In the previous Q&A of this series, we noted that the teaching of evolution has long been a false basis for indoctrinating the young, and with a preponderance of teachers with left-leaning views, we have a completely different picture to that experienced by students in decades past. We also started to look at the influences now at work in education.

One conservative student wrote that “To survive college you keep [your mouth] shut when it comes to left versus right. That is the way it goes in USA colleges.”

There is no doubt that if anyone wants to influence the young of today, start the process as early as possible at school, and continue this through college and university.

Going back some years, we can see how perversion infiltrated the teaching profession and society.In 1970, in the UK, Margaret Thatcher was appointed education secretary and was elected as Prime Minister in 1979. In 1988, under her leadership, there was a classic case that can be seen from its inception to where we are today in terms of bringing and promoting perversion into schools. This would never have been countenanced in previous decades. Wikipedia reports as follows:

“Section 28 or Clause 28 was a British law that prohibited the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ by local authorities. Introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, it was in effect from 1988 to 2000 (in Scotland) and 2003 (in England and Wales). It caused many organizations such as lesbian, gay and bisexual student support groups to close or limit their activities or self-censor.

“The law is named after Section 28 of the Local Government Acts 1988, which added Section 2A to the Local Government Acts 1986. Enacted on 24 May 1988, the amendment stated that a local authority ‘shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality’ or ‘promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’. It was repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland by the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000, one of the first pieces of legislation enacted by the new Scottish Parliament, and on 18 November 2003 in England and Wales by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003.

“In December 2005, homosexuals were allowed to marry when new same sex civil unions became law and this was the inevitable outcome of years of pressure.

“In 2009, David Cameron, then leader of the Conservative Party, apologised for his party supporting the law.  In 2013, after he became Prime Minister, his government passed the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, legalising gay marriage in England and Wales. In 2013, the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher prompted critical comment from many LGBT organisations and individuals such as Peter Tatchell about her legacy on gay rights, including Section 28.”

We can see from just this one issue how a 180 degree-change can be achieved over a sustained period of time.

The BBC reported in April 2019 that the UK Education Secretary had said that it was up to primary schools in England to choose what they teach about same-sex relationships. They reported that the UK Education Secretary had written to head teachers saying they are encouraged to teach children about LGBT issues if they ‘consider it age appropriate’. He said head teachers should consult parents but reassured them parents had no right to veto what was taught. Some parents said they believed the lessons “undermined parental rights and authority.”

It is interesting that the “Stonewall” organisation boasts on its website that “Over the past 30 years we’ve made a big difference to the lives of LGBT people here and around the world. In the UK, the LGBT movement has won employment rights. Parenting rights. Partnership rights. An equal age of consent.”

They, and many others, have been very clever at manipulating public opinion over the last half century, and through the continuous promotion of the need to accept homosexuality as normal, their constant, energetic, resolute, tireless and indefatigable work has paid handsome dividends for their cause. Of course, they have lobbied and persuaded media, politicians and others in influential positions at the highest level of the “rightness of their cause,” as they would see it, and this has resulted in a gradual acceptance of this as “mainstream,” as we clearly observe in society today. Having created the current climate, we have now arrived at the sorry state where saying that homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God may be a punishable offence in certain countries, as it may be considered hate speech.

The “Stonewall” organization then asks the question: “What is LGBT-inclusive education and why does it matter?” They answer it as follows: “For every young person to be prepared for life in modern Britain, it’s vital that their curriculum reflects the full diversity of the world they live in. This includes teaching about LGBT people and themes.”

Those who have used the right to free speech in the first place are happy to have done so in pursuit of their agenda, and when that has been achieved, they then try and close down any comment, discussion or debate on that very same subject. What is worse, as we will see, they who claim to have been persecuted are now becoming the persecutors. What a sorry state of affairs we now have in the UK and elsewhere.

This now leads us to review the role of government in schooling. In April 2019, the government in the UK announced new regulations for teaching relationships and sex education in England. [In other countries in our Western societies, it is not much better; in certain cases, such as in Germany, it is even much worse.] For secondary schools the guidance states that (amongst other matters):

“RSE (Relationship and Sexual Education) must be taught in all schools in England: Sexual orientation and gender identity must be explored at a timely point; Same-sex relationships should be included within lessons discussing healthy and stable relationships.”

For primary schools (ages 5-11), the guidance says that: “All schools should teach about different families (which can include LGBT parents), along with families headed by grandparents, single parents, adoptive parents, and foster parents/carers, among other family structures.”

For more information about what a family really is, please see our Q&A on this subject.

On the website of brighthorizons,  it is stated:

“Literature is a wonderful way to expose children to the world. By sharing books such as the ones listed below, you are communicating that diverse families and people are all acceptable. There may be different values and structures, but in the end… it’s about family.”  The sort of literature that they present are:

“The Great Big Book of Families,” by Mary Hoffman. This book features a diverse variety of so-called family structures, what family members do, and where they live.

“The White Swan Express,” by Jean Davies Okimoto and Elaine Aoki. This story is about a quartet of parents adopting a quartet of Chinese orphans. It just so happens that the four families consist of a single mom, a heterosexual couple, a lesbian family, and an interracial family.

“The Family Book,” by Todd Parr. In this book, the author celebrates all types of “families” in a funny, reassuring manner. He includes diverse “family” structures like adoptive families, step-families, single-parent families, two-mom and two-dad families, and families with both a mom and a dad.

They go on to say:

“Find out how to teach acceptance to pre-schoolers. Read why it’s important for one of our bloggers to teach her children about all kinds of families…”

It is interesting that they talk about “teaching acceptance,” which means a form of brainwashing, and that is what modern education is doing to our young people. It is important to understand the state of play with the educational system in 2021.

We must realize the situation we find ourselves in today. Modern “educators” give us this solution – indoctrinate the very young to their perversion as early as possible.  It has all the hallmarks of Satan’s handiwork indelibly stamped on it. And, it has created so much confusion with over 70 so-called different gender definitions (and growing) that many young people have had normality snatched from them with all the problems that we now see. The fruits of all this activity are evil.

At the same time, they are eagerly determined to censor and prohibit books or movies which do not agree with their desired agenda. Well-loved classic children books have been erased from the school curriculum or warning labels have been attached to them, and many Disney movies for children have been included in the rubric of undesired categories, as they allegedly teach racial discrimination or make fun of gender neutrality.

And then we have the ridiculous, superfluous or even outright dangerous courses offered in the UK and USA universities. On the website of goconqr, we read about some of the weirdest university courses that are available:

“The Simpsons and Philosophy” – This peculiar course offered at the University of California in Berkeley;

“David Beckham” – The Staffordshire University in England offers this unique course and will, study, amongst other things, his different haircuts;

“The Sociology of Fame and Lady Gaga” is available at the University of South Carolina;

“Harry Potter and the Age of Illusion” is offered by the University of Durham in the UK;

“Feel the Force: How to Train in the Jedi Way” is taught by the Queen’s University in Belfast;

“Maple Syrup” – The Alfred University in New York teaches a course focused exclusively on the process of producing maple syrup;

“Zombie Studies” – This University of Baltimore course analyses zombie movies and shows.

And there are many more, including courses on Transcendental Meditation and other Far Eastern “methods” to achieve personal “enlightenment.”

If anyone had predicted this state of affairs 50 years ago, it would have been seen as an impossibility, but the impossible is now a reality and is now the mainstream of today.

Let us consider further erosion of sound principles in the area of education.

In the UK, prayers and assembly at schools were a staple of daily school life, but that has now been badly eroded. We hasten to state that we do not propagate public prayers in school either, but for very different reasons. While modern “educators” want to eradicate God and the Bible from their schools, or are concerned about not offending non-Christians, we in God’s Church realize that school prayers are addressed to the wrong Entity—either the false concept of the Trinity or the “Virgin Mary” or certain dead saints in heaven.  We would not want our children to participate in such prayers or worship services. But that is not the reason why “Christian” societies prohibit prayers in school.

In February 1998, the BBC reported: “Daily worship for schoolchildren could soon be a thing of the past if the government acts on a report.  A review panel set up a year ago suggests scrapping the daily ritual of hymns and prayers because they alienate some children from non-Christian faiths.”

In December 2005 the BBC reported that: “Prayers and assembly at schools which were a staple of daily school life but that is now a thing of the past.”

