False Prophets and the End.

Continued from yesterday's study….

This study is on an article written 147 years ago.  So much has happened in our world since then. Some of the things in here will sound strange to us, and some may not seem relevant now. Time and place truly are necessary in all things. May God forever and always guide us ONLY to HIS truth in all we read, in all we study, all through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

*******

The Second Coming of Christ  BY ELD. JAMES WHITE.

"What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?" - DISCIPLES.  

"When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." - JESUS.

*******

FALSE PROPHETS

Verse 11. "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many."

In the common use of the word, a prophet is one that foretells; but the word sometimes means simply a teacher. Prophets of God declare the future, being instructed by good angels and the Spirit of God. False Prophets  make predictions by the agency of wicked spirits and the power of Satan. And while this is true of those who are under the direct inspiration of superior beings, good or evil, consecrated teachers of divine truth may be regarded as God's prophets; and teachers of error may be properly called false prophets. True and false prophets may be known. 

The prophets of God are teachers of purity, reprovers of sin, and faithful in warning the people of coming dangers. The duties of those whom God calls to speak in his great name, are clearly expressed by the sacred writers. We here quote from three of them. 

Isa.58:1. "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." 

Joel 2:1. "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." 

2Tim.4:1,2. "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom preach the word; be instant is season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine." 

False prophets do not reprove the people for their sins, they do not warn them of coming danger; but they proclaim peace to the sinner. Their teachings lead from God and his word, and are such as to please the unconverted mind. The inspired writers have also spoken definitely of the testimony and work of false prophets. We here give several for example.

Eze.13:9,10. "And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies. They shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar." 

Jer.6:13,14. "For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely. They have healed, also, the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace." 

Jer.14:13,14. "Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me. The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them." 

After stating the duty of the faithful servant of God to preach the word, to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, the apostle says: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2Tim. 4:3,4.

That time has now fully come. The people choose pleasing fables, which do not disturb them in their sins, rather than the reproving, searching declarations of the word of God. They love to be deceived by the teachings of false prophets, and "say to the seers, See not, and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." Isa.30:10. 

"Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so; and what will ye do in the end thereof? Jer.5:29-31.

The ears of the people are filled with the pleasing fables of the world's conversion, a good time coming, and that we are just entering the golden age. The threatening's of God's word on the proud, the haughty, the vain, the rich, the sinners in Zion, and those out of Zion, are kept back by the false teachers of these times. Many of them even dare to teach that the moral code of the ten commandments is abrogated. And as the result of such a course, and of such teaching, we see, in the professed church of Jesus Christ, that 

INIQUITY ABOUNDS

Verse 12. "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."

It is evident that both the abounding of iniquity, and the waxing cold of the love of many, are fulfilled in the professed church of Jesus Christ. Men must first experience the love of God, and of heavenly things, before that love can grow cold. Hence, common, unconverted sinners are not here referred to as apostatizing. And, again, the prevalence of iniquity in the unconverted world alone,  would stimulate the church to greater diligence, and more godliness, instead of being a cause of apostasy. Hence the iniquity here mentioned is in the very heart of the professed church, diffusing its chilly influence through the whole body. As the result, the love of many has grown cold. With this, agree the words of the apostle: 

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." 2Tim.3:1-5.

Here is a catalogue of sixteen sins, all resting upon those who have a form of godliness. These are not infidels and common worldly sinners, for they have not a form of godliness; but they are men and women professing to be followers of Jesus Christ. And although they make a profession of piety as high as Heaven, they are covered all over with popular sins. And by reason of their example, and their chilly influence, many are led from the humble path to Heaven, and their love becomes cold. 

THE END

VERSE 13. "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."

The word end, wherever used in this chapter, refers to the end of the age, and to nothing else. It is the end associated in the New Testament with the second appearing of Jesus Christ. The disciples did not ask their Lord (see verse 3) when they should die; but "what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Neither does the Lord speak of death, when he says (see verse 6), "But the end is not yet." And it would be strange indeed to suppose that the word end, in verse 14, meant death. If any think such a position admissible, let them read it into the text, as follows: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness to all nations, and then shall death come. Absurdity! 

Verse 14. "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come."

This is the first sign of the end given by our Lord in answer to the question, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" But this verse, by many, is supposed to prove that all men will be converted, and that then there will be one thousand years in which all will know the Lord, from the least to the greatest." Some hold that the one thousand years of Rev.20, are prophetic, each day in the year representing a year, making three hundred and sixty-five thousand years. And many of these, very men teach that nothing can be known of the period of the second advent. But would they not know when their supposed millennium, whether it be literal time, or prophetic, had commenced? Certainly they would. Then they would know when it would terminate, and bring the coming of the Son of Man, and the Judgment. If those enjoying the millennium could not tell when it commenced, then it would hardly be worth having. If they could tell when it commenced, most certainly they could tell when it would close. These men should

be the very last to oppose the view that the prophetic word points to the very generation that shall witness the second advent.

But the text does not say that every individual will even hear this gospel of the kingdom. It does not state that any one will be converted and made holy by it. And we find it far from intimating that a world would be converted, and remain so one thousand years, and that those who should enjoy that happy period would know nothing of when it would terminate by the coming of the Son of Man, and the unveiled glories of Jehovah, Jesus, and the mighty angels. The text simply states: First. "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world. Second. "For a witness unto all nations. Third. "And then [not one thousand years later, nor three hundred and sixty-five thousand; but THEN] shall the end come." If we understand the phrase, "this gospel of the kingdom," to be the gospel in the common acceptation of the word, is not the work very nearly accomplished? 

J. Litch, in his "Prophetic Expositions," p. 147, under the heading, "Signs of the Times," says: "Rev. J. O. Choules, author of a voluminous work, a History of Missions, from the apostolic age down to the present day, being asked, last May (1842), if he knew of any nation which never had received the gospel, replied that he did not; but he thought the promise implied something more than its being barely preached in each nation. The same question was proposed to Rev. Mr. James, general financial agent of the American Bible Society, and nearly the same answer was elicited. Dr. Nathan Bangs, for many years at the head of the Methodist missionary operations, was asked the question last July, and after reflecting some time, replied that he believed there was a tribe, somewhere upon the north-west coast of North America, to whom it had never been preached." 

