Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1919-11-05
i. i. I. + !. i. i. /. ]. i. i. !. !.
.s.THE CHURCH, THE KINGDONI.s.
!. AND CONVERSION j.
/. Il .t II i !. !. !. !. ]. j. !. !. j.
(By Elder T. NJ. Littleton.)

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the Scripture, that the mission work
Of the Gospel Of Grace is fulfilled,
and the Gospel Of the Kingdom is
ushering In, and that the Church is
the herald OF the Kingdom. The
church Is not the Kingdom, neither
the kingdom tho church. We are
already In the church; therefore we
pray, "Thy kingdom come, and Thy
will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven" 1t is believed by some
Christians that the church will
evangelize the nations of the earth
and will have power to rule the
world; but let us remember that the
church is the herald OF the king
dom, and is one Of the hidden mys-
teries that Paul speaks Of in Ephes-
ans, first and third chapters. 1t was
coming when He said, Upon this
never known until after Christ's
rock will build my church, and the
gates vi hell shall not prevail against
It, The kingdom cannot be set up
without the presence Of the King,
and the return Of Jesus Christ to the
world is the hope Of the church In
1t is the continuation of Gods
methods, begun with Abrham, con-
tinucd In Israel and extended to the
GENTLE world. God chose Abraham
to be His friend in the solitudes OF
the Syrian uplands, to learn the les
sons OF faith, and thus be q channel
OF blessing TO the whole world. Later
He chose Israel to bless the world,
but when he rejected Christ God did
not change His methods, but pro-
ceeded to choose a spiritual Israel
as His church, SO the kingdom bless
lngs might reach all humanity. Then
He chose Il little flock to be the
bride Of the Christ, which is His
church.. and we should not protest
against His wisdom in choosing the
little flock in the beginning Of the
Gospel age that He might show forth
His glory to the many in the az
to come.
1t is believed by some that the
second coming of Christ Is dishonor-
Ing the Holy Spirit because It has
not converted the world; but accord
Ing to His divine purpose it was not
intended to convert the world under
the gospel dispensation, or before
the second coming of Christ, because
we are plainly taught that the wicked
men will grow worse and worse, even
to the end
Abraham's sending his servant
son Isaac represents Christ sending
His disciples in search of the bride
OF Christ. which is the church. Eleaz-
or was not supposed to bring Laban
and the whole family, but only Re-
becca for wife for Isaac. Neither
were the disciples sent to bring any
but the bride Of Christ-not the
whole world. Eleazer's mission was
finished when he returned with Re-
becca, and so is the mission of the
diactples lat the close OF the gospel
HGe. blazers mission was not cor
sldered 'fsdlure because he did not
bring Robecca's father and family;
neither Is the mission work Of tho
disci Pics Arn#'' 'ered failure because
they did not convert Or bring in the
whole world as each fulfilled the
work eSsigned for performance.
The Ereal age Of universal con-
version IS coming in the kingdom
age, ant when Christ comes it will
be The Day OF Judgment, which is
an era Of time just like the Day
Of G'ace. We know the day Of
grace hfs extended almost nineteen
hundrod years, and the day Of judg-
men w0ll be long enough to include
the miIlcnnium. During this
eho""''i.i .t''tS VI tHc lHllISnnlum
the ltn"!om blessings will be meted
out 30 Ihc world. So many people
think the judgment day, which is the
millGnnmm will be just one literal
day but God says O. day is as a
thousand years and q thousand years
as one day With Him. The dead in
Christ viii Use first, including the
saints and bride Of Christ, but the
rest Of the dead will not live again
until the thousand years expires, and
all who accept Christ will be in
the offer Of UNIVERSAL conversion;
but those who do not accept Him
then vii be cut off in to the second
death.
Take Paul for an example of con-
version. Just one little glimpse Of
Christ converted him when he was
| on his way to Damascus to cast into
prison all who claimed to be Christ's
disciples. This shows what the Lord
can and will do in His own good
pleasure. and His power and good
ness TO mankind. The Lord moved
the veil from Paul's eyes and then
he could see what lie was doing.
Likewise, when the Lord reveals
Himself to the world Of mankind the
veil will be removed from their eyes
and they can see Him as lie Is, and
then every knee will bow" to Christ
and ''every tongue confess
AS the spirit gave them utter
ance, so they wrote"
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