The Pleasantville press., 1912-11-20

Oh Sdtdu lulS ~ LIE cApiduatiou
given in the footnotes of some editions
of the Catholic Bible 1t must be dis
couraging to our Catholic brethren tc
see how many blessings have come to
the world under what they claim is
Satan's regime. Surely some of them
will contrast this with the supersti.
ton. bigotry. and the prosecuting spirit
which seemed to dominate both Prot
estants and Catholics during what they
claim was the Millennium.
As for Protestants in general, the
kindest statement of their position is
that they are confused. They do not
like to agree with Papacy that the
Millennium is past; and yet they agree
with Papacy in claiming that the great
kingdoms Of Europe are parts OF
Christ's Kingdom, notwithstanding the
fact that they are impoverishing them
selves to prepare for blowing each 9TH
er off the face Of the earth.
christ's Kingdom Brings Millennium.
Premillennialists hold that Christ's
Second Advent precedes the establish
ment of His Kingdom; and that the
Church during the Gospel Age is in
preparation for the Kingdom honor,
glory and service. Such believers in
the teachings of the Bible alone are
preaching that the coming of Messiah's
Kingdom is the hope of the world, and
that the call of the present is for the
Elect, to share in the Kingdom. Hark
to the Masters words, Fear not. Lit
tie Flock; for 1t is your Fathers good
pleasure to give you the Kingdom"
To these it is not astounding that
the heather are not all converted.
either at home or abroad; for they real
ize that Gods Word does not so teach
They find the Scriptures to tell that at
the Second Coming of Christ ''the ma
tons will be angry" and Gods wrath
will come upon them. There shall
be a time of trouble such as there
never was since there was nation"
They find that during that time Mes
siah's Kingdom will be established,
and that incidental to its establish
ment the First Resurrection will take
place. They note Jesus words. Blessed
and holy are all they that have part
in the First Resurrection; they
shall be priests unto God and unto
Christ and shall reign with Him a
thousand years." "upon the earth."-
Revelation Xxx. 6; v. 10.
But Premillennialists very generally
make two mistakes: a. They think of
His Kingdom as one in which Christ
and the saints will hold earthly court.
They fail to discern that the resurrec-
ton change raises both Christ and the
Church fully out of the human nature
into the Divine nature; and that Gods
Kingdom. spiritual and all powerful,
will bless mankind through earthly
agents already prepared. These will
be the saints who died previous to
Pentecost, and whose resurrection will
be to human perfection-to which all
Of the Non Elect world will be granted
opportunity of attaining.
(2) Premillennialists fail generally to
discuss that the Bible teaches that bless.
ings will be granted the NonElec who
have died during the past six thousand
years, without having full opportunity
Of attaining to life everlasting. They
have overlooked the Scriptural state
ment that all the dead of Adams race
sleep until the resurrection; that the
Morning Of the Great Day Of Mes
siah's Kingdom will be the resurrec-
ton morning. not only for the church.
but for the sleeping billions of human
ity Our unscriptural conceptions Of
the dead, as alive In Paradise or in
Purgatory or In a He'll of torture,
came originally from the heathen; but
we have used our greater enlighten-
ment to intensity the joys Of the
heather Paradise. and the sufferings
Of the heather in the intermediate
state Hence it is that the most intel
ligent people in the world, by neglect
ing Gods Message, the Bible, today be-
lieve things respecting God and His
purposes more monstrous than any of
the doctrines of demons which aff1ict
the heather world and drive them
from God in fear.
Applying Now Our Text.
We note that the Lord did not say
that the Gospel would convert the
world, but merely that it would be a
toitness to them. The word here trans
lated witness" is In the Greek MAJ
turion, from the root martus, the equiv
alent of our English word martyr Thus
seen, this text agrees with all of the
Masters testimonies to His followers
that in becoming His disciples they
would be sacrificing earthly friend
ships. honor. etc.; and that they would
bring upon themselves sufferings. To
be His disciples, therefore, they must
BE- martyrs. witnesses for the Truth
and the light, In the midst Of dark
ness, bigotry and superstition. The
additional light and Truth which the
followers of Jesus would possess and
testify to would make Of them
uartyrs; and only such would be ac-
counted worthy to share with Him In
the coming Kingdom. Marvel not
If the world hate, We know
that it hated Me before it hated you.
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