The Independent newspaper reported in December 2015: “Schools should no longer be forced by law to hold daily acts of Christian worship, as part of major reforms reportedly outlined by an influential commission.  A report by the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, which includes the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, said the arguments for mandatory Christian prayers in secular schools was ‘no longer convincing.’”

We can see how, over just a few years, things have changed drastically.

Wikipedia writes that in the UK: “Despite this statutory requirement for schools to hold a daily act of collective worship, most do not. Ofsted’s 2002-03 annual report, for example, stated that 80% of secondary schools were not providing daily worship for all pupils.”

Again, we hasten to add that laws of mandatory collective school worship are wrong and even destructive, for the reasons stated above, but these are not the reasons as to why these laws are now either not followed or repealed.

While this is still allowed legally in the UK, it is nothing like it was in former times. Wikipedia states that “Countries that prohibit school-sponsored prayer include the USA, Canada, France, Turkey and Singapore.”

Corporal punishment in British state schools, and also in private schools receiving any element of public funding, was banned by parliament in 1987. In the remaining private schools it was banned in 1999 in England and Wales, 2000 in Scotland, and 2003 in Northern Ireland. Most had anticipated the legislation and abandoned CP voluntarily several years earlier. A few Christian private schools held out, and fought the ban through the courts, ultimately without success.

One teacher remarked that “when the change came, they took something away without anything to replace it with that was a real threat. You would threaten detentions, but some of the most disruptive just didn’t turn up to them.  And if you excluded them from school, they took it as an extra holiday.” In fact, we have seen particularly in the USA, that many schools have become a battleground with many shootings in the last few years. That sort of frightening environment is not the sort of place where students will be happy and do their best work.

We don’t deny that in certain cases, corporal punishment, including in schools, has been horribly abused, and it is still abused in a most gruesome way in certain countries right now. But to eliminate it totally is not the right course of action either, nor is it biblical.

Our booklet “The Keys to Happy Marriages and Families!” covers discipline in the home on pages 23-26.   We read on page 24:

“There is never a justification for physical abuse. On the other hand, to totally ban spanking and define it as physical abuse only shows how liberal and anti-biblical our Western society has become. This is of course the fruit of the anti-authoritarian education that has brought about a curse on our Western world. Note what the Bible clearly teaches in regard to corporal punishment in Proverbs 13:24, ‘He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who LOVES him disciplines him promptly [or early].’ Since using the rod is compared with prompt or early discipline, it is clear that this passage includes the concept of spanking, where and when appropriate. Of course, we don’t spank a teenager or an adult, so the spanking needs to be done early in the life of the child. But note, again, we discipline our children, because we LOVE them.”

“Proverbs 23:13–14 reads, ‘Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.’ The Ryrie Study Bible comments, ‘A wise teacher warns of neglecting child discipline… Discipline may deliver a child from an untimely death.’”

Because of all the changes in schooling today, is it any wonder that home-schooling is now the choice of many more parents than in the past? Of course, in certain countries, such as Germany, home-schooling is totally forbidden.

Further, when Church of God parents want to take their children to the godly annual Feast of Tabernacles, they have to request time off and, in certain countries such as Germany, which have government-imposed mandatory school attendance requirements, this request may be refused with fines or other punishment doled out to those who defy the system and keep God’s Holy days anyway, while refusing to lie by pretending that their children got sick. In contrast, the world’s pagan holidays, Christmas, Easter and others are state holidays!

In summary, so far, we have seen the following in modern education:

It is underlined by the false teaching of evolution. In addition, there is ample proof that the overwhelming number of those teachers, lecturers and professors who have the responsibility to educate young minds are liberal and left wing purveyors of information.

There is the sexual revolution where anything goes, and wrong examples are now the norm for very young minds from a very young age with the unacceptable use of books highlighting different “lifestyles.” Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 in the UK which restricted the promotion of homosexuality in UK schools was overturned, and we now have the indoctrination of the very young in schools. Literature showing different “lifestyles” and “family make-up” in schools are now commonplace.

There is the “dumbing down” of some university/college courses.

Prayer in schools is not allowed in some countries; in others, while it may be allowed, there seems to be little take-up of that activity.

Corporal punishment of any kind is now not allowed, with the inevitable increase in disruptive students.

There seems to be more home-schooling taking place in some countries to remove children from a climate of wrong teaching and, in many cases, because of bullying that can happen when children don’t conform to the world’s and their teachers’ and co-students’ norms.

What are the fruits of all of this “so-called” progress? The stress on children, their parents and teachers themselves, can lead to physical, mental and psychological problems that may last way beyond the time spent in the educational system. It is not a happy scenario but has been the result of many bad decisions made over a sustained period of time and there is no end in sight in its current form.

For those who are interested, there is a timeline of all the events that have transformed the educational landscape in the UK from 1910-2015.   See https://www.tes.com/news/timeline-history-education .

(To be Continued)

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

This is a good question to ask.  We will first have a look at how education is conducted today and then, what it will be like when Jesus Christ returns to set up the Kingdom of God on earth at His return.

It should be obvious that there will be an enormous shift from what we see today in schools, colleges and universities for one very good reason, and that is that Satan is the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and that his influence can be clearly observed by all who have eyes to see. And by extension, society as a whole is encompassed, not just the educational sector.

For the purpose of this new series, we will give examples of how things have changed over the last several decades. It can only be brief because it is an enormous subject to cover, but a few highlights will show that we are, today, in a much poorer state than we were some decades ago. We will also show that the future is bright, as we have biblical guidance for how the plan of God will work out in His soon-coming Kingdom.

In 1979, Mr Herbert W Armstrong, then the Pastor General of the (now defunct) Worldwide Church of God, published a remarkable book, entitled “The Wonderful World Tomorrow.” It would be remiss of us not to use some of the very descriptive passages that compellingly and purposefully describe education both at that time and on into the future, even though this was written over forty years ago.

On page pages 12-14, Mr Armstrong writes the following, under the heading ”Education is Decadent”:

“But take a realistic look at this world’s civilization.

“We look at modern education first, because it is the mother — the alma mater — which has spawned the scientists, captains of industry and business, the politicians and rulers, the leaders in the modern social order, and the theologians.

“Today’s world is what its leaders have made it. And the leaders are the product of modern education. Education is defined by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as a system by which adult leaders of a society inject their philosophies, ideas, customs and culture into the minds of the growing generation. Education is, and has been through the centuries, essentially pagan in origin and character. The academic system was founded by the pagan philosopher Plato.

“The 19th and 20th centuries have witnessed the absorption of German rationalism into the educational bloodstream — an approach that regards human reason as the chief source and test of knowledge. There has been a dangerous drift into materialism and collectivism. God is ignored. Revelation is rejected. The ancient belief of gnosticism, meaning we know, was succeeded by agnosticism, meaning we don’t know (we are ignorant!). This ignorance is glorified as knowledge. Professing themselves to be wise, have not the educated become fools? Compare this with Romans 1:22 in the Bible.

“Modern education trains students to earn a living in the professions, occupations and vocations — but fails to teach them how to live! It commits the crime of developing the machine, but it fails to develop the man.

“In modern education we find perpetuation of false values, the teaching of distorted history, warped psychology, perverted arts and sciences, worthless knowledge.

“Recently a leading expert on educational philosophy, Dr. Donald M. Dozer (professor emeritus of history at the university of California at Santa Barbara), in an article entitled ‘Educational Humbuggery,’ wrote this about contemporary university education:

“‘Ours is an age dominated by half-truths, and for this situation many causes can be found, not the least of which are attributable to the processes of higher education.

“‘American universities,’ he added, ‘have succumbed to the cult of faddism, sensationalism, and even vulgarism. New courses in scatology, whether masquerading as sociology, anthropology, or literature, have been given classroom platforms and respectability …. As students have become increasingly involved in curricular planning they have encouraged the idea that courses rich in content inhibit their creative impulses and represent an imposition upon them. This has led to the multiplication of colleges of creative studies, which might better be called colleges of undisciplined studies where lectures are eschewed as “bourgeois” and students educate themselves in “rap” sessions’ (The University Bookman, winter, 1978).”

Mr Armstrong continued: “A tree is known by its fruits. A mixed-up, unhappy and fearful world in chaos, divided against itself, filled with heartaches, frustrations, broken homes, juvenile delinquency, crime, insanity, racial hatreds, riots and violence, wars and death; devoid of honesty, truth and justice; now facing extinction by man-inflicted cosmocide — that is the fruit of modern education.

