Genesis and Matthew III: God-with-us!

 

First published Wednesday, January 5, 2011

God said . . . it was so . . . God saw that it was good.

. . . and they shall call his name Emmanuel (which is translated "God-with-us").

Imagine all the time it took for God to create everything. Yes, we say six days, but how long were the days, before the sun and moon were created (the fourth day)? By the way, on the third day of creation, plant life was created. Plants are life that comes up from out of the ground. They are living things that come out of seeds, which are as good as dead unless activated by outside forces. Christ rose from the dead on the third day.

Was there "time" before God began to create our universe? If there were other beings, angels perhaps, did they fellowship, did they while away the hours, if there were such a thing as "hours"? Did the waiting seem interminable? Did they have to wait, at all?

Once He began creation, it meant He had finally taken a step of completion of the next phase of His Greater Plan. For whatever reason, He wanted creatures not unlike Himself, with intelligence, character, and integrity, with whom to share the Universe. But He began to create. It was the beginning of "God-with-us". (From this point, I will use the actual translation, and not "Emmanuel").

For ages upon ages He created the Universe. Our geologists believe it took millions and millions of years. Maybe it did. Yet it was God-with-us, doing the creating. There had to be an end-game to what He started. God-with-us was here from that beginning, yet God-with-us, the man, did not appear for ages yet to come.

Did some in God's eternal realm grow impatient with His plan? Did they get tired of the waiting? Was impatience the beginning of sin, which some believe first manifested itself in rebellious angels?

Did they say, "You said you would be "God-with-us" but all it turned out to be is eons of creation. The only living things here are these plants. We cannot fellowship with them!

God-with-us began at the moment God created the Heavens and the Earth. When he formed organization and order, out of chaos - before there was even light, before planets, before plants, before animals, before humans, God-with-us was already here. Only much later did God-with-us appear as a man.

We show great arrogance in growing impatient, by suggesting that God got something wrong. His plan is proceeding, whether we understand, or like it, or not.

Genesis and Matthew II - TEN YEARS

 

First Published Monday, January 3, 2011

God said:  Let there be light! And there was light.

So the generations from Abraham to David made fourteen generations, and from David to the Babylonian migration fourteen generations, and from the Babylonian migration to Christ fourteen generations.

We see juxtaposed, two descriptions of God at work. He can both speak a thing, and it's done. Even light itself is created, simply because He states it into being.

But the promise made to Abraham, of His seed inheriting the land, took fourteen generations times three. His plan of salvation is as good as done, but it was at least 840 years in the making!

When we get impatient for God to work something out, or to fulfill on His promise, we are missing a very elemental aspect of how God works. You see right there on the page, and can read in under one minute, how God brought light into the world, but it took almost one thousand years from the time of Abraham, before it reached anything close to fulfillment. We then make the assumption that the creation of light, eons before the time of Abraham, happened instantly. Maybe it did. But what if it didn't? What if the creation of light took thousands of years?

I have a friend who has concluded that Jesus Christ is not coming back. He has based it on some book he read, that makes the case that Christ should have returned during the first century, C.E. The fact that he did not, indicates a fundamental inconsistency in Scripture. Jesus, or the writers of the New Testament, lied! The whole biblical case is now to be held in great suspicion. He has lost the light.

It took thousands of years to even get to the birth of Christ! His return is right on time!

Genesis and Matthew - TEN YEARS

 

First published Saturday, January 1, 2011

INTRODUCTION: In December, 2010, I completed my decade-long deep study of the Bible. I journaled each day's commentary on the reading (which someday, I may find) and then somewhere along the way I begin recording my reflections in a blog, called "The Word and the Real World."  In January of 2011, I started a new project, to read the Old and New Testaments through, in order, but in parallel to each other. I believe it was a chapter a day, from each, and then to find the connecting thread. 

I kept a good pace until the summer of 2011, and then lost my momentum, for some reason. Perhaps it was the emergence of The Hudson Education Center, as a demand upon my time and focus. 

