The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1904-01-15
Heaven will Come to Us.
QUELQUEFoIs.

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prizes offered by me in your issue of
January lst:-s50 in gold for one pass
age from the Bible which plainly states
that mankind has an immortal, or ney-
er-dying soul; also $50 in gold for one
passage that says that any man, wom-
an or child will ever go to Heaven, at
death, or any other time. 1t is upon
these two suppositions that the whole
fabric of modern theology is built If
they be true, surely God has not for
gotten to plainly state it in at least
one place in His Word In your issue
of Jan. S, Mr.. Louis Goldstein cites,
John II, 1925, as evidence of the i'm
mortality of the soul. will quote it
in full:
Jesus said unto her, / am the resurrec.
ton, and the life: he that believeth in me,
though he were dead. yet shall he live:
And whatsoever liveth and believeth in
me shall never die.
Mr.. Goldstein has doubtless over
looked the fact that our Sayiour's re-
mark concerned but very small por-
ton of mankind. 1t was those who
believed in him who would never die,
while the passage, in order to win the
prize, must read that all mankind is
by nature immortal, or will never die.
Our Saviour, in this passage, was sim
ply teaching Martha the great and
glorious truth of resurrection and fu-
ture life through Him; that, even if a
man were dead, He conld make
him alive again. Gods people are al
ways spoken of in the Bible as sleep
ing. For example, David slept with
his Father, and was buriedn-1 Kings,
2-l0; Solomon slept with his Father
i Kings, 11-4S; MANY bodies of the
Saints which slept, arose"-Matt. 81
80; ''the maid is not dead, but sleepeth''
Matt. 9-24.
So Gods people, who have His prom
Use of resurrection, are sleeping, and
will surely awake at the return of the
Lord and these "shall not be hurt of
the second death"
But, of the wicked it is said, 1.-THE
man that VANDERBILT out of the way of
understanding shall remain in the con-
gregation of the dead"-Prov. 21-16.
Again, God says, by the mouth of His
prophet, Isiah, "They are dead; they
shall not live They are deceased;
they shall not rise. Therefore hast
thou visited and destroyed them, and
made all their memory to perish"-Isa.
25-14. They shall be as though they
had not beenp-0badiah IS. 1.-THE
only Potentate, the King of kings, and
Lord of lords; who only hath immor-
tality''-1 Tim. 8, l5-l6.
If, then, large class of mankind is
doomed to death that knows no
awakening, if they must sleep per-
petual sleep, and become as though
they had not been, if furthermore,
God only has immortality, the passage
quoted by Mr.. Goldstein cannot posi-
bly, be understood as teaching the i'm
mortality of the soul, and therefore
fails to win the prize.
Mr.. Goldstein cites us TO Matt. I, u,
as evidence that good men and women
go to Heaven when they die. will
also quote this in full:
Not every one that sayeth unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; but he that doeth the will OF
my Father which is in heaven.
| fail to see in this, also, any refer
ence to the subject in question. True,
the Apostle speaks of the kingdom of
heaven and of man inheriting it, but
there is no evidence that man must go
to Heaven in order to inherit the king
dom. On the contrary, we are exhort-
ed to repent, for the kingdom of heav-
en- is at hand-Matt. 3, . Our Saw
Jour taught us to pray ''Thy Kingdom
Come'-Matt. 6, 10. ''Our blessed
Saviour has gone to Heaven to receive
unto Himselfa kingdom and to return"
Luke 10, II. HE shall then reign ov-
~ viz hotCt Va ooSOo iOtCNCl anu Va LIS
kingdom there shall be no end''-Luke
/, 80. ''His kingdom shall break in
pieces and consume all earthly king
doms, and it shall stand forever
Dan. 2, Al.
The Bible plainly and positively
teaches that the Kingdom of Heaven
is future institution to be established
on the earth; not up in heaven. That
Jesus Christ is to be the king of all the
world; that He is soon to return to
this earth to build again the throne of
David, and sit thereon as king; that
under his wise and heavenly instituted
government, the nations shall beat
their spears into pillow shares and their
swords into pruning hooks, and shall
learn war no more. Peace and plenty
will fill the whole earth, as the waters
cover the sea. Even the wild beast
will FORGET it's SAVAGE nature for tbs