“This materialistic knowledge God calls foolishness — ‘For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God …’ (I Cor. 3:19).

“So what’s the cause of this educated foolishness? This day of man — from creation of the human race to Christ’s coming back to rule — has been a period of 6,000 years during which God sentenced the human world — except for those specially called of God — to being cut off from God and His revealed knowledge. Human knowledge without the Holy Spirit of God has been confined to the physical and material.

“The first man, Adam, having the opportunity to make a choice between being thus limited in knowledge, or yielding to God’s Government (and hence receiving God’s Holy Spirit), chose the former. Actually, the natural human mind, with only the human spirit… is only half complete. Man needs God’s Spirit as well as the human spirit given from birth.

“Yes, today’s educational intellectualism is ready to die. It will be replaced by the right and true educational system of the world tomorrow. This new-day system already has been introduced, and, like the proverbial grain of mustard seed, already is beginning to spread around the world — teaching young men and women the true values; the purpose of human life; the way to peace, prosperity, happiness, abundant living. All this is made possible only through the Holy Spirit, providing spiritual comprehension. In the world tomorrow this true education will banish illiteracy, and cover the earth as the ocean beds are covered with water!”

Is our education system any better today than when the above was written in 1979? There are many who would say that it is, but they would be the progressives who seem to have a death-wish and those who have no real idea of what true education is all about.

Before the 1960s, and referring to the USA, “there was very little resistance to teaching religious principles, Bible reading, or prayer in school—in fact, it was the norm. You could walk into virtually any public school and see examples of teacher-led prayer and Bible reading” (compare thoughtco.com). That would be reflected in the UK and many other “Christian” nations around the world.

The 1960s was a decade of massive change. On the website labour-history.org, we read:

“Interpretations of the 1960s vary according to attitudes. One view suggests that traditional values were overturned deferring to pop music and a laxity of morality. Another stance suggests that it was a highly progressive decade with the legalization of abortion, abolition of capital punishment and outlawing of racial discrimination. Was the 1960s a defining moment in post war Britain when working class solidarity was overturned by generational revolution? Or perhaps as Kenneth O Morgan suggests it was a decade of economic failure and political disappointment for Britain whilst at the same time ‘an era of psychic liberation.’”

The above is about the UK but the same sorts of attitudes and behaviour were reflected in many other countries, particularly the USA and Europe, and these Q&As will reflect the similar situations that exist, educationally, in those countries. Our societies, and therefore their educational approach, reflect the “new and updated” ways of thinking and doing things.

We know that evolution has been historically taught in schools for a long time, but there can be little doubt that as we now live in an increasingly godless age, this theory is being promoted even more although it is entirely unprovable and unscientific. When you have a teaching profession that has so many liberal and left-wing adherents at both school, college and university levels, you know that their beliefs will be part of their teaching methods.

In the Introduction in our booklet “The Theory of Evolution – A Fairy Tale for Adults?”, we read: “The theory of evolution, teaching that species developed gradually into other species, is widely expounded to be the most logical explanation for the origin of plants, animals, mankind, and in fact, the entire universe. It holds that animals have evolved over millions of years and that man is the latest product of this development—the top of the line, so to speak. Though Christianity was originally opposed to this concept, some groups gradually embraced it, with the proviso, however, that God directed the whole process. Other religious people—Christian and non-Christian alike—continue to reject evolution in its entirety, believing in Divine creation.

“While theology is divided on the subject, many scientists no longer consider evolution merely a theory. Rather, they regard it as fact, as if science had actually proven its accuracy. It is not surprising then to find evolution being taught in our schools, thus creating a conflict of beliefs between evolution and creation.”

In his book “The Breakdown of Higher Education,” which was published in 2020, John Ellis had this to say on a television programme on Fox News:

“Well, you’ve had a very long campaign of converting the universities into one party campuses. I mean, if you go back 50 years, studied on by a county commission in 1969, there were three left of center professors to two right of center professors.

“But by the end of the century, 1999, a study shows five to one, so you got a very great concentration building up. By another five to six years later, it’s gone to eight to one, and the current studies being done coming out now, so something like 13 to one.

“Now, there’s every reason to believe that that’s getting more extreme all the time because one of these studies look to the junior ranks, let’s say the recent appointees — assistant professors, associate professors — had found that the ratio there, left to right is 48 to one.

“So, in other words, the hiring being done now is at the rate of about 50 to one, not five to one or eight to one. So you’re going to wind up with a complete monoculture within a short period of time.

“Now, everyone can see, anyone with a brain can see that’s very unhealthy.

“You can’t have a serious debate about the issues of the day when one party is missing.”

Jeff Charles wrote on July 20^th 2017 that “Higher Education Is Now A Leftist Bastion” (LibertyNation.com).  He continued: “There was a time when American universities provided an education for their students – when young people learned about the subjects they were supposed to be studying in each class. Unfortunately, many of our higher learning institutions have transformed into bastions of leftist ideas. It is a well-known fact that many universities have a decidedly anti-conservative bias – this is particularly the case in the social sciences. By discriminating against conservative professors, they have ensured that left-wing teachers make up the majority of their teaching staff. In this way, they can continue to inundate their students with leftist principles without being challenged. At first glance, this might appear to be a wild conspiracy theory — but the studies have shown that liberals vastly outnumber conservatives on the teaching staff of most colleges. The evidence is so strong that even The Washington Post has acknowledged the disparity.”

In fact, in the UK in March 2017, an article “Groupthink?” stated that 80% of Britain’s university lecturers are left-wing. It went on to say: “Universities in the UK are at risk of developing a ‘dysfunctional atmosphere’ and of practicing censorship because scholarship is dominated by lecturers with left-wing views, according to a new report by one of the world’s leading think tanks.

“In its report, ‘Lackademia: Why do academics lean Left?’ the Adam Smith Institute warns the ‘overrepresentation’ of left-wing views in academia could lead to a ‘groupthink.’ ‘Social settings characterised by too little diversity of viewpoints are liable to become afflicted by groupthink, a dysfunctional atmosphere where key assumptions go unquestioned, dissenting opinions are neutralized, and favoured beliefs are held as sacrosanct,’ the report says.

“It claims right-wing academics only make up 12 percent of lecturers at British universities, in stark contrast with the wider population, half of which support conservative views.”

A phrase often used by Hitler was “whoever has the youth has the future” (dirkdeklein.net), and the young have been fed, for far too long, an educational diet of false values.  It seems set to continue for a little while longer, yet while God-rejecting academics rule the academic roost, the future is bright as we shall see later, when Godly governance takes centre stage.

(To be continued)

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

This is a good question, and the answers are there for everyone to see if only they would look in the right place.

We make no apology for always basing our answers on the instruction manual that God has given mankind – the Bible. But the Bible today is ridiculed, maligned, scorned, rejected and attacked by so many opponents, including intellectuals (so-called), many in the teaching fraternity, politicians and other leaders including those who are involved in shaping the direction of society which the overwhelming majority of people just blindly accept.

It is such a huge subject to address, and yet the answer is simple. In Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, we read about the promise of blessings and also the pronouncement of cursings (or retribution) that God would bestow on the ancient nation of Israel depending on their obedience or disobedience. Not just blind obedience, but obedience based on the principles that would bring about peace, protection, prosperity and plenty.

The Bible does not hold back on its reporting of the good things and bad ways of Israel and of its kings and their subjects. We see that when the people respected and followed God, good things happened. When they rejected God and followed worthless idols and lived ungodly lives, their good life was replaced by war, captivity, subjection and a miserable existence.

The Bible gives a very important admonition in Galatians 6:7, which reads: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”  This is such an important principle, and one that man ignores at his peril. In the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, we read: “There is a terrible rebuke implied in the choice of this word. It is far stronger than ‘deceived’. The word means ‘to sneer at’, and here denotes not merely the attempt to impose a cheat upon another, but the open gesture of contempt for one who is an easy dupe.”

Perhaps most of us grew up, understanding the consequences of the Law of Gravity. Just what is it?  Is it as simple as, “Things tend to fall downwards?” The gravitational attraction between the Earth and the object pulls it towards the ground.

Likewise, when we choose an action, we also choose the consequences! This is not always known and understood; otherwise, so many actions that so many have taken may not have been made in the first place, had this principle been understood! But the ancient nation of Israel made wrong choices and suffered the consequences, and the same principle applies to us today! There are natural consequences to our actions. The world operates under the law of cause and effect. There is no way around it: every time we choose an action, we also choose the consequences of that action.