At the start of 2021, I continue my "replay" of blog posts from ten years ago, only adding new "Reflectionary" comments when I run out of material from 2011. Enjoy! - Gordon Darr, January 2021

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At the beginning of God's creating of the Heavens and the earth, when the earth was wild and waste, darkness over the face of the Ocean, rushing-spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters - 

The book of the birth of Jesus the Anointed, son of David, son of Abraham: Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, Jacob had Juda and his brothers, Juda had Phares and Sara by Thamar, Phares had Esram, Esram had Aram, Aram had Aminadab, Aminadab had Naason, Naason had Salmon, Salmon had Boaz by Rachab, Boaz had Jobed by Ruth, Jobed had Jesse, and Jesse had David the king.

It is commonly believed that God formed everything, from nothing. But in fact the original Hebrew talks about God creating order out of chaos. Note the phrase "when the earth was wild and waste." There was darkness and emptiness, but there wasn't nothing. Also, our translations usually say "In the Beginning . . . " which sticks us with our chronological trap - as though there ever was a "beginning," which carries the possibility that there was a time when there was no God.

But here, we know that the book of Genesis is about God moving about, hovering over the face of the waters, His spirit (ruach) moving about, active at least as a passive observer. But then, God decides to act. He begins to bring order out of chaos.

Likewise, the world at the birth of Christ, was in chaos. Yes, Rome had enforced order on most of its domain. God's people were little better than slaves to the Romans. But spiritually speaking, all was on the verge of collapse. Imagine a Roman Empire without the saving grace of the newly-formed Christian Church!

The genealogy of Christ, from Abraham to King David, conveys quite poetically, the "rushing-spirit" of God at work in the world. Doing a little here, a little there - ensuring that His plan moves forward, without forcing it too much.

God creates, by making order. He acts. He moves about. He is always there. He is always loving, always moving. And this is needed - for we, as creatures of this same universe, always tend toward the chaotic.

Twentieth Anniversary of The Word and the Real World

 

The original Draft of these Thoughts was first published on Friday, December 31, 2010

Taken from Revelation 22

Twenty years ago, I began these daily reflections on Scripture. The goal was to get through the entire Bible in ten years. It normally took between a third and a quarter of a chapter a day, in order to read it evenly and complete it today.

But there were gaps in my commitment to it. After 911, I stopped for a period of time, maybe several months.

When I went through divorce and started grad school, in 2005, I got behind by more than half a year. But I got caught up eventually.

I wanted to find nuggets that would normally be missed, as in The Prayer of Jabez. I think that to some degree I accomplished this, with God's help. You have to be willing to part with things you assume to be true. Of course it helps that a good part of it was journaled privately, by me. Until about three years ago, it was in the form of a Word document, and not a blog. Only I saw these thoughts. I might be kicked out of church if others read my conclusions!

It is tempting to do a lengthy summary of the decade. But instead, (as I posted recently) the goal of Bible study is to see it as a never-ending story, and eternal narrative. When you complete the Revelation to John, you are supposed to start right in on Genesis. The Bible keeps building on itself.

I mean, right here in this chapter, God is clear about the behaviors He hates; the sins that keep us away from him: lying, witchcraft (having other gods), sexual immorality, murder. He places murder in the same category as sexual immorality. It is all about accepting ourselves as God made us (not as we THINK He made us!), and behaving as noble, godly people.

Eventually, during the 2010s, I changed the pattern to a daily study of the Lectionary Readings. But I miss the straight read-through of the Bible, and perhaps it will be time to get back to that, maybe in 2021. 

I will close with one piercing memory from the first decade of the century.

On the Sunday following September 11, 2001, I went in to Church. The turnout was massive, on that day. The pastor, Bill Donahue, used to put the microphone out to the congregation and let people add their own prayers. I did a short one, which I concluded with words from Revelation 22:

Come, Lord Jesus.

These words from God's word produced no response from the congregation of over two hundred people. No "Amens!" were pronounced. No stirring. Not even a sense that I had made people uncomfortable. Nothing.

The community had become unwatchful. They had learned not to watch for the Return of Christ. It had no meaning for them! This was one of the most disappointing and discouraging things I experienced in ten years. It was even more troublesome to me, than my own divorce.

But it speaks to me as a call from God Himself. I always planned to begin full-time ministry once I turned 50. That happened this year. Out of my decade of Bible study, I may add a clearly-defined purpose to God's call on me.

2021: I still have not formally made that step. Unless . . . The Hudson Education Center (hecmusic.org) is precisely that calling in realization. 

Recreation - TEN YEARS!

