Why such high unemployment? Why the sick economy? It's still very, very bad and has been all over the world. Why the violence all over the world, especially in such localities as in Central America, in El Salvador, in Northern Ireland? Over in the Middle East, in Lebanon, and in places like that. Why is it that the number one problem that seems unsolvable now before humans all over the world is that of human survival?
The World Tomorrow. The Worldwide Church of God presents, The World Tomorrow with Herbert W. Armstrong. Ladies and gentlemen, Herbert W. Armstrong.
Do you know that for the first time in the history of mankind, the weapons of mass destruction, nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction exist that can erase all human life from the face of this earth and do it suddenly? And that means your life and mind and everyone that you love and care for. As always, evil crept up on us. This world condition of violence, of immorality, of everything that is wrong. Has it crept up on us so gradually in the last 75 years that we've become calloused to it? That we don't really realize it, that we just somehow come to take it for granted that it has always been that way. It hasn't. And we're coming, and coming rapidly, down to a grand smash climax at the end of this world.
The people have become callous to the condition in the world. Now, God says this of this time, this is a prophecy for this time. And it's in Isaiah 58, verse one in your Bible where God says (Isaiah 58:1), "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions and the house of Israel their sins." You know, I wonder if He uses the word "transgressions" when it says, "show the world their transgressions and Israel their sins." You know that recently, just very recently, a poll was taken in France that showed that over 90% of the people in the nation of France do not believe there is such a thing as sin. They admit that you can make a mistake once in a while, but they don't even believe in sin.
Now, sin is the transgression of God's law. And when the churches have been preaching that the law is done away, how can people believe in such a thing as sin yet? God says, "Cry aloud in this day and show His people their sins". "Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come suddenly to His temple. Even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, says the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 3:1). And then it goes on to show us talking about the second coming of Christ and not about the first coming of Christ at all.
And God says that there will be someone preparing the way for that time at the end of this world, preaching the same gospel that Jesus did, the gospel of the Kingdom of God. That is the world of God. God's civilization that is going to replace this present civilization, that is Satan's civilization. The world does not realize what has happened to it. Now, John the Baptist was a voice in the physical wilderness of the Jordan River. And John the Baptist was merely proclaiming a voice of the human messenger, Jesus coming born of a woman as a human being, God of God with us, God in the human flesh. But he came to a physical temple built of stone and wood and other metals. And he came to a physical people, Judah, his own, who received him not, but he came proclaiming a message.
Now, gospel means good news. It was an announcement of the coming world, the world of God, the world tomorrow that we've been proclaiming on this program for about 50 years now, that is coming, and this voice is crying out.
Now, recently, on a trip to the Far East, I spoke to the people in the Philippines. That is, to a group of people in the Philippines — a group of people who are subscribers to The Plain Truth magazine. And they came to hear me because I am the publisher and editor of The Plain Truth. And I want to tell you something about that after a while. But I was speaking to these people, and it was a voice crying out. Now, not in the physical wilderness of the Jordan River, but in the spiritual wilderness of modern religious confusion — of religious confusion that says the law of God has done away with, that there is no such thing as sin — and crying out about the coming of the spiritual Christ. Coming in power and glory as a spirit, not as a physical human being, and coming to his spiritual church that will rise in the air and be made translated into spirit beings at the time of his coming. And so, this voice has been proclaiming that all over the world. Now, I was proclaiming it to Plain Truth readers in the Philippines.
Well, greetings everybody. I did not come here this afternoon to entertain you. This world is bent on entertainment. This world does not know what's going to happen to it. And I'm here to tell you this afternoon something is going to happen very soon that you don't suspect, and this is real. I'm not kidding. So, if you have ears to hear, you better listen.
I want to read to you a statement that was made several years ago — a man who could understand the condition at the time and foresee what probably was going to happen. I'm going to tell you what is going to happen, and I'm speaking about General Douglas MacArthur. On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, Japan. The surrender ceremony of Japan took place aboard the United States ship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, thereby ending the war. Presiding over this surrender was General MacArthur, of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government.
Realizing the frightening importance of that day, General MacArthur delivered one of the great speeches of recent world history. And before the Congress of the United States, later, he said, "On the second day of September 1945, just following the surrender of the Japanese nation on the battleship Missouri, I formally cautioned as follows: Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations — military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations — all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war, the utter destructiveness of war. Now, blots out this alternative. We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, our Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature, and all material and cultural developments of the past 2000 years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."
