.
50. WE WILL BE LIKE THE ANGELS, & THE ANGELS CAN APPEAR & DISAPPEAR! In fact, as we were discussing the other night‚ the angels can assume the disguises of men & women, & by this many have entertained angels unawares! (Heb.13:2) They can look just like you & me, dress like you & me, go around walking amongst men like you & me!—And they're doing it today! As I was telling them the other night, that's the way it's going to be in the Millennium‚ we are going to be the angels!—Amongst men!
51. SO WHAT POINT WAS I TRYING TO PROVE WHEN I STARTED ON THIS ABOUT LONGEVITY & ALL? Man is apparently going to be herbivorous again, or vegetarian, because according to the description, there will be no longer an enmity between man & animals, nor between the animals themselves. "Nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain." (Isa.11:9) Men will not destroy each other‚ they will not destroy the animals, & the animals will not destroy them nor each other.
52. AND SINCE THERE'S NOTHING THAT WILL HURT NOR DESTROY, THERE WILL BE NO VENOMOUS INSECTS OR BEASTS or snakes or serpents or vipers or scorpions or all these Devil's pests. I think probably a lot of them will be just completely totally eliminated! There will be no more thorns & thistles & that sort of thing that came after the Fall of man when He said the ground would produce thorns & briars‚ etc. (Ge.3:17,18)
53. IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THE NEW EARTH, MIND YOU, now get that through your head, but it's going to be a much better Earth, in a sense, because it's going to be similar to the Earth the way it was before the Fall of man—like the Garden of Eden—before all of these curses & these pests, because He says the Curse will be removed. (Re.22:3) Without the Curse, without the thorns & the thistles & the briars & the venomous insects & vipers & ravenous beasts, etc., it's going to be like Heaven on Earth!
54. IT WON'T ACTUALLY BE HEAVEN YET, BUT IT WILL BE A HEAVENLY EARTH because the Curse & all of its effects & all of its critters & vipers, etc., shall be removed, & whatever's left behind will no longer be venomous or viperous or sting or bite or hurt man in any way. Isn't that wonderful? I'll tell you, we would surely think it was Heaven on Earth if right out there in the yard right now it was that way. I'm even getting bit underneath the table already! This "skeeter-stinker" doesn't always stink'm out!
55. SO WITHOUT ALL OF THAT TO HAVE TO CONTEND WITH‚ IT'S GOING TO BE A BETTER LIFE ALREADY! Even the normal natural man who still lives here, over whom we rule, will have a much better life. The cotton won't be attacked by the boll weevil, or the corn by the Mediterranean cornborer, & there won't be all of these afflictions to plants & animals & trees & diseases, etc.—except as a result of the Curse of God or even our curses upon our enemies or those who refuse to obey & submit. Only they will receive the curses of God, otherwise the Earth will be free of such curses.
56. THE LAND OF GOSHEN DURING THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT WAS A GOOD PROTOTYPE OF THAT. While all those plagues were going on in Egypt, the Land of Goshen was completely free of them! They had no darkness, they had no murrain, they had no frogs‚ they had no hail, they had none of that death there! It was light & beautiful & free of the curses & the plagues of Egypt. (Ex.8:22; 9:4,26; 10:23; 11:7; 12:13.)
57. BUT EGYPT SUFFERED, & ANY PEOPLE WHO ACT LIKE EGYPTIANS & WHOSE LANDS ARE MORE LIKE EGYPT WILL STILL SUFFER! You can read it right in the Bible! It makes it very clear in passages such as those later chapters of Zechariah if you want to read them, & a lot in Isaiah & lots of other places. (Zech.14:17-19) It says that from the nations that will not obey, God will withhold the rain & there will be famine & curses, etc.
58. SO THE CURSE AS A WHOLE THAT CAME ON THE EARTH AFTER THE FALL OF MAN WILL BE LIFTED FROM THE EARTH AS A WHOLE‚ & it will be selective then, you might say, which we will implement & apply to peoples & nations or even towns or cities or individual homes who defy God & His Government & us & refuse to obey. Because men will still have free will, that's the strange thing about the Millennium!
59. THERE WILL STILL BE FREE WILL & CHOICE IN THE MILLENNIUM! How do we know? Because when the Devil is released from the Pit at the end of the Millennium, what do they choose to do? The wicked choose to revolt against the Government of God—which is us headed by Christ—& rebel! Imagine, they try to actually defy & rebel & rise up in revolution against the Kingdom of God on Earth! No wonder God gets so furious with them that he just absolutely wipes them all out! (Re.20:7-9) "For though mercy has been shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness." (Is.26:10)
60. THE WICKED WHO STILL REMAIN & WHO ARE STILL OF THAT EVIL MIND & BENT so as to be deceived by Satan when he comes out of the Pit, to follow him again after having witnessed & seen the visible personal rule & reign of Jesus Christ & His Saints on this Earth, & the goodness of the Government of God‚ they are going to defy it all & rebel against God & all His goodness & His Government & us & follow Satan again! Think of that! That shows you the ultimate in wickedness!
61. THIS IS WHY I'M CONVINCED THAT DURING THAT PERIOD MANY MANY PEOPLE WILL BE, IF NOT WHAT WE CALL "SAVED" TODAY, AT LEAST CHANGED, because many apparently will obey & submit & follow. It's like a second chance for the people who survive the Wrath of God & live on into the Millennium. Man, natural human people, will still be alive & be living much longer! The Curse will be removed & there will not be all the things we've had to hassle with so much. They'll have every advantage!—The good Government of God, the personal reign of Jesus Christ & the tender loving care of you, His Saints & Angels to try to help them!
62. JESUS SAID OF DOUBTING THOMAS: "THOMAS, BECAUSE THOU HAST SEEN‚ THOU HAST BELIEVED." I believe the Millennium is going to be designed, in a sense, for the Doubting Thomases, those who if they had seen, they would have believed, so God's going to give them a chance to see & to believe. But He said, "More blessed are ye‚ who having not seen, yet have believed." (Jn.20:29) We are the more blessed category, the upper class who lived by faith & believed even though we hadn't seen!
63. NOW THAT'S A VERY AMAZING THING, & I've been thinking a lot about that lately‚ this business of seeing. Why is there so little visible evidence of the supernatural? There's lots of evidence of the supernatural, but it is rare enough that man in general is not convinced. How many have come back from the dead to say what was on the other side? Well, God is certainly being more merciful every day & more & more people are coming back with tales of what they saw on the other side! You never heard so many before!
64. IT'S LIKE GOD IS GIVING MAN HIS LAST CHANCE IN EVERY WAY HE CAN TO BELIEVE. He's giving more & more evidence of His existence & the marvels of His creation, more & more evidence of the reality of the Spirit World! He let a whole hippie generation practically discover the Spirit World through drugs! I believe the Lord allowed it! Of course, many abused it, but I believe the Lord allowed it that they might discover something that their parents didn't believe & wouldn't teach them, or at least didn't teach it convincingly enough, & neither did their churches!
65. THEY HAD TO HAVE PERSONAL FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE WITH IT THROUGH DRUGS, BUT THEY FOUND THE SPIRIT WORLD! How many of you ever took a drug trip in which you discovered the Spirit World when you were back in the System? Let me see your hands. Come on, don't be ashamed of it! Good night, I've had such trips without drugs! I mean where you were convinced that you were really in the spirit in another World, in a sense out of the flesh & out of this World! They say that on some of those things, like peyote that the Indians use‚ you can walk across the room & look back at your body sitting in a chair, the separation of spirit from body & that sort of thing!
66. SO GOD IN HIS MERCY HAS ALLOWED THIS YOUNGER GENERATION TO HAVE EXTRA PROOF, extra evidence of the existence of the spiritual to try to convince them that He exists & the Spirit World does exist, in fact that the Devil exists, because some of the trips they had were like Hell!
67. GOD IS BEING EXTRA MERCIFUL TO THIS LAST GENERATION, I BELIEVE IT! When did the Lord ever give so much Word before? When has any generation ever heard so much & had so much explained to them? When has any generation ever had so much revealed to them as we have had?—In the spirit, dreams, visions, revelations, prophecies! I don't think any generation before us has ever had the Lord reveal so much!
68. THE LORD IS JUST GOING ALL OUT, THE 110TH MILE, TO TRY TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO YOU & TO ME, TO HELP US BELIEVE! And yet there's a certain barrier beyond which He will not go. And to those who will not believe, as He said, "Though one were to come back from the dead, yet they would not believe!" (Lk.16:31)—The Scribes & the Pharisees & some of those critics of His & unbelievers & those of whom He said through Stephen: "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost!" (Ac.7:51)
69. THERE ARE GOING TO BE THOSE SO STUBBORN & REBELLIOUS OF HEART & MIND & so Satanic & diabolically conditioned, even with the Devil & his demons gone, they're going to be of the same evil mind just naturally, natural carnal evil men! Without the help of Satan or his devils, they're still going to be mean & we're going to have to deal with them!
70. THAT'S WHY WE HAVE TO RULE WITH A ROD OF IRON! He said he shall dash the nations & their power to pieces, into shivers like a piece of pottery! (Rev.2:27) They'll have no more power—we'll be the power‚ we'll be the government! None of their guns nor their armaments nor their atom bombs or anything else are going to do them any good then, we're going to abolish the whole military machine!—The World's first genuine disarmament!