Wm. Miller, in his "Lectures," p. 288, says: "Is not this sign already accomplished? Bible translated into more than two hundred different languages; missionaries sent among all nations known to us on the globe. The gospel has now spread over the four quarters of the globe. It began in Asia. In the apostles' days, that quarter was full of light. From thence it went into Africa; and, for a number of centuries, Africa stretched out her hands unto God. Europe, too, has had a long visitation of gospel blessings; and now America, the last quarter of the globe, is reaping a harvest of souls for the last day. The gospel, like the sun, arose in the east, and will set in the west." 

But if the term, "this gospel of the kingdom," be understood as applying to the proclamation of, or to that portion of the gospel which relates to, the coming and kingdom of Christ, the fulfillment is equally evident. And it seems necessary to so understand the passage, as it was given in answer to the question, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" 

Campbell's translation of this verse decidedly favors this view of the subject: "And this good tidings of the reign shall be published through all the world, for the information of all nations, and then shall come the end." Whiting's version also gives the same idea: "And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the  world, for a testimony to all nations, and then will the end come." 

J. Litch, in his lecture on Matt.24, Advent Herald, Nov. 23, 1850, says: "Many supposed the wars of Napoleon were the wars of the last days, to precede the millennium; and that the battle of Waterloo was the battle of Armageddon, as it is called. But the discussion of the subject of prophecy drew forth inquiry, and a few discovered the true light, the doctrine of Christ's personal reign on earth, and began to teach it. Among these was a Spanish Roman Catholic, who wrote an able and voluminous work under the anonymous signature of Ben Ezra. His work fell into the hands of Edward Irving, the celebrated and eloquent advocate of the doctrine of the pre-millennial advent of Christ. It opened his eyes to the glorious truth, and led him to devote himself most zealously to its advocacy. He first translated Ben Ezra, and subsequently wrote and published several valuable works on the subject. For a time, the excitement on the subject in England, under his labors, was as intense as it subsequently was in this country, under the labors of Mr. Miller. Thousands flocked to hear him wherever he went, and listened with wonder at the strange and glorious truths he brought forth from the word of God. The cause received an impulse under his efforts which it will never lose till time shall end. Many of the clergy of the Established Church, as well as dissenting ministers of all denominations, caught the theme, and joined to spread it abroad." 

"Nor has the influence of Rev. Joseph Wolfe been unfelt. He has visited and proclaimed 'the gospel of the kingdom,' in the four quarters of

the globe, to Protestants, Catholics, Mohammedans, Jews, and pagans. The seed thus sown will not be lost. A work similar to that of Ben Ezra, in Spain, appeared in Germany, the productions of Bengle. This, by the evangelical portion of the German people, is esteemed as a standard work on prophecy. It has been widely circulated and read as far as the German language extends throughout continental Europe. It was from this source the Russian Milkeaters, of whom an account was given in the Advent Herald a few years since, obtained their information on the speedy second advent of Christ. 

"The great American movement on this subject, and the diffusion of information with regard to it, within the last ten years, is too well known to need extended remarks in this place. Neither labor nor sacrifice was regarded in the wide and rapid extension of the good news of the kingdom, as far as the English language could make it known. It was sent to the four quarters of the globe, and to the islands of the sea, upon the wings of all the winds." 

E. R. Pinney, in his exposition of Matthew 24, says: "As early as 1842, second-advent publications had been sent to every missionary station in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, both sides of the Rocky Mountains. We find this doctrine in Tartary, about twenty-five years ago, and the time for the coming of Christ to be in 1844. This fact is obtained from an Irish missionary in Tartary, to whom the question was put by a Tartar priest, when Christ would come the second time. And he made answer that he knew nothing at all about it. The Tartar priest expressed great surprise at such an answer from a missionary who had had come to teach them the doctrines of the Bible, and remarked 'that he thought everybody might know that, who had a Bible.' The Tartar priest then gave his views, stating that Christ, he thought, would come about A.D. 1844. The missionary wrote home a statement of the facts, which were published in the Irish Magazine, in 1821. The commanders of our vessels, and the sailors, tell us they touch at no point where they find this proclamation has not preceded them, and frequent inquiries respecting it are made of them." 

"I noticed, in a late number of the Voice of Truth, that a brother traveling on the lakes, met with a Russian gentleman, direct from his country, who informed him that the doctrine of 'Christ's coming, and the end of the world,' had been preached there, but was received only by the lower classes. Rev. Mr. Mansfield had an interview with a Moravian missionary, stationed in Antigua, who said that several years since, the doctrine of the immediate coming was extensively preached in Germany, and that the whole of the south of Germany was aroused upon the subject. 

The Advent Shield, Vol. I, No. 1, pp. 86, 87, says: "We look upon the proclamation which has been made, as being the cry of the angel who proclaimed, 'The hour of his judgment is come.' Rev. 14:6,7. It is a sound which is to reach all nations; it is the proclamation of 'the everlasting gospel,' or 'this gospel of the kingdom.' In one shape or other, this cry has gone abroad through the earth wherever human beings are found, and we have had opportunity to hear of the fact. Within the last six years, publications treating on the subject have been sent to nearly every

English and American missionary station on the globe; to all, at least, to which we have had access." 

An English writer, Mourant Brock, thus remarks: "It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. I was lately told by one of our German missionaries, that in Wirtemburg there is a Christian colony of several hundreds, one of the chief features of which is, the looking for the second advent. And a Christian minister from near the shores of the Caspian Sea, has told me that there is the same daily expectation among his nation. They constantly speak of it as 'the day of consolation.' In a little publication, entitled, 'Millennium,' the writer says that he understands that in America about three hundred ministers of the word are thus preaching 'the gospel of the kingdom;' whilst in this country, he adds, about seven hundred of the Church of England are raising the same cry." - Advent Tracts, Vol. II, p. 135. 