If a penalty or reward doesn’t come quickly, the thought might be that it isn’t coming at all, and then the wrongdoer may just think that the law of cause and effect is broken.

One person put it this way: “But what if a farmer thought this way? What if just because the seed he planted on Monday hadn’t sprouted by Tuesday, it meant that it wasn’t going to sprout? Or, if it did produce, he would get, say, beetroots when he had planted carrots? Ridiculous? Of course it is. But we humans can do bad things and then think we got away with them, or do good and then become discouraged, simply because the pain or pleasure that’s supposed to follow takes a while to come.”

A number of years ago, Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show, and Jane Clayson asked her: “How could God let something like this happen?” She made reference to the attacks on September 11, hurricanes and earthquakes. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. Some have disputed the source of this response, but whoever gave it, it was very meaningful.

She said: “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.  And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.

“How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone? In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc., I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

“Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school … the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide).

“We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said OK.  Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.  Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.  I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.’

“Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.  Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

“Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.  Are you laughing?  Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they WILL think, of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.  Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it… no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.”

That was a very hard-hitting and accurate assessment of the way that things have gone in recent decades, but most people don’t see any connection at all between the behaviour and lifestyle of people, and the state of the nations.

We must also add into the mix the fact that Satan the devil is alive and well. He sees that he doesn’t have much time, as we read in Revelation 12:12: ‘Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.’”

Because his time is almost up, we are warned in 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

He wants to stop our progress in our Christian lives so that we don’t make it into God’s Kingdom. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 we read about carnally-minded people “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

Make no mistake about it, Satan will continue his attacks on God’s people and it is up to us to be, and remain, close to God who can and will protect us at the end of this age. For further information on the demonic spirit world, please read our free booklet “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World.” 

We have recently covered two other Q&As which are, in many ways, inter-related with the question in this Q&A. They are:

https://www.globalchurchofgod.co.uk/who-determines-what-is-right-and-wrong/

https://www.globalchurchofgod.co.uk/why-do-you-think-that-christian-values-are-the-right-ones/

The Church of God has forecasted the downward spiral of our nations for many decades but, unfortunately, as people grow ever more distant from God and His ways, so the punishments will continue and increase.  If such ungodly practices were repented of and eliminated, the countries would benefit enormously but there seems to be no general recognition that our nations’ behaviour is wrong!

As the nations continue to lurch from crisis to crisis, many more bad days lie ahead. But after the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, the world will experience the righteous rule and government of God on earth. But until that time, with no leaders having the answers and none of them truly trusting God, more punishments will inevitably follow.

Society is at odds with itself because it doesn’t know how to live and behave. They know little about blessings and cursings. They don’t understand the principle of sowing and reaping.  And Satan, who deceives the whole world (compare Revelation 12:9), is very active in his demonic activities.

So, expect much more of the same as we rush headlong into the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation (compare Daniel 12:1).

We have been warned.

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

The basis of the question is correct; we do think that true Christian values are the only ones that would work in this society making it a much happier, safer and more enjoyable world than it currently is. What we see around us today is a world in turmoil, but this was prophesied.

We have made it clear on so many occasions that we believe that the 6,000 years allocated to man is almost up and that we are living in the end times. A passage in the New Testament sums up the behaviour of man at the end of this age: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

Having said that, man’s history over the last 6,000 years is a catalogue of anti-godly behaviour where evil, in general, has proliferated throughout that time. Man has had more than enough time to show that he can live happily and peacefully with his neighbour but history shows that man has consistently gone the wrong way by thinking that he knows the answers and ignoring the One who created mankind and who has set out a blueprint for happy and abundant living.

We read in Judges 17:6: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This is repeated in Judges 21:25. Today, this same behaviour has proliferated where legislation is enacted all around the world which is in contravention to God’s Way, and the end result has been disastrous.

The Word of God has been ignored for the most part and, today, man thinks that he knows better than the One who created us all. Laws are pushed through that can often defy the commandments of God and His Way, and this happens around the world.

G.K. Chesterton wrote in “What’s Wrong With the World”, “that people who oppose Christianity do so not because they think it is unreasonable but because they have not truly looked into it.”

A brief overview of the world today clearly shows that God’s Way is ignored and the results include anarchy, hatred, wars, selfishness and much much more.

Almost 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul set out a list of the works of the flesh as we read in Galatians 5:19-21. These applied to human nature for the previous 4,000 years and these are still extant nearly 2,000 years after this was written:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Many talk today about values, but their values are often in direct conflict with biblical admonition. The works of the flesh, which we can see wherever we look, are certainly not the way that God wanted man to behave when He created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden around 6,000 years ago. Even the first child born, Cain, was a murderer, and the evil of that action at the dawn of civilisation has continued down to our time now.

Since the time of Adam and Eve, man has tried every available form of government. We have seen autocracy, democracy, communism, dictatorships, monarchy, oligarchy, socialism, presidential, theocratic and so many others – a quick search of the internet will easily reveal a huge number of governmental structures tried out by man.

The ancient nation of Israel had God as their leader but the people wanted to be like all the other nations. In 1 Samuel 8:4-5 we read: “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, ‘Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.’” This displeased Samuel (compare verse 6) but God said that they had not rejected him but had rejected God (note verse 7). Even when God had looked after and cared for His nation Israel, stiff-necked and stubborn human beings wanted to discard divine protection and just be like all the other nations. They wanted a human king to also lead them in battle and fight their wars (see verses 19-20). How utterly absurd was that decision, and the fruits were not good.

In 1 Samuel 8, from verse 11 onwards, Samuel told the congregation of Israel what would happen and in spite of the warnings given them, they still demanded a king! Their first king was Saul who started out well enough but by the time of the end of his life, he had become a king destroyed by his own jealousy.

When we review true Christian values, we see that these are designed to bring about and sustain a peaceful and supportive environment. Not even the most optimistic person could say that mankind has enjoyed that over the last 6,000 years.

In Deuteronomy 7:7, we read the reason why God chose Israel to be His people:

“The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments…”

They were given instructions on how to live but, generally, Israel failed miserably. God had a plan for mankind and the Saviour, Jesus Christ, came from Judah, one of the tribes of Israel.

In Matthew chapter 5 are the beatitudes (blessings) that come from the way that Jesus taught us how to behave. In this chapter, Jesus states that He had not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil them – that is, to expand and develop them, not to do away with them as mainstream Christianity erroneously believes (verses 17-19).  He then goes on to expand the meaning and understanding of murder and adultery which are the 6^th and 7^th of the Ten Commandments.

If Israel, and mankind, had lived according to these instructions, how much better, more gentle, kinder and sensible society would be today. But that has simply not happened.

The Bible is replete with instruction for right and proper living, and great examples of these are to be found in the book of Proverbs. Add to these, the instructions to keep the law of God and you have a really great resume of how to live a life pleasing in the sight of God and how beneficial it would all be to society.

We know that the commandments of God are sneered at today even by so many professing Christians, but instruction from the 1st book of John are there for a reason:

1 John 2:3-6 states: ^“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”

1 John 3:4 reads in the Authorized Version:  ^“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

1 John 5:3 says: ^“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

And in 1 John 5:20 we see where our right understanding comes from:  ^“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

Please see our free booklet “The Ten Commandments” for a comprehensive review of God’s Commandments.

There are those who might react and accuse Christianity of being “exclusivist,” and they would be right! In Acts 4:12 we read: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

In John 14:6, we read: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

In spite of some of the other religions, teaching good values and proper behaviour, true Christians understand that there is only salvation in Jesus Christ which is something that everyone alive at the time of Christ’s return to this earth will come to realise.

Yes, we do believe that Christian values are the right ones and are values that Christians in the true Church of God need to keep today. However, they are a tiny minority who are living the way that God wants His people to live while mankind, in general, goes in exactly the opposite direction which is leading to destruction.

The really good news is that the world, under Christ’s loving, caring and righteous rule which is just ahead of us now, will learn how to live properly and according to God’s Commandments as we read in Isaiah 9:6-7:

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

In the final analysis, 6,000 years of history has shown us in an undeniable way that man’s approach simply does not work, and that it has not worked. In the future, after Christ’s return, true Christian values will be the only way and will work for the benefit of all concerned.

At that time forward, and for eternity, true Godly values will be the order of the day.

