Saturday 20 April 2013
Christ,s Government the answer to the failed Gentile system of man.
The Millennium - The 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on earth!
(Compiled by Apollos from the writings of David Brandt Berg.)Edited by victor.s
1. THE WORLD TODAY IS SUCH A MESS & THERE ARE SUCH MESSERS RUNNING IT! In fact, in all the 6,000 years that man has been trying, he has never been able to save himself. Man's plans have never succeeded & never will!
2. ANY SYSTEM, WHETHER IT BE CAPITALIST, SOCIALIST, COMMUNIST, DEMOCRACY OR DICTATORSHIP, WHATEVER IT IS, IS GOING TO BE A FLAT FAILURE WITHOUT GOD!--And although man's final one-World government which is soon to arise under the Antichrist will purportedly be the greatest, most powerful, most ideal government he's ever had, man's ultimate creation, it will turn out to be the most horrible, hellish, heinous government of Satan himself, Hell on Earth, the worst government the World has ever known!
3. MAN'S MOST IDEAL GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO FALL FLAT ON ITS FACE!--BUT THEN GOD IS GOING TO STEP IN & REALLY STRAIGHTEN THINGS OUT! For only the direct & forceful intervention of God Himself through the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to mete out His violent Wrath upon the wrong-doers, to save His Own children from His enemies, & to set up His Own Kingdom of totally righteous & authoritarian rule here on Earth, will ever bring a reign of true perfection, with peace & justice for all!
4. AS YOU RECALL FROM OUR LAST CHAPTER, immediately after Jesus' return & our Rapture & Resurrection to be with Him, the Church, His born-again children, will join the Lord in that wonderful Wedding Supper of the Lamb in Heaven, while the wicked will be suffering the Wrath of God on Earth, where they will finally gather together under their Satanic, Devil-possessed, Antichrist leader to actually attempt to war against Jesus Christ Himself & His resurrected Heavenly forces in the horrific Battle of Armageddon!
5. IN THIS FINAL GREAT BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON, THE FORCES OF GOD GAIN A GLORIOUS VICTORY OVER THE FORCES OF SATAN & DESTROY HIM, or at least defeat him, & his Antichrist Devil-man & his False Prophet & his whole kingdom! Then we, the Saints of God, along with our King Jesus Christ, will take over this World as it now is--this present World--& we will organise it & rule it & run it the way it should have been run if man had yielded to God!
6. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT THIS AMAZING PERIOD WILL LAST FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS & therefore it is known to Bible Prophecy students as the Millennium, which is Latin for a thousand years. The Scriptures are just full of descriptions of this beautiful Millennial period, & in fact, more is said about it than about the First Coming of Christ!--It says more about the Second Coming of Christ & His rule & reign on the Earth as its King, its Messiah, than it does even about the First Coming!
7. --BECAUSE THIS IS THE PURPOSE OF IT ALL! This is the marvellous Happy Ending of it all! Therefore God's Word gives us a very literal, exact description of what it's going to be like under the marvellous rule & personal visible reign of Christ here on Earth, &, as you'll see, it's going to be absolutely wonderful! PTL!
ARMAGEDDON SURVIVORS!
8. WE LEARNED IN OUR LAST CHAPTER THAT WHEN JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH FOR THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON, THERE'S GOING TO BE A GREAT SLAUGHTER & A GREAT DESTRUCTION, ACCORDING TO GOD'S WORD.--Nevertheless some are going to live through it!--There will be survivors! And during the Millennium, it is these survivors whom we are going to rule & reign over & teach & train, to show how the World should have been run & to be an example to the Universe of what kind of government man could have had if he had only obeyed the Lord.
9. HIS WORD SAYS, "BLESSED & HOLY IS HE THAT HATH PART IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION (The Rapture): On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God & of Christ, & shall reign with Him a thousand years." (Rev.20:6.) Jesus also promised to His faithful ones, "He that overcometh, & keepeth My works unto the End, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron." (Rev.2:26,27.)
10. SO WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE THAT HIS WORD SAYS WILL FORM WHOLE NATIONS DURING THE MILLENNIUM, over whom we, the saved born-again Saints of God, are going to rule with a rod of iron?--Well, it's obvious that many of the unsaved are going to survive the Wrath of God & the Battle of Armageddon & live on into the Millennium! God having elected them by grace and his mercy extended to them through out the tribulation period, which was a horrible perilous and frightening time.
"THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!" (Mt.6:10.)
13. IT WAS IN REVELATION, CHAPTER 19, THAT WE READ JOHN'S MAGNIFICENT, MARVELLOUS DESCRIPTION OF JESUS CHRIST'S COMING WITH THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN to defeat & destroy the Antichrist & his fiendish forces at the awesome Battle of Armageddon. So following the chronological order of events, in Revelation 20 we're given an amazing glimpse into the Millennium period:
14. "AND I SAW AN ANGEL COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, HAVING THE KEY OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT & A GREAT CHAIN IN HIS HAND. And he laid hold on the Dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil, & Satan, & bound him a thousand years, & cast him into the Bottomless Pit, & shut him up, & set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: & after that he must be loosed a little season." (Rev.20:1-3.)
15. THE DEVIL WILL BE BOUND & CAST AS A PRISONER INTO THE BOTTOMLESS PIT FOR A THOUSAND YEARS, with nobody left to run his business! We'll be rid of him, thank God! For a thousand years he will no longer bother us & no longer lead his legions & his demons across the face of the Earth to plague the World & its citizens! And it is during this thousand years, while the Devil is in prison in the heart of the Earth, in the Bottomless Pit, that the Saints, including all the new arrivals who resisted the Antichrist & rejected the Mark of the Beast, choosing rather to give their lives than to deny Christ, will live & reign with Christ for a thousand years:
16. "AND I SAW THRONES, & THEY SAT UPON THEM, & JUDGEMENT WAS GIVEN UNTO THEM: & I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, & for the Word of God, & which had not worshipped the Beast, neither his Image, neither had received his Mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; & they lived & reigned with Christ a thousand years. They shall be priests of God & of Christ, & shall reign with Him a thousand years. But the rest of the dead (the unsaved) lived not again until the thousand years were finished." (Rev.20:4-6.)
17. DURING THE MILLENNIUM, JESUS IS GOING TO REIGN & RULE IN PERSON USING US AS HIS INSTRUMENTS! So our work--& I hope you won't be too disappointed--will not be over with the resurrection & the Rapture! We're still going to be busy, ruling & reigning with Jesus!--It's all very literal!
18. BUT MANY PEOPLE GET ALL THEORETICAL & THEY GET HAZY IDEAS, DREAMY IDEAS ABOUT ALL OF THIS, that after Jesus returns we're all going to be way off somewhere in some place called Heaven or something. Well, Heaven is not going to be way off somewhere, it's going to be right here on Earth, a Heaven-on-Earth during the Millennium! We're going to rule & reign with Christ right here on Earth over the unsaved nations & the unsaved people who are left, who were not destroyed by the judgements God heaps upon the Antichrist kingdom.
19. EVERYDAY, MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS ALL OVER THE WORLD PRAY, "THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!" But I'm sure most of them don't really appreciate the tremendousness of that statement in the Lord's Prayer & how literally it is going to come true & be fulfilled! It's actually going to be like Heaven, Heaven on Earth, with God's Will being done & His Kingdom come--on Earth as it is in Heaven! And we will be His officers, enforcing His Will as we rule & reign over the Earth with Him!
20. BUT MOST OF THE CHURCH PEOPLE DON'T SEEM TO REALISE HOW REAL THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE! They've got that imaginary picture of just floating around aimlessly on a cloud playing a harp or something! They don't realise how real & practical & down-to-Earth it will all be!
21. THE PROPHET DANIEL DESCRIBED THE TAKEOVER OF THIS WORLD'S GOVERNMENTS BY CHRIST'S MILLENNIAL KINGDOM in his famous vision in Daniel, Chapter 2. He saw a great image, which represented History's various great World Empires, being destroyed by "a Stone which smote the image upon his feet", smashing it to pieces which are blown away like the chaff!--"And the Stone that smote the image became a Great Mountain (Kingdom), & filled the whole Earth!" (Dan.2:34,35.)
22. "FOR IN THE DAYS OF THESE KINGS"--the ten toes of the image, the ten final government leaders who fully cooperate with & yield to the Antichrist (See Rev.17:12-14.)--"shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: & the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces & consume all these kingdoms, & it shall stand for ever!" (Dan.2:44.)
23. ONE OF THESE DAYS VERY SOON, THE KING IS GOING TO COME BACK TO CLAIM HIS KINGDOM!--The Kingdom of the Most High shall come & shall destroy all the anti-Christ kingdoms of the World! Jesus is going to come & destroy'm all! And He's going to restore the World under us & we're going to rule & reign over it with Him!
24. GOD WILL THEN SWEEP AWAY ALL THIS WORLD'S KINGDOMS, BUT NOT ALL THE PEOPLE!--Many of them will still be here, but we'll be ruling over them.--"And there was given Him dominion, & glory, & a Kingdom, that all people, nations, & languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, & His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. But the saints of the Most High shall take the Kingdom, & possess the Kingdom for ever, even for ever & ever!" (Dan.7:14,18.)
25. WHETHER MAN LIKES IT OR NOT, GOD IS GOING TO BE SUPREME & JESUS WILL REIGN FROM SHORE TO SHORE & we will rule & reign with Him with that rod of iron! Then wicked man will be forced to do what's right & forced to obey for a thousand years!--"And judgement was given to the saints of the Most High; & the time came that the saints possessed the Kingdom. And the Kingdom & dominion, & the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, & all dominions shall serve & obey Him!" (Dan.7:22,27.)