Those are the words of General MacArthur, and they never were more true than they are at this minute. Now, several years have gone by, conditions have worsened, they have not gotten better. The United Nations was going to bring us peace. World War II was the war that was to end wars. World War I was the war that was to end wars. None of them ever ended war, none of them ever will. Nuclear World War III.
I want to tell you now this afternoon, World War III is definitely coming and approximately soon. I don't mean this year. It could come possibly as soon as next year, probably not that soon, but it is coming very soon, but it is definitely coming. I recently returned from Europe and there I had meetings with important, with political officials over Europe and heads of state, including one king. And I came away realizing that definitely the amalgamation of the European nations into a United States of Europe is coming. And soon.
I talked to men who are working feverishly to bring that about undercover. You don't read about that in your newspapers. You don't hear it in television news. I saw it. I talked to the men who were the leaders and who were doing it. In the Bible, in the 17th chapter of Revelation, is a prophecy that shows that when this thing comes, it will be a very short duration, it will not last long, and it will end in the second coming of Christ. So, that is how close we are right now to Armageddon, the end of this world.
Now, I'd like to read you a prophecy of what is taking place right now. As a matter of fact, it is taking place before your eyes and in your ears. This very moment. Here is what is prophesized and you are witnessing it right now in the 24th chapter of Matthew and verse 14 (Matthew 24:14), where Jesus Christ looking into the future said, "And this gospel of the Kingdom, that is the gospel", he preached that gospel was suppressed within 22 years after Jesus Christ died. And the church was founded in 22 years. It was suppressed and it has not been preached until God raised me up to begin to preach it to the world. In 1953, precisely 1900 years or 100 time cycles. The time cycle is 19 years, the sun, the moon, and the earth are in the exact conjunction every 19 years. And then you begin another time cycle of time measured by the earth in relation to the sun and in relation to the moon. 100 of those time cycles later, after the gospel was suppressed, I began to preach it over the most powerful radio station on Earth, that was Radio Luxembourg in Europe and it was heard all over the continent of Europe, over many nations.
He said "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end?" He's speaking of the end of the world, "then shall the end come the end of this world". I had been proclaiming that same message from one end of the United States and Canada to the other prior to that for 19 years. That began the very first week in 1934. 19 years or one time cycle later, I began on Radio Luxembourg in England, in, in, in Luxembourg in Europe. I'm still proclaiming it and we are now very near to the end.
And the time that Jesus Christ spoke of. Next after this gospel is proclaimed to the world beginning in verse 21 it says, (Matthew 24:21-22) "For then shall come great tribulation", that is a time of world trouble "such as was not since the beginning of the world at this same time, no or ever shall be and except those days should be shortened". Unless that trouble is cut short, "there should no flesh be saved alive", not a human being would be left alive. Humanity would be erased off the face of the earth.
It was during the time that I had been proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God. That is the world to come. During this time, the hydrogen bomb has been perfected and a few of the test bombs have been exploded out in the oceans where they couldn't harm anybody. The hydrogen bomb is 1000 times more powerful, then the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima and the one that destroyed Nagasaki in Japan. And those atomic bombs destroyed an entire city. Each one, a hydrogen bomb will destroy a city as big as London, New York, Tokyo, or this city in which you live right here. And it would destroy every man, woman, and child in it, in just a matter of seconds. And we're just that close to extinction and you need to wake up and realize it.
Now everybody thinks, "Oh, well, it's so terrible. No one would dare do it." But I want to tell you that right now, not only the United States and Russia have the hydrogen bomb, but also England and France and China. They all have the hydrogen bomb, and there are about 30 to 35 other nations that already have nuclear power and they can produce hydrogen bombs. Some little nation with a mad man — and they've had mad men at the head of nations — can set off even an atomic bomb and start like a domino theory. He can start a succession of such things that the first thing you know, the great nations would be destroying one another because whoever gets in the first blow will knock out the other country.
But now why all these things? Why are we going to come to the end of this world? What's wrong with this world anyway? Why do we need to come to the end of it? You are living in a world today of awesome progress. The marvelous mechanisms, awesome things have been developed, but at the same time, keeping pace with it have been appalling evils. And in some nations like India, in some parts of Africa and even South America, there are people starving to death every day because they don't have enough food to eat. Violence is everywhere in the world today. There has never been a time of violence like we're having now, and there are millions of people that are suffering all over this world and it's getting worse and worse and worse. Do you realize what this world is like? I don't think you do.