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

We are living in a world that can be very discouraging and depressing, and a word of encouragement can be very uplifting. We know that in our spiritual life, roadblocks will be put in front of us in order to deter us from achieving our goal, but we mustn’t let these deter us in any way! We can and will win if we keep the Way of God.

What is the definition of encouragement?   In collinsdictionary.com we read that it is “the activity of encouraging someone, or something that is said or done in order to encourage them.” It then gives the following synonyms: “inspiration, help, support, aid, favour, comfort, comforting, cheer, cheering, consolation, reassurance, morale boosting, succour.”

Merriam Webster gives these definitions of encourage:

to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope: HEARTEN

to attempt to persuade: URGE

to spur on: STIMULATE

to give help or patronage to: FOSTER

We know that when we were called to God’s Way of Life, it was not an easy way that lay ahead of us but was the “narrow way” (compare Matthew 7:13-14) and while pursuing it, encouragement can greatly help us in our goal of making it into the Kingdom of God.

In the Old Testament we read of discouragement in Ezra 4:4-5: “Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.” This resistance to rebuilding the Temple came from outsiders – the people of the land. As we know, the Temple was rebuilt years later.

We know that Elijah was extremely discouraged after his Mount Carmel victory over the prophets of Baal. In 1 Kings 19:1-10 we read that “he prayed that he might die” after he was threatened by Jezebel and said: “I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” We read in the following verses that God encouraged him and he went on to do more things in the name of the LORD.

Today, many of us live in countries where we do not suffer any real persecution at all, but that does not detract from the fact that a true Christian lives a completely different Way of Life from those who have not had God’s great calling at this time. Even with the astounding and wonderful knowledge that God has made available to us, we can still feel down, and discouragement is not unknown to God’s people. Satan will, of course, want to throw us off track as we read in 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” We have been warned!

The following is an old story that is worth repeating in the context of discouragement.

“The devil was holding a yard sale one day and displayed his most useful tools, marked at different prices, on a table. Lying side by side were some of his most notable implements of destruction: hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit, lust, lying and pride- all on sale. But over to the side of the yard on display was a worn-out tool that cost more than all the others combined. The tool was labeled DISCOURAGEMENT. When asked why it was more expensive than the other tools, the devil responded, ‘It’s more useful to me than any of the others. When I can’t bring down my victims with the rest of my tools, I use discouragement, because so few people realize it belongs to me.’”

An internet writer observed: “Discouragement is a thief.  It steals your vitality, your zeal, your joy, your peace, and your contentment.  If discouragement dwells long with you, its friends will soon join.  Their names are fatigue, hopelessness, despair, self-pity, depression, doubt, and bitterness. Sometimes, discouragement can be so strong that you even don’t want to go on living.”

If we find ourselves discouraged at any time, we should take this to God in prayer and ask for His help in turning this difficulty around.

It is interesting and helpful to review positive information about encouragement in the Bible. In Acts 4:36 we read that “Joses  who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement)…” This is the first time in the Bible that he is mentioned and it shows his outstanding example of generosity when he sold a field that he owned and then took the money to the apostles to distribute to those in need (verse 37).

Barnabas was a nickname given to him: a product of his character. It seems that he played a vital role in the early church. Here we see that he had sold some land to help provide for fellow Christian believers. The Church members in Jerusalem were in severe economic need and what did he do – just give out sympathy? No, he encouraged everyone by providing for their needs.

In Acts 9:26-27, Barnabas is seen encouraging the apostle Paul. He even took him to the apostles in Jerusalem for an introduction. Two chapters later he encouraged new believers in Antioch (compare Acts 11:22-24).

We read the apostle Paul’s instruction in Hebrews 3:13: “… but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” The NIV uses the word encourage where the New King James Bible uses the word exhort, but exhort means to urge and to encourage.

The apostle Paul further instructs us in 1 Thessalonians 5:11: “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing,” and the margin in the New King James Bible says that we are to “encourage” each other.

Do we encourage others? Is this part of our Christian Way of Life? It certainly should be! Hebrews 10:24 states, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” In a world of doom and gloom, a word of encouragement can work wonders. As the saying goes: “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticise me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.”

We know that in this life now, we will have tests, trials and tribulation, as our calling is tested, and Jesus told His followers nearly 2,000 years ago and, by extension today, to be of good cheer as He had overcome the world (compare John 16:33).

In 2 Timothy 2:3-4, we read about being strong in Jesus Christ: “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”  This clearly tells us that there is to be hardship – the Greek word can also be translated as to undergo hardship, be afflicted, endure afflictions, to suffer trouble.   The true Christian Way is not easy, and we will be tested throughout the rest of our lives.   God has got to see whether we are serious about our calling and His Way of Life.   If it were easy, anyone could do it, but the reward is so glorious and wonderful – and will last for eternity – that God has to be sure of us.   And that is why we will be tested.

When was the last time that we encouraged or sincerely complimented someone?  Negative comments are easy to make but encouragement is a quality not normally exercised by too many.

Another internet writer put it this way: “Encouragement makes it easier to live in a fallen world in a holy way. Encouragement makes it easier to love as Jesus loved (see John 13:34-35). Encouragement gives hope (Romans 15:4). Encouragement helps us through times of discipline and testing (Hebrews 12:5). Encouragement nurtures patience and kindness (see 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and Galatians 5:22-26). Encouragement makes it easier to sacrifice our own desires for the advancement of God’s kingdom. In short, encouragement makes it easier to live the Christian life.”

It has been said that encouragement is the greatest tool available to adults to boost children’s self-esteem. The psychologist Rudolph Dreikers once said, “Like a plant needs water children need encouragement.” It is through encouragement that we help others to achieve greater things than they thought possible.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.”

This tells us that God is a God of mercy and comfort who comforts us, and that we may comfort others. There many verses in the Bible that can be helpful and encouraging and which can lift our spirits, and here are but a few of so many that are worth reviewing: Psalm 18:1-2; 27:1, 46:1; Isaiah 12:2; Acts 1:8; Romans 14:19; Philippians 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us: “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” The New Living Translation uses the phrase “motivate one another” instead of “exhorting one another”, and this is another way of encouragement.

What a future God’s people have to look forward to in the Kingdom of God and a time when encouragement, not doom and gloom, will be the order of the day!  The original question was “How Important is Encouragement in the life of a Christian?“ This answer has shown that it is vital.  Encouragement is the expression of approval and support.   We should, in the true Church of God, support each other and help in any way we can.

Don’t ever give up. Tough times will come and go. For a true Christian, everything happens for a purpose, and God is always with us. The future is wonderful, and at this time, we should acknowledge this and use encouragement as a vital part of our Christian life.

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

This is a fundamental question that affects every facet of life. If there is no God, then everything is determined by man. It seems that the consensus of opinion in society is that concepts of right and wrong are just a matter of personal choice.

Dr J Slattery, writing specifically about sexual matters, stated the following:

“In today’s culture, right and wrong are sorted through a grid of what we perceive as being the best for ourselves and our fellow humans. Essentially, human beings are now ‘god,’ with the authority to determine our own moral compass. With this type of humanistic worldview, morality is defined as ‘do no harm.’ Ethics and morality are measured by whether or not people are harmed. ‘She’s not hurting anyone, so how could she be doing something wrong?’ From this perspective, Christians who stand against gay marriage, for example, are thought to be doing harm. They are ‘hurting’ people who want to celebrate the gay lifestyle. In contrast, those who want to participate in gay marriage are viewed as doing no harm.”

In today’s secular society, God and His Word are neither thought about nor consulted when laws are enacted. The consensus is that when it comes to morality which can be defined as “principles of right and wrong,” there are those who believe that there are no absolutes, merely personal preferences and these can be different in varying cultures.   It is because man wants to do his own thing that he dismisses God, and the standards expected of a God-fearing individual don’t apply to them as they don’t believe in a superior Being who created everything we see.

On the website, truthnet.org, we read: “…the problem is that Christianity proclaims there are absolute moral norms that apply to all persons in all places at all times. Relativism denies there are moral norms. If relativity is true then Christianity is false. If there is no basis for right and wrong, then Christianity is a meaningless set of values. If relativity is false, then there must be an objective source of what is right or wrong.”

This same writer asked this question:

“Why is there a right and wrong? Have you ever asked yourself this question? What makes something right and what makes something wrong? Imagine a world, where you could do whatever you want? No one to stop you from your heart’s desire, if you like the car you just take it! If someone offends you, you have the right to hurt or even kill them. What’s the problem with this scene?