26. RIGHT NOW THE UNGODLY & ANTICHRIST POWERS OF THIS WORLD TREAT US AS ALIENS, & banish us & exile us & even drive some of us from our own countries, forcing us to be refugees & fugitives from their injustice. But then, under the supreme reign of Christ Himself, the pitiful little bands of persecuted Christians & believers & children of God are going to inherit the Earth & the Kingdom of God on Earth & run & govern it by love & the power of God!
27. WE WILL NO LONGER BE THE POOR, PERSECUTED, HOUNDED FEW OF THE POOR LITTLE BEDEVILED SECTS OR CULTS or whatever they want to call us!--We will then number in the millions & the billions, & we are going to rule the Earth with Jesus Christ over our God-damned enemies who have tormented us & persecuted us & hounded us from country to country throughout the Earth, until the very end of the Great Tribulation when they virtually drive us clear off the Earth & we're all Raptured up to be with Jesus!
28. SO DON'T WORRY, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A COUNTRY TO CALL OUR OWN ONE OF THESE DAYS, THANK THE LORD! In fact, it'll all be our country then!--Because our country will be a World-wide, Earth-wide, Kingdom of God on Earth! All the countries are going to be ours in that day when Jesus comes!--And our former enemies & persecutors will be our guests! They will be the men without a country, because it will be our country!--And they'd better behave, too, or they'll not only be without a country, but without an Earth!
29. NO LONGER WILL REIGN THE CRUEL, SELFISH, DOG-EAT-DOG PHILOSOPHY WHICH GIVES THE WORLD TO THE STRONGEST & THE MIGHTIEST, in which might is right, as it is run today by rebellious, disobedient & perverted man!--But it will be given to those who really have the right to govern because of what today's reprobate man considers weaknesses: Love & meekness & forgiveness & faith in God & His Word!
30. THESE WEAKEST & MEEKEST WILL BECOME THE MOST POWERFUL INFLUENCES ON EARTH, the most powerful people, who will rule the World with both love & a "rod of iron" of loving force to compel the nations to submit to the laws of God & to recognise His authority & to obey His rules of life, love, health & happiness for a reign of "peace on Earth toward men of good will".
31. THEN & ONLY THEN, UNDER THE SUPREME & POWERFUL RULE & REIGN OF CHRIST & GOD'S CHILDREN, WILL ALL WARS FINALLY CEASE & the World at last be governed fairly & well with true justice, liberty, peace, plenty & happiness for all! Hallelujah!
32. "AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, THAT THE MOUNTAIN (KINGDOM) OF THE LORD'S HOUSE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED IN THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS, & shall be exalted above the hills; & all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go & say, Come ye, & let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob; & He will teach us of His ways, & we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, & the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem!" (Is.2:2,3.)
33. JESUS CHRIST IS GOING TO SET UP HIS THRONE IN JERUSALEM & make it His Millennial capital!--Not Menachim Begin's, not the Antichrist's, not the Devil's--but God's! And from there He will rule & reign over the Earth, & we shall rule & reign with Him!
34. "AND HE SHALL JUDGE AMONG THE NATIONS, & SHALL REBUKE MANY PEOPLE: & THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES, & THEIR SPEARS INTO PRUNINGHOOKS: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more!" (Is.2:4.)--Complete disarmament at last! That will be the World's first real genuine disarmament, beating their weapons into instruments of peace!--Hallelujah!
35. AT LAST THERE WILL BE PEACE ON EARTH WHICH SHALL NEVER END UNDER THE REIGN OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD & PRINCE OF PEACE HIMSELF! Today's wicked & vengeful men of war will be stopped at last as God "destroys them that destroy the Earth"! (Rev.11:18.)--Those who brought war & conflict to the Earth! Only then shall the men of peace & the God of peace & the Prince of Peace rule & reign & bring final "peace on Earth"! (Lk.2:14.)
36. THEN "ALL THE ENDS OF THE WORLD SHALL REMEMBER & TURN UNTO THE LORD: & all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the Kingdom is the Lord's: & He is the Governor among the nations. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the Earth; He breaketh the bow, & cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire!" (Ps.22:27,28; 46:9.) He's going to stop all this war business, He's going to break the arrows & the swords & the shields & the bows, etc. All those chariots & planes & tanks & missiles & bombs & all that are going to be burned up, thank God!
37. JESUS TOLD HIS DISCIPLES, "THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU" (Lk.17:21), & this is true for all of us who know & love the Lord--we already have Heaven on Earth in our hearts! But the problem is, there is still Hell all around us! But in that day He's going to wipe away all this Hell on Earth, & He's going to set up His Kingdom of peace & righteousness & fairness & justice & goodness & mercy & love! And that's going to literally be Heaven on Earth!--His Kingdom won't only be within us, it will be all around us! PTL!
38. "THE LORD MOST HIGH IS A GREAT KING OVER ALL THE EARTH."--In the Millennium!--"He shall subdue the people under us, & the nations under our feet! For God is the King of all the Earth: sing ye praises with understanding! God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of His Holiness." (Ps.47:2,3,7,8.)
39. "THE MOUNTAINS SHALL BRING PEACE TO THE PEOPLE, & THE LITTLE HILLS, BY RIGHTEOUSNESS. He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, & shall break in pieces the oppressor." (Ps.72:3,4.)--The World is going to see a righteous Judge at last, a righteous King, a righteous Ruler, Who will have a righteous government!--No more corruption, vice, crime, payola, bribery or crooked judges & crooked politicians, but a righteous government & righteous, just justice for all!
40. "HE SHALL COME DOWN LIKE RAIN UPON THE MOWN GRASS: AS SHOWERS THAT WATER THE EARTH. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, & from the river unto the ends of the Earth." (Ps.72:6,8.)--The Kingdom of Christ on Earth is going to completely cover the whole World! "For the Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, & the sceptre of the rulers. The whole Earth is at rest, & is quiet; they break forth into singing"! (Is.14:5,7.)
41. THERE'LL BE NO MORE BIG POWERS & OPPRESSED POOR!--Only the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, Heaven on Earth, fairness & justice for all & eternal happiness forever!--"Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him. And blessed be His glorious Name for ever: & let the whole Earth be filled with His glory; Amen, & Amen!" (Ps.72:11,19.)
LIFE ON EARTH DURING THE MILLENNIUM!
42. THE REIGN OF JESUS CHRIST DURING THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE A MIXTURE OF HEAVEN ON THE EARTH THAT NOW IS, & OVER THE UNSAVED WHO NOW ARE, or who will be at that time. It will be a reign of Jesus Christ & His children over what is left of this World & its unsaved populations. We, the born-again, saved, resurrected saints will be in our new supernatural bodies, but the rest of the World, those who have been spared & blessed enough to survive into the Millennium, are going to still be in their old natural bodies. Therefore life is sort of going to go on as usual in a lot of ways for them!
43. THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE ALMOST LIKE AN EXTENSION OF THIS AGE NOW, because the World & its people will still be living in time. But to us who are resurrected & raptured at the Coming of Christ, time shall be no more! (Rev.10:6.)--We will not be bound by time any longer! But those who still remain on the Earth, having survived the horrors of the Wrath of God upon the wicked, will still be bound by time.
44. THE EARTH WILL STILL BE LIVING IN TIME.--The unregenerate, unsaved people who survive the holocaust of God's Wrath, first of all the Antichrist's wrath & then Armageddon & Christ's Wrath--who by some miracle manage to survive it, who are blessed by being allowed to survive it--will still be bound by time & space here on Earth just as we were before we left with Jesus.
45. BUT FOR US, TIME SHALL BE NO MORE!--AND IN SOME WAYS, SPACE WILL BE NO MORE! In other words, we will not be bound by time or space! We will be able to just wish ourselves anywhere & we will be there with the speed of thought!--And of course we'll only wish to do God's Will & we will be messengers of His Will.
46. BUT THE NORMAL, NATURAL PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE THE SAME THEN AS THEY ARE NOW!--Human beings still in their mortal bodies whom God's blessed by allowing them to live through the horrors that preceded.--And they're going to feel blessed, too, when they realise that they managed to be Millennial survivors! But they will live almost exactly like they are living now: They'll still have to go out fishing, they'll still have to raise food, they'll still have to make clothes, they'll still have to live in a normal natural World--in fact, the same World they're living in now!
47. THE NATURAL MEN ARE GOING TO BE JUST WHAT THEY ARE NOW, ONLY THEY WILL BE UNDER OUR GOVERNMENT. So for them, things are going to be exactly like they are today, except for one big difference: We'll be the top dogs, the officers, the supreme rulers! We'll be in charge, Jesus & His Kingdom will be the government, & we'll be His governors, His officers, His leaders, His rulers of the World! "We shall be kings & priests unto God," He says (Rev.1:6), & we will rule the Earth!
48. SO IN SOME WAYS, THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE ALMOST LIKE A REPEAT, LIKE A MOVIE YOU'VE SEEN BEFORE, BUT THERE WILL BE QUITE A FEW BIG DIFFERENCES!--Mainly, that we're going to be running the World instead of them, & we're going to have a lot of supernatural help & advantages! We'll have supernatural bodies & wisdom & skill & power & protection & we'll change a lot of things for the better!--PTL!