71. WE WILL BE THE POWER, WE WILL HAVE THE FORCE! And what that rod of iron will be, only God knows, but according to instances in the Bible, people were made immobile, they were blinded, devoured by fire from Heaven & all kinds of things when God wanted to stop'm! The things you see on television in sci-fi movies, that's the kind of powers we'll have, & we won't need any little pistols to do it! We'll just look at them or think it or point our finger at them or whatever we want to do! They won't be able to touch us or do a thing‚ we will be the power & the government in control!
72. BUT IN SPITE OF ALL THAT VISIBLE EVIDENCE OF THE POWER OF GOD & the people of God & the Government of God & the Son of God—Jesus Christ Himself personally ruling the Earth in the flesh with His capital at Jerusalem—there will be people who still don't like it!—The really carnally-minded & evil-minded people who still will rebel against the Lord!
73. THROUGHOUT THE MILLENNIUM THERE WILL BE PEOPLE LIKE THAT THAT WE WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH & FORCE TO OBEY—WITH FORCE! But not all! That's the point I'm getting at tonight, it's my conviction from what I've read in the Bible & what I've seen & heard, that the vast majority of the people when they see, they will believe!
74. TODAY THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE DO NOT SEE. They are not seeing the miracles, they are not seeing the manifestation in the Spirit‚ they are not seeing the evidence of after-death experiences. The people to whom God has been that good & merciful to go that far to show them the Spirit World, after-death experiences, miracles, supernatural powers, spiritual supernatural evidence of the other World & His Kingdom—would you say they are the majority of the people today?—No!
75. HE'S GIVEN THEM LOTS OF NATURAL EVIDENCE! In fact, He says the whole creation proves His existence, so they're without excuse! The natural creation of God proves the existence of God. (Rom.1:20) I believe many people believe because they see the handiwork of God, they cannot help but believe. They believe because of what they see! Many people are persuaded even by the marvels of Creation!
76. DID YOU KNOW THAT WHEN THE FIRST HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS WAS PRINTED BACK IN THE '20s that only about 20-some-percent of American scientists claimed to believe in any kind of God or Supreme Being or spiritual Superior Power or Creator? But about ten years ago before we left the States, the Handbook of American Scientists—all the most famous & important scientists of the U.S., listed in their various fields—76% of them said that they believed there was some kind of Superior Power or Designer or Creator or God or Providence or whatever they want to call it, higher than man, that was in control!
77. NOW THAT IS QUITE A JUMP IN FAITH!—Why? Because like I quoted Dr. Steiner, who was considered the greatest living authority on the human cell, after 30 years of studying the human cell he said: "I'm more & more convinced, the more I study, the more I marvel & wonder at the Designer behind it all!" Sort of like what Dr. Robert A. Milliken said about the watch. (No.736)
78. IN OTHER WORDS, THE MORE THEY STUDY, THE MORE THEY SEE HIS HANDIWORK, THE MORE THEY SEE THE DIVINE ORDER, THE PLAN, THE PERFECTION!—I take an egg in my hand every morning, in fact I take three eggs, & I look at every one of them before I break it & I think: "What a marvel of perfection, what a geometrically perfect form!" It's not a perfect globe, it's not a mere oval, it is a most marvellous, beautiful creation! One little chicken egg! I almost hate to break it! I look at that & I thank the Lord!
79. I SAY, "THANK YOU JESUS FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL CREATION!" And just think, one little humble lowly chicken out in some poor man's chicken yard does that every day‚ creates a marvel of creation like that! Beautiful! Just take a look at an egg sometime, what a beautiful perfect orb it is, ovular orb! It's not a perfect globe, but it's ovular‚ somewhat oval, yet the curves & everything are so gorgeous—like you girls & your curves, there's nothing more beautiful! But even that one little lowly egg is a marvel of God's creation!
80. SO DR. STEINER SAID THAT THE MORE HE STUDIED THE CELL, THE MORE HE REALISED THERE HAD TO BE A DESIGNER, A CREATOR! The percentage of these honest open-minded scientists who are honest & willing to confess that the more they study‚ the more they realise there's a Designer & Creator, somebody behind it all, has leaped from the 20s to the 70s in about 50 years!—Three times as many!
81. THE SCIENTISTS THEMSELVES ARE BECOMING MEN OF FAITH & BEGINNING TO BELIEVE MORE THAN THE PEOPLE! But the pseudo-scientists, the false prophets of science falsely so–called, vain & profane babblers of evolution, etc. (1Ti.6:20)‚ who have been deceiving the people all these years, these so-called scientists have now got the people hoodwinked now so that the average person now believes in evolution!—When the greatest scientists themselves no longer believe in it! Think of that!
82. SCIENTIST AFTER SCIENTIST SAYS EVOLUTION IS PASSE, it's shot full of holes, it's impossible to prove & it's unlikely! The majority of reputable‚ reliable scientists today no longer have the faith in evolution they once had. But what's happened? Boy, the Devil used it & he got it into the textbooks, & he got it to the students & the teachers so that you can hardly be a teacher & part of the educational system today unless you affirm your loyalty & faith in evolution.—That's what my brother said! He was an educational administrator in Northern California for many years, vice-president of three different colleges, & he almost as good as told me, when you're fighting evolution, you're fighting a losing game! It's impossible!
83. EVOLUTION IS THE CONFIRMED, ESTABLISHED, ACCEPTED FAITH OF SCIENCE TODAY, OF AT LEAST EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE. The Devil got in where the students were, where the young people were‚ the children were. Whereas the really great scientists like Einstein & many others have confessed their faith in some higher Power, in Someone behind it all!
84. SO WHAT I'M SAYING IS THIS: PEOPLE WHO REALLY ARE HONEST & OPEN-MINDED & ARE WILLING TO LEARN, GOD HAS SHOWN THEM!—Not the people who say, "Shut up, my mind is made up, I don't want to be confused with the facts!"—They prefer to believe their theories & their fairy tales & their lies of the Devil! To translate that passage in Romans into modern language: The obvious existence of God in His eternal Godhead has been evident or manifest through the things that He has made‚ in other words, through His creation. (Rom.1:20)
85. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IS PROVED BY HIS CREATION! That's why the Devil attacked Creation most of all, because the Creation of God is the greatest proof of His existence to human man in this present era, the ones who only believe what they can see. OK, they can see it‚ so they believe it. And the honest ones who are willing to confess it, believe that there had to be Somebody behind it, some Higher Power that designed it, created it & runs it!
86. SO THE POINT IS THAT GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO NATURAL MAN TODAY THROUGH HIS NATURAL CREATION. That's widespread & nearly everybody can see it & nearly everybody can believe it who will, right? God has gone that far to prove His existence, & that's far enough, really. They shouldn't have to have any further proof. And yet God has gone further than that with some!
87. BUT THE ONES TO WHOM HE HAS REVEALED HIMSELF SUPERNATURALLY, miraculously, spiritually by spiritual experiences, supernatural experiences, miracles‚ trips into the beyond‚ would you say that's everybody? Would you say that's the vast majority? Would you say that's even a simple majority? Would you even say that's a very large minority? I would say the people to whom God's gone that far to reveal Himself in the supernatural & the miraculous & the spiritual by such experiences, are a very small few & a rare exception!
88. SO THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE SAVED TODAY HAVE TO BELIEVE THOUGH HAVING NOT SEEN! The wonderful thing about it though...(Dad had a pain!) thank You Jesus! PYL! In Jesus' name. Please pray for me, that's the second time that's happened. I don't think the Devil likes this at all. That's better. TYL! Amen. TYJ! We rebuke Satan in the Name of Jesus Christ! We resist you, Oplexicon! We resist you, Satan, in Jesus' name! "Resist the Enemy & he will flee from you!" (Jam.4:7) TYL! The minute you start praying for me I get instant deliverance! Marvellous! The Devil doesn't like this though. He can only touch us sometimes, but he can't get the victory. TTL!—Not if we don't quit!
89. SO THE VAST MAJORITY TODAY IN THIS ERA HAVE NEVER REALLY SEEN. They have seen the glory & the wonders of God in His Creation—this He reveals to everyone, & through this they should all believe. And I'd say the vast majority of people in the World—don't go by the educated Worldly Godless Americans & Europeans & the West—but if you take two–thirds or more of the World who are primitive countries, maybe all of them have some kind of religion & believe in some kind of Higher Power. They believe there's some kind of God!
90. IT TAKES THESE HIGHLY-EDUCATED PEOPLE WHO GO THROUGH COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY YEARS TO GET THEMSELVES TO THE POINT WHERE THEY'RE SO WELL-EDUCATED THEY NO LONGER BELIEVE IN GOD! Whereas any simple little fool or farmer or peasant or peon out there working the fields & seeing the wonders of God's Creation firsthand, the growth of plants & animals & His marvels of creation, can't help but believe in God! They can see His handiwork everywhere & even feel it! But the people who live in the cities & see nothing but the creations of man, they get away from acknowledging the existence of God.
91. BUT STILL THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE HAVE NOT SEEN MIRACLES OR SUPERNATURAL MANIFESTATIONS or spirit-trips or revelations or heard prophecies or had dreams or visions or after-death experiences, right? This dispensation, this day or this era in which we now live & have been living since almost the very beginning, has had to mostly believe without seeing.
92. THE WORLD SAYS, "SEEING IS BELIEVING!" That's their criterion‚ "Seeing is believing! Show me, I'll believe it when I see it!" Like that guy said to Dr. Moon after one of his lectures. I was there when it happened & it was really funny! He'd have questions & answers after the lecture & this smart-aleck came up & said‚ "Well, Dr. Moon, I'm not saying there isn't a God, I'm just an agnostic, I just don't know!" And Dr. Moon, who was real quick on the wit said, "Well, instead of using the Greek word 'agnostic', why don't you use the Latin word for 'I don't know!': 'I'm an ignoramus!'"