First Published on Thursday, December 30, 2010

Scripture Reference: Revelation 21

The City of New Jerusalem has specific dimensions, and there is a temple. I am not clear on why we ever had all these specifics on the temple, how it was to be built, etc. But it might have something to do with enabling us to visualize what New Jerusalem will be like. God knows that we like our dwellings, and our creations. We have living rooms, and He enjoys them as much as we do. There is a temple for us in eternity.

This is God's re-creation of everything. He will re-create the universe, but this time we are players in the drama. We will get to watch it!

Watch me make everything all over again.

God must be smiling as He says this: like a kindly grandfather taking you outside to show you a new play structure he has built for you.

But in commenting on all of the words spoken to John, throughout the Book of Revelation, God says: "They've already come true: I am Alpha and Omega . . . "

We miss this point. In our chronological reading of history, and prophecy, we see everything as straight-line, as cause-and-effect. But God has told us it is already done. How can this be?

Eternity is constant Present. A never-ending Now. Eternal beings, which is what we are promised, occupy a realm higher than ours. They are not subjects of Time. They are rulers over it! They look over us, in the same way that we would observe an ant colony (rough analogy). The re-creation of the Universe is as good as done. In fact, it has been done.

We have got to start seeing ourselves as beings that have already made it. Thanks be to God, the eternal realm is here already (for it must be, if there is such a thing), and many of us are there ("there" is not a very helpful word!) True, in our present state, we must proceed forward in time. This is our reference point. But God has said that it's already done. It is as good as done. It is done.

It can be a little crazy-making. But let us not ponder the meta-physics of it. Let's just accept God's good word and His promise.

I Want to See This (Ten Years)

 

First published Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Scripture Reference: Revelation 20

The Lake of Fire is presented. Anyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life is thrown into it. Satan, and the Beast, and the False Prophet, are tossed into it. And Death and Hell are tossed into it.

The first thing I want to see, is the Lake of Fire itself. I can only imagine what this must look like!

Fire breaks down anything into its basic, elemental form. As I understand it, any life form from earth, when burned up, turns into carbon dust. A jar filled with the ashes of a cremated person has only dust, made of carbon, in it.

I have not addressed Satan, much, in my ten-year biblical journey. Yet to me Satan is a concept, the embodiment of opposition to God, in any form. Humans that oppose God are called "Satan." So if Satan is tossed into the fire, it simply means that the idea of evil, or of opposing God, is destroyed.

The Beast represents governments that sought supremacy over the earth, against the will of God. These are most often represented as individuals, whose identities change over time. The idea of worldly governments, opposed to God, is destroyed.

The False Prophet is any human setting himself up as God. Or it could refer to false religions that point people away from Christ. The idea that Christ is not the Way, or that there are other paths to eternal life, is destroyed.

The three basic sources of opposition to God - will be gone. So what does it mean to say they will be tortured for ever and ever? I think it just means the job will go one, until it's complete, even if it has to burn forever. How do you torture a concept? Well, there will be people in the Lake of Fire, and a lot of these figureheads of the concepts will certainly not receive any pleasure from the burning. It burns them up. It's effect is forever. But even if it did mean "through eternity, without literally ending," then, don't we all have a lot to learn about eternity? We really don't know what we're talking about!

Then Death and Hades were hurled into the Lake of Fire.

These, too, are concepts. Death is killed. And then Hell - the place of the dead - is destroyed. The last enemies to be destroyed are Death and Hell. No more Death. No more place for the Dead. Earth, or the ground, will never again be used for burial. How wonderful is that?

I can't imagine what this will look like. But I want to see it!

Do People Wonder About Revelation 18-19 Anymore?

The answer is, "No, they don't. People do not wonder about this any more."

I am reaching the end of a twenty-year excursion into the Bible, where I sought nuggets not unlike "the prayer of Jabez." I looked for verses, and portion of verses, that people typically skip over without thinking about it.

It is obvious to me that God hates immorality. He gave us rules for life, as the way to control our selfish appetites. When the misbehavior of Tiger Woods became public about a decade ago, I heard a caller into a radio talk show say, "We used to have a solution for people that wanted to do stuff like that - it was called marriage!"