“Well if you are like me, you might think, ‘What if I am on the other side?’ What if I am the guy who owned the car or I am the guy who offended the person?’ The world would be a chaotic place to live if everybody got their heart’s desire. What is the basis of rules? Who said it’s wrong to steal, murder or rob? The real question being asked is who determines our morality, and why should we care?”

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher wrote that “If God doesn’t exist, everything is permissible.” And that is what the liberal, permissive and atheistic element in our society is determined to achieve, and just look at the chaotic state that exists around the world. The world denies God and His way at their peril, and judgment cannot be that far away now for this God-hating world and its determined ignorance of the way that God wants us to live for our own good.

In 2012, Ben Kinchlow wrote an article, entitled, “Who Decides What’s Right and Wrong?” Below are just a few brief excerpts from his thought-provoking article.

“Doing right: Actions which are fair, proper, good, upright, righteous, virtuous, moral, ethical, honorable, honest, lawful, legal.

“Doing wrong: Actions which involve crime, lawbreaking, lawlessness, criminality, misconduct, misbehavior, malpractice, corruption, immorality, sin, sinfulness, wickedness, evil, vice, iniquity, villainy, offense, felony, wrong, misdeed, misdemeanor, fault, peccadillo, transgression.

“Now I have a few questions: Says who? Who sets the standards for right and wrong? Who gives them the right to establish these standards? Suppose we disagree on our definitions of right or wrong … who are you to decide for me? Based on what?

“Remember when sodomy was not only wrong but a crime? Who suddenly decided it was not only right, but now legal? And who has the right to declare pornography as wrong or illegal? Doesn’t that interfere with my rights? Who gives them that right?

“Why can Saudi Arabia say homosexuals should be put to death if homosexuality is OK in the United States? If NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) thinks sex with boys, including 8-year-olds or younger, is OK, who can say it isn’t?

“Did anyone come up with the answers to some questions I asked in an earlier column: Should lawbreakers be prosecuted just because they don’t agree with society’s standards of behavior? Is anything truly right or wrong, really legal or illegal? Does it all just depend on whether one agrees or disagrees?

“If we all began as an electromagnetically charged single-cell product of lifeless slime, evolving, like other life forms, with no reason or purpose other than survival of the fittest, why should I be subjected to another life form’s delineation of right or wrong?

“If no One is in charge, isn’t everyone?”

What an excellent question to ask those who think that man is in charge of all law-making processes. They believe that they are, but look at the state of society when mankind is left to its own devices. No one in their right mind could possibly accept that societies around the world are law-abiding and shining lights for others to follow!

It is not a new phenomenon. We read in Judges 17:6 and 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” In fact, it goes back even further than that.

In the garden of Eden, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). We know that Satan tempted Eve as we read in chapter 3, and she made the decision not to do as God had instructed but, with the help of the serpent, made her own decision, and Adam followed that poor example. It was a case, right at the dawn of civilisation, that man wanted to make his own rules and do his own thing.

After just over 1600 years of man ignoring God and making up his own rules, the wickedness of man had become so great that God said that He had regretted making man (Genesis 6:7), and the flood came and man was destroyed except for Noah and his family. We know that man again followed the cunning of Satan, “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), and man, today, still wants to live by his own rules, laws and regulations.

What you may consider right for you may not be right for another person. It cannot be that each person makes up his own rules and regulations to live by as there would be chaos, and no one set of rules would be accepted by everyone; hence the reason why the nations’ rulers and legislators enact laws and put them on the statute book for all citizens to live by. In a way, that makes sense as everyone knows what is and what isn’t acceptable, but the system fails when God is ignored because He has our best interests at heart. He is the Creator of us all and, consequently, knows far more than man will ever know.

Proverbs 21:2 tells us that “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes…” This is repeated in Proverbs 16:2, in this fashion: “All the ways of man are pure in his own eyes.” In Jeremiah 17:9 we read: “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

As already mentioned above, we read in Judges 21:25 and in Judges 17:6 that when there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The Benson Commentary observes: “There were elders (Judges 21:16), who had some authority, and there was a high-priest (Judges 20:28), but there was no supreme governor, such as Moses and Joshua were, and after them the judges, and none that had power sufficient to punish public wrongs, whoredoms, and idolatries, and thereby check the progress of vice and profaneness, and keep the people in order. It is a natural inference from hence, that men ought to be extremely thankful for lawful authority: and, if they would preserve their felicity, ought to be zealous to support that authority, as well as to discourage all licentious approaches toward its dissolution.”

“What are the fruits?” is always a very good question to ask about anything that man does, and we can see that there have been 6,000 years of disobedience to the great Creator God. Man, following the lead of Satan the devil, has had a history of wars, killing, cruelty, barbarism, inhumanity, persecution, depravity, wickedness and so much more.   When we compare the “fruit of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5:22-23 (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control), we see the difference between God’s Way and the way of the world, and the chasm between the two is enormous.

The true Christian will not, and cannot, just accept the law of man when it contradicts instruction from the Word of God.

The great Creator God set the standard for absolute Truth, and it is His authority that establishes that Truth. When Jesus was on earth, He said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). When Jesus was praying for His disciples, He said, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:16-17).

Therefore, God’s Word is Truth; that is, the source that a Christian must consult to find out what God has to say on any given matter. Let us look at just four examples of conflict with what society now accepts legally and as the norm, and what the Bible has to say on these four matters. There are many more, but these examples will clearly show how deeply man has sunk into depravity, compared to what God instructs and expects.

Abortion has now been legalised in many countries around the world. The Centre for Reproductive Rights, an organization dedicated to promoting abortion around the world, estimates that 60% of the global population lives in countries where abortion is broadly legal. During the years 2010-2014, it was estimated that 546 million abortions per year were carried out worldwide. For an explanation as to why abortion is wrong, please see our booklet “Are You Already Born Again?”

Homosexuality is roundly condemned in the Bible, but is now accepted in many countries around the world as being normal. Please see our booklet God’s Teachings on Sexual Relationships,” pages 95-105, to see the biblical instruction and condemnation on this issue.

Couples living together rather than being married is another commonly accepted practice, but is against God’s clear instructions. Please see our booklet “God’s Teachings on Sexual Relationships,” chapter 6, entitled “Cohabitation or Common Law Marriage.”

A family was defined by God, and again this issue is covered in the booklet mentioned above, “God’s Teachings on Sexual Relationships,” on pages 75-79. Man has re-defined marriage and family to suit his own requirements, which is certainly at odds with the Bible.

Is man right on these, and many other issues, or should we always and solely look to God for His wise instruction? Secularists and atheists would say the former and true Christians, the latter.

Most people live by their own rules and accept society’s rules without too much thought as to whether they are acceptable in the sight of God. Some others, even church members, may, at times, try and change the meaning of Scripture so that it can fit into what they want it to mean to suit their own particular sinful lifestyle (compare Romans 1:25). However, we must never forget that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Too many Christians today are prepared to compromise with God’s Word because they are not separate from the world and its customs when they should be living by God’s standards and setting the example that is required of them (compare Matthew 5:13-16). Some may think that God’s Way is too hard, boring or not what excites them, and if that is the case, it may be that they are not convinced about the “Way of Life” which is the lot of a true Christian.

Many may want to indulge their own desires, have a fear of what others may say or just be ignorant of the true Way of God, and so they weakly compromise. They should have known that following God and His Way is the narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14). When such people compromise, they will, inevitably, follow the way of the world and its laws and edicts, and God’s Way will be either ignored or discarded. Right and wrong will then be decided by them and the society they willingly accept!

Who is the ultimate authority in all moral matters? Is it the created – man – with all of his imperfections and lack of wisdom and Godly knowledge, or is it the Creator God of the Bible who was the One who created us all? The answer is that God reveals what is right and wrong in His Word—the Bible. Put as simply as we can, God decides what is right and wrong in His Word, and that must be our guide to life.

Only God has the right to decide what is good and evil.

As the Church of God has said many times, if the law of the land is in conflict with the law of God, then we must follow God’s Way and be willing to suffer for righteousness sake which might even include not violently resisting any punishment or sentence that the state dishes out for such an infringement to its man-made law. In order to see what a Christian’s duty and responsibility is in this regard, please read our free booklet, “Obeying God Rather Than Men,” pages 44-45. We must always strive to do as God instructs and remember that God’s Word is our basis for living and our instruction manual for life.