93. IN SPITE OF THE MARVELLOUS CREATION OF GOD ALL AROUND US THAT TESTIFIES TO HIS EXISTENCE‚ the vast majority of the World today have not had any so-called supernatural experiences, spiritual experiences, dreams, visions, revelations, prophecies‚ tongues, gifts of the Spirit or after-death experiences. I would say that's only a small minority of the World to whom God has been that merciful & that good & has gone that far to really try to convince them by giving them a little glimpse of spiritual realities.
94. "NOW WE SEE THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY, THEN FACE TO FACE." (1Cor.13:12) He's given a few a little glimpse into those things—you! You're a part of that very small minority of people who have had supernatural experiences & supernatural revelations! You have heard the dreams & prophecies & visions & revelations of God & you've had the baptism of the Holy Spirit & received supernatural gifts of the Spirit, but you're a very small few. In fact‚ most of the rest of the so-called normal World thinks you're abnormal, subnormal or just plain crazy because you're off the norm, eccentric, that the normal is not to have such things. Really they're off base if off Jesus!
95. I'M TRYING TO BRING OUT A POINT TO YOU THAT HAS COME STRONGLY TO ME MORE & MORE LATELY IN RELATION TO THE MILLENNIUM, & that is that today, most people have to believe purely by faith without seeing. Now I believe that in most cases where they truly genuinely honestly believe, though having not seen, that they will see some evidence, some proof, some change, if nothing else than in their own lives. They will feel it, they will see it!
96. ONCE HAVING BELIEVED, THEN GOD WILL HONOUR THAT FAITH BY LETTING THEM SEE & FEEL & TO KNOW THE PROOF!—But it's still a very small minority. "Straight is the gate & narrow is the way that leadeth unto life eternal & few there be that find it!" Jesus Himself said. "But wide is the gate & broad is the way that leads unto destruction, & many there be that go in thereat." (Mt.7:13,14)
97. SO THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE ARE BLIND‚ ignorant, unwilling‚ unbelieving‚ stupid, really, & blind leaders of the blind, followers of blind leaders, & the vast majority are wrong. The vast majority today are wicked, unsaved & unbelieving! They have not seen nor believed.
98. THIS AGE IN WHICH WE'RE NOW LIVING IS A VERY EXTRA-SPECIAL AGE, THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE‚ SO-CALLED. THE AGE OF GRACE! You've probably heard it called that before even if you didn't go through Bible College & a lot of theological cemeterianism. But since the days of the Fall of man & the Garden of Eden, we are living in what is now known as the Age of Grace.
99. SOME PEOPLE SAY, "WELL, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN UNTIL JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS, & before that they were living in the age of Law under the Mosaic Law!" Nobody was ever saved by the Mosaic Law! No one has ever been saved by anything but the grace of God! And no one has ever been saved except by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, whether it was before or since Jesus Christ! We are all children of Abraham by faith! (Gal.3:7) Abraham was saved by faith!—And Paul goes on through the whole 11th Chapter of Hebrews saying it's all by faith, all of it!
100. SO I THINK THIS WAS COOKED UP BY SCOFIELD & SOME OF HIS [COLLEAGUES] ABOUT THE VARIOUS DISPENSATIONS: The Adamic Covenant‚ the Noahic Covenant, the Abramic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant & blah blah! God only has one covenant with man, only one contract that'll save him, & that's signed by the blood of Jesus Christ! Even your Bible is called Old Testament & New Testament, meaning old covenant, new covenant, old contract, new contract. "Old Testament" is a misnomer.
101. NOBODY WAS EVER SAVED BY KEEPING THE MOSAIC LAW OR ANY LAW OF MOSES! Nobody was ever saved by the Old Testament, ever! You are only saved by the New Testament‚ the new covenant, the covenant of the blood of Christ! In fact, that is not even new, because He is the Lamb which was slain before the foundation of the Earth! (Rev.13:8) And His Covenant of Grace has been in existence since the World began!—With many looking forward to it. (Heb.11:26, 39 & 40)
102. WE NOW KNOW THAT THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TIME TO GOD! It's all past‚ it's all fact & all an accomplished act & all done! Even before the World was created, in the mind of God, Jesus was as good as crucified already & it was already the day of grace! Adam had to be saved by faith in the Word of God & the blood of Christ even though Jesus was not even born yet!
103. THIS IS WHY ABEL WAS TOLD TO SLAY A LAMB, a type looking forward to the future death of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, & the shedding of His blood for sin. Abel obeyed, he used that type, he offered that kind of sacrifice, showing his faith, by faith in the future blood of Jesus Christ! But Cain didn't. He refused to believe & he offered his own kind of sacrifice, his own self-righteous works. He thought he could do it some other way than God's way.
104. SO MAN HAS NEVER BEEN SAVED BY ANYTHING BUT BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH! No other way! Nobody's ever been saved any other way but by faith in Christ! And these old circumcision & concision & Scribes & Pharisees amongst the Jewish Christians such as Scofield & their ilk‚ & the so-called Hebrew Christians who are claiming that they've got some special rank or dispensation of grace of God just because they're Jewish, that's a lot of baloney!—It's shit!—Just plain shit, that's the best word I can use for it! As dear Isaiah said: "Your own righteousness is filthy menstruous rags!"—Like a dirty kotex to God! (Isa.64:6)
105. SO NOBODY'S EVER BEEN SAVED ANY OTHER WAY, EXCEPT BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH, EVEN FROM THE VERY BEGINNING! (Eph.2:8) That's the only way that Adam could get saved‚ if he was saved, & apparently he must have believed! He certainly had every reason to believe! In fact, in some ways there was more evidence of the existence of God then when God was actually talking to man & teaching & training him & clothing him.
106. WHO DO YOU THINK TAUGHT MAN HOW TO PLOW THE GROUND & RAISE HIS OWN FOOD & DO ALL THE REST? The first poor animals that had to be killed had to be killed to clothe man, think of that! (Ge.3:21) Woman's first fur coat! It cost a lot‚ it cost a life.—The shedding of blood again, another type of how we are to be clothed with righteousness through the shedding of blood. Man's own skin was no longer able to save him from the elements‚ he had to have an animal killed & its skin to protect him. Because even the weather changed, the climate changed, everything changed due to the judgements of God on man's sin.
107. SO THERE WAS MORE EVIDENCE THEN OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD & HIS WORK AMONGST MEN, & in a sense, visible audible evidence of His existence, because He had to have very very direct contact with men in those days. He did many mighty miracles like the Flood & even the confusion of tongues, & a lot of things happened back in the early days which were a very outstanding evidence of the existence of God—even if they were judgements of God—many mighty miracles of God that proved His existence in those days.
108. I WOULD SAY THAT IN YEARS SINCE THEN, PERHAPS THERE HAVE NOT BEEN AS MANY VISIBLE, AUDIBLE, TANGIBLE EVIDENCES OF HIS EXISTENCE—I'm talking about supernatural evidences—as there were even in those early days. Man has had to more & more believe God by faith. All through this age, from the days of Adam & Eve until Jesus comes again, man has still got to believe God by faith, believe in God by faith, & receive salvation purely by faith in the grace of God through Jesus Christ! It's by pure faith today‚ & always has been!
109. BUT NOW GETTING BACK TO THE MILLENNIUM! You probably thought I never would get from Genesis on back to Revelation again! Like Mama Eve used to say: "You never can talk about any subject but what you've got to begin in Genesis & go all the way to Revelation!" Well, I'm like a lawyer, I'm proving my case & trying to show you something that maybe never dawned on you before. TYJ! Bless & help us! Thank You for answering prayer! The Lord healed me so I guess He must want me to go on.
110. THINK OF THE CONTRAST TODAY & EVER SINCE ADAM & EVE—MAN HAS REALLY HAD TO LIVE BY FAITH, believe by faith & without so much visible, tangible, audible, miraculous, supernatural evidence of the existence of God—certainly not as much as there will be during the Millennium!
111. HOW MUCH MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR THAN THE EVIDENCE THAT THERE WILL BE DURING THE MILLENNIUM, when man will be able to see the visible power of God through you & me & the visible, personal embodiment of God in Jesus Christ as King of kings & Ruler of the Earth in the Kingdom Come! The Kingdom of God on Earth! The lifting of the Curse! The supernatural restoration of the World as far as He can go without burning it up & re-creating it, which He'll have to do eventually.
112. I MIGHT USE THE WORD I'VE USED BEFORE, THAT IN A SENSE THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE A REFORMATION, NOT A REVOLUTION! In fact, revolution is even too mild a word to use for the New Earth & the New Heaven! It's a re-creation, a regeneration‚ a whole new creation! But the Millennium will be, you might even say, an attempted reformation. It's not that God's so dumb He doesn't know it's going to fail, but its very failure in a sense—you may think it's a failure—has a purpose. Even some of the courses & tests I flunked were not failures, I learned! I never made that mistake again!
113. EVERYTHING SUCCEEDS SOMEHOW! Even the spankings you got when you were a little boy, David, were good for you. Maybe you failed, but the spanking didn't fail, Mama & Daddy didn't fail, & eventually you didn't fail! And here you are, a better boy, a better girl, better children than ever before! So it wasn't a failure. Just because God has to put us through all these things to teach us & train us—& as somebody has said, & "learned us"—doesn't mean that it's a failure!—Just because some people flunked! Do you get it?
