"I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:4-5

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring." Luke 21:25

Good Morning, friends – and a blessed morning it can be for you, who are the children of the ever-living God!

In a previous lesson I shared about the signs of our times and the days in which we live, pointing out how a number of things which have taken place in our world of today were described in minute detail in our Bible by the Prophets of God, thousands of years ago. In that lesson I shared about Rangers No. 6 and 7, which were sent to the moon, and Mariner No. 4, which was sent to the planet Mars. Order Signs in the Moon and Mars and The Heavens Declare the Glory of God to learn more about such heavenly signs.

In order to understand our Bible, we cannot run while we read, neither can we probe its depths while we are watching a TV show. I doubt not but that ministers of God have, of recent times, mentioned from their pulpits these explorers which were sent into space, in connection with the Bible prophecies. But based on my past experience of a great many years back, I am prone to doubt that the messages given concerning these exploring rockets constituted any revelation for our day. We never received any report from our far-flung students from coast to coast, and even throughout other lands, that there is anyone in their midst who is setting forth the revelations for our day in the fashion that you hear through The Voice of Tomorrow, and in the literature made available now through Shepherdsfield Publishers.

Our Lord said, in the days of His flesh, that while He was in the world, He constituted the light of the world, but He immediately went on to say that "...night cometh, when no man can work" (Jn. 9:4). From the record of history, and through our knowledge of world conditions today, we know that Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, was the true Light that did come into the world (Jn. 8:12, 9:5, 12:46). And consider that the nations which embraced Christianity have excelled in fields of science, sociology, medicine, philanthropy, charity, idealism, industry, modern developments, invention, spirituality, and unceasing labors to better the lot of the underprivileged. The only non-Christian nation on the face of the earth today which could be compared to the nations of Christendom, is that young state of Israel. But bear in mind that the Jewish people have been brought up in lands of Christendom and nurtured in Christian culture. Because of that, they have partaken of the heritage which became the lot of those nations who accepted Christ. The advances of other modern nations, i.e. Japan, etc., can be traced back to their imitation of the nations of Christendom.

As I have already quoted to you, our Lord predicted that "night" would set in, where no one could work. That is the sad fact that history records, and of which we are now aware. For after the Christ was crucified, and His Apostles eventually had been called home, then, not only had set the glorious light for man which God sent into the world, but even the wonderful afterglow, as shed abroad by His disciples, ceased to be. Since that time, we have only had what might be called "mutterings in the night," insofar as the truths of God are concerned and His revelations unto man. That is why there are but husks and crumbs of the Spirit available today. But now, at long last, the rays of the glorious returning Daystar are beginning to shoot over the spiritual horizon, and that is the reason for The Voice of Tomorrow, which sets forth an abundance of revelations with authority, because the proofs are given in every instance. I do not ask you to believe, I only ask you to be of sufficiently open mind to receive that which can be proven.

Now let us take a little closer look at the signs in the sun, the moon and in the stars. This time I will not deal with those signs in detail, for the simple reason that they have already been covered, both in previous lessons as well as in printed form. But I want to draw to your attention the word in the original Greek which has been translated "signs" in the Authorized Version. The Greek word sameia means more than a sign or an omen or a token, for it carries the connotation of a deeper significance. The Greeks used this word to mean a whole lot more than merely an omen. For instance, on sea, men would transmit messages by the means of flags and their motions. That signal was referred to by the same word – sameia. In other words, it is a message conveyed by means of signs.

For a moment, stop to think about the moon-probers and the Mariner 4 to Mars. Did not our moon-shots en route to the moon and other planets keep sending back, perpetually, radio signals and information for our scientists to record? There was no human being on board to send back the spoken word: there were but the electronic detectors and cameras. While the information on the Mariner and moon-probes which was relayed back had to be processed by the scientists and deciphered – or should we say, decoded. Then Ranger No. 7 sent back television pictures of the moon's surface. Truly those were signs of a deeper significance than of an omen. In similar manner did Mariner 4's electronic instruments on board perpetually send back information to earth which had to be decoded and processed to yield its message unto our scientists. As Mariner 4 got within picture range of Mars, it commenced taking pictures, but the pictures could not be transmitted back to earth for our TV screens. The available radio power was not sufficient for that. So, our scientists had evolved a system of signals – numbers, if you please – which required a special processing in the laboratories of our scientists; after that processing, our pictures of the surface of Mars were available. I tell you that became a fulfillment of the Greek sameia to its Nth degree in the moon and in Mars! Although we may call Mars a planet, yet it has always been known as a star and still is, in common parlance. At the time the Bible was written, no distinction was made between the stars and the planets.