Psalm 119:105 is a good Scripture to finish this Q&A with: “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

The Worldwide Church of God Bible Hymnal which was originally published in 1974 (“Hymnal”), is, and has been for a long time, an integral part of our weekly Sabbath and annual Holy Day services. In the opening notes of the Hymnal, headed, “How This Hymnal Came to Be,” Mr Herbert W Armstrong gave the historical background, and below are a few of the observations he made:

“It is… scriptural to sing hymns. Jesus sang hymns. After His last Passover, it is recorded, ‘And when they had sung [a] hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives’ (Matthew 26:30). I knew that the Psalms were, in fact, songs—or hymns. It was clear in my mind that God’s people should sing God’s inspired words, not man’s uninspired and often unscriptural words. But the Bible has not preserved nor revealed to us the music. God has left it to us to compose the music.

“When we moved to Pasadena to found Ambassador College, in 1947, I asked my brother (Dwight Armstrong) to devote full time to setting the words of Psalms-and/or any other Scripture – to music in the four part harmony of hymns. For some little time the Church, then small, sang the first 12 or 15 hymns that had been composed. The Church grew, and so did the number of hymns sung with God’s own inspired words.

“It is, indeed, a happy achievement to have, at last, God’s own hymnal for God’s own Church.”

It is interesting to review those hymns where the meaning can be, at first glance, a little difficult to fully understand. In this Q&A, we will look at three examples.

Hymn 78 is entitled, “He Shall Reign Forevermore!” It is taken from Psalm 102. In the New King James Bible, the sub-heading of this Psalm is that it is “A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint to the LORD.” Verses 1 and 2 read: “Hear my prayer, O LORD, And let my cry come to You.  Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; Incline Your ear to me; In the day that I call, answer me speedily.”

In verses 6 and 7, we read: “I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I lie awake, And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.”

In hymn 78, it reads in the second verse: “Like a melancholy sparrow, Like a pelican alone,” but what does it really mean? How many times have we sung this without fully understanding what we were singing?

We find an interesting note about the authorship of Psalm 102 in Wikipedia:

“Midrash Tehillim quotes Rabbi Pinchas, who notes that in some psalms David calls himself by name, as in ‘A prayer of David’ (e.g. Psalm 17 and 86), but here he calls himself ‘the afflicted’, as in ‘A prayer of the afflicted’. Rabbi Pinchas explains that when David foresaw the righteous men who would descend from him— Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Isaiah— he called himself David. But when he perceived the wicked men who would be his descendants— Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon—he called himself ‘the afflicted.’”

It would seem that David is the author, but what does he convey in the psalm?

Poole writes about the Pelican:

“Pelican, or, bittern, as the same word is translated (in the Authorized Version), Isaiah 34:11, Zephaniah 2:14. It is a solitary and mournful bird, as also the owl here following is.”

Spurgeon adds:

“Pelican, owl: ‘The Psalmist likens himself to two birds which were commonly used as emblems of gloom and wretchedness.”

Poole continues about the sparrow:

“… this Hebrew word doth not only signify a sparrow, but in general any bird, as Leviticus 14:4, Deuteronomy 14:11, Daniel 4:12, 14, 21. And so it may here design any one or more sort of birds which used to sit alone, watching and mourning upon house-tops.” (Compare hereto enduringword.com).

Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible adds:

“The Jews had flat roofs upon their houses, and here birds of solitude would come and sit alone in the night season, to which the psalmist likens himself; being either forsaken by his friends and acquaintance; or, being in melancholy circumstances, he chose to be alone, mourning over his sorrowful state and condition.”

Dr. W. M. Thomson elaborates:

“A sparrow alone upon the house-top. When one of them has lost its mate — a matter of every-day occurrence — he will sit on the house-top alone, and lament by the hour his sad bereavement.” Dr. Thomson says that he has often heard a sparrow which had lost its mate, uttering “by the hour” its sad lament, seated upon a housetop (“The Land and the Book,” p. 43).

Suffice to say that this was a time when king David was overwhelmed. Many of the 150 Psalms are laments. The pelican was a representation of being alone and thoroughly discouraged but he does finish up the Psalm in a very positive way. Verse 28 reads: “The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before You.”

A second example is Hymn number 89: “O Give Thanks Unto Our God.” In the 3^rd verse, it reads: “All nations compassed me about; compassed me like bees. But the Eternal is my strength; In His name I cut them off.”

This is adapted from Psalm 118:10-12, which reads: “All nations surrounded me, But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me, Yes, they surrounded me; But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me like bees; They were quenched like a fire of thorns; For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.”

The Pulpit Commentary opines:

“Verse 11. – They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about (comp. Psalm 88:17). The special compassing about alluded to is probably that in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, when not only the Babylonians but the Syrians, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Edomites took part in hostilities against Israel (2 Kings 24:2; Psalm 137:7). But in the Name of the Lord I will destroy them. The threefold repetition of this trenchant phrase (verses 10, 11, 12) lends it vast additional force. It is no casual utterance, no mere wish, or thought begotten of a wish, but a deep and firm conviction.

“Verse 12: They compassed me about like bees; i.e. in vast numbers, and with intense energy, and a furious desire to injure (comp. Deuteronomy 1:44)…”

John Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible observes as follows:

“They compassed me about like bees… In great numbers; as a swarm of bees, which, being irritated and provoked, will fly upon persons in a body, and with great fury; to which the Amorites and the Assyrian army were compared, Deuteronomy 1:44. They will attack horses and kill them, as Aristotle says; and places besieged have been delivered by throwing out hives of bees among the besiegers: and yet as they are feeble creatures, so by striking they lose their sting; and either die very quickly, or however become useless.”

In the Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, they state that “the heathen of every kind (in the Aramaic and Arabic with) are both bees and wasps, which make themselves especially troublesome in harvest time.”

The Independent newspaper reported this interesting item in December 2020:

“In late November 2020, two flights were delayed in India after the planes were surrounded by a huge swarm of bees. The incidents took place at Kolkata airport, first on 29 November, delaying a Vistara flight by around an hour, and again on 30 November. Firefighters were called to the scene and had to deploy a water cannon to disperse the insects.

“In the first instance, the bees amassed around the plane just before boarding was due to start for the service to Delhi. ‘Within minutes, lots of bees had settled on the plane as though ready to build a hive,’ a Vistara spokesperson told The Times of India. ‘Water jets had to be sprayed for a good 30 minutes to dislodge them. The flight ultimately took off at 6.30pm instead of 5.30pm.’

“The disruption wasn’t over though. Just 16 hours later, the bees were back, swarming around yet another Vistara flight, this time bound for Port Blair. The bees congregated just above the cargo bay door, making it impossible for baggage handlers to load passengers’ luggage into the hold. The fire department was called out again, and the flight departed an hour later than schedule, at 11.30am, after the water cannon had been successfully deployed for a second day running.

“In September 2019, a swarm of bees covered a plane’s cockpit windshield, delaying the flight by almost two hours.”

We should realise that bees, part of God’s wonderful creation, are a necessity as part of the natural order.

“Bees are some of the hardest working creatures on the planet, and because of their laborious work ethic, we owe many thanks to this amazing yet often under-appreciated insect.  Our lives – and the world as a whole – would be a much different place if bees didn’t exist. To illustrate this fact, consider these numbers: bees are responsible for pollinating about one-sixth of the flowering plant species worldwide and approximately 400 different agricultural types of plant” (onegreenplanet.org).

There is no doubt that bees [as well as wasps and hornets], in certain circumstances, can be seriously troublesome, and in this analogy in Psalm 118, they are shown in this light.

A third example is the hymn, “Praise You the Lord!”, on pages 112-113 in the Hymnal, which is one of the most upbeat hymns that we have.

This hymn was adapted from Psalm 148 – sub-headed in the New King James Bible as “Praise to the LORD from Creation.”

In this psalm of just 14 verses, we see that praise to the LORD from heavenly things are contained in the first 4 verses with reasons why this should be done in verses 5-6. We then read that those on the earth should praise the LORD in verses 7-12 with, again, reasons why in verses 13-14.

We can surely understand that the righteous angels would praise God (verse 2). In the hymn, it reads: “Praise Him, ye angels, Praise Him, ye hosts…” But what about the sun and moon and stars, mentioned in verse 3? In the hymn, it says: “And praise Him, ye sun, moon and stars in the heights.”

