"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." Matthew 13:25

"And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge His Own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find [the] faith on the earth?" Luke 18:1-8

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father Which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Matthew 7:11

The Voice of Tomorrow does not ask you to believe, but suggests that you be willing to accept the facts upon which it is founded, facts undergirded with far more proof than the average person is willing to wade through.

Perhaps it would be in order to state that The Voice of Tomorrow is not underwritten by any church, for it is fully nondenominational, and it is also interdenominational; that is, we work with all faiths, striving to bring unto them an understanding of the glorious truths of God which had been hidden these many thousands of years. Permit yourself to be reminded of what was stated in the last talk, that the Lord Jesus Christ accused the theologians of His day of having "...taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves and them that were entering in ye hindered" (Lk. 11:52)!

All of our churches have done an immense amount of good. This have I repeatedly stated during the last thirty years: that we have no organization on the face of the earth which has done and is doing so much good work as our organized churches. At times you may hear me speak critically of the churches, or speak that which implies criticism; not because The Voice of Tomorrow is against the churches, but rather, critical of their shortcomings in having failed to live up to the most glorious opportunities that God Almighty set before them. This shortcoming was clearly predicted by the Lord Jesus Christ when He said in His parabolic statement that "while men slept an enemy sowed the tares." No doubt, you have heard many sermons about the tares, but were you ever told that they were sown "while men slept"?

Please turn with me to Matthew 13:25-26 and you will read these words:

"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also."

Now my friends, Christendom, as it commenced about the opening of the 4th century, is represented by the blade that sprang up. But here the Son of God clearly foretold that after the blade had sprung up, the enemy came and sowed the counterfeit seed "while men slept." Although we have today much of the true word of God, it has been so interspersed with outright lies from the Pit (the enemy that sowed the tares while men slept), that the teachings common in Christendom today could scarcely have been recognized by any of His twelve Apostles of old were they today to get an earful of that which is commonly taught! Oh to be sure, every conscientious church member is certain that what they have, or believe, is the true faith.

Maybe you are shocked, perhaps you are unwilling to believe my words, but I do not ask you to believe my words. I ask you to look at the words in the Bible and accept them, because if we will not accept the words of the Lord Jesus in their entirety, then we have not the faintest right to accept His words in part. We cannot believe some and reject the rest.

If you do not believe that the Christian faith has been sown through with the tares, or the false doctrines out of the Pit, then please turn with me to the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Here throughout the first eight verses the Lord Jesus was speaking of the Christian, and as to how the faith of the believing Christians was to be tested, likening it to that of a widow woman who went to the judge to get her adversary put on the spot and justice rendered unto her. Then He goes on to say that eventually the judge hears her, and decides to do her justice.

Now look carefully at the words in verse 8, as I quote them to you from Luke's 18th chapter.

"I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?"

But wait my friends, I have only quoted to you from the Authorized Version. But I have before me a diacritical copy of the eight oldest Christian manuscripts on the face of the earth, which were written in the original Greek. And so when I refer to the 8th verse of the chapter, I find that our translators left out one word, and that one word is of TREMENDOUS importance. It is our definite article we spell "the." Therefore, let me quote to you the 8th verse, the way we would translate it from the original Greek.

"I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find THE faith on the earth?"

Now, my beloved friends, what was the Lord Jesus talking about? He said "THE" faith. Well naturally, He referred to that true faith which He delivered to His Apostles who spoke unto the world. But this true faith which He called "THE" faith, He questioned if He should find on earth when He returned, and took stock of all that was being peddled in the Name of Christ. The very eye of God 2,000 years ago scanned the vista of the ages and saw how men should slumber and sleep, and how the enemy would come in to infiltrate and to sow the spurious seed. And so, with great grief in His heart, the Son of man looked upon the conditions obtaining in our century and said in substance, "When I then return, shall I find THE faith on earth?"

This was the equivalent of saying that He would search high and low, and find so little trace of it, that He will be justified in questioning, "Where shall I find `THE' faith anywhere?"

It is the selfsame situation as obtained in the days of His first advent when He accused the theologians of having taken away the key to the kingdom of God! The Voice of Tomorrow takes GREAT JOY in bringing you the GLAD TIDINGS of most WONDERFUL NEWS in commencing to restore the keys to the kingdom of God that were taken away. Yes, and even far more: to announce to you with a voice of authority, with an abundance of proof backing it up, that day is almost upon us of which I just read to you in the 8th verse of Luke's Gospel, when the very Son of God shall return from heaven to establish His kingdom upon earth, and to usher in an age of peace and great joy unto those who will hear and who will receive the truth in its fullness.

Yes indeed, that tremendous earth-rocking day of the Lord's descent from heaven is almost upon us. You, everyone who hears The Voice of Tomorrow, be warned (unless you are old and decrepit and just waiting for the undertaker) that you are going to live to see that marvelous day when the very heavens shall light up with the glory of the returning Son of God coming to establish His kingdom (that the widow woman has waited for these many centuries).

In the last lesson, The Voice of Tomorrow showed you how the Lord Jesus Christ preached that Gospel of the Kingdom of God for earthlings HERE and NOW, rather than that which some have flippantly but so aptly referred to as "pie in the sky, in the sweet by-and-by!" If you will follow me carefully, you will see for yourself, as the Bible gets unveiled before you, that the keys to the kingdom of God, which the Lord Jesus delivered unto His disciples, were intended for our health and strength, and for our abundant and overflowing joys HERE and NOW.

I want to take you briefly to the 7th chapter of Matthew's Gospel where we left off in our last talk, and where our Lord had pointed out to the people of His day that their Father in heaven was much better than parents on earth. Therefore, by this comparison He tried to impress upon the people that as they were willing to do good things for their children, so much more would the Heavenly Father do the wondrously good things for them, if indeed they were willing to live as His children. Now our Lord said in these words that, "If you who are flesh and evil by nature know how to give good things unto your children, how much more so shall not your Father Which is in heaven give the good things to them that ask Him?" (verse 11).