Our society is so over-sexed and obsessed with it, that we cannot even stop to see that this is true. The Lord hates immorality. Define immorality in the most prudish, frigid, conservative, goody-two-shoes way you can, and you will have it. The standard is clear. It is simple to understand. It is even simple to follow. Just do it.

You either value purity, or you don't. The water is fresh, pure, and healthy, or it isn't. The cave is either pitch-black, or it isn't. The water is boiling, or not. God has made it very easy to get.

In the closing chapters of Revelation, immorality is given the most graphic word: whoredom. Pleasure for the sake of pleasure. The pop culture tells us we are owed certain experiences, and we must have them within two hours, (the length of a motion picture). Even wild animals follow some rules. We have none.

A screen player told me recently, that the romance novel is dead. When there were rules, stigmas, and limits, there was such a thing as tension in the genre. Without limits, there is no tension. Without tension, no plot. Who cares about romance? Moral limitlessness killed romance. (Remember "no boundaries" and "no rules"?)

Fallen, fallen, Great Babylon is fallen, . . . the kings of the earth came to her whorehouse, and the businessmen of the earth got rich off her driving lust for pleasure.

Sin is boiled down to this: the ultimate, fleeting, pleasure. It is the insatiable hunger that will not kill us if we do not feed it. Our approach to it defines us either as humans with a noble calling, or as no different than the beasts of the field. It's imagery defines rebellion against God. It's proper use signifies agape love, unity, purity, godliness. It is a perfect gift to us, for the practice of the virtue of self-denial, for the putting off of temporal pleasures, for drawing near to God and relying on Him.

And it is, from Genesis 1:1 to the end of Revelation: the concept that is stressed over, and over again, as the area in our life of sin that we must gain control of! For, the world keeps trying to make it okay to have no rules on it. We want Christ, and rampant satiation of our lusts  - but it doesn't work!!

We have to ask: why is this so important to God? What are the public health reasons God would want purity for us? Why is it good for children for their parents to stay together, and to model fidelity to one another? Why is it good for an ancestral chain passing from father and mother to son and daughter, for countless generations, to be clearly defined and managed? Why is it good to develop the virtue of delayed gratification? Why are grandchildren a blessing to the elderly? What positive impacts are on the hearts of young women and men, when they wait? Why do so many people, having lost their virtue before marriage, wish they had not? Why is intimacy better between couples that waited, than between those that did not? Is it, or is it not, true that civilizations that fell always experienced a loosening of morality before their decline, and is there a link?

Within the past month, a lifelong friend confided in me, that she has come to hate intimacy. (She had had ample experience with it throughout her life). How is it that this definition of "love" that even drives our public debate and reform movements, can represent something so detestable to so many? Why are we okay with the monetization of something that's supposed to represent our highest aspirations?

Do we even care? If we don't, why not?

At War With the Lamb TEN YEARS!

 

First published on Friday, December 24, 2010

Scripture Reference: Revelation 17

Revelation 17 is full of symbols and high drama. Each word seems fraught with deep meaning. No one person, or generation, can understand the specific references in Revelation 17.

Let's try to simplify it a bit.

The nations will go to war against the Lamb.

When you declare war against another nation, you are saying, in effect, that you want something about that other nation to change. In a true, complete war, the victor carries out its own wishes over the vanquished. Unconditional surrender is the mark of a war that has been conclusively won.

The world always has, and still does, seek the total elimination of God's will upon the earth. Don't we all know this? Even atheists get it! The world resists the true God. It tolerates false religions, but hates the true one.

Jesus (the Lamb) came, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, adding value to every one with whom He came into contact. He raised the dead, and is the only way to eternal life. Yet the world hates Him.

It is hard to understand. But perhaps a look at defiant toddlers, whose first word is probably "no!", gives us a hint as to why this is.

I saw two brothers fighting. The younger, smaller, one, kept taunting the older, bigger one. I said to the smaller one: "Why would you do this? He's twice as big as you?"

Why indeed? Why do we resist God? Why do we seek to overthrow our Creator? It makes no sense, yet it is so.

So the nations of the world, after throwing off the yoke of "the great whore" who tantalized and seduced them for ages (I will not go into her possible identities here!), are now intoxicated with the thrill of victory. Having defeated God's chief enemy (so they think), they now seek to take on the Lord Himself! It's the younger sibling, again, in the emotions of the moment, in the heat of battle, losing his senses and digging a deeper hole for himself!

