Utah, 1915
"The second coming of the Lord spoken of in the Scriptures is a personal, literal, visible manifestation," said Booth, the evangelist, last night at the tent corner of Washington avenue and Twenty-sixth street.
"Christ came to this world and was born in the flesh personally. He ministered to the human family and was put to death personally. He ascended to his Father, and has since been serving as our great high priest in the sanctuary above in person. All the promises we have in the Bible of his coming back the second time is when he will come in person. He has been with his people spiritually all the time.
"All the prophecies of the Bible that point out the coming of the Lord call for a literal manifestation. Many of these prophecies have been fulfilled literally already. The sun was darkened May 19, 1780, the moon had the appearance of blood the following night, and the stars fell from heaven 1833 A. D. These signs that were given to usher in the coming Savior were literal. Floods, cyclones, wars, labor troubles and earthquakes, which are signs of the last days, are all of a literal nature. All these literal signs point out a literal coming of the Lord.
"Christ's feet will not touch the earth when he comes. The cloud will remain stationary, and, as the earth revolves, the saints will be caught up to meet him in the air. We read, 'The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.'
"When the Lord comes, all the living wicked are destroyed by the spirit of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming."
Theme tonight, "What Will Christ's Coming Mean to You?"
—The Ogden Standard, Ogden City, Utah, June 25, 1915, p. 3
Showing posts with label parousia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parousia. Show all posts
Friday, July 6, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
No Gabriel's Horn — The Passing of Apocalypticism
1910
The Earth Will Not End Up With a Big Fire
Old Mother Earth is here to stay. The final earthquake, the lake of fire and other Biblical terrors anent the end of the world are feeble myths, discredited and scorned by the professors of the University of Chicago Divinity School.
The university experts come forth with assurances of this old world's permanency in an editorial entitled, "The Passing of Apocalypticism," in the current issue of the Biblical World, published by the university press. The "last day" is all a fairy tale, say the theological experts, and the timorous may cheer up.
The Angel Gabriel will have no chance to blow his horn, nor will the tumults and processions of the judgment day take place as advertised, according to the view taken by the divinity experts. For, say the professors, the cosmic cataclysm which has been the cause of nervous tension for centuries, positively will not occur. Historical criticism has quashed the Biblical bug-a-boo.
As for the annihilation of the sinners and the reorganization of society on a different basis, the Biblical World dismisses them without honorable mention. The horrors of the Revelations and the fiery prophecies of the Gospels are declared to be misinterpreted when applied to a convulsion such as has been predicted.
The author of the article, who shields his identity under the authority of the 13 editors of the Biblical World, intimates that the writers of the New Testament were not above inserting scary passages in the Scriptures simply to boost their own misguided opinions. Christ's saying are distorted and falsely attributed, it is alleged.
"Our hope is set not on a kingdom of God to be ushered in by a personal, visible coming of the king in the clouds, an overthrowing of all human institutions, and the establishing of new heavens and a new earth, but on the over larger and fuller development of the kingdom of God that is now on earth," says the editorial writer. "We are preaching the gospel not till, the witness having been born, the nations shall be destroyed and the handful of the redeemed shall become the nucleus of a new era, but in the confident hope that little by little the leaven may leaven the whole lump and the nations of the earth become the kingdom of God and of His Christ.
"The inspiration of victorious Christianity lies not in the hope of rescuing one's self and others from an impending cataclysm, but in the joyful devotion of one's self to the task of helping to create for today and for the future an order of things in which God's will shall be supreme and mutual love shall govern in all human relations.
"Instead of waking for the day of the Lord as an event which is to come 'out of the clouds,' Christians increasingly find inspiration to strenuous endeavor in the thought that working with God in an age-long process, they may not only achieve something for their own day, but make some contribution, be it ever so small, toward the realization of that ultimate ideal toward which God is continually guiding the race."
—The News, Frederick, MD, Sept, 20, 1910, p. 4.
The Earth Will Not End Up With a Big Fire
Old Mother Earth is here to stay. The final earthquake, the lake of fire and other Biblical terrors anent the end of the world are feeble myths, discredited and scorned by the professors of the University of Chicago Divinity School.