The Signs of the Times, for Feb. 14, 1844, says: "A brother, the captain of a vessel now in England, writes his friends that his vessel lay at Newport, in Wales, forty days, on account of storms, during which time a continued concourse of individuals thronged him to inquire about the coming of the Lord, having heard that he was an Adventist. Among these were ministers and laymen that received the truth gladly, and embraced it with all their hearts." 

Eld. R. Hutchinson, Midnight Cry, Oct.5, 1843, says: "I send about 1,500 copies of the Voice of Elijah [an Advent paper], to Europe every  fortnight, besides what I scatter over the Provinces. This I have done regularly for the last four or five months. The result, eternity will unfold."

Speaking of Eld. Hutchinson, and of his Voice of Elijah, F. G. Brown says: "He has forwarded them to the Canadas, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Constantinople, Rome, etc., etc." 

"But it will be asked, Is the news that such a truth is preached a sufficient proclamation to fulfill the prophecy? Rev.14:6,7; Matt. 24:14. The answer is, If it was sufficient in the days of the apostles, it is now. That it was then, is clear from Acts 19:8-10, where Paul preached or taught in Ephesus two years, so that all they in Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord Jesus. They could not all have heard a sermon, but they heard the sound of the gospel. In this sense, I have no doubt but the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the world." 

We still wait for the approaching end. But when the purpose of God in the proclamation of the coming reign of Christ shall be fully accomplished, then will the end come. 

TO BE CONTINUED….

Signs of Christ Soon Return.

Continued from yesterday's study….


This study is on an article written 147 years ago.  So much has happened in our world since then. Some of the things in here will sound strange to us, and some may not seem relevant now. Time and place truly are necessary in all things. May God forever and always guide us ONLY to HIS truth in all we read, in all we study, all through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!


*******


The Second Coming of Christ  BY ELD. JAMES WHITE.


"What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?" - DISCIPLES.  
"When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." - JESUS.


*******
Probably no one chapter of the Bible speaks more fully, and more definitely, upon the subject of the second coming of Christ, than Matt.24. We invite the attention of the candid reader to a brief explanation of the entire chapter. 


Verse 1. "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple; and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple." Jesus had been addressing the multitude, in the presence of his disciples. He had reproved the scribes and Pharisees for their sins, and had declared the doom of the Jews, their city, and their temple. Chap.23. The disciples supposed that the temple would stand forever. And they called the attention of Christ to its magnificence and strength, as if to convince him that he was mistaken. 


Verse 2. "And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." This statement from the Master could but deeply interest the disciples. And whether they supposed that the destruction of the temple, the coming of Christ and the end of the age, would all occur, at the same time, or at different periods, it matters not; since Christ, in his answer in this chapter, has distinctly spoken of each separately, and has given each its place in the prophetic history of events. 


Verse 3. "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" These questions relate, first, to the destruction of Jerusalem; and, second, to Christ's second coming at the end of the Christian age. They were distinctly answered by our Lord, not, however, before the promiscuous multitude; but on the occasion of a private interview with his disciples. Christ here speaks to his disciples; hence his words are addressed to the church ever after. Mark the caution given by our Lord as he commences to answer these questions. 


Verses 4, 5. "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Jesus knew the heart of man, and that many impostors would arise, and deceive multitudes. He here warns his disciples, and guards them against the deceptions of corrupt and ambitious men. Such was the general expectation of the appearance of the Messiah among the Jews, that many would set up the claim that they were the Christ, to carry out selfish purposes. Buck, in his "Theological Dictionary," gives a list of false Christs as they have appeared during the Christian dispensation. 
8
1. Caziba, who set himself up at the head of the Jewish nation, and proclaimed himself their long-expected Messiah. To facilitate the success of his bold enterprise, he changed his name to that of Barchocheba, alluding to the Star foretold by Balaam. Adrian raised an army, and sent it against him. He retired into a town called Bither, where he was besieged. Barchocheba was killed in the siege, the city was taken, and a dreadful havoc succeeded. The Jews themselves allow that, during this short war against the Romans in defense of this false Messiah, they lost five or six hundred thousand souls. This was in the former part of the second century. 
2. In the reign of Theodosius the younger, in the year of our Lord 434, another impostor arose, called Moses Cretensis. He pretended to be a second Moses, sent to deliver the Jews who dwelt in Crete. 
3. In the reign of Justin, about 520, another impostor appeared, who called himself the son of Moses. His name was Dunaan. He entered into a city of Arabia Felix, and there he greatly oppressed the Christians; but he was taken prisoner, and put to death by Elesban, an Ethiopian general. 
4. In the year 529, the Jews and Samaritans rebelled against the Emperor Justinian, and set up one Justin for their king; and accounted him the Messiah. The emperor sent an army against them, killed great numbers of them, took their pretended Messiah prisoner, and immediately put him to death. 
5. In the year 571, was born Mahomet, in Arabia. At first he professed himself the Messiah who was promised to the Jews. By this means, he drew many of that unhappy people after him. In some sense, therefore, he may be considered in the number of false Messiahs. 
6. About the year 721, in the time of Leo Isaurus, arose another false Messiah in Spain; his name was Serenus. He drew great numbers after him, to their no small loss and disappointment, but all his pretensions came to nothing. 
7. The twelfth century was fruitful in false Messiahs; for about the year 1137, there appeared one in France, who was put to death, and many of those who followed him. 
8. In the year 1138, the Persians were disturbed with a Jew who called himself the Messiah. He collected together a vast army. But he, too, was put to death, and his followers treated with great inhumanity. 
9. In the year 1157, a false Messiah stirred up the Jews at Corduba, in Spain. The wiser and better sort looked upon him as a madman, but the great body of the Jews in that nation believed in him. On this occasion almost all the Jews in Spain were destroyed. 
10. In the year 1167, another false Messiah arose in the kingdom of Fez, which brought great troubles and persecution upon the Jews that were scattered through that country. 
11. In the same year an Arabian set up for the Messiah, and pretended to work miracles. When search was made for him, his followers fled. 
12. Not long after this, a Jew, who dwelt beyond Euphrates, called himself the Messiah, and drew vast multitudes of people after him. 
13. In the year 1174, a magician and false Christ arose in Persia, who was called David Almusser. He pretended that he could make himself invisible; but he was soon taken and put  to death, and a heavy fine laid upon his brethren the Jews. 
14. In the year 1176, another of these impostors arose in Moravia. But the reign of delusion is short, and his fate appears to have been similar to that of his predecessor. 
15. In the year 1199, a famous cheat and rebel appeared in Persia, called David el David. He was a man of learning, a great magician, and pretended to be the Messiah. He raised an army against the king, but was taken and imprisoned. 
16. We are told of another false Christ in this same century, by Maimonides and Solomon; but they take no notice either of his name, country, or good or ill success. Here we may observe that no less than ten false Christs arose in the twelfth century, and brought prodigious calamities and destruction upon the Jews in various quarters of the world. 
17. In the year 1497, we find another false Christ, whose name was Ismael Sophus, who deluded the Jews in Spain. He also perished, and as many as believed in him were dispersed. 
18. In the year 1500, Rabbi Lemlem, a German Jew of Austria, declared himself a forerunner of the Messiah, and pulled down his own oven, promising his brethren that they should bake their bread in the Holy Land next year. 
19. In the year 1509, one whose name was Plefferkorn, a Jew of Cologne, pretended to be the Messiah. He afterward affected, however, to turn Christian. 
20. In the year 1534, Rabbi Salomo Malcho, giving out that he was the Messiah, was burnt to death by Charles the fifth, of Spain.
21. In the years 1615, a false Christ arose in the East Indies, and was greatly followed by the Portuguese Jews, who were scattered over that country. 
22. In the year 1624, another in the Low Countries pretended to be the Messiah of the family of David, and of the line of Nathan. He promised to destroy Rome, and to overthrow the kingdom of Antichrist, and the Turkish Empire. 
23. In the year 1666, appeared the false Messiah Sabatai Sevi, who made so great a noise, and gained such a number of proselytes. He was born at Aleppo, imposed on the Jews for a considerable time; but afterward, with a view of saving his life, turned Mahometan, and was at last beheaded. 
24. The last false Christ that had made any considerable number of converts, was one Rabbi Mordecai, a Jew of Germany; he appeared in the year 1682. It was not long before he was found out to be an impostor, and was obliged to fly from Italy to Poland, to save his life. 
Here, then, we have a record of twenty-four false Christs who arose at different periods during about thirteen hundred years of the Christian age, and deceived "many," as the Lord had said. 


