Supplement 21 — For Lessons 41 & 42

Supplement Twenty-one

For Lessons Forty-one and Forty-two

In these last two lessons we have studied all about the book of Revelation, the resurrections, and Heaven. We have seen that Heaven is a real place and is being prepared for people who conform to the total will of God. The truth is that there are certain earmarks of all true Christians that one can always detect and confirm as to whether a person has truly been born-again. There are also certain earmarks of the ungodly that can be easily seen which proves that they are against true Christianity and the Bible.

“Ye Shall Know Them by Their Fruits”

This is a statement from Jesus Christ Himself Matthew 7:15-23. There never was a statement made that is truer than this one. It plainly teaches that there are ways whereby all men can know who is right and who is wrong, who is for the truth and who is against it, who is a true Christian and who is not, and who is a true teacher and who is a false one. The ways whereby man can be discerned is “by their fruits” and not by their outward appearance and refinement, which can be so deceptive. A rotten apple may have an attractive coating of wax on the outside and it may be colored with the most beautiful paint, but a bite into it would be a bite into corruption. A most perfect and beautiful fruit tree outwardly will sometimes be so diseased inwardly that it produces the worst kind of fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth corrupt fruit, and a corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit. Every tree brings forth of its own kind whether it is good or bad. So it is with false teachers and those who follow them. Such people can be ever so good outwardly and they may be more refined and correct in life than many true Christians, but this does not prove that they are of God. We all have seen false teachers and rebels against God and the Bible who have been so nice, refined, polite, well-mannered, polished, high toned, and poised until one would think they were gifts from Heaven, but in reality, they were destitute of all truth and spiritual experience and bitter enemies of the Bible.

“Beware of False Prophets”

Not only are we told to beware of false prophets, but we are told to “Beware of men” who will cast true believers in the gospel out of churches and even persecute them to death Matthew 10:17-20. It was the refined and popular religious leaders of the first century who crucified Christ John 18:3, 19John 19:6-15Acts 2:22-24, 36. Jesus and His gospel were always at variance with the accepted religion of His day Matthew 16:6-12Matthew 23:13-39Mark 8:15Mark 12:38. It was organized, backslidden religionists who persecuted the early disciples Acts 4:1-31Acts 5:17-42Acts 6:8-15Acts 7:51-60Acts 8:1-3Acts 9:1-2, 21Acts 12:1-4Acts 13:44-52Acts 14:19Acts 17:5-9Acts 18:6.

Apostasy Predicted for the Last Days

The Bible is very clear that there will be a great falling away from the true faith in the last days. To quote the Scriptures is all that is necessary to clarify this point. Note the following:

“Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many . . . 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. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold . . . For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before” Matthew 24:4-12, 24Luke 21:8-11.

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed . . . as his coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained” 1 Timothy 4:1-8.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous [hard] times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away . . . Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth . . . men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith . . . Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” 2 Timothy 3:1-14.

“I charge thee therefore before God . . . Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they shall 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 into fables” 2 Timothy 4:1-5.

Ten Questions For Supplement Twenty-one. Do You Know:

• That resurrected men will eat and drink forever like we do in this life? This is clearly revealed in a number of passages which need no interpretation at all. See Lk. 22:14-30; Rev. 2:7, 17; 19:1-10; 22:1-3.

• That the large oceans will cease to exist within 1,000 to 1,100 years? At the end of the thousand years’ reign of Christ the Earth will be purified by fire. The oceans will cease to exist, for John saw no more sea in the New Earth Revelation 21:1-2. The Millennium is not far off. In fact prophecies are being fulfilled now that prove we are at the very end of this Age of Grace. When Christ comes there will be only 1,000 years before the Earth will be made new and without most of it being under water, as we shall see in Lessons Forty-nine through Fifty-two.

• That spirit-beings are soon to appear on Earth to make war on men? In Rev. 9 we have the prediction that two kinds of spirits out of the Abyss will appear on Earth to torment men for five months and to slay one-third of men at a certain hour. This will be during the first 3½ years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, as we have studied in Lesson Forty. In Rev. 12:7-12 we have the prediction that the devil and his angels will be cast down to the Earth in the middle of the Week and will destroy men the last 3½ years of the Week. So we can say with definite assurance that spirit-beings will soon be seen on Earth and that they will do exactly what these Scriptures say they will do.

• That millions of human bodies will be created in a moment of time in the near future? It is stated that at the rapture God will give a body to each resurrected saint in a moment of time 1 Corinthians 15:51-581 Thessalonians 4:13-17Philippians 3:20-21. This will require the actual creation of millions of bodies in one moment. God will give to each one a body as it has pleased Him and to every one his own body 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.

• That the souls and spirits of the dead will never be resurrected out of the graves? The souls of the wicked and of the righteous do not go into the graves when their bodies are buried. Therefore, they will never come out of the graves in the resurrection. The bodies only die and go into the graves James 2:26. The souls and spirits of the wicked go to Hell and the souls and spirits of the righteous go to Heaven until the resurrection of the bodies, as we have proven before in Lesson Thirty-seven.

• That some of you who read these lessons may continue to live forever on the Earth in your natural bodies? In other words, we are living so near the end of this Age of Grace that it is possible for some living in this generation of young people to be alive on the Earth at the second coming of Jesus Christ and enter the Millennium as earthly, natural people, to help replenish the Earth in the thousand years’ reign of Christ. That there will be people on Earth who will continue from this age into the Millennium is clear from Zech. 14:1-21; Isa. 2:1-4; Mt. 25:31-46 and other Scriptures. If any person alive today continues to live through the future tribulation and is worthy of entrance into the Millennium, and if he conforms to the will of God throughout the Millennium and does not rebel with Satan at the end of the thousand years, he will be worthy of continuing to live on the New Earth forever. That there will be eternal generations of natural people on Earth has already been proven in Supplement Two, Question 2. In the Millennium human life will be extended forever for those who will obey God and conform to His whole will, as we shall see in Lesson Forty-nine through Fifty-two.

• That one man carried on a twenty years’ war single-handed against a whole nation and killed many thousands of the enemy? This man was Samson who fought against the Philistines for twenty years. He killed from 4,000 to 6,000 men in this period by himself Judges 14:4, 19Judges 15:8, 15Judges 16:23-31.

• That one man slew 102 men while sitting down? This was Elijah who sat on the hill and called fire from Heaven to slay two companies of fifty men and their captains 2 Kings 1:8-16.

• That two men did more for God in their death than they did in life? Samson was one of these men. He slew more of God’s enemies in his death than he did in his life Judges 16:23-31. He killed all the leaders of the nation who held the children of Israel in bondage. Jesus was the other man. Through His death He conquered death, Hell, and the grave, thereby liberating all men and redeemed them to God by His blood Colossians 2:14-17Revelation 1:5Revelation 5:8-10John 3:16. Thus He did more by His death than He did during His entire life on Earth.

• That Adam was not the first son of God to be created? There were many sons of God called angels who were created before Adam. They were present when God laid the foundations of the Earth Job 38:4-7Colossians 1:16-18. Adam was the first son of God created of the human race Luke 3:38, but there were innumerable created sons of God in Heaven and in Earth before Adam. The pre-Adamite races and all spirit-beings were created of God and were therefore His sons by creation, as we have seen in Lessons Six and Seven.