Table of Contents

1. News

2. Bible Wisdom

3. Recommended Reading

4. Study - Scoffers

`------------NEWS---------

Welcome to Issue #4 of Sight Unseen and especially welcome to all new subscribers. All of you are appreciated.

I get really tickled at how creative some spam emails can be. For instance, have you ever received an email from the "Department of Notification"? Since the government is so good at wasting money, it wouldn't be too surprising to me if such a branch of the government actually existed. What would such a department do? Notify you every time you had a doctor or dental appointment?

I can see it now. The phone rings and I answer it with the standard "Hello". They tell me that they are the "Department of Notification" and they have called me to notify me that Valentine's Day is only two days away. Be sure I get something for the missus or I will be in a heap of trouble. They close with, "By the way, you are still married aren't you?"

The newest addition to An Unseen World is Clean Jokes

I hope you find these jokes as amusing as I did...I only select jokes that I think are funny to put on my website (the mood you are in can be a determining factor of how funny a joke is) and I'm sure not everyone agrees with my definition of "funny". Oh well, when you are the webmaster you can do pretty much what you want.

------------Bible Wisdom------------

Revelation 22:18 & 19 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

The 66 books that make up the Bible is God's word in its entirety. He warned us not to add to scripture like the Mormons have done by adding the Book of Mormon. Many churches are guilty of taking away from scripture claiming there will be no millennium under Christ's rule or that the church has taken the place of Israel and the Jewish people.

The Bible is very clear that Jerusalem will become the capital of the world and Christ Himself will be king. God has plans for both the Church and Israel and they are clearly separated in His word. ----------Scoffers-----------

2 Peter 3 & 4 state: 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

Scripture tells us as the time gets closer for Christ's return to earth, there will be scoffers who doubt that He will ever return. The question is: who are these scoffers?

If I were to go to a Muslim and say, "Christ is coming back soon!", what would his reaction be? Probably something like this, "My god is Allah...I do not know or believe in this Jesus Christ you are talking about. As far as I'm concerned, you are an infidel preaching false doctrine."

If I were to go to a Buddhist and say, "Jesus Christ is coming soon!" his reaction would probably be, "Who is Jesus Christ? My god is Buddha. You have your god and I have mine."

If I were to go to a Hinduist and say, "Jesus is coming back soon!" he would likely nod his head and say, "We are all coming back soon. You may come back a prince or a slave. I may come back as a frog. What do you think this Jesus will come back as?"

I would have to reply "King of Kings and Lord of Lords!"

The fact is that the unbelieving world doesn't care one way or the other if Christ comes back or not. They are not the least bit concerned about it. So then, who are the scoffers mentioned in 2 Peter? The surprising answer is: the church!

There is a raging battle within the church. Many claim that there will be no millennium or no rapture at all. They also say studying bible prophecy is useless. Why even bother? Just try to live a good moral life like the Bible says and everything will take care of itself.

The Sadduccees and Pharisees of Jesus's day had the Old Testament and all the scriptures pertaining to Christ's first coming. If they had been paying attention to what the word of God was saying, they would have recognized Jesus for who He was. Instead, they were threatened by his authority and plotted against Him.

Jesus said in Matthew 25:13 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Why should a Christian be on the lookout for Christ's return? Simple. Jesus commanded it. Jesus is coming back. One of the reasons there are scoffers within the church is datesetters and sensationalists. Remember when the year 2000 approached and everyone was afraid all the computers would shut down? Remember how Bible Prophecy teachers (who should have known better) jumped on this event connecting it with the return of Christ? Nothing happened.

If the Lord tarries and the more years that separate the year 2000 from His actual return, the more scoffers you will find in the church. In fact, if you visit any dozen chruches today, you will find that Bible Prophecy is seldom preached. Satan doesn't want the world to be ready for Christ's return...he wants the world to worship him.

What does the scripture say about Christ's return? Jesus said in Luke 18:8 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

Copyright 2003 by Gary Goodworth