The university experts come forth with assurances of this old world's permanency in an editorial entitled, "The Passing of Apocalypticism," in the current issue of the Biblical World, published by the university press. The "last day" is all a fairy tale, say the theological experts, and the timorous may cheer up.
The Angel Gabriel will have no chance to blow his horn, nor will the tumults and processions of the judgment day take place as advertised, according to the view taken by the divinity experts. For, say the professors, the cosmic cataclysm which has been the cause of nervous tension for centuries, positively will not occur. Historical criticism has quashed the Biblical bug-a-boo.
As for the annihilation of the sinners and the reorganization of society on a different basis, the Biblical World dismisses them without honorable mention. The horrors of the Revelations and the fiery prophecies of the Gospels are declared to be misinterpreted when applied to a convulsion such as has been predicted.
The author of the article, who shields his identity under the authority of the 13 editors of the Biblical World, intimates that the writers of the New Testament were not above inserting scary passages in the Scriptures simply to boost their own misguided opinions. Christ's saying are distorted and falsely attributed, it is alleged.
"Our hope is set not on a kingdom of God to be ushered in by a personal, visible coming of the king in the clouds, an overthrowing of all human institutions, and the establishing of new heavens and a new earth, but on the over larger and fuller development of the kingdom of God that is now on earth," says the editorial writer. "We are preaching the gospel not till, the witness having been born, the nations shall be destroyed and the handful of the redeemed shall become the nucleus of a new era, but in the confident hope that little by little the leaven may leaven the whole lump and the nations of the earth become the kingdom of God and of His Christ.
"The inspiration of victorious Christianity lies not in the hope of rescuing one's self and others from an impending cataclysm, but in the joyful devotion of one's self to the task of helping to create for today and for the future an order of things in which God's will shall be supreme and mutual love shall govern in all human relations.
"Instead of waking for the day of the Lord as an event which is to come 'out of the clouds,' Christians increasingly find inspiration to strenuous endeavor in the thought that working with God in an age-long process, they may not only achieve something for their own day, but make some contribution, be it ever so small, toward the realization of that ultimate ideal toward which God is continually guiding the race."
—The News, Frederick, MD, Sept, 20, 1910, p. 4.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Christ's Second Coming – Working in The Meantime
1895
In every age since the advent of Christ, he has had numerous followers who were expecting his instant coming. When his immediate disciples saw him rise majestically in the clouds they heard the assurance that in like manner he would appear again. This promise they quite naturally applied to themselves, and in the apostolic age it was the common belief that the Lord would soon appear.
But as time wore on it became apparent that the purpose of Christ's first coming was not to bring the world from darkness to light by a magic process, but it was to reveal the Father's love and so inaugurate the dispensation of the Holy Spirit under whose guidance and influence human life would be transformed as fast as it could be brought subject to the gospel's power.
That Christ is sure to come is as certain as his sacred promise is true, but we doubt the utility or the propriety of laying extraordinary emphasis upon this part of our Christian hope. The time and manner of his coming are matters which he has preferred to leave us in ignorance, and we can see no advantage in prying into the counsels of heaven respecting the divine intentions regarding this planet.
As our artist well shows in the cartoon of this week, the call of the Master is to the opportunity that is present, immediate and around us. Our aim should be to watch, not that he may find us waiting, but that he may find us working. — Ram's Horn.
In every age since the advent of Christ, he has had numerous followers who were expecting his instant coming. When his immediate disciples saw him rise majestically in the clouds they heard the assurance that in like manner he would appear again. This promise they quite naturally applied to themselves, and in the apostolic age it was the common belief that the Lord would soon appear.
But as time wore on it became apparent that the purpose of Christ's first coming was not to bring the world from darkness to light by a magic process, but it was to reveal the Father's love and so inaugurate the dispensation of the Holy Spirit under whose guidance and influence human life would be transformed as fast as it could be brought subject to the gospel's power.
That Christ is sure to come is as certain as his sacred promise is true, but we doubt the utility or the propriety of laying extraordinary emphasis upon this part of our Christian hope. The time and manner of his coming are matters which he has preferred to leave us in ignorance, and we can see no advantage in prying into the counsels of heaven respecting the divine intentions regarding this planet.