Now, it continues the next verse, "And except those days should be shortened and there should no flesh be saved alive, but for the elect's sake", that's those that are crying out to God, day and night, those that are praying to God, God's own people, and for their sake, God says He is going to intervene, and those days will be shortened.
Now, then immediately after this great tribulation — and it will not last long, at the most 3 1/2 years and maybe not that long. But verse 29 continuing right on says, (Matthew 24:29-30) "Immediately after the great tribulation", the most frightening time of world trouble that has ever happened, much greater than World War II. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers of heaven shall be shaken". And that is referring to spiritual powers — Satan, the devil, and demons — "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and all the tribes or nations of the earth shall mourn and they shall see the Son of Man or Jesus Christ coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" and supreme authority to rule all nations and bring in the world tomorrow. That will be a world of peace at last.
The sign before he would come, this gospel of the kingdom that he preached would finally be preached into all the world. And I came out preaching that gospel in 1934, and in 1953 it went on the air over in Europe, and now it's going all around the world, and I know more kings, more presidents, more prime ministers than any other man in this world. I have known your President Marcos for the last 12 years. I have seen him many times. I know the kings of this world. I just recently had a second meeting again with the King of Spain, King Juan Carlos. I'm going from here to see King Bhumibol of Thailand. I have been decorated by the Emperor of Japan, and God has sent me to the kings and to the tops of nations even.
And this gospel of the kingdom has gone to all the world. Now, what is going to happen? The great tribulation is going to come next. The hydrogen bomb has come and you will read back in Ezekiel, the sixth chapter, that all of the great cities are going to be leveled and destroyed. Los Angeles is going to be destroyed. New York is going to be destroyed, by hydrogen bombs. I'm telling you that a time more terrifying than anything that ever happened is soon going to happen in this world. It's time we wake up, it's time we get our eyes open. We have lost God. We've forgotten God, and God is going to step in. Satan is ruling this dark world and it's an unhappy world.
Now, I showed you that when this gospel of the Kingdom is preached, the next thing will be this great tribulation. Immediately after the great tribulation, they are going to see Christ coming, and Armageddon is going to be here in the end of the world and Christ is coming as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
So, I hope God will lead you, and I hope that you will surrender to God. You have to repent. You have to begin to believe what Christ says and not what the churches teach. And you have to grow in that kind of knowledge, and you have to overcome this world in its ways, and you have to keep enduring and never turn away from it. Many come and then they turn away. Well, they will have to suffer. It's up to you. All I can do is tell you. I have told you. You have been told. Thank you all.
We are going to have world peace. That is the message that Christ brought. That's the good news that he announced, and I want to announce it. I have a new booklet. I don't think it's been offered before: "World Peace How It Will Come." It is coming. World peace. You need to know more about it. This new booklet, I would like to send it to you, no charge. In other words, we don't ask for money, we don't charge for anything. This booklet, "World Peace How It Will Come," just write in for it. And I want to send you, if you're not already a subscriber, a year's subscription to The Plain Truth. There's no subscription price, and The Plain Truth is one of the world's great mass circulation magazines. I think it is the finest magazine in the world.
Here's one of the articles, "Germany's Future Europe's Fate." And then, under a big article, "Seeing the World Through Islamic Eyes." How do the Islamic people of the Arab world look at the rest of the world? Then here's another article, "How To Set The World Aright" It's just full of articles about world conditions, world news, giving you the explanation of the meaning of world news — an explanation that you've never read before. Millions of people look every month for this magazine, and there's no subscription price.
We'll send you your subscription if you're not already a subscriber. So just send your request for this booklet "World Peace How It Will Come" and also, we'll send you the Plain Truth a year subscription to me, Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California, Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena California 91123. That's all the address you need or why don't you just go to a telephone? That's much quicker. Just call 800-423-4444. That's 800-423-4444. Now, if you live in California, Hawaii or Alaska, however, call another number and call it collect. You call area code 213, collect then 304-6111, 304-6111 and area code 213. So, until next time, this is Herbert W Armstrong. Goodbye friends.
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