114. AND JUST BECAUSE THIS PRESENT AGE SINCE ADAM FOR THE PAST 6,000 YEARS LOOKS LIKE IT HAS BEEN LARGELY A FAILURE & most of the people flunked, doesn't necessarily mean that this age was a flop! God got out of this age the cream of the crop! Out of the testing & the unbelief & the trials & the temptations & all that we have had to go through, He got out a people who are the cream of the crop! The upper class! I know that modern sociologists don't like that term, but God's got us & we are the upper class, the cream of the crop, the storm troopers! We don't like that term either, do we?
115. WE ARE THE ELITE & WE WILL BE ABLE TO WALK THE GOLDEN STREETS OF THAT GOLDEN CITY WHEN NOBODY ELSE IS ALLOWED IN! Because you are privileged characters, a privileged class who are allowed to go through a harder life under more difficult conditions now & greater trials & temptations & tribulations & survive‚ by faith, like the 11th Chapter of Hebrews!—Though having not seen, yet having believed!
116. SO YOU ARE GOING TO BE THE UPPER CRUST, THE UPPER CLASS OF THE WORLD TO COME! First of all in the Millennium you're going to rule it & run it & reign it‚ & then in the New Heaven & the New Earth, you are going to be the kings & princes & queens & high priests & rulers of that Earth also—& the only ones allowed in the Holy City, the Heavenly City of God!
117. "KINGS OF THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH SHALL BRING THEIR GLORY INTO IT!" (Rev.21:26) They're going to pay tribute, they're going to give honour & glory to God & to us as the elite, the rulers of the Earth! Let me tell you, they're going to be mighty glad to even be on the outside! And those who live through the horrible end of this age right now in the end period & the Tribulation & the Wrath of God & Armageddon are going to be mighty thankful they survived at all into the Millennium! They're going to feel like privileged characters themselves!
118. BUT YOU ARE GOING TO BE THEIR RULERS, THEIR OFFICERS OF THE LAW! You're going to be the angels of God to them! Just as the angels are to us now, we will be angels to them! Not much change in that, except then we will be in complete control. Well, God & His angels are even in control now, but He's just letting man have his way.
119. IN THE MILLENNIUM THERE'S GOING TO BE A BIG DIFFERENCE! There will still be free will, there will still be choice, but God will not let man have his way! He may choose to have it‚ but He's going to slap him down real quick when he does! He may choose to go his own way & try to rebel—bam!—God swats him with a rod of iron!—Bam, whammy, zap!—Whatever you want to call it—& he gets it quick!
120. NOWADAYS MAN GETS AWAY WITH MURDER & A HELL OF A LOT MORE, but he's not going to get away with anything then. There's going to be instant judgement! Instant enforcement! Force! Iron-rod enforcement of the Law of God & the Government of God, & nobody's going to get away with anything, even those that try!—And they will try!
121. NOW WOULDN'T YOU SAY THAT THE PEOPLE WILL BELIEVE WHO SEE THAT KIND OF GOVERNMENT & THAT KIND OF VISIBLE, TANGIBLE, AUDIBLE MANIFESTATION OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD & His Government on Earth, the Kingdom of God on Earth & His governors—you & me—& His World restored, Curse lifted, people living hundreds of years, no enmity between the animals‚ or men & the animals any longer, all these miraculous, seemingly supernatural manifestations!
122. ACTUALLY IT'LL BE NORMAL‚ THE WAY GOD INTENDED FOR IT TO BE TO BEGIN WITH & MADE THINGS TO BEGIN WITH! It's actually just a restoration of the norm! We're living in the abnormal now & the subnormal‚ out of the norm! The World is in chaos, the World is in confusion! How can you have normal psychology today? The norm today is idiocy, insanity! (Car screeches outside!) The Devil's mad even outside! If he can't get in, he'll do what he can outside to try to distract you, isn't that something? He gets the dogs to barkin' or gets that damn lizard to kissin' or gets the neighbours to screamin' or something! But don't let him distract you!
123. THIS IS NOT A NORMAL WORLD! THIS IS NOT THE WAY GOD MADE IT! Man has messed it up, the Devil has messed it up, his demons have messed it up‚ the Curse has messed it up! The World is in a mess today, anybody can see that! Just look around! It's not normal! But this is all man can see & all he knows, so he thinks this is normal! And he thinks that all the insanity of man today is normal psychology & only the most extreme cases are considered abnormal.
124. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU STUDIED IN SCHOOL, BUT I TOOK A CRAZY COURSE CALLED "ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY," with a whole big thick book about all the nuts & idiots & kinds of insanity that there are in the World! It made me sick! I think I only read a few chapters of the book & I never got any further than that! I didn't even want to dwell on all that horrible stuff & the horrors & examples &, ugh, it's enough to make you puke!—All the different kinds of insanity there is in the World & its manifestations! I mean, you've gotta be insane to even want to study it!
125. GOD'S WORD SAYS, "WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE GOOD, OF GOOD REPORT, ETC.‚ THINK ON THESE THINGS, THINK ON THE GOOD THINGS!" (Ph.4:8) Boy, it was so depressing reading that book I had to quit, it was horrible! What man calls abnormal psychology about the idiots, etc., that's the worst of all, but even what he calls normal is not normal! It's not a normal World, man is not normal today, he's abnormal, subnormal! They call us eccentric, meaning we're off the center! They're the ones that are eccentric, they're off the Center!
126. WE'RE ON THE CENTER, WE'RE CONCENTRATED ON JESUS CHRIST, THE CENTER OF ALL THINGS! Keep your mind stayed on the Lord & He'll keep you in perfect peace. (Is.26:3) We're the only ones who are normal! Ha! Ha! Ha! You didn't laugh! Compared to the rest of the World, that really gets a good laugh! And they laugh at us!: "You normal? What are you talking about? You're the craziest people on Earth! You're really crazy! You say you can just believe & be saved, you can just believe & be healed, you can just go ahead & live for the Lord & He'll take care of you & all those crazy things!"
127. YOUR PARENTS THOUGHT YOU WERE CRAZY & SOME TRIED TO KIDNAP YOU & ALL KINDS OF THINGS! They thought you'd lost your mind, thought you'd gone insane! You're the one that is sane, they're the ones that are crazy! They're the ones insane! We're the only ones who are sane: Christians who love Jesus & love the Lord & believe in God & His Power & His Bible & His Word & His Kingdom! It's already here, in us, in our hearts, & will be everywhere in the Millennium & control everybody whether they like it or not! We're the normal ones, but to the rest of the World we're religious fanatics, Jesus freaks, abnormal, subnormal, crazy, nuts!
128. BUT BECAUSE THEIR SUBNORMALITY & ABNORMALITIES ARE SO COMMON & WIDESPREAD IN THE VAST MAJORITY & MOST OF THE PEOPLE, THEY THINK THEY'RE THE NORMAL ONES! Like the old lady said: "Oh look‚ everybody's out of step but my Johnny!" Well, that's the fact, that's the truth! We're the ones that are in step, they're the ones who are out of step! Like the old Quaker said: "Sometimes I think everybody in the World is crazy but me & thee, & sometimes I wonder about thee!" Or like the guy said in the insane asylum: "He thinks he's Napoleon! But how could he be Napoleon when I'm Napoleon!"
129. IN THE MILLENNIUM THERE IS GOING TO BE MORE VISIBLE, AUDIBLE, TANGIBLE EVIDENCE! Do you guys know what I'm talking about, using these big words? Visible means you can see it! Audible means you can hear it! Tangible means you can feel it! They are going to see, hear & feel the presence of God & His Kingdom & His people & His Power & His Government, as well as His perfect Creation without the Curse!—And long life!
130. EVEN THE NATURAL NORMAL PEOPLE WILL BE ALLOWED TO LIVE A LONG TIME because of the lifting of the Curse. Death won't come so soon & they'll go back to living hundreds of years like they did before the Flood. Anybody who dies at 100 is going to be considered just a child!
131. ANOTHER RESULT OF THE CURSE WAS MULTIPLIED CONCEPTION & PAIN IN CHILDBIRTH. (Ge.3:16) I'm happy to say, girls‚ your job of childcare & prenatal care & pregnant women, etc., will be greatly reduced during the Millennium, because when people don't die as fast, they don't have to be born as fast! When people keep on living, they don't have to have so many births to replace the population! Are you disappointed?—I'm sorry.
132. —NOT THAT THEY'RE GOING TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF SEX, Hope, & some of you sex addicts like me! You may just find that you're more interested & busier with other things. You can still have sex if you want it & need it, but you may find you're going to need other things more. You're going to be real busy for one thing, & you're almost too busy to have sex now sometimes!—Ha!
133. WELL ANYWAY, SINCE PEOPLE WON'T BE DYING AS OFTEN & AS MANY, THERE WON'T BE THE NECESSITY OF SO MANY BIRTHS. Children will be more rare, there will not be the multiplied conception which was a result of the Curse on the Fall of man. Why? "You say it was a curse? I thought you said having children was a blessing?" It is to us, yes‚ but so many was a result of the Fall because men were going to die faster of sin. In fact, they weren't going to die at all, if they had eaten of the Tree of Life they would have lived forever!
134. BECAUSE THEY SINNED, THEY BEGAN TO DIE, & THE MORE THEY SINNED THE FASTER THEY DIED, so the more God had to produce babies to take their place so that His plan wouldn't be totally defeated by having the whole thing die! That's why the Devil hates babies, hates children, hates conception, hates childbirth, hates pregnant women, because if he could stop all that, man would die out completely!