POST-ARMAGEDDON CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGN!
49. IN ORDER FOR THE LORD & US TO ESTABLISH A NICE, BEAUTIFUL, GOOD, CLEAN HEAVEN ON EARTH, WE'LL FIRST HAVE TO CLEAN UP THE HELL ON EARTH THAT THE ANTICHRIST & HIS DEMON-POSSESSED PEOPLE LEFT BEHIND!--And the horrible slaughter left behind by God's Own judgements & our Battle of Armageddon against them! So there will certainly be some cleaning up to do! In Israel alone, it's going to take seven months just to bury all the dead, & seven years to clear away all the wreckage of the instruments of war, to clear away & burn the weapons & vehicles of war, etc.!--Seven years to clean up the rubble, debris & wreckage left behind by the terrible Battle of Armageddon! (Ez.39:9,14.)
50. SO THAT WILL BE OUR FIRST JOB DURING THE FIRST SEVEN YEARS OF THE MILLENNIUM: DIRECTING THE WORLDLINGS & THE SURVIVORS IN THIS BIG CLEAN-UP OPERATION! It sounds like it will be a pretty big assignment & a tough job, & I'm sure it will be!--But with supernatural bodies & supernatural power & the wisdom of God & the Lord's direction, organisation & Heavenly government, I'm sure it won't be too difficult for us!
51. IT'LL BE A WONDER THAT THE LORD & US WILL EVER BE ABLE TO STRAIGHTEN THINGS OUT!--But we will, according to His Word! PTL! "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, & they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, & in their glory shall ye boast yourselves." (Isa.61:4-6.)
BACK TO THE GARDEN!
52. ANOTHER MAJOR CHANGE THAT WILL OCCUR DURING THE MILLENNIUM IS THAT THE CURSE WILL BE PARTIALLY LIFTED, which will mean a lot of different & better conditions, thank the Lord! The Earth will be like it was during the days of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden! The curse & the results of the curse will be removed & things will be partially restored to pre-curse conditions.
53. THE EARTH WILL BLOSSOM LIKE A ROSE & ALL GOD'S CREATION WILL BE IN PERFECT PEACE & BEAUTIFUL HARMONY & AT PEACE WITH ONE OTHER.--No more of man's cruelty toward man, no more of man's inhumanity to man, but all will be peace & beauty, like the Garden of Eden restored!--Heaven on Earth once again as it was in the Beginning, but even better, because we'll have Jesus! PTL!
54. "FOR IN THE WILDERNESS SHALL WATERS BREAK OUT, & STREAMS IN THE DESERT. And the parched ground shall become a pool, & the thirsty land springs of water. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden; & the waste & desolate & ruined cities are become fenced, & are inhabited." (Is.35:6,7; Ez.36:34,35.)
55. "LET THE HEAVENS REJOICE, & LET THE EARTH BE GLAD; LET THE SEA ROAR, & THE FULNESS THEREOF!" (Ps.96:11.)--Are the Heavens rejoicing & is the Earth glad today? Paul tells us that the whole Earth is groaning today, not rejoicing!--"The whole creation groaneth & travaileth in pain, waiting to be delivered"! (Rom.8:22,23.) The whole Creation, in a sense, is under the curse of sin & the Devil & his demons & his pests & vipers & thorns & thistles & sin & sickness etc. But in the Millennium, it will be partially delivered & greatly restored!
56. "LET THE FIELD BE JOYFUL, & ALL THAT IS THEREIN: THEN SHALL ALL THE TREES OF THE WOOD REJOICE!" (Ps.96:12.) Nowadays, whenever you hear the wind blowing through the trees, does it sound like the trees are rejoicing?--It's more of a moaning, sighing sound, sometimes almost enough to give you the willies! You never hear it sounding happy, do you? Well, I don't know how the Lord's going to do it, but when He comes & takes over the World, the trees are going to be glad & rejoice!--They will actually sound happy!
57. DID YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT NOW, ALL THE SOUNDS IN NATURE ARE IN A MINOR KEY & HAVE A LITTLE SAD NOTE TO THEM? Even the birds are grieving over what man has done! All nature, Paul says, is groaning & grieving over the sins of man. All of God's creation is groaning, & man's certainly doing some groaning too! Well, the day's coming when the field & the trees are going to rejoice!--"Before the Lord: for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the Earth: He shall judge the World with righteousness, & the people with His truth." (Ps.96:13.) Hallelujah!
58. AT LAST THE LORD IS GOING TO REDEEM THE EARTH & cause the beautiful Garden of Eden to blossom again as we rule & reign with Christ for a thousand years! The natural unsaved people who survived the Tribulation & Wrath-of-God periods will be so amazingly blessed to be able to live during this Millennial period at all, as the Earth will be relieved of the curse & the curses that have beset it, including the thorns & the thistles & the brier & all kinds of beasts & critters & creatures that are poisonous, even the poisonous flowers & grasses & so on. All these cursed things will be eliminated!
59. "THE WOLF ALSO SHALL DWELL WITH THE LAMB, & THE LEOPARD SHALL LIE DOWN WITH THE KID; & the calf & the young lion & the fatling together; & a little child shall lead them. And the cow & the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: & the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, & the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den." (Is.11:6-8.)
60. YOU NEVER HEAR ABOUT A WOLF LYING DOWN WITH A LAMB NOWADAYS, DO YOU?--Unless the lamb is inside the wolf! Or a leopard lying down with a kid, a little baby goat?--They usually lie down with the kid inside of them too! And the calf & the young lion & the fatling together?--Usually the lion is tearing'm apart & eating'm! Neither have you heard about a little child leading them all!
61. WELL, THERE WAS A DAY BEFORE THE FLOOD WHEN ANIMALS WERE THE PETS OF MAN & HE COULD TALK TO THEM & THEY COULD TALK TO HIM!--Man & the animals were at peace with each other. They didn't fight & they didn't kill & they didn't eat each other as they do today. Well, the day is coming again when there will be peace between man & the animals & you'll be able to call them by name & they'll come running like your dog or your cat, like pets, playfully. Even a little child will be able to play with them, think of that!
62. SO IT'S EVIDENT THAT A GREAT DEAL, IF NOT ALL, OF THE CURSE IS GOING TO BE REMOVED. The animals will go back to being herbivorous again & won't eat each other, much less us! Isn't that beautiful? Apparently man won't eat flesh then either, we'll all be herbivorous again! THIS I AM NOT SURE ABOUT MAN NOT EATING MEAT BUT I LEFT IT IN. Both man & beast will return to vegetarianism during the Millennium, because apparently they won't need the extra strength of animal flesh to survive. The curse will have been at least partially removed & man will no longer be suffering the ill effects of whatever it was that shortened life after the Flood.
64. OF COURSE THE SCEPTICS ALWAYS MAKE FUN OF THESE SCRIPTURES about "the cow & the bear shall feed, & the lion shall eat straw like the ox." (Is.11:7.) They say, "They couldn't possibly do that, they're carnivorous beasts, that's impossible, blah blah, blah blah!" Well, nothing's impossible with the Lord! (Lk.1:37.) And I have such confidence in this Book, the Word of God & the Words of Jesus & every book & every Chapter & every verse in it--I have proven so many of them to be true & have found none of them to ever fail or to be false--that I believe it means exactly what it says & that's exactly what's gonna happen! Because if they're not going to eat each other or eat us anymore, what are they going to eat?--They're going to have to graze like the ox & the calf!
65. "THEY SHALL NOT HURT NOR DESTROY IN ALL MY HOLY MOUNTAIN (KINGDOM): FOR THE EARTH SHALL BE FULL OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD, AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA!" (Is.11:9.) Since there's nothing that will hurt nor destroy, there will be no venomous insects or beasts or serpents or scorpions or any of those Devil's pests!--I think a lot of them will probably just be completely eliminated! But those that will still be here will become our pets!--Not pests! Even the once-deadly asps & vipers will almost be like toys for the children to play with!--No bite, no sting, no poison, no venom!
66. LAND GIVE IT'S INCREASE. "Mercy & truth are met together; righteousness & peace have kissed each other! Truth shall spring out of the Earth; & righteousness shall look down from Heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; & our land shall yield her increase!" (Ps.85:10-12.)
67. WHAT A WONDERFUL PLACE TO LIVE!--The curse will be removed, all viciousness gone, & all killing & hurting stopped! That's why I know that there aren't going to be any more cars there, no automobiles: "For nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all His holy mountain!"--Cars are one of the greatest destroyers of mankind today & kill more people than anything else. PLEASE NOT I CAN'T CONFIRM THIS BUT I LEFT IT IN BECAUSE CAR DO INDEED BDESTROY MANY LIVE'S
VICTOR.S
70. THE WORLD'S GOING TO GO BACK TO THOSE BEAUTIFUL DAYS WITH ONLY THE BEAUTIFUL CREATION OF GOD AROUND THEM & the wonderful creatures of God to help them plow & power & transport what little they have to supply their meager needs, even as the poor of the World still do to this very day in the most remote parts of the Earth!
71. IN FACT, TODAY'S POORER, SO-CALLED "UNDER-DEVELOPED" NATIONS ARE GOING TO BE A LOT BETTER OFF! They're going to be the ones that will be ahead of things then, the Third World. They'll already have their beasts of burden & oxcarts & wagons, & even their sailboats! The Third World will hardly know that anything has even happened! Life is not going to change very much for them, except it's going to be better, because they won't be oppressed by the First & Second World anymore!--Everything's going to be much better! PTL!