In John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, we read:

“The sun praises the Lord, the Creator of it, by doing the work constantly it is appointed to do; to rule by day, and give light and heat to the earth, and the inhabitants of it; and so is the cause of man’s praising the Lord for the benefits they receive from it; for its enlightening, warming, and refreshing rays; and for the precious fruits brought forth by it and so the moon likewise doing its office, ruling by night, and reflecting the light of the sun upon the earth, and producing precious fruits, also praises its Maker, and is the occasion, of others praising him;

“…The stars of light which are very beneficial in the night season, especially to mariners and travellers, and shed their benign influences upon the earth and things in it; which are a means of praising the Lord, and in their way they do it.”

George Horne wrote that “Though they have neither speech nor language, and [lack] the tongue of men, yet by their splendour and magnificence, their motions and their influences, all regulated and exerted according to the ordinance of their Maker, do, in a very intelligible and striking manner, declare the glory of God.”

Likewise, the sea creatures in verse 7 show in their way the praise and glory of God (Psalm 102:24-26). In verse 8, the fire, snow, hails, cloud and stormy winds display greatly the power, majesty, and glory of God; and in verses 9-10, mountains, fruitful trees and beasts are described which are all very beneficial to mankind, thereby figuratively giving praise to God; see Isaiah 55:12.

The rest of this psalm is about earthly and human praise and the instruction is clear; we are to give praise to the One who is deserving of such praise.

In hymn 112, it is expressed in these terms:

“Heaven of heavens, waters above; Praise the Eternal let all praise His Name!… Praise ye the Lord! Ye mammals and deeps too, Fire, hail and windstorms fulfilling His word! Vapours of snow all hills, too, and mountains, All cedars and fruitful trees, let’s praise His Name! Wild beasts and cattle, birds and all reptiles, Earth’s kings and judges, all people and chiefs; Young men and maidens, old men and children, All praise ye the Name of our God evermore!”

Philippians 2:9-11 gives us the news of a wonderful future event:

“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Psalm 148 is a testament to God’s creative power—not the appallingly ridiculous and ungodly evolutionary theory which is nothing less than man trying to explain creation without a creator because they do not want to acknowledge a superior Being who created all things.

We have looked at just 3 hymns in this Q&A–Psalms 102, 118 and 148 out of a hymnal containing well over 100 hymns. Beautiful and descriptive Scripture conveying meaning in an easily understood form can help us to appreciate the great God and His ways. When we don’t quite understand what we are singing in the hymns that are available to us, then researching the meaning can be a very worthwhile exercise and allow us to understand more clearly what has been written.

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)

It is interesting to review this section of Scripture although Mr Norbert Link has already addressed aspects of this recently in a member letter and a StandingWatch programme.  In this Q&A, we want to show specific details of some of the New Testament apostles and make appropriate observations on a number of Scriptural references.

First of all, let us read what Deuteronomy 18:20-22 says:

“But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death. You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’ If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.”

Mr Link observed in his member letter that “On the face of it, that would mean that the early New Testament apostles would have been false prophets, because they all believed and proclaimed dogmatically, undoubtedly with the conviction that they were inspired by God, that they would still be alive at the time of the return of Jesus Christ. Later it became clear to them that they would all die, but that was not clear to them at first.

“It is obvious that Deuteronomy 18:20-22 does not address these kinds of scenarios. Matthew Henry explains that the false prophet makes wrong predictions, contrary to the plain meaning of Scripture, to encourage people to sin (cp. Jeremiah 23:20-22). The false prophet claims to speak in the name of the LORD, but it is his goal to lead the people to wrong gods. In reality, a false prophet speaks in the name of other gods, either expressly (cp. Deuteronomy 13:1-5), or clandestinely.

“The Nelson Study Bible points out that false prophets might even predict events which do come to pass, while true prophets may predict events which do not materialize.  A classic example is Jonah who proclaimed that God would destroy sinful Nineveh in 40 days. Due to the sincere repentance of the Ninevites, God relented from the calamity which He had planned to bring about (compare Jeremiah 18:7-8; 26:3). This did not make Jonah a false prophet.”

For the purpose of this presentation, let us look at the statements of several apostles in the New Testament who thought that Christ would return in their lifetime.

In Acts 2:16-21 we read the passage where Peter was speaking on the day of Pentecost in 31AD and written by Luke some 30 years or so later:

“But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,  That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;  Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,  Your young men shall see visions,  Your old men shall dream dreams.  And on My menservants and on My maidservants   I will pour out My Spirit in those days;  And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above  And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness,  And the moon into blood,  Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.  And it shall come to pass  That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’”

Peter was quoting the prophet Joel and while this happened in part with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, this prophecy has to be fulfilled at the end of this age. It seems fairly obvious that Peter thought that they were in the last days then; otherwise, why would he have quoted this prophecy at that time?

Also, Peter thought it was the end-time with his comment in 1 Peter 1:20:

“He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

This was written nearly 2,000 years ago, but does that make Peter a false prophet?   If he was, we might as well throw the Bible away because all Scripture stands, without exception, or it falls.   We believe that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Further, Peter was joined by Paul in thinking that time was short then. We read an interesting verse in 1 Corinthians 7:29.   This was written by Paul between AD 50-52:

“But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none…”

Paul thought that the time was short and that the Great Tribulation was imminent, but here we are nearly 2,000 years later, still awaiting Christ’s return.

Over a few pages in 1 Corinthians 15:50-52, we read the following:

“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

The last four words of verse 52 are very revealing – “we shall be changed.”   When we use the word “we,” it obviously includes ourselves, and in this case it included Paul himself.

The first letter that the apostle Paul wrote was 1 Thessalonians, around AD 50-52. The disciples’ early epistles reveal that some, if not most of them, thought that Christ’s return was imminent. So, what does he write in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18?

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

We read here that Paul expected, at that time, that Jesus would return in his lifetime as again, the word “we”—that inclusive term— is used.  He even said that he was passing this information on to the readers as “the word of the Lord.”

In Hebrews 1:1-2, we again see Paul referring to the last days:

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds…”

There are four different references of Paul, and we need to fully realize how some—or maybe all of the early apostles—felt on this matter. There are of course many more references where Paul expressed his conviction that Christ would come soon (compare for example Philippians 4:5: “The Lord is at hand.”)

Let us see what James, the half-brother of Jesus, had to say.

He stated in James 5:1-3:

“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.”

Yet again, the phrase “the last days” has been used.  Compare also James 5:8: “…the coming of the Lord is at hand” or, as the margin in the New King James Bible has it, “has drawn near.”

The apostle John felt exactly the same. As we read in 1 John 2:18:

“Little children, it is the [or: a] last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the [or: a] last hour.”

The or a last hour is quoted twice in the same verse.

In this Q&A, we have quoted numerous references for Peter, Paul, James and John.  Were any of these disciples of Christ a false prophet? If they had been, they would have been condemned in the Bible, but they are not. They were men of God, but none of these men were perfect, nor were any of them false prophets.

With the wrong idea that they were false prophets, we might as well conclude that Jesus Christ was a false prophet. In the book of Revelation, we read that God the Father revealed to Christ “things which must shortly take place” (1:1). Christ passed the information on to an angel to communicate to the apostle John. John then adds in verse 3: “the time is at hand.” In Revelation 3:11, Christ Himself is quoted as saying: “I come quickly.” The Greek word for “quickly” is “tachu” and has the meaning of, shortly, without delay, soon. It can also mean, suddenly. Christ repeats this in Revelation 22:7, 12, 20. John understood Christ’s words as saying that He was coming soon, because he responds: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

We must remember, though, that Christ said this and that He inspired His apostles to write what they did, because “they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). Even though their words were meant for the last generation—for us today–, still, they believed when they wrote them down, that what they wrote would be fulfilled in their lifetime.

In our anxiety as the people of God, and having been given such a tremendous calling with the promise of a wonderful future, it is unsurprising that members and ministers of the Church have eagerly looked forward to the time when Jesus Christ will return to the earth to set up the Kingdom of God and rule in peace.  This may also be partially due to the fact that they have been very well aware of Christ’s warning in Matthew 24:48-51:

“But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (New International Version).

With such an incredibly marvellous and magnificent future in store for us, we may well have been over-anxious for this time to arrive before it is God the Father’s time to send Jesus back to this earth to save mankind from extinction. But this does not make us to be false prophets. We are certainly getting close to that point now but we all have to remember that God is the Master of timing and it will happen at exactly the right time – in His own time!

Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)