((( Interjecting here to bring a continued list of noted false Christs…..))))


18th century


25.  Kondratiy Selivanov (c. 1730s–1832), the founder and leader of the Skoptsy sect in the Russian Empire.


26. Ann Lee (1736–1784), the founder and leader of the Shakers. Lee's followers referred to her as "Mother", believing that she was the female incarnation of Christ on Earth.


19th century


27. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad


28. John Nichols Thom (1799–1838), a Cornish tax rebel who claimed to be the "saviour of the world" and the reincarnation of Jesus Christ in 1834. He was killed by British soldiers at the Battle of Bossenden Wood, on May 31, 1838 in Kent, England.


29. Arnold Potter (1804–1872), Schismatic Latter Day Saint leader; he claimed the spirit of Jesus Christ entered into his body and he became "Potter Christ" Son of the living God. He died in an attempt to "ascend into heaven" by jumping off a cliff. His body was later retrieved and buried by his followers.


30. Jones Very (1813–1880), American essayist, poet, literary scholar, and Greek tutor at Harvard who befriended several prominent American Transcendentalists and suffered a nervous breakdown in 1837 after which he claimed to have become the Second Coming of Jesus.


31. Bahá'u'lláh (1817–1892), born Shiite, adopted Bábism later in 1844, he claimed to be the prophesied fulfillment and Promised One of three major religions. He founded the Bahá'í Faith in 1863. Followers of the Bahá'í Faith believe that the fulfillment of the prophecies of the second coming of Jesus, as well as the prophecies of the 5th Buddha Maitreya and many other religious prophecies, were begun by the Báb in 1844 and then by Bahá'u'lláh. They commonly compare the fulfillment of Christian prophecies to Jesus' fulfillment of Jewish prophecies, where in both cases people were expecting the literal fulfillment of apocalyptic statements.


32. William W. Davies (1833–1906), leader of a Latter Day Saint schismatic group called the Kingdom of Heaven located in Walla Walla, Washington from 1867 to 1881. He taught his followers that he was the archangel Michael, who had previously lived as the biblical Adam, Abraham, and David. When his son Arthur was born on February 11, 1868, Davies declared that the infant was the reincarnated Jesus Christ. When Davies's second son, David, was born in 1869, he was declared to be God the Father.


33. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India (1835–1908), claimed to be the awaited Mahdi as well as (Second Coming) and likeness of Jesus, the promised Messiah at the end of time. He claimed to be Jesus in the metaphorical sense; in character. He founded the Ahmadiyya Movement in 1889, envisioning it to be the rejuvenation of Islam, and claimed to be commissioned by God for the reformation of mankind.


20th century


34. John Hugh Smyth-Pigott (1852–1927). Around 1890 Smyth-Pigott started leading meetings of the Agapenomite community and recruited 50 young female followers to supplement its aging population. He took Ruth Anne Preece as his second wife and she had three children named Glory, Power and Hallelujah. By 1902 his fame had spread as far as India, from where Mirza Ghulam Ahmad warned him of his false teachings and predicted his miserable end. The house which may have belonged to Smyth-Pigott in St John's Wood was visited by John Betjeman in his film Metro-Land. It is built in the neo-gothic style. It is currently the home of the television presenter Vanessa Feltz and was previously the home of Charles Saatchi. Smyth-Pigott died in 1927 and the sect gradually declined until the last member, sister Ruth, died in 1956. Her funeral in 1956 was the only time when outsiders were admitted to the chapel.