The beast, however, still pushes all the buttons. The whore was just a religious agent of the beast, that led people astray.

They will go to war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them . . . 

Is there anger, or hate, directed at Christ, or His Church, today? Do we strive to throw off God's moral requirements of us? Do we seek our will (whatever feels good), rather than His? Do we go for what's culturally relevant, rather than what's eternally significant? Do we wish God would go away?

This is war with the Lamb.

Armageddon - TEN YEARS!

 

First Published on Thursday, December 23, 2010

Scripture Reference: Revelation 16

Armageddon is one of those those words that everybody thinks they understand. People think it describes a final battle. While it is true that the chronological placement of it, in this case, is at the end of time, the word more accurately describes a place, the valley of Megiddo, which is outside Jerusalem.

Or how about the view that Armageddon would be a battle between the West and the East; Capitalism and Communism; Europe/America and the Middle East; Everybody against Israel? This suggests a political, and not a spiritual, component to the final conflict. Hollywood can produce movies called "Armageddon," that are based on an alien attack, or nuclear disaster, but they will miss the fact that Armageddon is, simply put, the last stand of God's enemies. They all come together, anyone that has resisted God, from Cain, to Esau, to Pharaoh, to Goliath, to Saul, to Ahab, to Jezebel, to Herod, to the Scribes and Pharisees, to Rome in its many forms.

God throws a bunch of plagues on the earth, as He did against Pharaoh. But incredibly, people grow even more defiant against God. Rather than repent, they curse Him even more. The sinner is determined to stay lost and dead.

During all this time, God's people are safe in His care.

God is still giving them space, and time, to repent. He could kill them outright. But the plagues demonstrate His power. As fierce as it gets, still they do not turn around.

. . . and the people cursed and swore at God for this plague, saying, "This is a terrible plague, indeed."

The world has seen many travesties in its history, more than could be listed. But this final Armageddon situation is as bad as it gets. God's clean-up operation gives people a chance to repent, but they don't. God's final act is sufficient to destroy everything that has ever opposed Him. It is as if Nature itself, finally rebelled against humanity. We, and all of creation, were made with the ability to fight off disease and imperfection. The healing process brings forth an uncomfortable condition that we call "symptoms." This could be what is happening right now, in Revelation 16.

Seven - TEN YEARS!

 

First Published Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Scripture Reference: Revelation 15

All is in readiness for God's people to take their place in His Kingdom. Eternal life has not been formally bestowed yet (I don't think). For, there is still some final work to do, to eliminate all the bad, from the former age.

Seven angels appear, with seven plagues. Since this is the wrap-up of the Bible, and of Scripture, I automatically thought about other events in Scripture, that came in sevens. The best example is at the very beginning, where God made the Earth in six days, and rested on the seventh.

I wondered if the seven angels and plagues represent seven days worth of clean-up. Seven days to create it all, and seven to destroy all the wickedness, or to re-create the world, if you will.

And I saw another sign in the sky, huge and wondrous, seven angels bearing seven final plagues, because they were to be the culmination of God's fury.

Culmination. Completion. Resolution.

The final fury is done in plagues. But it is easy to see that, after all that has taken place on the earth: war, natural disasters, financial collapse - plagues would naturally follow. What is left of earth will waste away. So that, the events of Revelation are less an application of God's active involvement in things. When you think about it - all of these events are things that we will bring upon ourselves.

Just the other night, I saw something on TV, advocating funding and support for a new pill that prevents AIDS from being passed on from mother to unborn child. It said something like "We can wipe out infant AIDS by 2020 if we can get this pill to all that need it."

We can wipe out AIDS entirely, if we can get people to follow God's plan for sexuality and marriage.

But we don't care about that. We want our sex. So, one wonders how terrible the next plague will be, since AIDS isn't bad enough.

We bring the seven plagues upon ourselves, as if we are sending engraved invitations to those seven angels.

The Harvest - TEN YEARS!

 

First Published Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Scripture Reference: Revelation 14

Christ commanded us to go work the fields of harvest. This agricultural image brings to mind such tasks as weeding, watering, planting, etc. These jobs are done all summer long. During the hottest part of the year, you must go out into the sun and work . . . outside . . . in the sun.