72. THERE WILL ALSO PROBABLY BE MUCH LESS DISEASE, MUCH LESS SICKNESS, ETC., because in Isaiah it says that if someone dies when he's 100 years old, he'll be considered merely a child! "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old." (Is.65:20.)
73. LIFE IS OBVIOUSLY AGAIN GOING TO BE LENGTHENED TO GREAT LONGEVITY, as it was before the Flood, when men lived to be nearly a thousand years of age! If somebody died at the age of 100 you would have thought, "Poor fellow, just a babe!" And that's what it means in that Scripture, "for the child shall die an hundred years old."--In other words, anybody dying at 100 will be considered just a child!
74. THE PEOPLE OVER WHOM WE RULE WILL STILL BE LIVING IN THEIR NATURAL PHYSICAL BODIES & WILL STILL BE HAVING CHILDREN, STILL DYING & SO ON. But because the curse will be removed & things will be so natural & it will be such a slower pace, they're going to live like they did before the Flood.--Everybody will live like Methuselah!--For a thousand years! (Gen.5:27.) So the people who enter the Millennium alive are going to look like they're almost the same age at the end of the thousand years! They just won't seem to grow old anymore, or very little.--How wonderful!
WHY THE MILLENNIUM?!
75. IT APPEARS THAT THE MILLENNIUM COULD BE AN ADDITIONAL PERIOD OF GRACE FOR THOSE WHO DIDN'T HAVE A CHANCE TO REALLY HEAR THE GOSPEL or really know the Lord during this life, perhaps even because of our own failure & the failure of the Church to reach the whole World with the Gospel, or at least to reach everybody we should have.--Particularly lots of children & young people who never had a chance & never knew any better, maybe lots of natives in the deepest jungles who never heard, or in the wildest wilderness--to give them a chance to hear & see & know the Lord!
76. BUT DURING THE MILLENNIUM, EVERYONE WILL BE REACHED!--"FOR THE EARTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD, AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA." (Hab.2:14.) How do the waters cover the seas?--Completely! So the World will be completely covered with the knowledge of the Lord & the righteous Kingdom of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!
77. SO IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS THOUSAND YEARS OF THE MILLENNIAL RULE & REIGN OF JESUS CHRIST ON EARTH WILL BE ANOTHER TESTING TIME FOR THOSE WORLDLINGS WHO REMAIN, the unsaved who survived the horrors that have gone before whom God has blessed with another chance, or perhaps their first chance. They may have never really heard the Gospel before, they may have never really felt the Love of Jesus before or known God's Will or His ways before! So it will be a time of learning His laws & His ways & His Love.
79. IF IT'S JUST TO SHOW HOW THE WORLD SHOULD HAVE BEEN RUN & just to demonstrate what man will be like under us & the angels & Jesus personally & just to kind of show-off, what purpose would there be to that?--Unless it's going to save souls or make some people better in some way or improve things somehow.
80. DURING THE MILLENNIUM, HIS WORD SAYS THAT "HE WILL DESTROY IN THIS MOUNTAIN (KINGDOM) THE FACE OF THE COVERING CAST OVER ALL PEOPLE, & the vail that is spread over all nations." (Is.25:7.)--What vail?--The vail of misunderstanding, the vail of unbelief, the vail of non-comprehension of spiritual things.
81. IN THE FACE OF THE VISIBLE RULE & REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH, His personal appearance to man, His Second Coming in mighty power & glory, His wiping out of the Antichrist & his kingdom & the imprisonment of Satan, & His obvious visible rule & reign of firm love with a rod of iron, forcing people to be good whether they like it or not, I think some are going to believe & receive who perhaps never heard before! And maybe there will be some who might even have heard, but didn't understand or couldn't believe until they saw something.
82. AFTER ALL, THAT'S PRETTY STRONG, POWERFUL PERSUASION!--To see the Coming of the Lord & His taking over the reins of this Earth to rule & reign--that's pretty strong persuasion & enough to convince almost anybody to believe & receive! So I think the Millennium will be the time when God gives what I would call not a second chance, but a first chance to a lot of people who didn't have a chance before, because the church failed & even we failed to give'm all the Gospel!
83. "FOR IN THAT DAY SHALL THE DEAF HEAR THE WORDS OF THE BOOK, & THE EYES OF THE BLIND SHALL SEE OUT OF OBSCURITY, & out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, & the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, & princes shall rule in judgement. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, & all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!" (Is.29:18,19;32:1;40:5.)
84. EVERYONE ON EARTH WILL SEE HIS GLORIOUS POWER & KINGDOM, & EVERYBODY WILL BELIEVE THEN!--He even says, "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, & every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord." (Jer.31:34.)
85. THERE WON'T BE ANY UNBELIEVERS THEN, BUT I'M AFRAID THERE WILL STILL BE SOME UNRECEIVERS who won't yield & won't obey & will still be stubborn & disobedient & rebellious & iniquitous & wicked at heart & defiant--still! It's obvious from the Scriptures that there will be many who will receive it & obey & will be blessed of the Lord!--And others who will still rebel.
86. SO IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE ANOTHER TESTING TIME OR TRYING TIME, A PROVING GROUND. We, the saints, who heard the Gospel & voluntarily received the Lord, will be running things under the direct supervision of the Lord. And all of the people who survived the Tribulation, the Wrath of God & the Battle of Armageddon, we're going to govern & rule over & judge & organise & teach them!
87. WE WON'T HAVE TO SAY "KNOW THE LORD!" BECAUSE EVERYBODY WILL BE ABLE TO SEE HIM & THEY'LL ALL KNOW HE'S THERE! But they'll need to know a lot of other things, & we're actually going to be doing a lot of what we're doing right now! Our main job now, as Jesus put it, is "Feed My Sheep!" (Jn.21:15-17.)--They'll all "know the Lord" & will actually see that He & His Kingdom are real, but they may not know Him as well or as personally as we do, because we already knew Him in this life & learned to know Him well & communicate with Him & love Him & live with Him & serve Him throughout this life.
88. SO I THINK IT WILL BE PART OF OUR JOB TO RE-EDUCATE THEM & TRAIN THEM IN THE WAYS OF THE LORD! They're going to be just as human as you & I are right now.--They won't be any more supernatural in their intelligence or in their mental capacities or their learning capacities or the ways they have to learn than we are in this present age.
89. AND THE SCRIPTURES DEFINITELY CONFIRM THAT THE MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO BE A PERIOD OF LEARNING FOR THEM: "Many nations shall come, & say, Come, & let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, & to the house of the God of Jacob; & He will teach us of His ways, & we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, & the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Micah 4:2.) How will He teach them His ways & give them His Word?--The same way He's trying to teach & feed them now!--Through us, His children, His "kings & priests"! (Rev.1:6.)
90. SO FRANKLY, I THINK WE'RE GOING TO BE DOING JUST WHAT WE'RE DOING NOW: Teaching & educating people in the ways of the Lord! In fact, when I think of the job we'll have to do in the Millennium, it is almost beyond comprehension!--We're not only going to be teaching & educating & ruling & reigning over them, but because it's the World's last chance to repent & confess & try to get things straightened out & make things right, we're going to have to try to make everybody be honest & make everybody confess & get everybody to make things right--right all wrongs & confess all faults. So we are going to be very busy! PTL!
"HE SHALL RULE THE NATIONS WITH A ROD OF IRON!" (Rev.19:15.)
91. IN SPITE OF ALL THAT VISIBLE EVIDENCE OF THE POWER OF GOD & the people of God & the Government of God & the Son of God, Jesus Christ Himself personally ruling the Earth in the flesh from His capital at Jerusalem, there will still be people who won't like it!--The really carnally-minded & evil-minded people will still rebel against the Lord!
92. SAD TO SAY, SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO SURVIVE INTO THIS WONDERFUL PERIOD OF THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE SO STUBBORN & SO REBELLIOUS OF HEART & MIND & so Satanically & diabolically conditioned that, even with the Devil & his demons gone, they're going to still be of the same evil mind just naturally--natural carnal evil men! Even without the help of Satan or his devils, they're still going to be mean & we're still going to have to deal with them!
93. EVEN THOUGH THE DEVIL & ALL HIS DEMONS WILL BE BOUND IN THE BOTTOMLESS PIT DURING THIS THOUSAND-YEAR PERIOD OF WHAT IS GOING TO BE LIKE HEAVEN-ON-EARTH, there will still be plenty of devils left behind in human form, human beings who are devils at heart & who still reject the King of kings & His Kingdom, who still resent our rule over them & their punishment & just deserts which we mete out to them, & who still rebel against our reign & power--sometimes whole nations which will rebel & refuse to obey the commandments of Christ & the dictates of His Kingdom & His officers.
94. THAT'S WHY WE'LL HAVE TO RULE WITH A ROD OF IRON! He said He will dash the nations & their power to pieces, into shivers like a piece of pottery! (Ps.2:8,9.) It's going to be an enforced rule, a strong iron dictatorship over the wicked. It will have to be, otherwise the wicked would never obey! So it's going to be a tough, hard, strong, forceful government!
95. "GOD IS LOVE" (1JN.4:8), & TODAY HE'S SHOWING HIS LOVE TO THE WORLD--His patience, His mercy, His longsuffering, His forgiveness! He's showing love to the World to try to get them to love Him! But the day is coming when, if all else fails & they reject His Love, He will rule them with a rod of iron & of force!--Not because His Love failed, for Love never fails! Jesus never fails, God never fails, & God is Love, so Love can't fail! (1Co.13:8.)