35. Haile Selassie I (1892–1975) did not claim to be Jesus and disapproved of claims that he was Jesus, but the Rastafari movement, which emerged in Jamaica during the 1930s, believes he is the Second Coming. He embodied this when he became Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930, perceived as confirmation of the return of the Messiah in the prophetic Book of Revelation 5:5 in the New Testament, who is also expected to return a second time to initiate the apocalyptic day of judgment. He is also called Jah Ras Tafari, and is often considered to be alive by Rastafari movement members.


36. Lou de Palingboer (1898–1968), the founder and figurehead of a new religious movement in the Netherlands, who claimed to be "the resurrected body of Jesus Christ".


37. Gregory Stuart GOrDon (1957- ) felon. Broke into former president Ronald Reagan's Bel-Air California mansion on Independence Day, July 4th of 1990. Proclaimed himself to be the second coming of Christ aka "Jeeses Christ" and stated that former president Reagan was the anti-Christ. Made numerous appearances on The Howard Stern Show as the "Black Jesus."


38. Ernest Norman (1904–1971), an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Unarius Academy of Science in 1954, was allegedly Jesus in a past life and his earthly incarnation was as an archangel named Raphael. He claimed to be the reincarnation of other notable figures including Confucius, Mona Lisa, Benjamin Franklin, Socrates, Queen Elizabeth I, and Tsar Peter I the Great.


39. Krishna Venta (1911–1958), born Francis Herman Pencovic in San Francisco, founded the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love) Fountain of the World cult in Simi Valley, California in the late 1940s. In 1948 he stated that he was Christ, the new messiah and claimed to have led a convoy of rocket ships to Earth from the extinct planet Neophrates. He died on December 10, 1958 after being suicide bombed by two disgruntled former followers who accused Venta of mishandling cult funds and having been intimate with their wives.


40. Ahn Sahng-hong (1918–1985), a South Korean who founded the World Mission Society Church of God in 1964, who recognize him as the Second Coming of Jesus. The World Mission Society Church of God teach that Zahng Gil-jah is "God the Mother", who they explain is referred to in the Bible as the New Jerusalem Mother (Galatians 4:26), and that Ahn Sahng-Hong is God the Father.




41. Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012), believed by members of the Unification Church to be the Messiah and the Second Coming of Christ, fulfilling Jesus' unfinished mission. Church members ("Unificationists") consider Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, to be the True Parents of humankind as the restored Adam and Eve.


42. Clyde Benson, Joseph Cassel and Leon Gabor, all pseudonyms for psychiatric patients. In 1959, Milton Rokeach conducted an experiment by having the three patients who believed they were Jesus Christ share a room at a psychiatric hospital, and published his results in the book The Three Christs of Ypsilanti.


43. Jim Jones (1931–1978), founder of Peoples Temple, which started off as an offshoot of a mainstream Protestant sect before becoming a personality cult as time went on. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus, Akhenaten, the Buddha, Vladimir Lenin and Father Divine in the 1970s. He organized a mass murder suicide at Jonestown, Guyana on November 18, 1978. He shot himself after the murders were done.


44. Marshall Applewhite (1931–1997), an American who posted a Usenet message declaring, "I, Jesus—Son of God—acknowledge on this date of September 25/26, 1995: ..." Applewhite and his Heaven's Gate religious group committed mass suicide on March 26, 1997 to rendezvous with what they thought was a spaceship hiding behind Comet Hale–Bopp.


45. Charles Manson (1934–2017), American criminal, cult leader, and songwriter.


46. Yahweh ben Yahweh (1935–2007), born as Hulon Mitchell Jr., a black nationalist and separatist who created the Nation of Yahweh in 1979 in Liberty City, Florida. His self-proclaimed name means "God, Son of God". He could have only been deeming himself to be "son of God", not God, but many of his followers clearly deem him to be God Incarnate. In 1992, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison.


47. Laszlo Toth (1938–2012), Hungarian-born Australian who claimed he was Jesus Christ as he vandalized Michelangelo's Pietà with a geologist's hammer in 1972.


48. Wayne Bent (1941–), also known as Michael Travesser of the Lord Our Righteousness Church. He claims: "I am the embodiment of God. I am divinity and humanity combined." He was convicted on December 15, 2008 of one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2008.


49. Ariffin Mohammed (1943–2016), also known as "Ayah Pin", the founder of the banned Sky Kingdom in Malaysia in 1975. He claimed to have direct contact with the heavens and is believed by his followers to have been the incarnation of Jesus, as well as Shiva, and the Buddha, and Muhammad.


50. Mitsuo Matayoshi (1944–2018) was a conservative Japanese politician, who in 1997 established the World Economic Community Party based on his conviction that he is God and Christ, renaming himself Iesus Matayoshi. According to his program he will do the Last Judgment as Christ but within the current political system.


51. Tony Quinn (1944–), an Irish businessman, whose followers believed him to be Jesus Christ.


52. José Luis de Jesús Miranda (1946–2013), Puerto Rican founder, leader and organizer of Growing in Grace based in Miami, Florida, who claimed that the resurrected Christ "integrated himself within me" in 2007.


53. Inri Cristo (1948–), a Brazilian who claims to be the second Jesus reincarnated in 1969. Brasília is considered by Inri Cristo and his disciples as the New Jerusalem of the Apocalypse.


54. Thomas Harrison Provenzano[40] (1949–2000), an American convicted murderer who was possibly mentally ill. He compared his execution with Jesus Christ's crucifixion.


55. Shoko Asahara (1955–2018) founded the controversial Japanese religious group Aum Shinrikyo in 1984. He declared himself Christ, Japan's only fully enlightened master and the Lamb of God. His purported mission was to take upon himself the sins of the world. He outlined a doomsday prophecy, which included a Third World War, and described a final conflict culminating in a nuclear Armageddon, borrowing the term from the Book of Revelation 16:16. Humanity would end, except for the elite few who joined Aum. The group gained international notoriety on March 20, 1995, when it carried out the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. He was sentenced to death, and was executed on 6 July 2018.


