As we see our great nation becoming the policeman of the world, the moral decline, and the efforts being made to change our constitution; as we see the church we once loved going deeper and deeper into apostasy, and as we see the lack of unity and evil surmising that is ripping the heart out of the independent movement, and even causing some to throw in the towel--we don't have to be geniuses to figure out that Jesus will soon appear in the clouds of heaven.
But before we realize that blessed hope, a darkness will settle down over this world that will become as black as midnight. It's quite evident to me that Satan is making a last ditch effort to minimize his losses just before he launches his last great deception upon the world. And he can best do this by silencing as many voices as he can who are proclaiming a true righteousness by faith message in these last days.
Now is not the time for fear and discouragement but a time to search our hearts to make sure our record in heaven is what it ought to be, "for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Eccl. 12:14).
Oh friend, I urge you with every fiber of my being to search your own heart to see if you truly be in the faith. Ask the Lord with fasting and prayer if there is any unfinished business that is registered against you in the books of heaven, and whatever He reveals to you, take care of it as quickly as possible, for we have not a moment to lose in preparing our characters for heaven. Ask, Do I have the love described in 1 Cor. 13:4-7? Am I manifesting the fruit of the Spirit recorded in Gal. 5:22, 23, not one missing? Best to ask ourselves these questions now than to have the Lord ask us later, wouldn't you say?
Momentous events are about to take place and we want to be hid with Christ before they break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise. While probation lingers and the Holy Spirit calls, I ask you to make your calling and election sure by surrendering all to Jesus. Please don't hesitate, for by delay the enemy will gain the advantage. While your heart is soft and your spirit receptive, give yourself to Jesus anew and repeat the experience day by day. Thus you will be giving your life into the hands of God and in the end you will reap everlasting life. Do it now! You can be sure we did before this newsletter went out.
Another important argument on this point is found in what our Lord has said relative to the signs of his second advent. The church were to understand when his coming was at hand, by the fulfillment of certain promised tokens. Until these should be seen, they were not authorized to look for the immediate advent of the Lord. But when the signs which our Lord promised began to appear, his church might then know that his coming to judge the quick and the dead was at hand. It is an interesting fact that Christ has marked the time in which these signs were to begin to appear. Consequently the messages in question could not be delivered prior to that time. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." Matt. xxiv, 29. "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken." Mark xiii, 24, 25. We think there can be no mistake that in these scriptures our Lord refers to the papal tribulation of Daniel the prophet. The signs of his second coming were to commence "in those days," but "after that tribulation." In other words, the 1260 prophetic days should not be quite over, but their tribulation should be ended, when the sun should be darkened. The sun was darkened in 1780, and the tribulation of those days was then past, but the days did not expire till 1798. Thus we have the signs of our Lord's immediate advent just opening upon us, as we come down to the time of the end, the period when the vision should be unsealed, and many run to and fro with the word of warning to a perishing world.
The extent of this proclamation is worthy of notice. An English writer, Mourant Brock, thus remarks: "it is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. In America about three hundred ministers of the word are thus preaching 'this gospel of the kingdom;' whilst in this country, about seven hundred of the church of England are raising the same cry."--Advent Tracts, Vol ii, p. 135.
Dr. Joseph Wolfe traveled in Arabia Felix, through the region inhabited by the descendants of Hobab, Moses' father-in-law. In Yemen he saw a book which he mentions thus:
"The Arabs of this place have a book called Seera, which treats of the second coming of Christ, and his reign in glory!'
"In Yemen he spent six days with the Rechabites. 'They drink no wine, plant no vineyards, sow no seed, live in tents, and remember the words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab. With them were children of Israel, of the tribe of Dan, who reside near Terim in Hatramawt, who expect, in common with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the clouds of heaven.'"--Wolfe's Mission to Bokhara.