96. BUT THE CHRIST-REJECTING, LOVE-RESISTING WICKED OF THIS WORLD FAILED!--It's they who failed to receive His Love who cause the failure, their own failure!--The fall of the kingdoms of this Earth & the final collapse of their last great one-World Government, etc.!--Because they rejected the Love of God & the Love of Jesus Christ! So since they failed to appreciate His Love & to obey Him in love voluntarily, He is going to rule the World with a rod of iron, of force, & they are going to be compelled to serve & worship & obey Him whether they like it or not!--By force!--The force of the great God of Heaven & His Kingdom on Earth & His great World Dictator, Jesus Christ!
97. TALK ABOUT A DICTATORSHIP, talk about authoritarian rule, talk about totalitarianism!--The Earth has never seen & there will never be any totalitarianism as total as is going to be the Kingdom of God on Earth & the rule & reign of Jesus Christ over the World through us! That's going to be the most total, totalitarian government the World has ever known--absolute dictatorship!
98. THEY WILL ALL BE COMPELLED & FORCED TO OBEY WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT!--Absolutely no democracy, absolutely no freedom of man, of wicked man!--No more wicked democracies with wicked majorities voting for wicked governments & wicked rulers in a wicked World--but a completely total totalitarian dictatorship of the righteous with Jesus Christ as Dictator!
99. SO ALTHOUGH IN SOME WAYS LIFE IS GOING TO BE PRETTY NORMAL & not so greatly changed for the natural men of this World, there is going to be one very big difference!--There will still be free will & there will still be choice, but God will not let man have his wicked way! If they choose to go their own way & try to rebel--Bam!--God is going to swat them with a rod of iron!--Bam, whammy, zap!--Whatever you want to call it!--And they'll get it quick!
100. BECAUSE THE ONLY THING THE TRULY WICKED & REBELLIOUS EVER UNDERSTAND IS FORCE & VIOLENCE & THE ROD! And God is really going to lower His rod upon them! He's going to lower the boom on them, as they say, & He's going to punish them for their sins. And we, you & I, are going to be the instruments of His punishment, the officers of His Law who are going to carry out His judgements against those who have troubled & tribulated us! For He says clearly & plainly that we shall rule & reign with Him as He rules on the Earth with a rod of iron!
101. "HE THAT OVERCOMETH, & KEEPETH MY WORKS UNTO THE END, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father." (Rev.2:26,27.)
102. WE'LL BE ENDUED WITH TREMENDOUS SUPERNATURAL POWERS TO RULE OVER THEM! We will be the power, we will have the force! And exactly what that rod of iron will be, God only knows! But there are instances in the Bible where people were made immobile, they were blinded, they were devoured by fire from Heaven & all kinds of things when God wanted to stop'm!--We'll have the kind of power that you see in some of these sci-fi movies, only we won't need any little ray-guns! We'll just look at them or think or point our finger at them or whatever we want to do! And they won't be able to touch us or do a thing!--We will be the power & the government in control!
103. WE WILL HAVE BODIES LIKE THE ANGELS OF GOD which can appear or disappear at will, travel with the speed of thought or have such a rod of God's power that they can destroy God's enemies by the millions if they so choose, with the lightning of God! There will be no more crime, no more vice, no more drugs, no more riots & no more war!--Just perfect peace, total perfect peace under the iron-rule dictatorship of the Lord in which you & I will be His supermen with superpower!--Absolute Law & Order, with redistribution & sharing of the wealth & lands, etc.--Not at the point of a gun, but at the point of a rod of iron!
104. SO THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE A PERIOD OF DEALING WITH SUCH PEOPLE & PUNISHING THEM & FORCING THEM TO OBEY--WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT!--Or destroying them if they absolutely flatly refuse & cause us too much trouble!--That's the dark, sad side of the picture. But the happy side is that many in that day, having seen, will believe & will bow & will yield & will obey & will receive with gladness the Kingdom of God on Earth, & will become its happy citizens & members & cooperate & help us to rebuild & to reconstruct & to clean up, rehabilitate & give the World its last chance for salvation.
105. IT'S OBVIOUS FROM THE SCRIPTURES THAT, DURING THAT TIME, SOME PEOPLE & NATIONS WILL SUBMIT & OBEY & YIELD to the Kingdom of God on Earth, & therefore will be blessed.--But others will rebel, & therefore will be punished! "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem"--survivors from the Battle of Armageddon--"shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, & to keep the feast of tabernacles." (Zech.14:16.)
106. "AND IT SHALL BE, THAT WHOSO WILL NOT COME UP OF ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH UNTO JERUSALEM TO WORSHIP THE KING, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain." (Zech.14:17.) This is going to be such a literal Kingdom on Earth & the wicked are still going to be so literally wicked that some of them are actually going to refuse to come up & worship, think of that! But if they don't obey & they don't do what they're supposed to do & they don't come up to pay homage to the King & the Kingdom of God, etc., He's going to withhold the rain from them & give them all kinds of diseases & plagues, just like He did the ancient Egyptians!--Any country that won't do what they're told to do is going to have nothing but trouble!
107. SO THERE WILL DEFINITELY STILL BE FREE WILL & CHOICE DURING THE MILLENNIUM. They won't have to submit & obey, they can rebel if they want to, but they'll be punished! And although the curse will be largely lifted & it's going to be a lot nicer World then--beautiful, wonderful, virtually Heaven-on-Earth in a way--there will still be some people there who don't belong in Heaven!--Therefore there will still be individual curses on individual people or nations who, even under those circumstances, will refuse to obey.
HERE & NOW FOR THERE & THEN!
120. BELOVED, THE LORD WAS NOT KIDDING WHEN HE SAID THAT HE WOULD MAKE YOU RULER OVER MANY CITIES! You are going to literally rule & reign with Him over all the Earth! It will be a perfect Kingdom, a perfect government, with perfect officers--you! You're going to run it! You want to be a policeman?--You want to be a governor?--You want to be a judge? All kinds of jobs are wide open! You want to be a king? God's Word says that He's the King of kings, so you can be one of His kings! You can rule a city or a whole country or a whole continent, whatever you are capable of ruling, according to the training you've already had & according to your faithfulness & your loyalty to God while you were here!
121. JESUS SAID THAT HE THAT WAS FAITHFUL IN JUST A FEW THINGS WOULD BE MADE RULER OVER MANY THINGS! You want to run the World? Well, be faithful unto death & He'll give you a crown & you'll be one of His kings! The Bible says so! (Rev.2:10.) For "he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.--Because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities!"--Or, "be thou over five cities!" (Lk.16:10; 19:17,19.) We're going to rule literal, Earthly, down-to-Earth, Worldly cities & countries, nations & continents, & train human, physical, down-to-Earth people just like you & I are now!
122. WE WILL BE DISPERSED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, each of us ruling over a certain portion & people of the Earth, over the unsaved who were left behind during the Rapture. Some will rule over one city, some will rule over five cities, & some over ten cities!--It's all going to be very literal. You are literally going to rule over cities & countries & peoples.--Think of that.
128. IN FACT, THIS IS THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF LIFE: TO PREPARE US FOR THE NEXT LIFE, when in the Millennium we are going to have to learn how to run the whole World! We are now in our training period in this life in preparation for ruling the World in the next! And if we don't pass the tests & complete the grades & learn the lessons He's trying to teach us in this life, we shall certainly be unfit to rule in the next & shall surely be the least of all in the coming Kingdom of God on Earth, raised to everlasting shame & contempt before all! (Dan.12:2.)
129. WE ARE NOW IN TRAINING FOR THE DAYS WHEN WE WILL RULE THE EARTH!--But before we can do that, we must first learn to rule ourselves. So God is now causing us, in a sense, to practice for what is going to be the real thing, & how we succeed in the present is largely going to determine how we succeed in the future.
130. THIS IS CONFIRMED IN THE WORD BY THE STORY JESUS TOLD ABOUT THE TALENTS. (See Mt.25:14-30.) Those who are now obeying the Lord, doing His Will, investing all their talents wisely for His glory & showing wisdom here & now on Earth, are going to be the future rulers of the Kingdom. Who else would God choose to rule His Kingdom but those men & women who have proven themselves worthy down through the ages, since the beginning?--The faithful servants of God today are going to share the rulership of the Kingdom with all the other greats of God of the past!
131. GOD'S GREATS OF THE FUTURE ARE GOING TO BE THE SAME AS HIS GREATS OF THE PAST! The truly great men & women of God--some unknown to us, perhaps, since History didn't recognise & record them all--are going to continue to be great in the future, including all of us today who are giving our all & doing our best for Jesus & others!--PTL! Are you?
135. SO REMEMBER, EVERYTHING YOU'RE LEARNING NOW & DOING NOW & DECISIONS YOU'RE MAKING NOW & EXPERIENCES YOU'RE HAVING NOW ARE A PART OF YOUR SCHOOLING & TRAINING HERE & NOW TO BE USED THERE & THEN!--Otherwise it would be a total waste of time, except for what little we accomplish here, which isn't very much, comparatively speaking. So for God's sake, let's learn our lessons today & learn to be faithful, obedient, dedicated servants now, so He can trust & bless us with a place of usefulness to Him & others tomorrow! Amen? PTL!
A FINAL WORD!