56. David Koresh (1959–1993), born Vernon Wayne Howell, was the leader of a Branch Davidian religious sect in Waco, Texas, though never directly claiming to be Jesus himself, proclaimed that he was the final prophet and "the Son of God, the Lamb" in 1983. In 1993, a raid by the U.S. BATF, and the subsequent siege by the FBI ended with Branch Davidian ranch burning to the ground. Koresh, 54 adults and 21 children were found dead after the fire extinguished itself.


57. Hogen Fukunaga (1945–) founded Ho No Hana Sanpogyo, often called the "foot reading cult", in Japan in 1987 after an alleged spiritual event where he claimed to have realized he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha.


58. Marina Tsvigun (1960–), or Maria Devi Christos, is the leader of the Great White Brotherhood. In 1990 she met Yuri Krivonogov, the Great White Brotherhood founder, who recognized Marina as a new messiah and later married her, assuming in the sect the role of John the Baptist, subordinate to Tsvigun.


59. Sergey Torop (1961–), a Russian who claims to be "reborn" as Vissarion, Jesus Christ returned, which makes him not "God" but the "Word of God". Also known as "Jesus of Siberia," Torop has an appearance similar to depictions of Jesus. He dresses in all white flowing robes and has long brown hair and a beard. Before claiming to be the Vissarion, Torop worked as a traffic policeman until he was fired in 1990. He founded the Church of the Last Testament and the spiritual community Ecopolis Tiberkul in Southern Siberia in 1990. The Church of the Last Testament has been described as being a mixture of beliefs from the Russian Orthodox Church, Buddhism, apocalypticism, collectivism, and with ecological values. The church currently resides on the largest religious reservation in the world in Siberian Taiga.


21st century


60. Alan John Miller and Mary Luck - Alan John Miller (1962–), more commonly known as A.J. Miller, a former Jehovah's Witness elder and current leader of the Australia-based Divine Truth movement. Miller claims to be Jesus Christ reincarnated with others in the 20th century to spread messages that he calls the "Divine Truth". He delivers these messages in seminars and various forms of media along with his current partner Mary Suzanne Luck, who identifies herself as the returned Mary Magdalene.


61. Apollo Quiboloy (1950–) is the founder and leader of a Philippines-based Restorationist church, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name, Inc. He has made claims that he is the "Appointed Son of God".


62.  lan John Miller (1962–), more commonly known as A.J. Miller, a former Jehovah's Witness elder and current leader of the Australia-based Divine Truth movement. Miller claims to be Jesus Christ reincarnated with others in the 20th century to spread messages that he calls the "Divine Truth". He delivers these messages in seminars and various forms of media along with his current partner Mary Suzanne Luck, who identifies herself as the returned Mary Magdalene.


63. David Shayler (1965–) is a former MI5 agent and whistleblower who, in the summer of 2007, proclaimed himself to be the Messiah. He has released a series of videos on YouTube claiming to be Jesus, although he has not built up any noticeable following since his claims.


64. Maurice Clemmons (1972–2009), an American felon responsible for the 2009 murder of four police officers in Washington state, referred to himself in May 2009 as Jesus.


65. Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez (1990–). In November 2011, he fired nine shots with a Romanian Cugir SA semi-automatic rifle at the White House in Washington D.C., believing himself to be Jesus Christ sent to kill U.S. President Barack Obama, whom he believed to be the antichrist.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_claimed_to_be_Jesus


(((That concludes the interjection))))


Verses 6-8. "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." 


Wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, have occurred at different periods since these words were spoken. Therefore, these, as they have ever existed, cannot be regarded as the especial signs of the end. It may be urged, however, with a good degree of consistency, that the Scriptures teach that these calamities would exist in the last days to that extent as to constitute a sign of the approaching Judgment. We wish to keep the important fact distinctly before the mind, that the sacred Scriptures do teach when men may not, and when they may, look for the second appearing of Jesus Christ.


The sacred writers had so uniformly associated such judgments as war, famine, pestilence, and earthquake, with the last Judgment, that the disciples would be in danger of concluding that the end would immediately follow the first appearance of these calamities; hence the caution given: "These things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." Here the disciples were clearly taught that they should not expect the end in their day. This fact is worthy of the candid attention of those who object to the proclamation of the second advent of Christ in the form of an especial message. These sometimes assert that it was right for the disciples to look for Christ in their day, and that it has been scriptural and right for all Christians to look for the second appearing of Christ in their time, from the days of the chosen twelve to the present time. And they decide that no more can be learned and believed upon this subject in our time, than by the Christians of past generations,. and that the public mind should not now be moved upon this great question, any more than in all past time since the first advent of Christ. 


We have seen that this position is incorrect so far as the early disciples were concerned. They're cited to the distant future as the time when their Lord should come. They are assured that they need not be troubled at hearing of wars and rumors of wars; "for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." Our Lord then guides the minds of his disciples, as we shall see in the examination of this chapter, down over the time of the great apostasy, and the long period of the rule of papal Rome, before mentioning a sign of his second advent. He does not intimate that his people during these long periods may expect the end. No, not once. But when he comes near our time, the Lord gives signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and adds: "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." 


Mark this: Our Lord does not mention wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, as signs of his second advent; but, rather, as events of common occurrence all the way through the Christian age, which must exist before the end. And history attests the fact that these calamities have covered at least seventeen centuries. The following is from a work of Noah Webster, LL. D., published in 1799:- 