You may have heard about sunspots, and possibly seen moon dogs, and you may have seen the moon of blood color because of certain atmospheric conditions existing. But our scientists tell us that the sunspots have ever been since the sun became a body, and will continue to be throughout the future. Therefore, we cannot look upon such phenomena as sunspots and think of them as omens, or signs for man, to indicate that the Lord is about to return. But today we have seen the full and factual fulfillment of the true meaning of the Greek word sameia in the moon and in the stars. These electronic devices on board our exploring rockets have also been sending us back information about the solar radiations which impinge upon the earth and are throughout space. By very little stretch of the imagination, we could refer to such as signs in the sun, yet it is my personal conviction that some explorer sent to the sun, or into its vicinity, will send us back the sameia about the sun. When that we have received, then have we seen to the fullest extent the true meaning of the Lord's words which I want to read to you from Luke 21:25-27.

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

I suppose that there was never a time on earth since the beginning of nations, that the nations did not have their quarrels and even wars; that is evident from history. But here our Lord was speaking about much more than merely that of quarrels and wars; He was speaking of distress of nations with perplexity. The distress of nations arises through national catastrophes, such as great and devastating tornadoes, earthquakes and tidal waves, pestilence and even want, because of the nations being in financial difficulty. Of all this we have seen an immense amount of late years. But this word perplexity – that goes much further. That bespeaks internal problems which our leaders and people find it difficult to solve. Here in this great America we have a land of liberty and great abundance, and still within the last few years a national problem has developed and taken on such proportions that it not merely distresses our nation, but has built up a condition of perplexity which our best minds are battling to solve.

But back to the words of our Lord: He said that when these things we see, then we shall know that the last days of our era have arrived, and that the manifestation of these conditions on earth constitute the certain sign that the time of His bodily return to earth is at hand.

Don't misunderstand me to say that He might be returning at any split moment now – He will not! The time is not ripe. Were He to come today, we would crucify Him again, were we to have that power in our hands. In the days of His flesh, His Chosen People did not want Him, for the simple reason that they were an established nation and thought they were doing well without Him. In the same way today, the world over, we have conditions of industry, progress and excitement; we think of ourselves as running the show. I repeat, were our Lord to return now, we wouldn't want Him. When I say "we," I refer to the world at large, although a small, and very small, percentage of its people would rejoice at His coming. But if He returned now, He could only establish His kingdom through use of power, as I previously told you.

Any kingdom which must be held together by the means of sheer force, is not a kingdom of happiness. God wants His children to be happy. Therefore, He is not returning now, for the simple reason that we are not ready to receive Him. But after our so-called peace has been violently broken, and the titanic conflict of the ages set in and raged for a period of more than one year, then will the remaining people be panting for our Lord and praying for His sudden return – in loud words and with an abundance of tears beseeching Him to suddenly return.

Now, if you know that Being as your God, that is, your Keeper, then you can truly start singing and you can start shouting and you can start laughing! If you were not a grown-up today, and knew that you had as your earthly father the smartest man on earth, the wisest man on earth, the richest man on earth, the most powerful man on earth, the kindest man on earth, would you not have plenty of reason to be singing perpetually and shouting with joy?! Therefore, I say that if you know the living God as your personal Keeper (having been born into the kingdom of Jesus Christ), then you have as your father the ever-living God and Savior, Who is all-wise and all-powerful and owns the very universe; therefore, you can truly start singing and shouting for sheer joy of heart, and this day set your foot on the glorious road to a real success and happiness which you never dreamt were possible.

I want every one reading this to come into the secret of being very happy from morning until night, and even through the night. And I want you to learn the secret of being very successful in life. None of these are difficult; in fact, they're very simple, because success and happiness are the birthright of every person born anew into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Understanding leads to peace of mind.

"PEACE" with God leads to His blessing upon your life.

HIS blessing upon your life leads to success "out of this world."

It is as simple as that!