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| − | 236
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| − | will dic in all complacency, secure in their fanatical
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| − | belief that they are to be changed into another form
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| − | of life or go to their happy hunting ground at the
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| − | moment of death. This serenity in death, however,
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| − | does not prove that their belicfs are right, and all
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| − | believers in the Bible know that those beliefs are
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| − | wrong. Just so the fact that some one professing to
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| − | be a Christian dies in calmness, serenity, and confi-
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| − | dence that he is fit for heaven is no proof that he
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| − | will go there.
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| − | The only place that satisfactory proof can be found
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| − | is in the Bible. Any faith that is not founded on the
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| − | Bible is unstable, unreliable and invariably untrue.
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| − | If anyone wishes to know definitely what is the des-
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| − | tiny of man he can go to the Bible with honest heart
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| − | and reverent mind and get full information. It is
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| − | not necessary to delve into science, nor to try to get
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| − | in touch with the dead. Neither is it necessary to
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| − | consult spirit mediums, nor the opinions of so-called
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| − | great men who have lived and died in the past, All
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| − | these sources of information are useless, and even
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| − | worse than useless, because the information given is
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| − | invariably false and misleading.
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| − | God is the Creator of all life, and the Giver of
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| − | every blessing that men possess. More than that, he
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| − | is the-one who shall decide what man’s destiny shall
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| − | be. He inspired holy men to write the Bible, which
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| − | contains the information; and for his creatures to
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| − | disregard his Word and scck information from other
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| − | sourees manifests a disrespect and lack of reverence
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| − | for him which cannot be otherwise than displeasing
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| − | to him.
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| − | According to the Bible cach member of the human
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| − | race will spend eternity in one of three places; name-
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| − | ly, in heaven, on the earth, or in everlasting destruc-
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| − | tion (called sceond death). According to the Bible no
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| − | one will spend eternity in eternal torment ; neither will
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| − | all the saved be in heaven. Of course this statement
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| − | will not be regarded as ‘‘orthodox’’, but we must bear
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| − | in mind that ‘‘orthodox’”’ beliefs are the teachings of
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| − | men, and not of the Bible. If one believes the Bible
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| − | he will invariably be considered ‘‘unorthodox’’, The
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| − | wonder is that men can be found who possess so much
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| − | self-esteem that they dare sect up their opinions im
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| − | opposition to the tcachings of the Bible.
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| − | When God ercated Adam he told him to multiply
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| − | and inercase and replenish the carth, and have do-
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| − | minion over the carth and over the birds, beasts and
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| − | fish. It should be noted that God did not tell Adam
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| − | that he would ever go to heaven. His home was to be
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| − | the carth, and he was told that if he disobeyed he
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| − | would surely die. After his disobedience God told
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| − | him that he would return to dust again, and he was
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| − | driven out of the garden; but not one word was Adam
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| − | told about his going to eternal torment. Eternal tor-
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| − | ment is one of the ‘‘orthodox’”’ teachings of men, but
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| − | is not taught in the Bible.
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| − | tke WATCH TOWER
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| − | Brookiyrn, N. Y.
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| − | Adam’s one sin brought the condemnation of death
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| − | upon himself and all his posterity. God has purposed
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| − | to deliver the race from this condemnation and to
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| − | restore to them what Adam lost. To accomplish this
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| − | purpose God sent Jesus into the earth to dic for the
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| − | race to redeem them from death, so that they could be
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| − | restored to life again by a resurrection of the dead,
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| − | Therefore it is written: ‘‘The Father sent the Son
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| − | to be the Saviour of the world.’’ (1 John 4:14) Je-
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| − | sus said: ‘‘The Son of man came... to give his
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| − | life a ransom for many.’’ Again he said: ‘‘The Son
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| − | of man is come to seck and to save that which was
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| − | lost.’? Since Adam lost only an earthly home and
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| − | estate, not a heavenly one, it follows that that is
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| − | what will be restored.
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| − | The work of resurrecting and restoring the race
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| − | to perfect life right here on the earth will be accom-
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| − | plished by the resurrected and glorified Jesus during
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| − | his thousand-year reign, which is just now beginning,
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| − | and which will be in full operation as soon as the
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| − | present evil world is destroyed in the battle of Arma-
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| − | geddon, which is just ahead of us.
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| − | After this battle, which will destroy Satan’s wicked
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| − | empire which now cumbers the earth, and incidentally
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| − | destroy all orthodox teachings of men, the resurrection
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| − | of the dead will follow. AH will then be property
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| − | instrueted as to what God’s will is; all will be re-
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| − | quired to obey that will or else be destroyed in the
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| − | second death. The obedient ones will live on the earth
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| − | forever, That will be their destiny.
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| − | In proof, the following texts are cited. In Psalm
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| − | 37: 29 we read: ‘‘The rightcous shall inherit the land,
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| − | and dwell therein for ever.’’ In violent contrast with
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| − | this text the clergy have taught that all the righteous
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| − | will go to heaven, Again, in Isaiah 60:21 we read:
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| − | “‘Thy pcople also shall be all rightcous: they shall
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| − | inherit the land for ever.’’
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| − | The clergy say the earth is to be destroyed ; but in
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| − | Veelesiastes 1:4 we read that ‘‘the earth abideth for
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| − | ever’’, Of course, if men are to live on the earth
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| − | forever it will not be destroyed. In Jesus’ prayer
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| − | he taught us to pray for the time when God's will
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| − | would be done on carth as it is done in heaven. And
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| − | all the prophets and apostles tell us of a time when
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| − | the knowledge of Jehovah will fill the earth as the
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| − | waters cover the deep. They tell us of a time when
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| − | every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess
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| − | to the glory of God, both of things in heaven and
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| − | things in earth. Scores of texty tell us that men are
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| − | destined to live on earth forever.
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| − | When Jesus was on earth, he began to preach a new
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| − | message which was never heard before his time, and
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| − | that message was, ‘‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’’
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| − | He chese his disciples and scent them out to preach
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| − | that same message. This message means that from that
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| − | time on God has been selecting from the race a class
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| − | composed of 144,000 persons, who must be faithful
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