"By famine and sword, 580,000 Jews were destroyed between A.D. 96 and A.D. 180. 
"In Antioch, from A.D. 96 to A.D. 180, earthquakes destroyed 13 cities, and over 100,000 lives. 
"In Rome, A.D. 169, pestilence destroyed 10,000 daily. 
"In Rome, A.D. 187, pestilence appeared, and continued three years. "In London, A.D. 310, by famine, 40,000 died.
"In A.D. 446, Sept. 17th, an earthquake shook down the walls of Constantinople, and 57 towers fell.
"In Rome, A.D. 539, in one district 50,000 died.
"In Antioch, A.D. 588, an earthquake killed 60,000. "In A.D. 590, the plague killed 10,000 daily in Turkey. "In A.D. 679, a severe famine in England three years. 
"In A.D. 717, in Constantinople, 300,000 died of plague. 
"In A.D. 1005, earthquakes three months, followed by pestilence, by which it is said one-third of the human race died. 
"In A.D. 1077, in Constantinople, so many died by plague and famine, the living could not bury them. 
"In A.D. 1124, in Italy, there was such famine that the dead lay in the streets, not buried; and in England, one-third of the people died of plague.
"In A.D. 1294, in England, thousands died of famine. 
"In A.D. 1345, in London, 50,000 died of plague and famine, and were buried in one graveyard; in Norwich, 50,000; in Venice, 100,000; in Florence, 100,000; in Eastern nations, 20,000,000. It was called the black death.
"In A.D. 1352, in China, 900,000 died of famine.
"In A.D. 1450, in Milan, 60,000 died of plague. 
"In A.D. 1611, in Constantinople, 200,000 died of plague.
"In A.D. 1625, in London, 35,000 died of plague 
"In A.D. 1626, in Lyons, 600,000 died of plague.
"In A.D. 1665, in London, 68,000 died of plague. 
"In A.D. 1755, in the East, an earthquake destroyed the city of Lisbon, killing 50,000.
In Mitylene and the Archipelago it shook down 2,000 houses. It shook all the Spanish coast. The plague followed, which destroyed 150,000 lives in Constantinople. 


(((Interjecting with updated incomplete list…))))


Dead 100,000        Asia, Europe        1816–1826        first cholera pandemic        cholera
100,000        Asia, Europe, North America        1829–1851        second cholera pandemic        cholera
 20,000        Canada        1847–1848        Typhus epidemic of 1847
1,000,000        Russia        1852–1860        third cholera pandemic
40,000        Fiji        1875        Fiji        measles
1,000,000        worldwide        1889–1890        1889–1890 flu pandemic
800,000        Europe, Asia, Africa        1899–1923        sixth cholera pandemic
75,000,000        worldwide        1918–1920        Spanish flu
2,000,000        worldwide        1957–1958        Asian flu
30,000,000        worldwide (commenced in Congo Basin)        1960–present        HIV/AIDS pandemic
4,293        Zimbabwe        2008–2009        2008–2009 Zimbabwean cholera outbreak
14,286        worldwide        2009        2009 flu pandemic
 4,500 (February 2014)        Congo        2011–present                measles
 11,300        West Africa        2013–2016        Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa


(((End interjection.))))


Verses 9, 10. "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 


And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another."
Here is a brief description of the afflictions and martyrdom of the church. Thousands of the faithful followers of Jesus were most cruelly put to death by pagan Rome; yet the prophecy doubtless applies more particularly to the long period of papal persecutions, in which not less than fifty millions of Christians were put to death in the most cruel manner wicked men and demons could invent. In these verses we are brought down over the long period of the martyrdom of the church of Jesus Christ, to near the present generation. 


To be continued…..

The Second Coming of Christ.

This study is on an article written 147 years ago.  So much has happened in our world since then. Some of the things in here will sound strange to us, and some may not seem relevant now. Time and place truly are necessary in all things. May God forever and always guide us ONLY to HIS truth in all we read, in all we study, all through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

*******

The Second Coming of Christ

BY ELD. JAMES WHITE.

"What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?" - DISCIPLES.  

"When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." - JESUS.

STEAM PRESS  of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, Battle Creek, Mich.

1871.

MATTHEW TWENTY-FOUR

What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" - DISCIPLES. 

"When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." - JESUS. Matt.24:3, 33. 

CAN anything be learned from the Bible relative to the period of the second advent? is a question unsettled in many minds. This is a grave inquiry; and, from the very nature of the subject, is worthy of close investigation, and a candid answer. It is a matter of painful regret that not a few, under the influence of popular prejudice, have decided that the period of the second advent is a secret, hidden with the Lord. While these may scarcely be reached with this subject, as long as they remain under the influence of those religious teachers who denounce all investigation of it as prying into the secrets of the Almighty, there is still a larger class who wait for evidence before deciding. It is with ardent hope of benefiting these, that we write. 

We accept the Bible as a revelation from Heaven. What God has revealed in that book, let no man call a mystery, or a secret of the Almighty, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." Deut.29:29. If the sacred Scriptures do not designate any period in particular for the second appearing of Christ, then men should at once abandon the vain search for proofs of his

4        soon coming. But if prophecy, in a most clear and harmonious manner, does point to the period of that great event, and if there is evidence that "it is near, even at the doors," the subject at once assumes vast importance. 

When the disciples inquire, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Jesus does not reprove them for inquiring into that which was purposely hidden from all men; but he answers that question in the most definite manner. He even states that there should be signs of that event in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and adds, "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." The simple fact that the Lord mentions signs of his second advent, is the best proof possible that his people were not to remain ignorant of the relative nearness of the event. Add to this evidence his declaration that when these signs should be seen, his people should know that it was near, even at the doors, and the case becomes an exceedingly strong one. 

No truth of inspiration can be more clearly stated than that God reveals his designs to his prophets, that men and nations may be warned before their accomplishment. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. Before visiting with judgments, God has uniformly sent forth warnings sufficient to enable the believing to escape his wrath, and to condemn those who have not heeded the warning. This was the case before the flood. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving

5        of his house, by the which he condemned the world." Heb.11:7. 

At a later period, when the nations had become sunken in idolatry and crime, and the destruction of wicked Sodom was determined, the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?" Gen.18:17,18. And due notice was given to righteous Lot, who, with his daughters, was preserved; and none, even in that guilty city, perished without due warning. Lot evidently warned the people; and, in thus communing with them, was "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." 2Pet.2:7,8. When he warned his sons-in-law, "he seemed as one that mocked." Gen.19:14. And when "the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter." Lot warned them, and entreated them to desist from their wickedness. And they at once did that which all sinners, since the days of righteous Lot, have been disposed to do to those who faithfully warn them of their sins; namely, they charged him with being a judge. 