As our artist well shows in the cartoon of this week, the call of the Master is to the opportunity that is present, immediate and around us. Our aim should be to watch, not that he may find us waiting, but that he may find us working. — Ram's Horn.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
The World Is Nearing An End (1899)
Ohio, 1899
THE WORLD
Is Nearing an End the Rev. Mr. Boardman Says.
Annual Meeting of Seventh Day Adventists Near Akron — R. R. Kennedy, of Wheelersburg, Is President.
The Seventh Day Adventists of Ohio are in session at Randolph park, near Akron. The service will continue for ten days. About one thousand members are present. A telegram from there states that Rev. R. A. Boardman, of Mt. Vernon, who several years ago held forth here in a tent at Chillicothe and Eighth streets, in a sermon said the end of the world was near at hand.
"We believe in the near coming of Christ," he said. "The signs indicate that the destruction of the world will come soon. I'll not set a date, but the signs are very strong that the end is near, very near. Noah was many years in building the ark. He was scoffed at when he preached about the destruction of the world by a flood. We are sometimes scoffed at, yet we are faithful in our belief, and have just as good assurance that Christ will come soon as did Noah that the earth would be destroyed by a flood.
"The twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew contains in it a reference to many of the signs indicative that the world is near the end. The twenty-ninth verse of that chapter reads: 'Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.' Now, really that on the 13th day of November, 1833, it was dark throughput the entire world, no moon shone the night following, and the stars fell in showers.
The twelfth verse of the sixth chapter of Revelations also refers in prophecy to the dark day, reading: 'And I beheld when he opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.' I might cite many other instances which give us good reason for believing that the world is near the end."
R. R. Kennedy, of Wheelersburg, who is president and state organizer of the Adventists, is present at the annual session mentioned above.
—The Portsmouth Daily Times, Portsmouth, OH, Aug. 2, 1899, page 6.
THE WORLD
Is Nearing an End the Rev. Mr. Boardman Says.
Annual Meeting of Seventh Day Adventists Near Akron — R. R. Kennedy, of Wheelersburg, Is President.
The Seventh Day Adventists of Ohio are in session at Randolph park, near Akron. The service will continue for ten days. About one thousand members are present. A telegram from there states that Rev. R. A. Boardman, of Mt. Vernon, who several years ago held forth here in a tent at Chillicothe and Eighth streets, in a sermon said the end of the world was near at hand.
"We believe in the near coming of Christ," he said. "The signs indicate that the destruction of the world will come soon. I'll not set a date, but the signs are very strong that the end is near, very near. Noah was many years in building the ark. He was scoffed at when he preached about the destruction of the world by a flood. We are sometimes scoffed at, yet we are faithful in our belief, and have just as good assurance that Christ will come soon as did Noah that the earth would be destroyed by a flood.
"The twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew contains in it a reference to many of the signs indicative that the world is near the end. The twenty-ninth verse of that chapter reads: 'Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.' Now, really that on the 13th day of November, 1833, it was dark throughput the entire world, no moon shone the night following, and the stars fell in showers.
The twelfth verse of the sixth chapter of Revelations also refers in prophecy to the dark day, reading: 'And I beheld when he opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.' I might cite many other instances which give us good reason for believing that the world is near the end."
R. R. Kennedy, of Wheelersburg, who is president and state organizer of the Adventists, is present at the annual session mentioned above.
—The Portsmouth Daily Times, Portsmouth, OH, Aug. 2, 1899, page 6.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Is the World Going to End on April 27th, 1918?
1918
By THE REV. FREDERICK W. BETTS
Minister First Universalist Church, Syracuse
I met a friend the other day who related to me an incident that occurred a few days ago, which touches the edge of one of those age-long immortal dreams of men, which no vicissitudes can dim and no disappointment can destroy.