135. BUT IN THAT DAY PEOPLE WILL LIVE LONGER! IT WON'T BE NECESSARY FOR THE LORD TO CREATE SO MANY NEW BABIES TO TAKE THEIR PLACE, BECAUSE THEY WON'T DIE THAT FAST. Hope you're not disappointed! (Sara: I never thought about having a child in the Millennium!) Honey, people will be natural & normal‚ living like they do today! They'll still have to work for a living. But not us! We'll have to work too, in a way, but it'll be nice work if you can get it!
136. THEY WILL STILL HAVE TO HAVE FOOD TO EAT, farms & various natural forms of transportation—whatever doesn't hurt nor kill nor destroy—the way God made things originally. Back to the primitive forms of transportation & farming & agricultural economy & peaceful economy & His original system, etc.
137. SO THERE WILL BE SOME BIG CHANGES‚ BIG DIFFERENCES, but there will be normal people there. They're going to seem a little abnormal to the people of today, perhaps, because they will live & last longer & won't have as many children & they'll be a lot better people. People are going to be able to see the visible Kingdom of God on Earth!
138. NOW THE POINT THAT I'M TRYING TO BRING OUT—having gone clear around not merely Robinhood's barn & back, but around the Earth & the Bible & the Universe & back to the point again—is that honestly now, I'm going to ask you, Jury, what do you think? Will it be more easy then to believe than it is now?—Of course! I mean, almost anybody can believe having seen! Jesus said so! He said, "Thomas, God bless you for believing because you saw, but more blessed are those who having not seen, yet have believed!" (Jn.20:29)
139. YOU TODAY ARE MORE BLESSED THAN THEY OF THE MILLENNIUM! You are more blessed because, though having not seen‚ you have believed. But God is going to, in a sense, do for the World in the Millennium what He did for Thomas. The people today say: "Show me!" OK, He's gonna show'm! And those who were honest about it & really meant it: "Lord, if you'll show me‚ I'll believe it"—will believe! I believe it! I believe that the vast majority of the people then will believe. It says, "No man shall say unto his neighbour, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me!" (Jer.31:34)
140. I'LL TELL YOU RIGHT NOW‚ EVERYBODY'S GOING TO BELIEVE IN GOD! There's not a soul that's not going to believe that Jesus Christ is the King of kings & Ruler of the Earth! That doesn't mean they're going to be saved—not if their hearts are still wicked & rebellious & iniquitous & disobedient—& there will be bad people who will have to be punished! The Scripture's very clear about it!
141. THERE'S GONNA BE A TOUGH STRONG IRON-CLAD GOVERNMENT TO RULE THE WORLD & TO MAKE PEOPLE OBEY who don't want to obey, & there will still be people who don't want to obey, even though having seen & heard & felt & had every proof & every evidence & every reason to believe! They will believe, all right, but there will be a lot who won't receive it, as the Muslims say, will not be in submission, will not submit to the Kingdom of God. (Muslim means "he who submits"!)
142. BUT I AM CONVINCED THAT MOST OF THE PEOPLE WILL NOT ONLY BELIEVE WHEN THEY SEE‚ BUT WILL RECEIVE & OBEY & SUBMIT! That's why it's going to be like Heaven on Earth, thank God, because the vast majority of the people will receive it & will yield to the Kingdom of God & your authority, & that little dream I had is one of the manifestations of it! ("Millennial Hospitality!" No.1440)
143. IT WASN'T THAT THAT TOWN COUNCIL WAS ALL THAT JUBILANT ABOUT OUR AUTHORITY, BUT THEY WERE RESPECTFUL, SUBMISSIVE & THEY RECEIVED IT. They had to believe it, there I was!—Ha! And there you'll be! They can't help but believe! Everybody will believe then, but it's not necessarily going to save'm! There will be some form of salvation‚ but it may not get them into the Holy City—that day may be gone forever & passed, as far as I can see.
144. MAYBE I'M WRONG, MAYBE SOME PEOPLE WILL BE SAVED IN THE MILLENNIUM WHO WILL GET INTO THE HOLY CITY TOO IF THEY BELIEVE IN JESUS THEN! Maybe they'll receive Him then as their personal Saviour & have faith in His blood & then believe‚ even as we do today, because they have seen! But they're not going to be as blessed as us! Maybe they'll still get in, but down in the basement somewhere or the lower levels. You are going to be more blessed, because you, though having not seen, yet have believed!
145. THOSE PEOPLE THEN WHO BELIEVE BECAUSE THEY HAVE SEEN, THEY'LL BE BLESSED, AS THE LORD SAID TO THOMAS: "BLESSED ARE YE!" They'll be blessed to even get into the Millennium! They'll be blessed to see the visible personal rule & reign of Jesus Christ & His Government of God under us in that day! They'll be blessed! It's just plain common sense! Don't you think the vast majority, having seen, will believe? And don't you think that when they then believe by seeing, that most of them will probably receive & submit? They'd be crazy not too! But there will be some people that crazy who will jump at the first chance to follow the Devil again as soon as he shows his ugly face! (Rev.20:7–9)
146. BUT I BELIEVE THAT THE MILLENNIUM IS‚ IN A SENSE, A SECOND CHANCE—at least for those whom God chooses to spare to live into the Millennium. And I think then because they have seen, heard & felt the Kingdom of God in the very visible personal rule & reign of Jesus & His Government—us—on Earth, then certainly everybody will believe. Everybody will believe! They'll know because they can see it!
147. THERE WON'T BE ANY UNBELIEVERS THEN, BUT THERE WILL BE SOME UNRECEIVERS, those who won't yield & will try to disobey & are still stubborn & disobedient & rebellious & iniquitous & wicked at heart & still defiant & don't want to obey God—still! Think of it!—Including the Devil & all his angels & the anti-God forces at the End! The Lord may allow some of them to survive just to show us & the World that some are incorrigible!
148. YOU SAY, "WELL, WHAT FOR?" Well, if anything‚ I think it's going to give the people who deserve it, a chance to see & to believe! Jesus went down & preached to the spirits in prison—He must have felt like they deserved a chance. (Mt.12:40; 1Pe.3:19, 4:6) How much more so the people who managed to survive into the Millennium! They deserve their chance too!
149. WHAT KIND OF A CHANCE YOU WANT TO CLASSIFY IT AS IN THEOLOGICAL TERMS, I DON'T KNOW. Most theologians don't believe this. Christian theologians, inheriting their largely Roman Catholic philosophy & theology, separate Heaven & Hell as far as the stars are from the Earth, & maybe a lot further! In fact‚ even the Catholics believe more in something in between such as Limbo & Purgatory & a few other things which even the Protestants don't believe at all!
150. THERE'S NOBODY AS HARD-HEADED & AS DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED TO ANYTHING IN BETWEEN HEAVEN & HELL AS THE PROTESTANTS! The conservative so-called Evangelical & Fundamentalist religionists, they are the greatest opponents of the Catholic theories of Limbo & Purgatory—which I am more inclined to believe than the Protestants!
151. I THINK THE CATHOLICS ARE CLOSER TO THE TRUTH THERE THAN THE PROTESTANTS! At least they teach that there's some time when you have a chance to get out of Purgatory, once you're purged, & someplace to go for the people who never had a chance‚ like Limbo, etc. How many of you were ex-Catholics? And how many of you ever heard of those places, Purgatory‚ Limbo, etc.? That's someplace kind of in between Heaven & Hell. Even the Catholics have got better sense than the Protestants on that!
152. BUT YOU CAN'T FIND AN EVANGELICAL THAT BELIEVES IN ANYTHING ELSE, TO THEM IT'S EITHER HEAVEN OR HELL, THAT'S IT! Period! "When you go to Hell, Brother, that's it!" Did you read those comics that Chick wrote?—They say you go to Hell forever & you're in the torment & the flames of Hell forever! No matter whether you're the best man on Earth, if you didn't believe in Jesus, to Hell you go & in Hell you stay & that's it! You get the same evil punishment with the Devil & all his demons!
153. WHAT KIND OF A GOD WOULD DO A TRICK LIKE THAT? I can't believe that kind of thing! Although that's what I was taught all my life, thank God I finally awakened to the fact & the Scripture & the reality & the reason & the logic & the plain common sense that our God is not that kind of a monster!—That there are other stages & grades & levels in between, even Dante's Inferno shows that‚ & I can give you lot of other examples.
154. BUT THE POINT IS, IN THE MILLENNIUM THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE SOME CHANCE TO BELIEVE, RECEIVE & OBEY, & God is going to in some way save them then, if not for the Heavenly City, at least from Hell! Maybe they'll get into the basement! They're not as blessed as we are. (Family: Will they ever have the blessing of full supernatural bodies?) Oh yes, everybody has that eventually. Even the wicked who are raised from the dead will have supernatural bodies, otherwise they wouldn't be immortal & they wouldn't last forever! Even if they had to go to Hell forever, they'd have to have supernatural bodies!
155. (FAMILY: ONE REASON IT MIGHT BE EASIER FOR THEM TO BELIEVE IN THE MILLENNIUM is because the Devil's bound, so all of his doubts aren't going around.) Yes, all of his demons won't be working on your mind & all the rest of that then!
