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What is New
THE OTHER
NEWS
The Celestial
and the Terrestrial
News of Heaven
and Earth
A Christian Review
of
recent and not so recent events
in
terms of News from the secular press
with
Appendix on U.N. trends
Rev. Dr. Robert Donaldson
Published by World
Wide Web Witness Inc. JUNE 1997
ISBN 0 9586992
8 3
Introduction
The introduction
may look cool, but the earth is not.
Events
on this earth have been engulfing civilisation in a way which is just, often
atrocious, for many confusing, and accurately predicted as penalty for unbelief
in the Lord Jesus Christ who did all, offered all, sacrificed all, that this
prodigious celestial action, wrought and taught on earth, might become a
pronouncement, a payment and a delight for many. Most do not want the only
sinless Saviour the world has known, the only One authenticated by reason
and revelation, history and life.
It is like a cancer
operation: the results of not having it can be atrocious: but then, as the
French put it, what would you ? That is the nature of cancer.
This
is the nature of sin, and the world, as shown in the 18 news items considered
with the eye of faith, with the relish of reason and in the light of revelation.
Often these items represent earthly symptoms of spiritual sickness, earthly
blindness to spiritual dimensions, earthly folly before celestial wisdom.
It is well to reflect on the topsy-turvey character of much, and to see the
image when it is not inverted!
These
items, often of crucial significance, may be followed in order from the Contents page. This lists
the 26 Report-Reviews, and the 3 Appendices.
It is
my hope that those reading these pages will become as interested in things
celestial as their own origin from that source makes right; as understanding
of things on earth as the needs of that planet requires in the Lord, and
know the Lord Jesus Christ, without whom there is quite simply, no light.
At no
time would I rather have lived on earth than this - unless perhaps when Christ
was actually here, but then I may soon see Him returning, which has its own
intrinsic delight. It is a time of fulfilled prophecy, of desolation for
all philosophy which accordingly has modishly invented anti-philosophy in
understandable disgust, for all evolution, which writhes and squirms like
angry worms trying to turn, but finding it scarcely in their nature; for
all political philosophy which has its works to attest where it has come
from; as also do the millions of squandered bodies and agonised minds
it has afflicted.
The hope
that Zechariah spoke of, and Marx abused -"Turn to the stronghold,
you prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double
to you ... and the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock
of His people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an
ensign upon His land", is available
to all who are the Israel of God, the called New Covenant people to whom
those who believe in the Old Covenant will assuredly be added, with specifications
of their own as all God has said is fulfilled: though with no other status
than this: CHRISTIANS.
That
hope ? As Isaiah put it, "There shall
be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people: to it
shall the Gentiles seek, and His resting place shall be glorious" (
This
is a time for turning and returning to the Lord, for nations to do so, for
individuals, for families; a time for Christian families to solemnly affirm
their covenant obligations in the Lord, with their children - their prayers
guaranteed access, with their lives, their works and their words. It is a
time of delight in the Lord (Isaiah 58:10-14, Psalm 37:1-7), in which His
day of rest is the time for devotion and mercy, as He has provided. It is
a time for love and unity amidst the people of the Lord, in massive co-operation
without the Judas-look ecumenism which starts without foundation and is to
end without glory.
It
is a time to seek for the lost with a compassion born of love, and to love
one's enemies with a magnanimity born of Him who cried, "Father, forgive
them, for they do not know what they are doing." It
is a day in which to forget vengeance, to abhor iniquity, to compromise in
nothing, and to overflow with grace. It is a day in which virtue must once
again be prized, and gracious acts in a gracious spirit must be conjoined
with fire in the heart, the word of God that animated Jeremiah, and boldness
in the faith. It is a day for repentance, national and personal, and for
seeking the Lord for:-
"You shall
seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart. And
I will be found of you, says the Lord" (Jeremiah
29:13-14). God is no respecter of persons, and to one and to all He so declares.
"Seek
and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you."
To
the Christian who is one indeed, not in name only, who knows Romans 6 and
I John 3, neither sunk in sin nor sunk in pride, there is this message: "Behold I have
set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little
strength, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name" - Revelation
3:8. To the seeker who has not found, this comes: "I am the door,
by Me if any man
enter, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture" - John
10:9.
If
you do not want to enter, yours is the cancer; if you do, then enter! There
is no such shepherd as this One! He is worthy by virtue of creation and redemption;
and if the latter be stringently limited, yet sure it is that if you enter
that door, it is yours; and if you do not receive Him, there is no cover
for you. God however knows His own, and these only He has covered, though
His offer is as sincere as the beauty of the rose, as wide as the ocean and
as deep as space (I John 1:9-2:2, Colossians 1:19-23, Romans 8:32, John 10:26,
8:44, Isaiah 53:5 - those whose iniquities He bore, are those 'healed' by
His stripes: are you ?).
Indeed,
all this He has created, and a clean heart, it is this which He only can
create. Why be polluted ? Come to Him!
My
father in law had for many years, indeed till he passed from this world,
in large and conspicuous writing on one of his farm buildings, clearly visible
from the road, the first words from this verse:
"Seek
the Lord, while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for
He will abundantly pardon."
What
more unrighteous than this, to doubt Him in His salvation, to ignore Him
in His prodigy, His offer, or not to follow Him in His way - that highway
of holiness in which the wayfaring men, though they be fools, shall not err!
(Isaiah 35:8, Luke 14:27-33). What more delightful than that: "He delights
in mercy" (Micah
You
may care, after seeing the 20 News Items, to ponder:
1) Appendix 1, on
international prospects and progressions towards the end appointed ...
2) Appendix 2, an
illuminating and scripturally based parallel from ancient times, that focusses
the real plight of the earth in which we live ...
3) Appendix 3, dealing
with Magical Naturalism as:
The Extrapolation
of What does not Exist, or if you prefer:
The Magnification of What is not There.
Here we
consider the Vacant House of Naturalism, that Other House, the Devils to
Fill it ... and The Advent of Holy Housing.
To
that, let this be added:
He
who is "the first and
the last" (Isaiah
44:6), that One God who, in the love of the Father has provided the Son for
a path of peace for man (Isaiah 48:16, Colossians
"Worthy
is the Lamb who was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honour, and glory, and blessing." Amen. With the Father, He abides, "the first and
the last" - Revelation
2:8; and from their throne proceeds "a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal". And what is cited ? This:
"For
Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us to our God kings and
priests: and we shall reign on the earth." So is His gift available to
all who come to Him as He is, in terms of His Gospel as it is, has been and
will be (Galatians 3; 5; Romans 3,5,8, Revelation 14:3).
Amen.