The incident was this. My friend is a life insurance agent. He has been in this business many years. He has a friend who came to him for a policy a quarter of a century ago. Since that time, with two or three changes in the insurance policies, this agent has continued to insure his friend. The other day the friend came to him and told him to cancel his policy! When asked the reason for this request the policy holder answered that the world is coming to an end on April 27th, 1918, and he did not care to put any more money into life insurance. Here is a man who acts up to his belief, which is more than most of us do. Whatever our difference of opinion with him may be he is entitled to our respect.
This incident recalls another which my father related to me when I was a boy. He was born about 1835 or a little later. His people lived in a neighborhood which had been greatly stirred by a religious revival such as was universal in those days. This revival developed almost a hysterical anticipation of the end of the world. There was a wonderful searching of Scripture to find out the day and the hour when the great change was to take place. At last the date was discovered and the word was passed along to prepare for the impending cataclysm. The ideas of the people were elaborated from a literal interpretation of Matt. xxiv. and I Cor. xiii. Jesus Christ was to come on the clouds, with his angels. Gabriel was to blow his trumpet. The dead were to be raised "in the twinkling of an eye." Then the separation would take place. The sheep would go to one side and the goats to the other side. The saints were thenceforth to be forever with their Lord.
As the day for the great transformation drew near those who were moved mightily by this dream ceased the ordinary activities of life. The horses were left in the stables. The plows were idle in the field. Women made ascension robes while men spent long periods in prayer and exhortation.
Outside the village was a rising slope of ground which ended at a round-top hill. The spot was beautiful. From it the world stretched away to woodland and sky line over undulating, fields ripe unto the harvest. The sun shone bright on the fateful day. All the village turned out to follow the believers to their trysting place. When they were there the believers gathered in a central group, surrounded by the crowd. The believers sang a hymn, then knelt to pray. Sometimes a voice of exhortation rose from one of their number. It was not far from the rising of the sun when they went out. Hour after hour through the whole day they sung and prayed and shouted in patient anticipation. But the sun went down, darkness fell upon the world, until at last, when the midnight hour had passed, a weary, hungry, discouraged group of pilgrims wended their way back to their village homes, to begin over again the monotonous and toilsome round of daily life. Soon the horses were harnessed and the plowmen and the reapers went afield. The world went on as usual.
What happened to the faith of these people I was too young to remember, but the telling of the incident to me when I was a boy made as deep an impression upon my mind as the witnessing of it did upon my father's mind. But that generation passed away. Another generation came, only to repeat in many strange and wonderful ways the experience of their forebears. I am not inclined to be facetious over the incident. I prefer to think of it as one of those gropings of the human spirit in its search after the meaning of life and an explanation of the ways of God. What surprises the detached observer, however, is the amazing virility of this apocalyptic vision of the end of the world. Through all the centuries days have been set, preparations have been made, people have watched and prayed expecting to see the heavens open, only to turn away disappointed, with their hopes crushed. But the vision never perishes. In one form or another, it has had its devotees from the days of Buddha and Mohammed to this hour.
And now April 27th, 1918 is set again for the great transformation. Perhaps sometime, by some chance or some intuition, some one may hit upon the day when the old order will pass and a new world be born over night. Who can tell what will happen in such a universe as this? And yet the probabilities are that the oft repeated story will be lived over again, and we shall tell our children and our children's children how the day passed and no portent came and men turned back to the long and trying task of making our new earth in which the Lord shall reign, in spirit if not in a human form.
—The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, New York, January 13, 1918, page 6.
By THE REV. FREDERICK W. BETTS
Minister First Universalist Church, Syracuse
I met a friend the other day who related to me an incident that occurred a few days ago, which touches the edge of one of those age-long immortal dreams of men, which no vicissitudes can dim and no disappointment can destroy.
The incident was this. My friend is a life insurance agent. He has been in this business many years. He has a friend who came to him for a policy a quarter of a century ago. Since that time, with two or three changes in the insurance policies, this agent has continued to insure his friend. The other day the friend came to him and told him to cancel his policy! When asked the reason for this request the policy holder answered that the world is coming to an end on April 27th, 1918, and he did not care to put any more money into life insurance. Here is a man who acts up to his belief, which is more than most of us do. Whatever our difference of opinion with him may be he is entitled to our respect.