156. THAT'S A VERY GOOD QUESTION THOUGH, SON. It may seem obvious to me, but it may not seem so obvious to everybody else. That although‚ like you say, they missed the First Resurrection, if they should die during the Millennium or be destroyed in the fire which destroys the World at the end, there's only one more resurrection & that's the one at the White Throne Judgement. But it says every man will then be judged according to his works. (Rev.20:11,12)
157. THERE WILL BE A JUDGEMENT THERE! Well, if everybody's going to Hell‚ what the Hell's the Judgement for? If everybody that's already going to be saved has already gone to Heaven & is already saved, what's this Judgement at the Great White Throne Judgement of God?—Of the Unsaved who were never resurrected to begin with, & all those who were destroyed in the fire when the Earth & atmosphere is burned up! What's this Second Resurrection for? What's this Great White Throne Judgement for in the 20th Chapter of Revelation? Why does there have to be any Judgement at all? Why doesn't God just toss them all into Hell? Huh?
158. WELL‚ YOU READ THAT CHAPTER CAREFULLY! I was shocked the other day! I read that a few months ago, I think I was in South Africa or somewhere. You just assume & you've just got it pounded into your head so many years by preachers & teachers, it's a preconceived prejudice that everybody that's raised then are all tossed right straight into Hell! But that is not what it says, it doesn't say they are all tossed into Hell at the end of the 20th Chapter! That's just what the preachers taught you. What does it say? (Family: "And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life...") (Rev.20:15)
159. WHY DID THEY HAVE TO HAVE A BOOK OPEN TO FIND WHO WAS WRITTEN THERE & NOT WRITTEN THERE? Huh? Why did there have to be any Judgement at all unless there was some difference between those people who are resurrected for the Great White Throne Judgement when the Book of Life is opened? If none of them are written in there & it's a bare blank book, why bother?
160. THE ATTITUDE OF THE AVERAGE CHRISTIAN IS: "You might as well just toss the whole caboodle into Hell & let it go at that! Nobody's saved! All the saved are already resurrected‚ met with Jesus, gone to Heaven—& to Hell with the rest of them!" Just like the Scribes & the Pharisees: "Thank God we're not as these other people‚ let'm go to Hell!" No wonder the Pharisaical churchy don't evangelise the World, they don't care!
161. IT SAYS DEFINITELY THERE'S GOING TO BE A BOOK OF LIFE THERE & they're going to read out, apparently, those who are written there & not those who aren't! And those that are not found in the Book, they're the ones that are going to be tossed into Hell, not all of them! You say, "Okay then, who's not found in the Book?" Well‚ obviously the Wicked & those that rejected & wouldn't believe & wouldn't receive & rebelled, & probably all those people who at the end of the Millennium turn against the Camp of the Saints & the people of God—including maybe lots of people who were saved during the Millennium—when the Devil tries to pull his big revolt!—Also all those who accepted the Mark of the Beast in the Tribulation! (Rev.19:20)
162. THOSE PEOPLE DESERVE HELL! I'd say they really deserve the flames & the Fiery Lake! After a thousand years of the personal visible loving reign of Jesus Christ & His Saints on the Earth & the manifestation of God on every hand, they still rebel against God, they deserve to go to Hell! I'd say if anybody ever deserved it, they deserve to go to Hell more than Hitler! Right?
163. SO THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE ANOTHER REFINING TIME, a purifying, a purgatory in a sense, another chance to believe & receive & submit & obey! The others, even if they live to the end of the Millennium, are going to be destroyed in the fire which devours the Earth! They take part in the Second Resurrection‚ they have to face the Great White Throne Judgement & they have to be checked on from the great Book of Life!
164. AND OBVIOUSLY SOME WERE NOT THERE, BECAUSE THEY REBELLED AGAINST GOD EVEN IN THE MILLENNIUM, as well as many in ages past who rebelled against God. All those who were in open rebellion against God & knew better‚ & all those that deserve Hell, are going to get Hell! They're going to deserve it! But obviously there are going to be a lot of people who don't, who are found written in the Book of Life! HAL! TYJ! GB'M!
165. BUT THE WAY THE EVANGELICALS & THE FUNDAMENTALISTS TEACH & THE WAY WE WERE TAUGHT WAS: "Listen buddy, you missed the Rapture, you missed the Second Coming!—Go to Hell!" Well‚ there are some Fundamentalists who believe that a few people are going to get saved during the Tribulation. They particularly teach that the Jews are all going to get saved in the Tribulation! They won't get saved now, but during the Tribulation they get saved.
166. IN FACT, WE SAW A PREACHER ON TELEVISION ONCE WHO SAID, "We believers of today are not the Bride of Christ, we're the army of God!" He never came straight out & said it, but he implied that according to his doctrine, the Jews who are going to be saved during the Tribulation are going to be the special Bride of Christ!—Ha! He doesn't know his Bible! (Rev.12:1,5-6‚17; 20:4)
167. IT'S THAT SAME OLD PREJUDICED PRO-JEWISH DOCTRINE that somehow or another the Jews are just a little bit better than all the Goys! Somehow or another we saved Jews are just a little bit better than the saved Gentiles. And somehow or another in the very end God's still going to save the Jews somehow & they're still going to get a little bit better deal than the Gentiles! The Jews've had that drummed into them for thousands of years‚ that they're better than other people: "Thank God I'm not like these Gentiles!"
168. I thank God I'm like Jews like you who believe‚ & that makes you just about the smartest people on Earth, as well as the most normal!—Ha! You're the only ones who are sane, & the smartest‚ you Jews that have received your Messiah, thank God, & claimed Jesus as your King—& He is!
169. SO THAT'S A GOOD POINT, YOU SAY, "WELL, WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO THESE PEOPLE THAT DIE IN THE MILLENNIUM?" They're going to be raised in that Second Resurrection in the 20th Chapter, plain as day, & they're going to have to face the Great White Judgement Throne of God! Not the Judgement Seat of Christ which you & I will face at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb when the prizes & rewards, etc., are passed out—& also maybe some of the shame & the reproach & the contempt! I'd almost rather not be there than an ashamed contemptible failure!
170. NO, LORD FORGIVE ME, I'D STILL BE THANKFUL TO BE THERE‚ EVEN IF I WAS HELD IN SHAME & CONTEMPT! Because you'll still be thankful that you are saved! PTL? But some will be raised to everlasting shame & contempt in that First Resurrection. That is the First Resurrection, Beloved, there in the 12th Chapter of Daniel, of the Saved, "but some to everlasting shame & contempt!"
171. WELL, FOR US WHO WERE RAISED IN CHURCH, IT'S NOT HARD TO FIGURE OUT WHAT CHRISTIANS THOSE SAVED ARE WHO ARE GOING TO BE HELD IN EVERLASTING SHAME & CONTEMPT! We know a lot of'm personally! I'm ashamed of them now! They deserve your contempt now for their failure & their refusal to support God's work & evangelise the World & their selfish living! You can hardly tell the difference between them & any other Worldling! Remaining back in the States in churches & jobs, they just live like everybody else!—(Unless they really support missionaries!) The only difference is they claim to be Christians & Church members & they go to Church on Sunday!
172. MAYBE THEY'RE A LITTLE BIT BETTER AND DON'T LIE, CHEAT & STEAL QUITE AS MUCH—although according to some of the World, you'd think Christians & Church people are even worse! I've heard many of them say: "Well, I wouldn't trust that deacon or that head of the Board as much as I'd trust myself & some of the Worldly businessmen I know! Those guys running that church down there are crookeder than some of the local businessmen!"—And it's‚ sad to say, too often true!
173. BUT THE POINT IS, THERE WILL THEN BE A FAIR JUDGEMENT OF GOD! Who's going to be at the White Throne Judgement? Not you who are saved during this dispensation of grace before the coming of Jesus, not you who are resurrected & caught up in the Rapture when Jesus comes. We are the elite, we're that special class who are going to have access to the Holy City! Maybe some of those others might get in down below in the basement‚ I dunno.
174. BUT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO BE JUDGED AT THE WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT OF GOD IN THE 20TH CHAPTER ARE GOING TO BE ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT PREVIOUSLY SAVED, even the people who rebel during the Millennium & are killed & executed, & finally all the people who even survive the Millennium to the end & are burned up at the end in that final destruction of the enemies of God. He doesn't go into a great deal of detail, & He doesn't have to! Why do we need to know that far in the future? I don't need to know, I'm just plain curious, that's all!—Ha!
175. AND MAYBE YOU SAY IT'S JUST MY THEORY, BUT IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE THERE'S QUITE A CONSIDERABLE CAMP OF THE SAINTS THERE that they try to surround & defeat at the end of the Millennium. (Re.20:9) Who are these Saints? Do you mean we who are like the angels of God are holed up in some kind of a fortress & surrounded by the Devil & his forces? Huh? We could go pshhhhht & they'd be gone! Or we could disappear or fly away!
176. IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE THE NATURAL NORMAL PHYSICAL HUMAN BEINGS WHO ARE SAVED DURING THE MILLENNIUM!—Those who have obeyed & followed God & Christ & refused to join the rebellion‚ who are going to be surrounded by this final rebellion! And it's then going to be those wicked forces God's going to wipe out by fire & somehow save the others. I can't prove it, but that's what it sounds like. You read it!
177. WELL, THE WAY THE PREACHERS TELL YOU, YOU'D THINK THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS WERE THE RESURRECTED GLORIFIED-BODIED ANGELIC SAVED PEOPLE, Christians, who were resurrected & raptured & have been living & ruling & reigning with Christ with supernatural power & supernatural bodies, but somehow the Devil surrounded us & got us all holed up in someplace called the Camp of the Saints & we're on the run, we're on the defensive! That's what it sounds like, the way they teach it! That's more or less what you're taught, that somehow or another, despite the whole Millennium, Satan's forces finally get out of control & overcome the Government of God & overrun the Kingdom & have the Saints on the run! I don't believe it!