So our job today is to keep the garden free of weeds:

• Distractions from serving God
• Sin (yes, this means we need specific definitions of sin!)
• Cares of the world

We must do this work in all kinds of conditions:

• Poor health
• Slander and hate tossed at us
• Economic downturns

But at the end, the field is ready for harvest. Notice that the crops are withered and dry at harvest time. Like in late September - you have picked everything you can from the plants. You have kept it free from weeds and pests. You have taken everything you can from the garden. 

This is a different impression of harvest, than I have been taught. When you take in fruit that is ready to be picked, this is not the same as harvest, for you can do this throughout the summer, starting as early as June (if you have berries in your garden). This refers to a time in the mid to late autumn, when all you have is the dry, useless stuff. The only way to make this dry and withered vegetation useful, is to clear it out, burn it up, and use it for compost. 

So today we are to make the fields ready for harvest. The Great Harvest of the ages comes after the church has done everything it can do: all that could be saved are saved; all the sin that could be removed has been removed; all of God's opponents have been vanquished. Christ will have built His Kingdom up, and defeated all of His enemies - now all that is left is to burn up the refuse of the ages.

Put your sickle to work and harvest, because the harvest time has come, the crops of the earth are withered and dry.

The bad news to most people is that the clearest image of opposition to God, of following the Beast and rejecting Christ, has mostly to do with our sexual behavior. So it is that when you see a culture that has become oversexed - that seems obsessed with sex in all of its forms - consider whether or not it is evidence of a battle being waged right here on earth, between the followers of Christ and His enemies.

This is one clear thing that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

The Beast - Ten Years!

 

First published Monday, December 20, 2010

Text Reference: Revelation 13

The Beast has been one of the most analyzed prophetic figures in Church history. Everybody thinks they know his identity. In my life alone, everyone from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, from Saddam Hussein to the Pope, have been suggested as Beasts.

God's greatest enemies in biblical history, have been humans, (yes, notwithstanding the Serpent, and the dubious "Lucifer" and tempter of Christ). Pharaoh, Saul, Judas, the Scribes and Pharisees, Goliath, etc. They all have been formidable figures that stood in the way of God's Kingdom.

So the Beast, here in Revelation 13, is definitely a man, (or woman?). But this beast is the culmination of the ages. The forces of evil combine together in this one person, for the final assault on God's Kingdom.

The idea that you cannot conduct any commerce without the mark of the Beast is a tantalizing point. Could this be Social Security? Credit Cards? Nationalized health care? It is true that in the world today you cannot do much without official government papers and forms of identification. While the initial purpose for such things was noteworthy and necessary, still it is easy to see how such a thing could be corrupted into an instrument of evil, (since evil is always wrapped up in some human's desire to control other humans!)

Who would dare attempt to live today, without a credit rating, or social security number? It's simply impossible! And the serpent has been subtle from the beginning. He always makes his purposes seem benign. He does not come out and admit "This is for evil purposes." He doesn't even believe that he himself is evil!

So look for the Beast in trustworthy places. Let the Beast be a national or world figure that masses of people seem to trust, or admire. Let him be someone that even we (those reading these words) hold high as an example and leader for us! For we have one Master, which is Christ the Lord!

And the whole world followed the beast around in amazement and adored the dragon for giving its power to the beast, and they adored the beast, saying, "Who is the equal of the beast? Is anyone strong enough to take it on?"

Is anyone that strong, indeed!

Before it Can Get Any Better - Ten Years!

 

First published Saturday, December 18, 2010

Text Reference:  Revelation 12

We now see the final fury of God's enemies, here led by one called "The Dragon." The dragon would represent sin and opposition to God. It is a much more vicious and frightening version of the serpent found at Creation. A serpent is subtle, quiet, unassuming. But now we see the serpent (sin) as he really is: a giant dragon that can wipe away entire populations with the swipe of his tail.

Of course, the images here depict more literal battles upon the earth: military campaigns against God's people. Even today, you can see the world itself preparing itself for opposition against the Church of God and maybe Israel (is Israel Christ's "mother"?). Forces that would never combine will do so, in order to wipe the Church off the face of the earth. The closer we get to the end, the worse it will get.

For the devil is down there with you now, full of tremendous anger, knowing that he has only a little time.

So watch now, how really the focal point of hate and opposition in the world today, is collected upon the Church of Christ.