This incident recalls another which my father related to me when I was a boy. He was born about 1835 or a little later. His people lived in a neighborhood which had been greatly stirred by a religious revival such as was universal in those days. This revival developed almost a hysterical anticipation of the end of the world. There was a wonderful searching of Scripture to find out the day and the hour when the great change was to take place. At last the date was discovered and the word was passed along to prepare for the impending cataclysm. The ideas of the people were elaborated from a literal interpretation of Matt. xxiv. and I Cor. xiii. Jesus Christ was to come on the clouds, with his angels. Gabriel was to blow his trumpet. The dead were to be raised "in the twinkling of an eye." Then the separation would take place. The sheep would go to one side and the goats to the other side. The saints were thenceforth to be forever with their Lord.
As the day for the great transformation drew near those who were moved mightily by this dream ceased the ordinary activities of life. The horses were left in the stables. The plows were idle in the field. Women made ascension robes while men spent long periods in prayer and exhortation.
Outside the village was a rising slope of ground which ended at a round-top hill. The spot was beautiful. From it the world stretched away to woodland and sky line over undulating, fields ripe unto the harvest. The sun shone bright on the fateful day. All the village turned out to follow the believers to their trysting place. When they were there the believers gathered in a central group, surrounded by the crowd. The believers sang a hymn, then knelt to pray. Sometimes a voice of exhortation rose from one of their number. It was not far from the rising of the sun when they went out. Hour after hour through the whole day they sung and prayed and shouted in patient anticipation. But the sun went down, darkness fell upon the world, until at last, when the midnight hour had passed, a weary, hungry, discouraged group of pilgrims wended their way back to their village homes, to begin over again the monotonous and toilsome round of daily life. Soon the horses were harnessed and the plowmen and the reapers went afield. The world went on as usual.
What happened to the faith of these people I was too young to remember, but the telling of the incident to me when I was a boy made as deep an impression upon my mind as the witnessing of it did upon my father's mind. But that generation passed away. Another generation came, only to repeat in many strange and wonderful ways the experience of their forebears. I am not inclined to be facetious over the incident. I prefer to think of it as one of those gropings of the human spirit in its search after the meaning of life and an explanation of the ways of God. What surprises the detached observer, however, is the amazing virility of this apocalyptic vision of the end of the world. Through all the centuries days have been set, preparations have been made, people have watched and prayed expecting to see the heavens open, only to turn away disappointed, with their hopes crushed. But the vision never perishes. In one form or another, it has had its devotees from the days of Buddha and Mohammed to this hour.
And now April 27th, 1918 is set again for the great transformation. Perhaps sometime, by some chance or some intuition, some one may hit upon the day when the old order will pass and a new world be born over night. Who can tell what will happen in such a universe as this? And yet the probabilities are that the oft repeated story will be lived over again, and we shall tell our children and our children's children how the day passed and no portent came and men turned back to the long and trying task of making our new earth in which the Lord shall reign, in spirit if not in a human form.
—The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, New York, January 13, 1918, page 6.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Writer Sees Exploitation in Second Coming Preaching
1918
SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
Among certain classes of people there is being revived today a discussion of the Second Coming of Christ. We are told that there is only one interpretation of the great cataclysm now upon the world, namely, that it portends the second coming of the Lord and the ushering in of the Millennium.
Such views are always apt to float up to the surface in a time of serious crisis: but they rest on a treatment of Scripture which the historical scholarship of the world has made obsolete, which the moral principle of the kingdom of God antiquates, and which turns the Bible from a grand sacrament to a millstone round the neck of the Gospel.
To all men who know the Bible on a higher level than this, who find its inspiration not in apocalyptic prediction, but in the eternal spiritual truth it unveils, there comes today no higher duty than to help to free the church from these puerilities of magic and superstition into which it has been so easily led by the motion incident to the war. The advocates of the millenarian doctrine have taken advantage of the mood of the time to wage their propaganda with the vigor of a veritable crusade. Mankind is so sick at heart, so staggered by the war, so bewildered and anxious, that clear thinking on religious themes is difficult. Multitudes are thus left an easy prey to all sorts of vagaries if only so be they come tied up to a text of Scripture.
