Scripture’s grand lesson for the human race is clear: Committing sin is nothing short of committing suicide (Isa.59:2).
Sin is a synonym of suicide. Whether it be a slow death through living a life of harmful addictions or a swift execution through
war the end result is the same (I Cor.3:17). Said Jesus, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” “Except
ye repent,” “ye shall die in your sins.” And because GOD will never remove man's freedom to choose
He must allow them the decisions they have made whether for life or for death. Those who choose to destroy themselves
GOD must allow them their choice. He must allow them to die. He cannot grant life to a man who has chosen death
to life. This is what the Judgment is all about, to vindicate the Law of GOD in its protection of life, and how man,
who was given discernment to know right from wrong, cannot, in good conscience deny the Law's blessing of life.
GOD'S Law and human aspiration is in perfect agreement.
This is what gives the Holy Spirit power to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. And to turn away from that
conviction, that tender tug to follow the urgings of Unselfish Love violates the deep yearnings of human conscience. This
is why Jesus said that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the unpardonable sin. That “still, small voice” of the
Holy Ghost is being ignored by multitudes, even the vast majority of today's Christians (I Pet.4:18). The urges of the
most profound Love are being disregarded—to the point where His voice is no longer heard. The world, through sin,
is demanding GOD remove His presence. GOD never stays where He’s not wanted just as Jesus left the country
of the Gergesenes when asked to leave (Matt.8:34-9:1). At that point men have seared their conscience (I Tim. 4:2);
and a million years of life will never change that decision they welded to their hearts (Isa.30:12,13).
Common sense can see that if the world kept sacred
the Ten Commandments, no man, woman, or child would suffer injustice at the hands of another. The conscience of every
man has been convicted on this point (Rom.2:14,15). The Spirit of GOD on the human conscience has seen to this.
This is why Jesus said to the fierce persecutor of His Church, a Pharisee named Saul, who, after meeting with the Savior, became
the great Apostle Paul, "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."
The Judgment will show that the great majority of men have been at war with their fondest hopes: the deep yearnings of desire
to fulfill the dreams that GOD Himself placed in our hearts. A mere seventy years of life in a selfish world cannot
fulfill human aspiration. Even the medical fact that man uses so little of his brain, this alone should prove to all
that GOD designed our mind to store an eternity of joyful experience.
At the end of time, the time allotted to this cruel and selfish world, one thing will be understood by the whole human race,
those "which are alive and remain" (I Th.4:17): the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is the greatest rescue of human
history—the ultimate “Cavalry to
the rescue!” For this is the time
when the world and the church will have united to exterminate once and for all "they that keep the commandments of God
and the faith of Jesus." Rev.14:12.
Armageddon is simply the last battle in the long-standing civil war of Christianity between the lawless church and the Commandment-keeping
Church: between those who have exalted their authority above GOD’S Holy Law and those who have recognized its eternal
significance in the plan of salvation. The Biblical meaning of Armageddon is translated, Mount of Slaughter.
It is the time Christ comes to deliver His faithful followers at the very brink of man’s destruction: at the
very close of the earth’s ability to support life (Read the 7 last plagues of Revelation 16). Revelation, chapter 11
tells us that when Christ comes He will "destroy them which destroy the earth." In essence, man's industry
has meddled with the laws of nature to the point where he has set in motion a chain of events that guaranty the extinction
of life on earth. And this chosen course of sinful men will never change, even as the warnings of nature cry out: "For
we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth morn, and they
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with
a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
Matt.24:30,31. The resurrected and living saints will be carried upwards by holy angels to "meet the LORD
in the air." They are then swept off into space and taken to heaven's home, "New Jerusalem" for
a 1000 years, while the earth is left in utter ruin, desolation and death (Rev.20). "And the slain of the
LORD shall be in that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither
gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the
ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall
like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape." "Behold,
the LORD maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste...the land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled: for the LORD
hath spoken this word... because they have transgressed the laws [violated the sacred Commandments], changed the ordinance
[by the removal of the 2nd and 4th Commandments], broken the everlasting covenant [denied the method GOD ordained for the
salvation of man]. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth...the earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean
dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like
a cottage; and the transgression shall be heavy upon it: and it shall fall, and not rise again [in its present sinful state]."
"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void [as lifeless as it was in the beginning (Gen.1)]; and the
heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly [like
waves of the sea]. I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and,
lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his
fierce anger." Isa. 24; Jer.4:23-28.
Contrary to popular opinion, there is to be no
millennium of peace for life on earth. Jesus does not come to Jerusalem to establish His everlasting kingdom at the
time of His 2nd Advent. (None of the passages on "the day of the LORD" support the popular view). Please consider,
that every prophetic view held by the "scholars" of Christ's day refused the Sacred Scriptures pointing to the
Saviour of men. And we, corporately, are no more wise in our relationship with the Word of GOD than those self-serving
men of old. As the Jews confused the prophecies of the Messiah's 1st Advent with those of His 2nd Advent, so has
today's Christianity confused the prophecies of the 2nd Advent with those of the His 3rd Advent. The Bible is clear:
there are Three Advents of the Savior; and each time He says, "It is done." Each time marks a different
phase of His deliverance:
1. The fulfilled promise of GOD to take upon
Himself the condemnation of "the sin of the world"
2.
The fulfilled promise of GOD to resurrect men from the grave
3.
The fulfilled promise of the Judgment of those whose perpetuation of sin opposed GOD'S desire to bless the peace
and safety of His children
Jesus
Christ will come to redeem those who were loyal to His Law: those who repented of all association with His crucifixion.
The Bible says,
"A good understanding have all they that do his commandments." Sadly, the vast majority of today's
"Christians" are deliberately disobedient to GOD'S Commandments. To those who refuse the joy of obedience,
they have, in the eyes of heaven, forfeit the blessing of "A good understanding." But GOD weighs
the heart (I Sam.16:7). He knows every nuance of our circumstances, and He works through those circumstances to
bring you and me to the place of heavenly safety: a position among the communities of heaven, to share our testimony in "the
song of Moses and the Lamb."