What Is Going On?

Millions of Americans and Britons are beginning to realize that something truly awful is happening to our society. They sense that it is very serious. But they do not know the cause. And they certainly do not know the solution.

The U.S. dollar and British pound have lost a great deal of their purchasing power. We are in the midst of an absolutely enormous financial crisis, with many major banks and other respected financial institutions collapsed or in danger of collapsing. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have drained America's military.

Meanwhile, powerful hurricanes and other weather-related disasters keep wreaking havoc on our nations. Drought persists in some areas, and massive flooding in others—as God predicted thousands of years ago (Amos 4:7–8). Serious food shortages are affecting millions of people around the world, and many are starving to death right now! Increasingly, world-renowned scientists warn us about the specter of massive disease epidemics striking us with a vengeance never experienced in modern times.

So, what is going on?

Is it alarmist to realize that we really are near the end of human civilization as we have known it? Many Bible scholars agree that we are very close to the end of 6,000 years of recorded human ­­­­­­­­history. The God of the Bible clearly indicates that He has in mind a 7,000-year plan. This first 6,000 years—the "days of man"—are given over to human beings living under the influence of Satan the Devil, during which they are writing the lessons of life, but not yet learning them, as they will later on. At the end of this 6,000-year period, Jesus Christ will return as King of kings and set up the Millennial Sabbath—the seventh "day" or thousand-year period of human history. Those thousand years will be under the direct rule and direction of the living Jesus Christ, who will bring genuine peace and joy to all humanity (Isaiah 11:9–10).

Describing the beliefs of the earliest Christians, highly respected historian Edward Gibbon states in his monumental work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: "The ancient and popular doctrine of the Millennium was intimately connected with the second coming of Christ. As the works of the creation had been finished in six days, their duration in their present state, according to a tradition which was attributed to the prophet Elijah, was fixed to six thousand years. By the same analogy it was inferred that this long period of labour and contention, which was now almost elapsed, would be succeeded by a joyful Sabbath of a thousand years; and that Christ, with the triumphant band of the saints and the elect who had escaped death, or who had been miraculously revived, would reign upon earth till the time appointed for the last and general resurrection…. The assurance of such a Millennium was carefully inculcated by a succession of fathers from Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, Lactantius, who was preceptor to the son of Constantine" (Vol 1. pp. 403–404).

Gibbon goes on to explain, however, that in the centuries following the Apostolic Era—sometimes called the "Dark Ages"—this understanding of God's Plan was ruthlessly discarded: "But when the edifice of the church was almost completed, the temporary support was laid aside. The doctrine of Christ's reign upon earth was at first treated as a profound allegory, was considered by degrees as a doubtful and useless opinion, and was at length rejected as the absurd invention of heresy and fanaticism" (p. 404).

My dear friends, our entire society—including "mainstream" Christianity—has turned away from the God of the Bible. Even most professing Christians have basically rejected the one-fourth of the entire Bible that is inspired prophecy. Yet the cataclysmic events the Bible prophesied for the "last days" are all beginning to occur!

We are certainly in the latter days! As we see nearly all the "sea gates" removed from British and American control, as we see America and Britain being brought down in the sight of other nations, as the American dollar and British pound and our standard of living start to go down and down, perhaps many of our friends and neighbors will begin to wake up and realize that God Almighty is involved! You who have read our magazine regularly—or watched the Tomorrow's World telecast—should begin to understand that God has directly promised to chasten any peoples who turn away, as we ­­are now doing with our increasing sexual immorality and perversion, our rising crime and violence, the increasing abuse of alcohol and drugs and the complete approach of godlessness among our nations as a whole!

In a dual prophecy which had meaning for our forefathers but even more meaning for us today, the Eternal God stated: "But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it" (Leviticus 26:14–16).

The American and British-descended peoples certainly do—by our actions and many of our laws—"despise" God's statutes against abortion, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, drunkenness, cursing and almost every other form of despicable behavior. God said that under such circumstances He would appoint "terror" over us! Perhaps we can begin to realize that "9-11" was indeed a warning signal from our very Creator!

After describing the coming disease epidemics and lack of food, He finally said: "And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze" (vv. 18–19). For a more complete explanation of our national identity, call or write us immediately to request your free copy of our enlightening booklet on this very topic. It is entitled, The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. And be sure to read carefully my article on page 4 of this issue, "Who Are You, Really?" It will give you even more information on the origins of the U.S. and other British-descended nations.

Once again, what is going on?

What is going on is that the Eternal God—at the end of 6,000 years of human history—is beginning to intervene and shake the nations of the world and help many who are finally willing to wake up and turn to Him! Before Christ returns, God will call still more people whom He intends to train to become kings and priests in Christ's coming Kingdom (Revelation 5:9–10). We who accept His calling and endure to the end will assist Christ in ruling this earth—we will not go off to heaven with nothing to do.

Many thousands of you readers of Tomorrow's World are beginning to understand. You are beginning to respond. You are beginning to realize that much of what you have been taught as "Christianity" is not biblical Christianity at all. And you are willing to grasp the meaning of Jesus Christ's challenge to people of His day, "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).

Remember, the true God of the Bible demands that we obey Him. He requires that we be willing to "live by every word of God" (Luke 4:4). In the inspired book of Isaiah, God describes the kind of individual He will guide and bless during the terrible years just ahead, "But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word" (Isaiah 66:2). Most professing Christians do not "tremble" at God's inspired word. For they have been fed a steady diet of ideas and concepts that God is "way off" and that the Bible has been written merely by the effort of fallible human beings, over thousands of years, making many mistakes as they wrote. So most of your friends and relatives probably do not genuinely "fear" the God of the Bible even though they may call themselves Christian.

If God is opening your mind, I urge you to genuinely prove to yourself the existence of the true Creator God, and the absolute inspiration of the Holy Bible. As most of you know, we make many booklets, reprint articles and an entire Tomorrow's World Bible Study Course available absolutely free for the asking—all of which can help you genuinely understand and prove these matters. We never charge for anything, and we give you biblical proof and specific scriptures, in context, to help you prove to yourself these vital issues of life and death.

So may God Himself lead you and inspire you to exercise the faith and the courage not only to prove, but to act on the Truth of God! We in this Work are God's servants, appointed by Him to preach His message and give His final warnings at the end of this age. We are not perfect. But we happen to have proof—biblical proof—of what we are sincerely writing and teaching. You will do yourself and your family tremendous good if you will exert the mental and spiritual energy to carefully study, prove and come to genuinely understand the Truth we are now promulgating to the entire world at the end of this age. May God guide you, encourage you and bless you as you act on His Truth and learn to walk closely with Him.