A book like the Bible, so Oriental, rich with imagery, lends itself to this of exploitation. Especially the books of Revelation and Daniel, written in times of stress and suffering and war like our own time, provide figures of speech and cryptic allusions which lend themselves to vague application to the events of today.
The Bible is not history written in advance. That does nothing for a religion of moral redemption. There is undoubtedly to be a grand consummation of history in a kingdom of God organic with history. But about the times, seasons and scenery of it we have no information whatsoever, any more than we have a census of the land beyond death, or a scheme of town planning of the New Jerusalem.
All that type of religion belongs to sight and not to faith.
It is visionary, and not moral in its note. To expatiate on it deflects faith, and robs it of historic sense and public effect.
It tends to sap in apocalyptic dreams the moral fortitude which is the first thing religion should supply at such a time as this.
C. H. HOOD.
-The Coshocton Tribune, Coshocton, Ohio, June 29, 1918, page 2.
SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
Among certain classes of people there is being revived today a discussion of the Second Coming of Christ. We are told that there is only one interpretation of the great cataclysm now upon the world, namely, that it portends the second coming of the Lord and the ushering in of the Millennium.
Such views are always apt to float up to the surface in a time of serious crisis: but they rest on a treatment of Scripture which the historical scholarship of the world has made obsolete, which the moral principle of the kingdom of God antiquates, and which turns the Bible from a grand sacrament to a millstone round the neck of the Gospel.
To all men who know the Bible on a higher level than this, who find its inspiration not in apocalyptic prediction, but in the eternal spiritual truth it unveils, there comes today no higher duty than to help to free the church from these puerilities of magic and superstition into which it has been so easily led by the motion incident to the war. The advocates of the millenarian doctrine have taken advantage of the mood of the time to wage their propaganda with the vigor of a veritable crusade. Mankind is so sick at heart, so staggered by the war, so bewildered and anxious, that clear thinking on religious themes is difficult. Multitudes are thus left an easy prey to all sorts of vagaries if only so be they come tied up to a text of Scripture.
A book like the Bible, so Oriental, rich with imagery, lends itself to this of exploitation. Especially the books of Revelation and Daniel, written in times of stress and suffering and war like our own time, provide figures of speech and cryptic allusions which lend themselves to vague application to the events of today.
The Bible is not history written in advance. That does nothing for a religion of moral redemption. There is undoubtedly to be a grand consummation of history in a kingdom of God organic with history. But about the times, seasons and scenery of it we have no information whatsoever, any more than we have a census of the land beyond death, or a scheme of town planning of the New Jerusalem.
All that type of religion belongs to sight and not to faith.
It is visionary, and not moral in its note. To expatiate on it deflects faith, and robs it of historic sense and public effect.
It tends to sap in apocalyptic dreams the moral fortitude which is the first thing religion should supply at such a time as this.
C. H. HOOD.
-The Coshocton Tribune, Coshocton, Ohio, June 29, 1918, page 2.
Two Dozen Watch for Second Coming of Christ
1920
TWO DOZEN WATCH FOR SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
New Religious Organization in Maine Awaits Return of Messiah.
BANGOR, Me., - Six men and eighteen women founders of a new religious sect, are in camp on the outskirts of this city awaiting the second coming of Christ. They resemble the famous Millerites, except that they set no exact date for the advent of the millennium.
The party told the police they came to Maine from Pennsylvania. Neighbors have christened them the "Allenbyites," because the new sect believes that General Allenby, when he captured Jerusalem, fulfilled a prophecy in the gospel according to St. Luke, and hold that the time has come for the children of Israel to return to Palestine.
They include as children of Israel not only the Jews, but also other residents of the United States, Canada, British Isles, Scandinavian peninsula and other countries. They declare they are unconnected with any other sect.
-The Ada Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, September 28, 1920, page 7.
TWO DOZEN WATCH FOR SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
New Religious Organization in Maine Awaits Return of Messiah.
BANGOR, Me., - Six men and eighteen women founders of a new religious sect, are in camp on the outskirts of this city awaiting the second coming of Christ. They resemble the famous Millerites, except that they set no exact date for the advent of the millennium.