178. IF THERE'S ANYBODY THEY MIGHT HAVE ON THE RUN, IT MIGHT BE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE RECEIVED & SUBMITTED & BEEN SAVED or won over or whatever you want to call it, which sounds like there are going to be quite a lot in rebellion against those. But the Lord's going to allow it. He could have stopped them by force, but how do we know it? He's says He's going to allow Satan out, He's going to set the Devil loose & let him go out to deceive the nations again so that those who will be deceived & who are willing to be deceived—in other words, they're still just as wicked in their hearts & minds as ever—are going to be deceived again!
179. IT'S THE LAST TEST FOR MANKIND ON EARTH, & they who are then deceived by the Devil in that final test will follow the Devil & they will try to attack the Kingdom of God! But no sweat, no problem, phsssst!—Fire just wipes'm out & the whole Earth is burned up‚ & whoever's saved is saved & whoever isn't isn't! And then all the wicked of all ages, including them‚ will be resurrected for the Great White Throne Judgement & rewarded according to their works. Obviously they're going to pull the Book of Life on them, & those not found in the Book of Life are going to be cast into the Lake of Fire!
180. IF THERE'S NOBODY FOUND IN THE BOOK OF LIFE & ALL THE PAGES ARE BLANK‚ WHY HAVE IT? Why have a Judgement? Why have a Book of Life? Why have them stand there for judgement at all if there's not going to be a difference between the ones who are written in the book & the ones who aren't? Even though they weren't saved like us, at least they received & obeyed during the Millennium, & maybe a lot of people in ages gone by, who though not worthy of our kind of salvation & not having been saved like we are, nevertheless they are allowed life on the New Earth instead of a living death in Hell & the Lake of Fire!
181. NOW TO ME‚ THAT IS A MUCH MORE SATISFACTORY EXPLANATION & interpretation than the horrible monstrous Evangelical Fundamentalist pharisaical idea—Maria here who went through all those churches like I did is nodding her head—that only the Christians who were saints, & angelic saints at that, are going to get to Heaven‚ & all the rest of these God-damned sinners: "Go to Hell! We don't give a damn! Burn there forever as far as we're concerned!"
182. THAT'S THE ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH & THE CHRISTIANS: "So what? We're saved! Too bad about this guy, this publican, this sinner. Thank God I'm not like him! I'm saved, I'm going to Heaven, he can go to Hell as far as I'm concerned!" That's their attitude!—And why they're not missionaries!
183. THAT'S WHY THEY'RE NOT OUT EVANGELISING THE WORLD LIKE WE ARE! They don't give a damn, they don't care, they've found their fire escape, they're saved & they selfishly keep it to themselves! They almost resent a newcomer in Church! They certainly resent some stumblebum that stumbles in or some ungodly sinner! They want to keep it all just thou, thee, me & no other!
184. I HAVE SEEN IT, YOU'VE SEEN IT, HOW EXCLUSIVE THEY CONSIDER THEMSELVES, how they even resent new people unless they're very nice people, nicely dressed, have lots of money‚ help support the church, & are already Christians. Well, they might even tolerate them if they're not saved, providing they have plenty of money & look nice & are leading businessmen or the Mayor & support the church. They'll pray real hard that they will be saved‚ of course, so they can go to Heaven like them, but anyhow, it's nice to have them there to help the offering.
185. THEY COULDN'T CARE LESS FOR THE LOST!—Especially these natives out here in the East & the South & the Hottentots & the savages & the Aborigines & all the rest of the heathen & the pagan, they couldn't care less for'm! It's obvious they couldn't care less‚ they're not doing anything! Where are they? Thank God there're a few of them! God bless the folks that do have a few TV programs & a few churches, there are some Christians who care. But compared to the vast majority of the Church, they're precious few!
186. LET'S SAY THERE ARE A FEW THOUSAND CHURCHES THAT CARE & send missionaries & support missionary works & Christian television shows & whatnot, but there are literally hundreds of millions who couldn't care less & don't give a damn, & the rest of the World can go to Hell as far as they're concerned!—Christians! Church members! Hundreds of millions of them according to their own count, who don't care for lost souls!
187. HOW DO WE KNOW THEY DON'T CARE?—Where are they? What are they doing? You've seen them. How many of you ever went to church? Then you've seen all those people who don't care! There might have been two or three people in the whole church who were really concerned about missions & missionaries & trying to save the lost way out on some foreign mission field halfway around the World. The others take a little offering maybe once a year for them.
188. THEY DON'T CARE! THEY REALLY DON'T CARE! Once in a great while they get a little bit conscience-stricken & they might think about it, & well, the March of Dimes comes by & they put a dime in the box for the poor cripples, or they'll buy a stamp for tuberculosis or a seal for Boy's Town—all pretty well-supported already by the millions & local charities in the U.S. where everybody's already rich & even the poorest orphan is rich by comparison!
189. BUT HOW MUCH DO THEY GIVE TO REAL MISSIONS? Well‚ I've told you the stats on it: Of the major denominations of the United States, out of every dollar contributed to the churches for their support, only 5 cents goes to missions! Where does the other 95% go?—Most of it to buildings! Next, preachers' salaries! Next, maintenance & paying the bills for pretty programs & pipe organs & furniture! Think of it! 95 cents to that, & only 5 cents for the missionary!
190. THAT PROVES THEY DON'T GIVE A DAMN‚ THEY DON'T CARE! "Let the World go to Hell‚ we don't give a damn, we don't care! They can go to Hell & burn in Hell forever as far as we're concerned, we are saved! Behold, we indeed are the people & we're saved, so why should we worry about the rest of them?"
191. LET ME TELL YOU, ONE OF THESE DAYS THEY'RE GOING TO FACE GOD‚ & even if they're saved—which I doubt of some of them—they're going to worry then! I sometimes wonder how some of those people can even be saved, because they don't act like it, they certainly don't respond like it! I mean, in spite of all Maria's done for the Lord & now she's out here as a missionary & saving the World, her parents still don't believe in her & what she's doing! Think of it!
192. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY'RE GOING TO FEEL LIKE WHEN THEY FACE JESUS CHRIST? Even if they make it to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in the Holy City‚ how are they going to feel when they face us & face Him there? What are they going to feel like? There are two words that the Lord Himself uses in the Scripture: Shame—they're going to be ashamed of themselves & we're going to be ashamed of them—& they are going to be held in contempt! They're going to have contempt for themselves, & we are going to have contempt for them, pity them if anything!
193. THINK OF HOW MANY MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS & CHURCH PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE IN THAT CATEGORY! I'd venture to say, & I'm sorry to say, almost the vast majority of those hundreds of millions of supposed Christians, supposed saved, supposed Church members are probably going to be held in shame & contempt! No wonder the base of the Pyramid is so much bigger than the pinnacle, if they're going to be on various levels according to their accomplishments for the Lord & their reward & their works! The basement's going to have to hold more than anything! Are you getting the point?
194. NO WONDER THERE ARE GOING TO BE SO FEW AT THE TOP WHO REALLY PAID THE PRICE & SACRIFICED & GAVE THEIR ALL & GAVE THEIR LIVES! No wonder the base is so much bigger than the pinnacle! I never thought about that before. I always talked about how there were going to be an awful lot down in the basement shining shoes! Well, it must be that on those 12 levels there are differences, & the vast majority are going to be down below, ashamed & in contempt! There are going to be very few to whom the Lord is going to say: "Well done, thou good & faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" (Mt.25:23) What do you think?
195. OF ALL THE CHRISTIANS THAT YOU CAN BY THE WILDEST STRETCH OF YOUR IMAGINATION POSSIBLY HOPE ARE SAVED, of all the Church people you remember & you know & you saw in church—whatever denomination or religion it may have been, Catholic, Protestant, Christians‚ whatever—how many of them do you think are going to be at the top of the Lord's list for sacrificial service & martyrdom & evangelism & missionary work? Most churches are doing well if they're supporting one missionary on the field!—One representative of the whole congregation doing the job that God called them all to do! And I've known many churches that don't even do that much!
196. NO WONDER THE BASEMENT'S GOTTA BE SO BIG! No wonder the base of that Pyramid's gotta be so big! If they're going to get in at all, if there are going to be that many saved at all, there are sure going to have to be an awful shameful lot of them in the basement! (Family: 2-1/4 million square miles!) Yes, very good! Ha! These mathematician geometricians are going to figure that out!—And it gets fewer & fewer & holds less & less on each of the 12 levels that you go up!
197. NOT EVEN I WAS AT THE TOP! Maybe you think I deserve to be at the top. Well, on my trip to Space City I didn't get there. There was something going on at the top, there was really something going on‚ but I didn't get to go there, at least not on that trip. Maybe I will yet, I don't know! Moses didn't even get into the Promised Land!
198. SO I MAY NOT BE SO GOOD & SUPERIOR AS YOU THINK I AM, I MAY NOT DESERVE THAT! After all‚ I haven't yet really died for my faith, I haven't been tortured, I haven't been persecuted much, I haven't yet been martyred! Well, I have suffered a few things, but I'm still in pretty good shape & I'm not chopped up in little pieces or anything or hanging on a cross. I've never been to prison for Jesus or anything else, thank God, & I hope I never will! Maybe that's why I won't make the top, because I hope I don't have to suffer all that!
199. I THINK SOME PEOPLE WANT TO BE MARTYRS! Some people would really like to die for their faith. I must say, I must be a coward! But when the showdown comes, maybe I will! You never know what you're going to do until it happens. Power for the hour, grace for the pace! If I don't have dying grace yet, it's because I'm not dying yet!