136. WHAT A WONDERFUL, GREAT, ONE-THOUSAND-YEAR VICTORY WE HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO DURING THE MILLENNIUM, even over the wicked by our own personal rule! It's a beautiful prospect not far away, coming soon with the soon-coming of the Lord, as soon as the wicked have completely taken over the Earth under the Antichrist & are destroying it & trying to wipe out God's people, till their cup of iniquity is full. Then Jesus will come & rescue His Own, God will pour out His Wrath upon the wicked, & we will return with the Lord at the great Battle of Armageddon where we will mop things up & take over the World & establish His glorious Millennial Kingdom on Earth!--TYJ!
137. (PROPHECY:) "IN THAT GOLDEN AGE I SHALL RULE UPON THE EARTH IN PERSON WITH A ROD OF IRON & YE SHALL RULE WITH ME IN MIGHTY POWER! Then the lion shall lie down with the lamb & the bear shall eat grass like the ox & the child shall play on the hole of the asp & nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all My Holy Mountain!
138. "HOW RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE THAT WHICH SHALL COVER THE EARTH, & how shalt thou rule & reign with Me, in My throne, even as I have foretold it & given it unto the prophets of old, & also confirmed it now in the mouth of both Moses & David!" Hallelujah!
139. "BEHOLD, THE DAWN COMETH & THE SON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ARISETH & THIS SHALL BE A NEW DAY, & His Love shall drop down like rain upon the land & there shall spring forth life! There shall be love & laughter & joy & peace for ever after!--Tomorrow!--When He makes the World free!"
140. "FOR THE DARKNESS SHALL TURN TO DAWNING,
And the dawning to noonday bright,
And Christ's great Kingdom shall come on Earth!
The Kingdom of Love & Light!"
141. ARE YOU READY FOR IT? Are you a member of Christ's Kingdom that shall never pass away? Are you one of God's Children through Jesus Christ His Son, the Great Revolutionary Who shall overthrow all Earthly powers & set up our Kingdom on Earth to establish a lasting World of peace & plenty for all?
142. ARE YOU A CITIZEN OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM ON EARTH NOW? Will you rule & reign with Him when He returns soon to rescue His Own?--If not, receive Him now as your personal Saviour! He'll give you peace of mind & satisfaction of heart & love & happiness here & now--& Heaven hereafter!
Friday 19 April 2013
riches and the gospel
Some current teachers seem to think that Moses forsaking the riches of Egypt was not necessary. He could have had the best of both Egypt and God. He didn't have to give up anything for Gods kingdom. The teaching that is promoted is that if we are working for the Lord we should get paid better than we did when in the world. After all, we are serving God.
Some seem to think that Moses may have did it all wrong to have forsaken the riches and pleasures of Egypt and suffer affliction with his brethren. (looking by faith to him who is invisible Heb.11:24-27). Instead he could have chose to "gain wealth, success, and popularity with God’s people." As Jesse Duplantis said God didn’t kill Moses in punishment Moses spoke his own death.
Over the last several years there has been a reversal in thinking. Several hundred years ago it was considered to be spiritual if a person gave up all that he had and lived for the gospel by being poor. It used to be said, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Timothy 3:12), but instead today it is proclaimed, "Those who live godly lives will be guaranteed success and wealth in this world and be honored by all men." With a theology like this who wouldn't want to be a minister.
It was once held that if one gave up their position and money for being used for the kingdom it was a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God. Today it is the opposite, if one is not being blessed financially and receiving all they desire they are not walking by faith and are missing Gods blessings. As Benny Hinn says "Poverty is from the devil and that God wants all Christians prosperous." (Benny Hinn, TBN, 11/6
The message preached today is God desires His children to be wealthy. Kenneth Hagin says that God not only wants to deliver believers from poverty, "He [also] wants His children to eat the best, He wants them to wear the best clothing, He wants them to drive the best cars, and He wants them to have the best of everything." (Quoted by D.L. McConnell A Different Gospel p.175) Fred Price agrees and boldly says, "That’s the reason why I drive a Rolls Royce." "Ever Increasing Faith program, TBN Dec.9, 1990)
"Financial prosperity is just as much a part of the Gospel as anything else. …And I'm going to tell you something right now. I'm with the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter one: I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, …I'm not ashamed of prosperity. I'm not ashamed that Jesus bought and paid for me to be wealthy....Let me just tell you from the heart of God, preachers are supposed to be rich." (Marcus Bishop, Praise The Lord Telethon, Novemb1998).
When I hear of statements like this its sad. One can be so bent on their increase of wealth that they can justify it as part of the gospel. It is true that Jesus spoke about money probably more than any other subject, but it was most often rebukes and warnings, not a promise of blessing for all. Money can be neutral and it is all in how we use it. Some are blessed by God to give to Gods work. We have to keep in mind that what we possess is only temporary, we don’t own it. Money has a way of ruining our character and become a rival to God when we desire it. There are many examples, one was Lot who camped outside Sodom in the beginning but as he got close to the city and saw that he could gain benefit if he did business with them he moved into wicked Sodom. Lot had a propensity toward abundance and good things. When He stood with Abraham overlooking the land and was given the choice where he would settle, he picked the most fertile land. Abraham instead trusted God for his sustenance.
Many a godly man has been drawn away from the snare of wanting riches. 1 Tim 6:9-10 "But those who crave to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction." Much bible teaching today is disguised as a carnal craving to be rich, what the Bible plainly calls coveting. An example of this would be Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland leading the people in a chant repeated several times, "MONEY come unto me NOW, MONEY come unto me NOW." etc. -As he acted out pulling it in to his person.- (Dec.4, 1999 Voice of Victory telecast) There is no excuse for this kind of teaching leading people into collected congregational coveting. What Bible message is this? ”They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children”(2 Peter 2:14)
The world sees many of these men use the Word of God on God's people in order to stuff money into their own pockets. The bible sees it as their fattening themselves for the day of slaughter in the last days (James 5). Not only do they distort and preach another gospel, many are doing it for their own aggrandizement as it is evident from their self indulgent, lavish lifestyles. The best hotel rooms, big houses, nice cars and expensive suits to prove God is blessing them and their ministry. The real problem is that they have convinced their followers that this is the way it’s suppose to be!
Creflo Dollar is a perfect example of this justification for himself and others." God is coming back for a church without spot or blemish so he is not coming back to a church in debt…this revival must take place before Jesus can come back he cannot come back for a broke church, he cannot come back for a sick church, he cannot come back for a church that is in debt that would be against his word, I'm coming back for a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle so that means there's going to be some quick transference going on." (Changing your World, Mar.27, 2000) Now they teach a money revival. That we must gain all these things before Jesus comes back is hardly the Bibles perspective.
While many of these men may have begun as honest servants of the Lord, it is now difficult to see them as anything less than con men out for their own piece of heaven on earth.
Duplantis says, The very first thing on Jesus` agenda was to get rid of poverty! Would you like to know why some people, including ministries, never get out of poverty? Its not because they aren’t smart. Its not because they don’t have windows of opportunity. Its because they’re not anointed. If you’re not anointed, poverty will follow you all the days of your life. His first objective was to get rid of poverty." (Nov. 1997 Voice of the Covenant magazine p.5) I guess the apostles were not anointed according to this theological fantasy.
Creflo Dollar states on his web site "You will walk in blessings, favor, prosperity, health and wealth, and you will do this without having to pursue wealth. First you must seek God's method of operation and His righteousness. When you find out how to live your life according to the Word of God you will become a money magnet." Jesus sent us out to be witnesses of his love and grace Creflo thinks he sends us out to gain wealth. Of course his reasoning is that without money how can you preach the gospel. Money is so central to his message that he tells his followers "Well, you need to hear about money, because you ain't gonna have no love and joy and peace until you get some money!" (Creflo Dollar, Praise the Lord, July 20, 1999)
Creflo seems to have neglected a discovery of truth that the Apostle Paul stated made his ministry blessed by God.
Phil 4:9: "The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." V.11 "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content." Certainly to preach what Creflo and Copeland and others are cannot be in agreement with the Apostle Paul who wrote the Scripture. No, Paul had a superior spiritual life than these men are claiming for themselves. 2 Cor. 6:9-10: "as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; (spiritual riches) as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."
The Gospel that makes you Rich
This is almost the same angle that Copeland takes as he too distorts Luke’s passage of the gospel preached to the poor.
Copeland commenting on Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, "now here are both of those laws functioning he sent me. …now watch this, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel, that’s the law of the spirit of the life in Christ Jesus, to the poor . That comes under the law of sin and death. Poverty came into this place when sin came into this place, poverty will kill ya! He sent me to heal, that’s under the law of spirit of life in the anointed one and in his anointing, the broken hearted, that’s the law of sin and death. And the anointing takes authority and dominates."… God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy ghost and power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, he walked about being the jubilee, in fact he preached the acceptable year of the Lord, That’s the jubilee. So he was our jubilee he said poor man you don't have to be poor anymore, I'm here, all they had to believe is that he was anointed."( Copeland and B. Hinn conversation This is your Day Aug 9,1999)
While there is a shred of truth to the concept of poverty coming in with sin, can Copeland say he does not sin or have sin? In the same manner he cannot say everyone who is poor who believes is to be rich. Jesus is not addressing a different state of class such as poor becoming rich. He is addressing the poor in spirit those who mourn over their sin, not those who mourn over not attaining wealth. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." (Matt 5:3-6)
Matt. 11:2-7: John in prison heard about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples to ask Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: "The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. "And blessed is he who is not offended because of me."
It appears the wealth teachers are quite offended by his message. There was no mention of the poor becoming rich, it actually says the gospel was preached to the poor. Just as the sermon on the mount explains (Mt.5:3-6).