The party told the police they came to Maine from Pennsylvania. Neighbors have christened them the "Allenbyites," because the new sect believes that General Allenby, when he captured Jerusalem, fulfilled a prophecy in the gospel according to St. Luke, and hold that the time has come for the children of Israel to return to Palestine.
They include as children of Israel not only the Jews, but also other residents of the United States, Canada, British Isles, Scandinavian peninsula and other countries. They declare they are unconnected with any other sect.
-The Ada Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, September 28, 1920, page 7.
Big Tent Evangelist on the Millennium: To Be Desolation
Newark, Ohio, 1916
MILLENNIUM
WILL BE PERIOD OF DESOLATION PRECEDING REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH
Commences With Second Coming of Christ and Continues While Earth Is Being Cleansed
"The Millennium, But No Second Chance," was the subject of Evangelist W. W. Miller's address last night, at the Big Tent, corner West Main and Eleventh streets. An interested audience listened attentively throughout. He claimed that the millennium, so far as this earth concerned, is to be a time of desolation and chaos, not a time of peace, happiness and bliss when all who have not accepted the gospel will given a second chance to be saved.
"The term 'millennium'," he said, "is a term not found in the Bible, as many suppose, but is a Latin phrase of two words, 'Mille,' meaning thousand, and 'Annum,' meaning year. These two words combined and anglicized form the word 'Millennium.' While the word itself is not found in the Bible, its equivalent is used therein a few times. It is a period bounded by two resurrections. It commences at the second coming of Christ. The events during the period show that God's people of all ages will be with him in heaven, while all the wicked of all ages will be in their graves or lying dead upon the surface of the earth. The earth itself will be a vast charnel house of desolation, ruin and wreckage. Satan and his angels will be left to behold what their rebellion against God has wrought.
"Then at the end of the millennium there will be a resurrection of the wicked in which they live a 'little season,' to be entirely annihilated in the lake of fire. Then the earth, purified and cleansed will be renewed by the creative power of God. The new Jerusalem will become the capital of the new earth, and the Lord's people will be given the earth in its Edenic restoration for their inheritance, thus fulfilling the promise made by the Saviour in Matthew, 5:5.
"Revelation 20:1-3 says that Satan is to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, and after that be loosed a little season, It is not to be understood that Satan is to be bound with a literal chain, for the language employed is symbolic. He is to be bound by a chain of circumstances, the links of which are first, the second coming of Christ; second, the resurrection of the righteous dead; third, translation of the righteous dead and living, and fourth, the destruction of all the wicked inhabitants of earth. These links form a chain which removes from him the power to deceive, for it takes from him all his subjects upon which he could possibly practice his deception. The bottomless pit is simply this world in its wild and desolated condition. Indeed, the term 'pit', as here used, is translated from the same original word which appears in Genesis 1:2, and is there called deep,' thus 'darkness was upon the face of the deep.' It refers throughout the Bible to any barren, desolate and uninhabited region. A word picture of the earth during the millennium is given by the prophet in Jeremiah, 4:23-27.
"If the binding of Satan is the taking away from him his subjects, then the loosing of Satan is the giving back into his hands of at least a portion of them. And this is precisely what is to take place, for Revelation 20:5 says, 'But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished ... and when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations.' This shows that the wicked will be given a resurrection, and that as soon as they are raised to life, Satan goes forth to his old work of deceiving them, and is thus loosed from his prison.
"Meanwhile the Holy City has descended from heaven, as stated in Revelation 21:2, and in it are the saved of all ages, who were translated to heaven at the first resurrection at the beginning of the millennium. Then Satan and his deceived followers attempt to capture the city. At that time fire from heaven descends upon them and devours them all. Satan with the rest. The same fire that destroys the wicked in that lake of fire also purifies the earth of all sin and traces of the curse as seen now in the decay of nature. Then are fulfilled the words of Malachi 4:1-3. The Lord will then and there, before the admiring gaze of his people, speak the words, 'Behold. I make all things new." And from out the chaos and ashes will spring a new earth, 'and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.' All tears will be forever wiped away. God's throne will be removed from its present location and set upon the earth, and here will be the center of the universe forever. Christ will come forth and say, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' Eden will become the new Jerusalem, and the plan of Salvation through Christ will be accomplished in the "resurrection of all things."