200. WHO KNOWS? I'M PRETTY MUCH OF A FIGHTER, I'LL PROBABLY FIGHT TO THE DEATH, EVEN IF THEY TRY TO KILL ME!—I'll probably try to kill them first! Maybe that's one of my problems, I'm a little bit too much like King David, I want to slaughter my enemies! I don't have too much love for them! I'm sorry‚ I haven't got that kind of grace, at least I haven't got it yet, maybe I will have sometime.
201. I MAY‚ LIKE JESUS, BE ABLE TO SAY TO THE ROMAN SOLDIERS CASTING LOTS FOR MY GARMENTS: "FATHER FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO!" (Lk.23:34) But when I see those Scribes & those Pharisees & those God-damned hypocrites‚ I want to say: "God give'm Hell!" That's what I feel like now! I don't know, maybe when the time comes I'll have a change of heart! But they've sure given us Hell & some of our people Hell‚ so they deserve it! They've killed some, tortured some, kidnapped some, driven some crazy, it's pitiful! Talk about the Inquisition & the tortures of the past, it's still going on today, & those enemies deserve Hell!
202. MAYBE YOU CAN SAY OF SOME OF YOUR MOTHERS & FATHERS: "WELL, THEY DIDN'T REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WERE DOING. Father forgive them, they know not what they do." And that's possibly true with some of them. But let me tell you, some of them pretty much know what they're doing—at least they think they do! So that's my opinion‚ anyhow, of the Millennium & you can take it or leave it—& what's coming & what it's all about & what it's for.
203. AND TO SUM IT ALL UP IN A NUTSHELL I MIGHT SAY, WELL, THE MILLENNIUM IS THE NEXT GRADE‚ the next step, the next purgatory, in a sense, the next purging & purifying & training, the next phase through which God is going to put mankind & test those who haven't yet been saved, to see who will then respond—having seen, heard & felt! And having saved all He can out of that, then say, "Well, to Hell with the rest of them!" Well, maybe. There will still be some of them found written in the Book of Life in the Great White Throne Judgement of God, 20th Chapter of Revelation.
204. AND THEN, AS I HAVE OFTEN MENTIONED BEFORE, EVEN IN THE NEW HEAVEN & THE NEW EARTH THERE WILL BE A DIFFERENCE. Not only the levels & the grades of the Saved in the Holy City, but there will still be people outside! Think of that! I'll tell you‚ they're going to be thankful to even get that far & to dwell on a New Earth like that, Heaven on Earth! It's going to be even more heavenly than the Millennium! Perfect! Not even any more dirty filthy seas!
205. YOU KNOW WHAT THE SEAS ARE, DON'T YOU?—THEY'RE THE CESSPOOLS OF THE WORLD! That's where all the garbage & the dirt & the offal & the dung & the filth & the putrefaction of the World finally winds up, in the sea! That's why God's got so many garbage men there, all those dirty unclean fish—I don't even like to call them seafood, because they're not supposed to be eaten—who try to eat up all that garbage & dirt & dung & filth! The seas are the cesspools of the World & they're getting worse all the time‚ more putrefied by man all the time with all his horrible pollution!
206. GOD ORIGINALLY MADE THE SEAS TO BE ABLE TO RECYCLE EVERYTHING, purify everything & to eat up all the corruption, but the way man is polluting the seas now, it's impossible!—You can't recycle these plastics & the oil & a lot of the junk that man's dumping into the oceans, there's no way! It's getting worse all the time, so God's going to have to just burn it all up one of these days & there will be no more sea!
207. WHY IS IT THE NEW EARTH DOESN'T HAVE TO HAVE SEAS? Well, that's a good question for tomorrow!—Ha! I'll leave you with a little homework, think that one over! Why won't the New Earth have to have seas any more? Well, that was a long session‚ I'm sorry. I didn't intend to do it, but I guess the Lord wanted to put a few more finishing touches on that Millennium Issue!
208. WELL, MAYBE YOU NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT SOME OF THESE THINGS BEFORE, but they're very practical, reasonable, logical conclusions that you must come to if you know God's Word & you see what He's driving at & what things are going to have to be like then. PTL! It's just another step, another training program, another finishing program, another refining process, another educational program, etc.
209. LET'S HOPE THAT IN THE NEW EARTH THERE WILL MAYBE SOMEDAY COME AN END TO THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS WITH THE LEAVES FROM THE TREE OF LIFE, but it sounds like we'll still have work to do there. We must be the ones that get the leaves, because nobody else can get in but us! So we must be the ones that take them out for the healing of the nations! (Rev.22:2)—Amen?
210. I THINK OUR KIDS DO VERY WELL! David even sits there & listens for hours!—Think of that! And some of them sit & listen as long as they can. But after all, they're only children‚ they can't be expected to understand all of this. I'm pleased that they're as well–behaved & quiet as they are. They're not whinin' & cryin' & complainin' as some kids would—if they can't stop us, they just go ahead & enjoy themselves & play & amuse themselves & they don't try to interrupt. Once in awhile they just bring something to our attention, but I think they're very good‚ don't you?
211. I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH GOOD CHILDREN! They are the best children I ever saw! I hope all of our Family children are this good! I don't know, I haven't lived in any other Homes so I don't know! How about that Son? (Family: They're exceptional children!) You really think they are? They're unusual? Are they really better than most? Well, they sure are awfully good!
212. I KNOW THEY'RE SURE A LOT BETTER THAN MINE WERE WHEN MY FIRST BATCH WERE YOUNG! Mine were not quite as well-behaved & not always so patient & not always such good listeners. They were pretty good, but their patience was a little shorter & by–&-by they would run out of patience. But it's amazing how well these children do! (To Techi:)
213. LOOK AT THIS LITTLE [GIRL] THAT LOVES HER DADDY! I don't know why she loves me so much! That's what the Lord made her for, to be my little comforter & healer & encourager & the lifter up of my head! Her mother's so smart, whenever I get discouraged or down, she makes sure she gets her in to see me somehow. She knows that always will cheer me up. God's mercy! She is the Love of God for me! PTL! God's mercy to me! God bless her! I don't know why she should love an old man like me like she does! I love you too! PTL!
214. SHE WAS ALWAYS LIKE MY SECOND CHANCE, SHE'S KIND OF LIKE A SAMPLE OF THE MILLENNIUM! Maybe that's where she came from! And Jesus gave her two little kittens named Jack & Jill when she was there. She came out with that just like that, boom, without a second thought: "Oh, did you know when I was in Heaven, Jesus gave me two little kittens named Jack & Jill, & they were so cute & cuddly!" Just a matter of fact‚ no melodrama. Hallelujah! PTL! Let's pray! Sorry to have kept you so long, but I don't seem to know any other way to do it! We've got a lot to look forward to! PTL! Amen? TYJ!
215. (TECHI PRAYS: THANK YOU JESUS FOR THIS TALK, & thank You Jesus Daddy came down, in Jesus' name.) How about that? After all this long time she can still thank the Lord for me & thank the Lord that I came down! How about that? GBY, Honey! That's real love & patience!
216. AMEN! THANK YOU, LORD, FOR THIS TIME TOGETHER & the patience of these precious children, & these willing open ears of these listeners‚ open hearts, willing to receive, Lord‚ Thy teaching & Thy instruction & Thy Truth & to hear of the wonderful things that You have in store for us!—That all of this training & discipline & testing & sifting now is not in vain—it'll all be used!
217. NOT A THING THAT WE'RE LEARNING, LORD, WILL BE WASTED, not even perhaps some of the materials that we're using will be wasted, but will even be useful in the future‚ right into the Millennium & with the normal people we're going to have to teach then. So help us to be diligent & faithful & do well now‚ so that You may say unto us when the time comes: "Well done‚ thou good & faithful servant; enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord!" (Mt.25:23) Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! Amen!
218. BLESS & KEEP ALL OF US, LORD, & THANK YOU FOR HOW YOU HAVE. Give us a good night's rest, safekeeping. Bless our Family around the World, Lord‚ & all these precious little children of ours. We know You will because we know You need us & want to use us for Thy glory to love others & win many souls to Thy Kingdom—here & now in this time that we have, where we are!—And in the Future!
219. THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY! Thank You for this privilege, Lord, of witnessing & winning souls today & saving an elite who will be at the top of the heap one of these days, running this World, Lord, teaching others how to live & how to know Thy ways. We won't have to tell them to know You Lord, they'll all know You, Lord‚ but we'll certainly have to teach them Your ways & Your laws & Your Words. That's in Thy Word, Lord. (Isa.2:3; 11:9; 26:9b; Jer.31:33-34)
220. SO WE'VE GOT A LOT OF LEARNING TO DO, A LOT OF TEACHING TO DO, & WE'VE STILL GOT A LOT OF LIVING TO DO, & MAYBE SOME DYING TOO, FOR YOU, JESUS! TYL! In Jesus' name. Bless & keep us & help us to finish the job right on into the End, Lord, World without end! TYL! As we pray together‚ Lord, the prayer that You taught us to pray: (Prays the Lord's Prayer, Ps.19:14 & "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.")
221. (SINGS: )
"GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN!
By His counsels guide, uphold you!
In His arms securely fold you,
God be with you till we meet again!
Till we meet, till we meet‚
Till we meet at Jesus' feet!"—Right here!
"Till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again!"
"For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them!" Jesus said! (Mt.18:20) PTL! So whether it's here or up there, we will meet again! Amen? PTL! GBY all! Thanks for your patience & your willingness to learn. ILY! GBAKYAMYAB to millions!—In Jesus' name, amen!