"In Wirtemberg there is a Christian colony numbering hundreds, who look for the speedy advent of Christ; also another of like belief on the shores of the Caspian; the Molokaners, a large body of Dissenters from the Russian Greek church, residing on the shores of the Baltic--a very pious people, of whom it is said, 'taking the Bible alone for their creed, the norm of their faith is simply the Holy Scriptures'--are characterized by the 'expectation of Christ's immediate and visible reign upon earth.' In Russia the doctrine of Christ's coming and reign is preached to some extent, and received by many of the lower class. It has been extensively agitated in Germany, particularly in the south part among the Moravians. In Norway, charts and books on the Advent have been circulated extensively, and the doctrine received by many. Among the Tartars in Tartary, there prevails an expectation of Christ's advent about this time. English and American publications on this doctrine have been sent to Holland, Germany, India, Ireland, Constantinople, Rome, and to nearly every missionary station on the globe. At the Turks Islands, it has been received to some extent among the Wesleyans. Mr. Fox, a Scottish missionary to the Teloogoo people, was a believer in Christ's soon coming. James McGregor Bertram, a Scottish missionary of the Baptist order at St. Helena, has sounded the cry extensively on that island, making many converts and pre-millennialists; he has also preached it at South Africa, at the missionary stations there. David N. Lord informs us that a large proportion of the missionaries who have gone from Great Britain to make known the gospel to the heathen, and who are now laboring in Asia and Africa, are Millennarians; and Joseph Wolfe, D.D., according to his journals, between the years 1821 and 1845, proclaimed the Lord's speedy advent in Palestine, Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea, Mesopotamia, the Crimea, Persia, Georgia, throughout the Ottoman Empire, in Greece, Arabia, Turkistan, Bokhara, Affghanistan, Cashmere, Hinostan, Thibet, in Holland, Scotland and Ireland, at Constantinople, Jerusalem, St. Helena, also on shipboard in the Mediterranean, and at New York city, to all denominations. He declares he has preached among Jews, Turks, Mohammedans, Parsees, Hindoos, Chaldeans, Yesedes, Syrians, Sabeans, to Pachas, Shieks, Shahs, the kings of Organtsh and Bokhara, the queen of Greece, etc. And of his extraordinary labors the Investigator says: 'No individual has, perhaps, given greater publicity to the doctrine of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, than has this well-known missionary to the world. Wherever he goes, he proclaims the approaching advent of the Messiah in glory.'"--Voice of the Church, pp. 342-344. --to be continued
A friend recently skinned her knee quite extensively. Pine pitch and other remedies were not drying up the wound. I told her about the raw honey and she tried it; much to her delight the wound began to heal.
Even though we have a small group we meet with from Sabbath to Sabbath, we have a growing congregation. Between our Bible study students in the various prisons and the 106 times audio sermons have been accessed from the internet so far in the first two weeks of June, we see the truth for these last days going out to the people--Praise the Lord! We are so grateful to have even a small part in the Lord's work, and we thank all of you who support us in this work; the success is just as much yours as ours, but God gets all the glory; Amen?
Below are a few letters we have typed just the way the prisoners wrote them--unedited.
Dear Jack and Cindy
I received the bible study and I enjoyed it.
I wanted to ask I need a bible I don't have one. Well my brother and sister I was
happy to received the bible study cause I don't get that much mail but this letter from
God.
Thank you.
Your new friend in his service, ML, Texas
Hi Jack & Cindy
Hope these few lines finds you, yours and
this wonderful ministry fine and in the best of health, mind, spirit, and God's wonderful
care and graces. I am doing well, praise God. I've got a upcoming court date and it's
my prayer to be out of here soon. Please keep me in your prayers, as I do you. . . .
***Hope these few lines finds you, yours and this won-derful ministry fine and in the best of health, mind, spirit, and God's wonderful care and graces. I am do-ing well, praise God. I've got a upcoming court date and it's my prayer to be out of here soon. Please keep me in your prayers, as I do you. . . .
AK, Texas
Because of some changes in the focus and direction of our ministry we will be sending only a monthly cassette from now on. Occasionally there may be more than one per month, but for the most part we'll try to get one out around the first of each month. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.
If you have not been receiving at least our monthly cassette but would like to, please let us know and we would be glad to add you to the list.
In His Service,
Jack and Cindy Jones