Before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a forerunner was sent to prepare the way before the Lord. Those who did not receive Christ, were rejected, "because," as he said to Jerusalem, when warning the people of the destruction of their city and temple, "thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke 19:44. We have on record the Lord's prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem during the time of the generation that rejected him, which was fulfilled in less than forty years from the time of his crucifixion. And,

6        that the Christians in Judea might escape its impending doom, they were told that when they should "see Jerusalem compassed with armies," or, as recorded by Matthew, "the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place," they were to "flee to the mountains." Luke 21:20; Matt. 24:15. They heeded the admonition, and escaped in safety to Pella. Such is the testimony of inspiration respecting the dealings of God with his people in past ages. And it cannot be supposed that God will change his course relative to the future, when that future is to realize the crowning consummation of all prophetic declarations. Probably no one chapter of the Bible speaks more fully, and more definitely, upon the subject of the second coming of Christ, than Matt.24. We invite the attention of the candid reader to a brief explanation of the entire chapter. 

TO BE CONTINUED….

Heaven or Flame- After Jesus Returns.

People are deceived- and the nature of deception is NOT realizing you are deceived.

Jesus is our LIGHT to the truth.

Jesus is the eye salve to cure our spiritual blindness.

Our hearts can be cleaned, our spirits renewed.

We dare not rest content with our knowledge but ever seek truth, ever desire the wisdom only God can give to us, ever long for our hearts to desire the love of our Savior, and only HIS love!

All by the grace, the mercy, the forgiveness and love of our God!

The Rich Man and Lazarus

By J. N. Andrews

Concluded…

Lazarus died a beggar. But he rests in hope, an heir to the inheritance promised Abraham. Eternal life and endless felicity are his, and by personification it is said that he is "comforted."

Dives(Rich Man) lives in the greatest splendor, and dies an impenitent man. The lake of fire is to be his portion. personification, he is represented as in it already. This is in accordance with the teaching of Paul, when he says of God that he calleth things that be not as though they were.

That is, God speaks of things that exist only in his purpose just as though they had a present existence; because they shall surely exist; even as he called Abraham the father of many nations, when as yet he had no son. Gen. 17; Rom. 4:16, 17. 

This is the more clearly seen when we consider that to Lazarus, in the silence of hades, there will not be a moment between his death, at the gate of the rich man, and his resurrection to eternal life, and not a moment to the rich man between the closing of his eyes in death, and his opening them in the resurrection to damnation.

 

That we have done right in hearing the testimony of "Moses and the prophets" on this subject, we have the authority of the parable itself to show. And we have this further evidence of the truth of this exposition that, without doing violence to a single text, we have a divine harmony on the subject of the dead in hades, in all that is said by Moses and the prophets and by Christ and the apostles. 

That those who conversed together are not disembodied spirits, but personified dead men, is further proved by the following facts:

1. Not one word is said of the spirit of any person named.

2. This conversation takes place in hades, which the sacred writers affirm to be in the depths of the earth.

3. The persons named are men that had lived, the one clothed in purple, the other covered with sores, and both were then dead. But these dead men have bodily organs, as eyes, fingers, tongues, etc.

But the truth on this point is sealed by the fact that Lazarus could only return to warn the rich man's brethren by being raised from the dead.

"Neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead" -Gr., ean tis ek nekron anaste. It was not whether the spirit of Lazarus should descend from the third Heaven, but whether Lazarus himself should be raised from among the dead ones. This shows that the conversation did not relate to the coming back of disembodied spirits; and in fact that they were not disembodied spirits that here conversed. 

The parable of Dives and Lazarus does not therefore teach the present punishment of the wicked dead. And as there is nothing else on which to rest the doctrine, it must be given up as having no foundation in the Bible. The testimony shows that the wicked dead are asleep in sheol, where they await the resurrection to damnation. The following texts show that the resurrection and judgement of the wicked take place before they are punished; a doctrine in the highest degree reasonable, and sustained by many plain testimonies. 

"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to RESERVE the unjust unto the day of Judgement to be punished." 2 Pet. 2:9. The day of Judgment must arrive before the retribution of the ungodly. 

"The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Pet. 3:7. The perdition of ungodly men comes at the Judgment.

"The wicked is RESERVED to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." Job 21:30. The next scripture will explain this. 

"Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29.

The wicked are first raised and judged, then afterward cast into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:11-15. 

Vengeance is taken upon all the ungodly together when the Lord comes with his saints. Jude 14, 15. 

The wicked are cast into the furnace of fire at the end, and not before. Matt. 13:30, 39-43, 49, 50. 

The burning day is the time when the wicked meet their fate. Mal. 4; Ps. 21:9. 

The wrath of God waits till the day of wrath. Rom. 2:5-9. 

Tribulation to the ungodly comes in connection with the advent of the Saviour. 2 Thess. 1.

The wicked dead are not punished till after the seventh trumpet. Rev. 11:15, 18. 

The Judge says, "Depart from me, ye cursed," and then, for the first time, the ungodly enter the furnace of fire. Matt. 25:41. 

*******

NOTE.  The reader will observe that texts are quoted in this tract with words sheol or hades, instead of grave, or pit, or hell; which our English version uses.  This is because sheol, or hades, is the word used in the original Hebrew or Greek Scriptures.  See the lists above.

Webster defines personification thus: "The giving to an inanimate being the figure or the sentiments and language of a rational being; prosopopoeia, as 'Confusion heard his voice.'"

     He defines personify thus: "To give animation to inanimate objects; to ascribe to an inanimate being the sentiments, actions, or language, of a rational being, or person, or to represent an inanimate being with the affections and actions of a person.  Thus we say, the plants thirst for rain.  'The trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou and reign over us.'"   Judges 9.

     He defines prosopopoeia, or intense personification, thus: "A figure in rhetoric by which things are represented as persons, or by which things inanimate beings, or by which an absent person is introduced as speaking, or a deceased person is represented as alive and present.  It includes personification, but is more extensive in its signification."