Can Copeland show one example of Jesus making someone rich by the Gospel?
This is proof that they change a gospel of salvation to a gospel of mammon. It was Jesus who said it was harder for a rich man to enter heaven, so he opted to go to those who often had less who were more receptive to his message. Those who had less were able to follow since they had less to give up. I refer anyone with Bible knowledge to the story of the rich young ruler to see what he asked of him. The rich young ruler came to Jesus asking about eternal life. Jesus responded by saying to him to give all his riches to the poor and follow him. Was Jesus telling him to rid himself of riches while he actually had them himself? Would he ask someone to do something he himself would not?
Mt. 8:19-20: "Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Avanzini says "Jesus had a big house" (it was Peters mothers house in Capernaum that was often used as a base). Jesus himself he had no place to lay his head, no permanent home, he constantly traveled. He dressed like everyone else, he even said to forsake this world to inherit his kingdom. Was he telling people to do what he was not? His kingdom is not of this world and he made it perfectly clear in his teachings.
So did John the Baptist whom Jesus called the greatest prophet (Matt 11:7-8, LK 7:25) "As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?" But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts."
The apostles were no different than Jesus or John the Baptist. 1 Cor. 4:11-12: "To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands."
2 Cor. 6:9-10: "as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; (spiritual riches) as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." In 2 Cor.8:9 speaking of Jesus "being rich , yet for your sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich." (This is spiritual riches) Did Jesus become poor during his lifetime so we can become rich financially later? This is not a trick question and should be obvious to all familiar with the scriptures. This "being rich" is speaking of his preexistence in his position of glory? He became poor in becoming a servant in position to give the believer a new position in spirituality. Eph. 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Luke 6:20) Was it riches he was promising or spiritual blessings as riches? While the prosperity teachers choose to have their goods they have become spiritually bankrupt. God’s counsel in Rev. 3:18: "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed."
Copeland states "What if Jesus had never been born? Israel would still be under the Law of Moses, heaven would be unpopulated with humans. Man was rich beyond his wildest imagination before he was ever created. He was born into the right family. (laughs) Yeah, he was born where the money was, brother. He was born in a place created just for him. Wasn’t created for anybody else. Just- think of that-just for me. Not many Christians have the guts to believe that." (John Hagees Church (with Rick Godwin on one side of the stage and Hagee on the other) Aug. 18,1999)
Well he is right about not having guts to believe this and it’s for a good reason. It may be attributed more to biblical sense. What Copeland is alluding to is linked to his other heresy of man being exactly like God, as Adam was God in the flesh and Jesus was only a man on earth.
Arrogantly Copeland bellows "Well, now, you need balance in this, get out there in that hyper faith. That name-it-and-claim-it- that blab-it-and-grab-it." YEAH! We named it and claimed it and got it. (crowd cheers)-We Blabbed it and grabbed it and still got it ! Hallelujah! And our bills are paid." (John Hagee’s Church, Aug. 18,1999 LeSea) It is absolutely heartbreaking to see this go on in a church that is suppose to be under Jesus as Lord.
After giving a parable of a rich man in Luke 16:14 Jesus points out “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.”
Mark Chirronna speaks his blessing and leads others to do so as well "There are people ready to pray with you come into agreement and see the power of God released but faith is being unlocked the power of God, you are going to improvise your way into your future, your money is in your mouth" in the name of Jesus receive your miracle right now." (Aug. 3,1999 TBN)
Today this anointing is now bringing miracles of gold onto
peoples hair and into peoples mouths (supposedly) as well as feathers falling
from heaven, for whatever that’s worth!
Copeland has lead people into chants saying "Money come unto me
now" three times to make them have abundance. Where is this practiced in The
Scripture? It can't be found but it can be found in religious science and
metaphysical practices.
If these men really refused to be moved by what they see and
feel and kept to the word exercising faith. They wouldn't be inclined to be
rich.
Both Jesus and Paul were concerned for the poor. Rom. 15:26 "For it pleased
those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor
among the saints who are in Jerusalem." Paul did not go and teach the Church how
to get wealth, have them confess their rights, nor lead them in a chant of
attracting money.
The wealth of the wicked laid up for the righteous and taken
back?
Rick Joyner repeats the same idea, "I do believe you know wealth in a sense is like energy you can't destroy it, its just transferred, and I believe in a great economic collapse. The wealth of the world will not destroyed it will be transferred, and I believe a lot of it will be transferred to the believers." (CBN Jan. 3, 2000)
As Hinn says in support of Avanzini’s teaching "The wicked are piling up the funds and I love the way john teaches on this. He’s the best there is when it comes to teaching you on how to get the wealth of the wicked. Man, I like it." (B.Hinn Praise-a-thon TBN Nov.6 1990) as Hinn points this out Avanzini was the inventor of the new indulgences for the charismatic church. And after years it has finally caught on. Now everyone is saying the same thing.
WERE GONNA TAKE IT BACK BY FORCE. Scripture verse cited-none.
Hinn leads the audience into his own affirmation "Say after me, all of you, everybody say it, 'The wealth of the wicked is mine.' [The audience repeats.] One more time, (The audience repeats) One more time. (The audience repeats it again)" (Praise-a-Thon, TBN, April 1990) Its an old practice that if you hear something said by your own voice long enough you will believe it.
R.W. Shambach "look the devil right in the face ... and take it all back, get violent." (LeSea Jan.15, 2,000)
With all the debt burning and fancy promises it has not worked. So now they resort to forceful methods by boasting against the devil.
I have also heard testimonies on programs and telethons where people owed the bank or others substantial sums of money and then received a letter saying that they owe nothing. This clearly is a mistake on the billing part of a company or bank to clear their debt. But they Praise the Lord that He canceled their debt. Lets look at this carefully
Lev 5:1 'If a person sins in hearing the utterance of an oath, and is a witness, whether he has seen or known of the matter-- if he does not tell it, he bears guilt." When we sign a contract or give our word we are to keep it. We are not to take advantage of other peoples mistakes, big or small. Someone has to pay for the mistake.
Lev. 6:3-4 "or if he has found what was lost and lies concerning it, and swears falsely-- in any one of these things that a man may do in which he sins. "then it shall be, because he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore what he has stolen, or the thing which he has extorted, or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he found." The priest who said this thing has to bear the guilt as well since he has led the person into and approves of his sin. This is nothing to Praise the Lord about, it is theft and God does not lead people or bless them to do such a thing.
Reach for the sky, this is an offering
Now before you reach deep in your wallet to give to such a worthy cause as is expressed on these stations, you need to look at these men’s tactics and teachings CAREFULLY. These are called men of faith, but they beg and manipulate you more than anyone in the world would dare to do. And it’s all done in the name of our God.
But that’s how you do it to get money to spread their gospel. But what gospel is it? As 90% of what you hear is to prompt people to give money to their ministry for a gospel that is never taught. Christ’s death, his cross, suffering for his namesake and resurrection is not the focus of their ministry. But the world and its stuff is.
The seed faith teaching of to give to get is like investing in a business, but instead its called Gods business. What are your motives in giving? If you’re giving to get, you can forget it. God doesn't want your money any more than he wants you to serve him so that you can be rewarded.
It is true what you sow is what you will reap and if you are sowing money for money, that is going to be your harvest. It just may be your reward!
Jesus said in Mt.6:19-21: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Jesus heart was on heavenly things and doing his fathers will and so should ours. One day the people who thought it was Gods promise to make them wealthy may be in heaven and find that they did not store up treasures for eternal life but for their luxury living on earth.
Prov. 23:1-5: "When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you; And put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven."
Want to know what someone really believes-watch how they live, their lifestyle. When men live and promote an opulent lifestyle they have ignored the warning of Jesus of loving God or loving money. You cannot serve both! Listen to what they are teaching on. The majority of sermons are on getting money, and their life revolves around it, what more can be said.
How some state's in America deal with poor debtors lock them up (Persecute the poor)
economy fails, debtors' prisons thrive
istockphoto
(MoneyWatch) Thousands of Americans are sent to jail not for committing a crime, but because they can't afford to pay for traffic tickets, medical bills and court fees.
If that sounds like a debtors' prison, a legal relic which was abolished in this country in the 1830s, that's because it is. And courts and judges in states across the land are violating the Constitution by incarcerating people for being unable to pay such debts.
Ask Jack Dawley, 55, an unemployed man in Ohio who between 2007 and 2012 spent a total of 16 days in jail in a Huron County lock-up for failing to pay roughly $1,500 in legal fines he'd incurred in the 1990s. The fines stemmed from Dawley's convictions for driving under the influence and other offenses. After his release from a Wisconsin correctional facility, Dawley, who admits he had struggled with drugs and alcohol, got clean. But if he put his substance problems behind him, Dawley's couldn't outrun his debts.
Struggling to find a job and dealing with the effects of a back injury, he fell behind on repayments to the municipal court in Norwalk, Ohio. He was arrested six years ago and sent to jail for not paying his original court fines. Although Dawley was put on a monthly payment plan, during his latest stint behind bars in 2012 the court ordered him to pay off his entire remaining debt.
" I called my brother, and they told him I have to pay off the whole fine in order for me to get out," he said. "That was $900. So I sat my whole 10 days [in jail.]"
Such stories are by no means unusual. Rather, they reflect a justice system that in effect criminalizes poverty. "It's a growing problem nationally, particularly because of the economic crisis," said Inimai Chettiar, director of the justice program at New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice.