The subject announced for tonight is "The Christian's Future Home."
-The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, September 13, 1916, page 8.
MILLENNIUM
WILL BE PERIOD OF DESOLATION PRECEDING REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH
Commences With Second Coming of Christ and Continues While Earth Is Being Cleansed
"The Millennium, But No Second Chance," was the subject of Evangelist W. W. Miller's address last night, at the Big Tent, corner West Main and Eleventh streets. An interested audience listened attentively throughout. He claimed that the millennium, so far as this earth concerned, is to be a time of desolation and chaos, not a time of peace, happiness and bliss when all who have not accepted the gospel will given a second chance to be saved.
"The term 'millennium'," he said, "is a term not found in the Bible, as many suppose, but is a Latin phrase of two words, 'Mille,' meaning thousand, and 'Annum,' meaning year. These two words combined and anglicized form the word 'Millennium.' While the word itself is not found in the Bible, its equivalent is used therein a few times. It is a period bounded by two resurrections. It commences at the second coming of Christ. The events during the period show that God's people of all ages will be with him in heaven, while all the wicked of all ages will be in their graves or lying dead upon the surface of the earth. The earth itself will be a vast charnel house of desolation, ruin and wreckage. Satan and his angels will be left to behold what their rebellion against God has wrought.
"Then at the end of the millennium there will be a resurrection of the wicked in which they live a 'little season,' to be entirely annihilated in the lake of fire. Then the earth, purified and cleansed will be renewed by the creative power of God. The new Jerusalem will become the capital of the new earth, and the Lord's people will be given the earth in its Edenic restoration for their inheritance, thus fulfilling the promise made by the Saviour in Matthew, 5:5.
"Revelation 20:1-3 says that Satan is to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, and after that be loosed a little season, It is not to be understood that Satan is to be bound with a literal chain, for the language employed is symbolic. He is to be bound by a chain of circumstances, the links of which are first, the second coming of Christ; second, the resurrection of the righteous dead; third, translation of the righteous dead and living, and fourth, the destruction of all the wicked inhabitants of earth. These links form a chain which removes from him the power to deceive, for it takes from him all his subjects upon which he could possibly practice his deception. The bottomless pit is simply this world in its wild and desolated condition. Indeed, the term 'pit', as here used, is translated from the same original word which appears in Genesis 1:2, and is there called deep,' thus 'darkness was upon the face of the deep.' It refers throughout the Bible to any barren, desolate and uninhabited region. A word picture of the earth during the millennium is given by the prophet in Jeremiah, 4:23-27.
"If the binding of Satan is the taking away from him his subjects, then the loosing of Satan is the giving back into his hands of at least a portion of them. And this is precisely what is to take place, for Revelation 20:5 says, 'But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished ... and when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations.' This shows that the wicked will be given a resurrection, and that as soon as they are raised to life, Satan goes forth to his old work of deceiving them, and is thus loosed from his prison.
"Meanwhile the Holy City has descended from heaven, as stated in Revelation 21:2, and in it are the saved of all ages, who were translated to heaven at the first resurrection at the beginning of the millennium. Then Satan and his deceived followers attempt to capture the city. At that time fire from heaven descends upon them and devours them all. Satan with the rest. The same fire that destroys the wicked in that lake of fire also purifies the earth of all sin and traces of the curse as seen now in the decay of nature. Then are fulfilled the words of Malachi 4:1-3. The Lord will then and there, before the admiring gaze of his people, speak the words, 'Behold. I make all things new." And from out the chaos and ashes will spring a new earth, 'and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.' All tears will be forever wiped away. God's throne will be removed from its present location and set upon the earth, and here will be the center of the universe forever. Christ will come forth and say, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' Eden will become the new Jerusalem, and the plan of Salvation through Christ will be accomplished in the "resurrection of all things."
The subject announced for tonight is "The Christian's Future Home."
-The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, September 13, 1916, page 8.
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