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Show CHRIST'S COMING I WORLD'S END 1914 . I Not Pastor Russell's View at' I All He Explains His View. Canadian Minister Quoted "Th Earth jH Abidth Foravor" Christ Will Not Coma Again aa a Man, Accenting t the Bible Pastor Ruiaell Believes ' That 1914 Marks a Great Change of lHI Dispensation Chrisfe Parouaia Pre-' cedes His Epiphanle. 1 from the I PA5TQ R RDSS ELL "Thus shall also jf the coming F;-i ronsla presence ,of the Son of Mart be; they shall be eating, drlaktog, planting and marrying, end know not"1 Matthew 24:87, S3. I The Pastor tyrb prompted to select his text by reading an extract from a recent sermon ot a Canadian minister, who declared that 1014 would witness the Second Coming of Christ The statement permitted, the inference that the minister holds the view common to nearly all croeds tbat the earth Is ll to be burned up and the human race 'sH blotted out; and that Christ will come. 'IsH to see that none of tho Church are IH destroyed. All such expectations, the ibbbbbbI Pastor claimed, are wholly unscrlp- IrI rural, untrue and misleading. bbbbbbI Then the Pastor explained in full tho yil various Scriptures commonly supposed 'bH to support such views. The wrong in- jH terpretatlons so prevalent, he claimed, belong to the Dark Ages, when public teachers seemed to loeo all apprecla-tion apprecla-tion of Ggurative language; and when Christ's references to Gehenna Fire, which burned outside the wall of Je rusalem, were understood to refer to ll an eternity of torture tor all except 'jLH the saintly-few. Ho showed that St Peter's "words, "the heavens shall be lil on Are," and "the earth and the things JH therein shall be burned up,'-' refer to il the very period which St Peter else- H where calls "Times of Restitution" and blessing (not world-burning) to follow Jesus' Second Coming. jJ Both the Master and His Apostles, the Pastor asserted, frequently used the word flre as symbolical of tribula- jf tion. Among tho many Scriptures nH quoted to substantiate his assertion ll was St Peter's exhortation, "Think It not strange concerning the fiery trial which shall try you." The Pastor quoted many Scriptures ll to prove that the earth is not to be de- ll stroyed; that "the earth abldeth for- ' ever"; that God "created it not In vain, ll but formed it to be inhabited." This JH last prophecy, he claimed, has not yet jl been fulfilled; for Immense tracts of land are still unoccupied. The speaker then discussed popular misconceptions respecting the end of the world and showed that these are based upon a misunderstanding, due to the fact that our Common Version Bible uses the word world where the word age, epoch, order of things, would !g better express the thought of the origl- nal. According to Scripture, the pres- jH ent order, of which Satan is ruler, is jH to give place to a new order of things, 'H under control of the Prince of Light Christ's Second Coming. Isssssss! Next the Pastor demonstrated con- bbbbbbbI clusively from Scripture that our Lord JH Is no longer a human being. Nearly 'sbbbbbbI nineteen centuries ago, tho Logos left iil Heavenly glory and was made flesh God bad pronounced a death sentence jH upon man, from which the race could :w not be released unless some one would become their redeemer and meet the lLsLi penalty for them. This penalty was 'il death, not eternal torment, of wblck ijl tho Scriptures know nothing. Our il Lord carried out the Divine Program. 'jH and as a reward has been highly ex- Bl altcd "far above angels." 'jH The speaker then showed tbat the word coming Is used to translate sev- 'H oral very different Greek words. Ono of these is Parousia, meaning pres-ence, pres-ence, and used in reference to the first i stage of our Lord's Second Adveut. t He will be invisibly present For a I while none will realize His Parousia, except the Church. All earthly things will continue as they have buying. selling, marrying, etc. for a while. Later on will come the Epipbania jH tho revolution, or manifestation not in the flesh, but In a great Time of Trou- jH ble, symbolically represented as fire. We read, "He shall be revealed In flam-Ing flam-Ing fire, taking vengeance." The Pastor understands the Bible to teach that Jesus has thus been pres-ent pres-ent since 1874. The Second Advent be-gan be-gan then. The wonderful progress in the world sluce then Bible students thus explain. They understand the Bible to teach that this Parousia will continue for a thousand years; but jH that the Epiphania will be duo forty years after the Presenco began. For this reason thoy are looking very in-tently in-tently to see what tho year may bring. Everywhere we see signs of unreBt, a jf time of troublo brewing. It looks as though this year would mark the bo- J ginning of the flaming tire of judg-J meats which will characterize the ln-i H auguration of Messiah's glorious Reign,' IH of righteousness and life eternal. ! jH |