Roughly a third of U.S. states today jail people for not paying off their debts, from court-related fines and fees to credit card and car loans, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Such practices contravene a 1983 United States Supreme Court ruling that they violate the Constitutions's Equal Protection Clause.
Some states apply "poverty penalties," such as late fees, payment plan fees and interest, when people are unable to pay all their debts at once. Alabama charges a 30 percent collection fee, for instance, while Florida allows private debt collectors to add a 40 percent surcharge on the original debt. Some Florida counties also use so-called collection courts, where debtors can be jailed but have no right to a public defender. In North Carolina, people are charged for using a public defender, so poor defendants who can't afford such costs may be forced to forgo legal counsel.
The high rates of unemployment and government fiscal shortfalls that followed the housing crash have increased the use of debtors' prisons, as states look for ways to replenish their coffers. Said Chettiar, "It's like drawing blood from a stone. States are trying to increase their revenue on the backs of the poor."
In Dawley's home state of Ohio, the local chapter of the ACLU announced today that it had found conclusive evidence of such polices in 7 of 11 counties in the state that it examined over the course of a year-long investigation. Although debtors' prisons are unconstitutional and prohibited by Ohio law, poor defendants are routinely jailed for failing to pay court fines, the group said in a report.
Municipal and so-called mayors' courts -- Ohio is one of two states in the U.S. where mayors can administer the law, even if they aren't licensed attorneys -- also commonly do not give defendants like Dawley a hearing or inform them of their rights to counsel, as required by law.
"They didn't give you the opportunity to say you couldn't pay," Dawley said of his time in court. "They just gave out 10 day sentences.... There was nothing about your finances. Either you plead guilty, not guilty or no contest. They give you a jail date and put you on a payment plan, and if you don't make the payment plan you're going to jail."
In so doing, courts fail to make a crucial distinction between defendants who have the means to pay their debts but refuse to do so, and those who are too poor to repay. That failure derives in large part from the lack of a consistent legal standard for determining willful nonpayment of such debts. As a result, while a judge in one state may take into account that a person on food stamps is financially unable to pay court costs, a judge across the state line might sentence that same individual to 10 days in the clink.
"If you don't have resources for an attorney or can't afford other fees associated with court, you get a different brand of justice," said Mike Brickner, director of communications and public policy at the ACLU of Ohio, noting that such practices are "rampant" in the state. "And with the economic downturn over the last 10 years, we've seen an increase and resurgence in debtors' prisons."
In another case the group uncovered in Ohio, a mother of three was imprisoned for 10 days for failing to pay $540 in fines and costs related to a conviction for driving with a suspended license. And as in other cases where the indigent are jailed, taxpayers ended up footing part of the bill. The total cost of arresting and incarcerating her amounted to nearly $1,000. (For more details on the case, see the following interview of the woman, Megan Sharp, by the ACLU of Ohio.)
The final tab for the county? A loss of some $930, ACLU of Ohio found. "If someone who can't pay is incarcerated, it ends up costing the state more because it costs more to put them in prison than what they originally owed," Chettiar said.
Jail time can also accelerate a downward spiral for the debtor, because additional court costs are piled on top of their previous debts. That makes repayment even harder, and the cycle continues.
Some cities, meanwhile, have joined states in reviving the use of debtors' prisons. Philadelphia courts in 2011 sought to collect on court-related debt from 320,000 people, involving obligations they owed dating back to the 1970s.
Some judges have had enough. An Alabama circuit court judge last year rebuked a municipal court and private probation company for incarcerating people over their criminal justice debt, calling the arrangement a "judicially sanctioned extortion racket."
Yet such critiques are insufficient to finally lock the gates on debtors' prisons, according to experts. Perhaps most important, poor defendants should be exempt from court fees and fines, while repayment plans should be set according to people's ability to repay a debt, the Brennan Center said in a recent report. States also must have clear written standards for determining a person's ability to pay. Fees for public defenders should be eliminated.
As for Dawley, who said the local court has relented in recent months in locking up people like him as public scrutiny of the issue has grown, he doesn't expect to return to jail. He is now looking for a job. "I'd like to get some retail work," he said
If that sounds like a debtors' prison, a legal relic which was abolished in this country in the 1830s, that's because it is. And courts and judges in states across the land are violating the Constitution by incarcerating people for being unable to pay such debts.
Ask Jack Dawley, 55, an unemployed man in Ohio who between 2007 and 2012 spent a total of 16 days in jail in a Huron County lock-up for failing to pay roughly $1,500 in legal fines he'd incurred in the 1990s. The fines stemmed from Dawley's convictions for driving under the influence and other offenses. After his release from a Wisconsin correctional facility, Dawley, who admits he had struggled with drugs and alcohol, got clean. But if he put his substance problems behind him, Dawley's couldn't outrun his debts.
Struggling to find a job and dealing with the effects of a back injury, he fell behind on repayments to the municipal court in Norwalk, Ohio. He was arrested six years ago and sent to jail for not paying his original court fines. Although Dawley was put on a monthly payment plan, during his latest stint behind bars in 2012 the court ordered him to pay off his entire remaining debt.
" I called my brother, and they told him I have to pay off the whole fine in order for me to get out," he said. "That was $900. So I sat my whole 10 days [in jail.]"
Such stories are by no means unusual. Rather, they reflect a justice system that in effect criminalizes poverty. "It's a growing problem nationally, particularly because of the economic crisis," said Inimai Chettiar, director of the justice program at New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice.
Roughly a third of U.S. states today jail people for not paying off their debts, from court-related fines and fees to credit card and car loans, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Such practices contravene a 1983 United States Supreme Court ruling that they violate the Constitutions's Equal Protection Clause.
Some states apply "poverty penalties," such as late fees, payment plan fees and interest, when people are unable to pay all their debts at once. Alabama charges a 30 percent collection fee, for instance, while Florida allows private debt collectors to add a 40 percent surcharge on the original debt. Some Florida counties also use so-called collection courts, where debtors can be jailed but have no right to a public defender. In North Carolina, people are charged for using a public defender, so poor defendants who can't afford such costs may be forced to forgo legal counsel.
The high rates of unemployment and government fiscal shortfalls that followed the housing crash have increased the use of debtors' prisons, as states look for ways to replenish their coffers. Said Chettiar, "It's like drawing blood from a stone. States are trying to increase their revenue on the backs of the poor."
In Dawley's home state of Ohio, the local chapter of the ACLU announced today that it had found conclusive evidence of such polices in 7 of 11 counties in the state that it examined over the course of a year-long investigation. Although debtors' prisons are unconstitutional and prohibited by Ohio law, poor defendants are routinely jailed for failing to pay court fines, the group said in a report.
Municipal and so-called mayors' courts -- Ohio is one of two states in the U.S. where mayors can administer the law, even if they aren't licensed attorneys -- also commonly do not give defendants like Dawley a hearing or inform them of their rights to counsel, as required by law.
"They didn't give you the opportunity to say you couldn't pay," Dawley said of his time in court. "They just gave out 10 day sentences.... There was nothing about your finances. Either you plead guilty, not guilty or no contest. They give you a jail date and put you on a payment plan, and if you don't make the payment plan you're going to jail."
In so doing, courts fail to make a crucial distinction between defendants who have the means to pay their debts but refuse to do so, and those who are too poor to repay. That failure derives in large part from the lack of a consistent legal standard for determining willful nonpayment of such debts. As a result, while a judge in one state may take into account that a person on food stamps is financially unable to pay court costs, a judge across the state line might sentence that same individual to 10 days in the clink.
"If you don't have resources for an attorney or can't afford other fees associated with court, you get a different brand of justice," said Mike Brickner, director of communications and public policy at the ACLU of Ohio, noting that such practices are "rampant" in the state. "And with the economic downturn over the last 10 years, we've seen an increase and resurgence in debtors' prisons."
In another case the group uncovered in Ohio, a mother of three was imprisoned for 10 days for failing to pay $540 in fines and costs related to a conviction for driving with a suspended license. And as in other cases where the indigent are jailed, taxpayers ended up footing part of the bill. The total cost of arresting and incarcerating her amounted to nearly $1,000. (For more details on the case, see the following interview of the woman, Megan Sharp, by the ACLU of Ohio.)
The final tab for the county? A loss of some $930, ACLU of Ohio found. "If someone who can't pay is incarcerated, it ends up costing the state more because it costs more to put them in prison than what they originally owed," Chettiar said.
Jail time can also accelerate a downward spiral for the debtor, because additional court costs are piled on top of their previous debts. That makes repayment even harder, and the cycle continues.
Some cities, meanwhile, have joined states in reviving the use of debtors' prisons. Philadelphia courts in 2011 sought to collect on court-related debt from 320,000 people, involving obligations they owed dating back to the 1970s.
Some judges have had enough. An Alabama circuit court judge last year rebuked a municipal court and private probation company for incarcerating people over their criminal justice debt, calling the arrangement a "judicially sanctioned extortion racket."
Yet such critiques are insufficient to finally lock the gates on debtors' prisons, according to experts. Perhaps most important, poor defendants should be exempt from court fees and fines, while repayment plans should be set according to people's ability to repay a debt, the Brennan Center said in a recent report. States also must have clear written standards for determining a person's ability to pay. Fees for public defenders should be eliminated.
As for Dawley, who said the local court has relented in recent months in locking up people like him as public scrutiny of the issue has grown, he doesn't expect to return to jail. He is now looking for a job. "I'd like to get some retail work," he said
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)