But we must not overlook that in those words, and as founded in His basic teachings, the good things He hands out are to those who are truly His children.

Since our Lord introduced the matter of earthly fathers and their children, let us look more closely at that. Supposing you are a parent and you have a child who as yet is not grown, but under your direct care and supervision. You lay down laws to that child, you tell the youngster of the things that must be done, and of the things that should not be done; you look for obedience and your heart rejoices exceedingly when you see the youngster paying careful attention to your requests, and doing the utmost to comply with your wishes. Now, for such a child, would you not do your utmost as a parent to grant the youngster anything and everything that you conscientiously believe was for his good, and whatsoever the little one asked for which might be within your means or capacity to grant? I have confidence that every normal parent would do precisely that.

On the other hand, supposing the child has been spending too much time with a "gang of toughs" or with the wrong kind of a playmate and picked up a bunch of bad ideas and incentives to wrong conduct, so that instead of obedience you observe disobedience; instead of attention, disregard; and instead of work and study, waywardness. If then, such a child asks you for special favors, gifts and extra concessions, are you going to fall all over yourself in order to grant them? I answer in the words of the Lord, "I trow not!" (Lk. 17:9). In spite of the child's disobedience and waywardness, the child is still yours and you love him. You think of that child's future, and you want that to be the very best. If you are a normal parent and your head is right, you will know that there must be corrective measures applied and pressure brought to bear on that youngster in order to make a deep impression. Perhaps you believe in an old-fashioned trip to the woodshed, or maybe withholding an allowance, or perhaps a severe tongue lashing instead of granting the favors which were asked. Here I'm not interested in discussing what method of persuasion may be the best, but rather to emphasize the point that the good child receives the utmost good that the parent can grant, while the disobedient child is treated to corrective measures.

This then becomes the first basic law unto citizenship in the kingdom of God: that with God as the supreme master and Father, we must HEAR His Word, and like good children, FIND JOY IN DOING HIS BIDDING.

I wonder if you who are parents have ever had a child you found necessary to correct, and when bringing correction to bear upon him, he grew indignant, maybe impudent or insolent, or obstreperous, and displayed the spirit of fighting your will and authority. If you have had that experience, you will know something about your own reaction to such an attitude on the part of your child.

On the other hand, if you had a child you found necessary to correct, perhaps even severely, and that youngster recognized that the correction was incidental to your LOVE for him; that YOU knew better than he, and thus he became appreciative of the correction he had received, I ask you: would not such an attitude or reaction greatly MAGNIFY your LOVE towards that child, were that possible? I am confident that your heart would expand to its utmost limit for that child because of your seeing an expression of understanding, and of the correct spirit.

Now back to you Christians, with all your troubles, trials and tribulations. Let us briefly consider the words of the inspired Apostle Paul unto the Hebrews as recorded in the 12th chapter and verse 9 wherein he writes:

"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and LIVE?"

Here, in slightly different words, the writer of Hebrews was writing the very same truths as I am now expressing to you; that if, as and when we are being corrected, we should realize that we are being corrected and that it is for our good. We ARE NOT being corrected for having obeyed our Father and done precisely His Will, but we are being corrected for having been SELF-WILLED and not heeding His words, which are ever unto our good.

HEAR The Voice of Tomorrow which declares that the kingdom of God is for the HERE AND THE NOW. Unless you are very old and decrepit, with your life behind you instead of ahead, you can, by and large, live a life free from tribulation, and with the abundant blessings of God upon you, providing you are willing to be a child of your Heavenly Father. But He, like earthly fathers, lays down a law of DO's and DONT'S. The average Christian knows some of these, but is in total ignorance of many others, concerning which the Lord Jesus spoke to the theologians of His day, when He accused them of having taken away the key of knowledge unto the kingdom of God.

Our Heavenly Father is a wonderfully GOOD, COMPASSIONATE, and GENEROUS Father unto His children. But if we, who like to think of ourselves as His children, have picked up the habits and the tactics and the language of the roughs and the toughs in the camp of Lucifer, then we are in store for a lot of persuasive corrections, administered by the whiplash in the hand of God. Not because He is angry with us, but because He wants to apply sufficient pressure to make us THINK and COME TO REPENTANCE, that we may again be restored unto the fullness of His love and grace. Therefore, we see all about us how even young people are full of sickness and torment, how they are filled with sadness and distress; how reverses, accidents and tragedies beset and "dog" them from "pillar-to-post" until many of them go mad and some even suicide: all because they will not hear the Voice of the loving Heavenly Father Who came into human flesh that we might have LIFE and have it MORE ABUNDANTLY here and now. "The Kingdom of God comes not by observation," said our Lord, but "is within you" (Lk. 17:20-21). That is, when we as individuals are ruled by God (perfectly obedient unto His Will), then is He the King and we the subjects: hence His "Kingdom."

On the Lord's departure, He superimposed upon this world His spiritual Kingdom with all of its glories and riches, yet that can only be partaken of by those who are "born anew" INTO that Kingdom, and who then live as sons and daughters of Jesus Christ.

IF you are certain that you are in that class, yet have or are suffering adversities, then know that you have broken laws of the Kingdom. There are no two ways about that.

When children of right and normal parents suffer punishment (correction, or call it what we will), it is because they have been disobedient (breaking laws of the parents' kingdom). They are never punished through "accident" nor temperamental "wrath" (IF the parents are good and normal), but only when they have it coming to them. Similarly with the children of God in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (for the here and now).

With all that within you is, LEARN these laws of the Kingdom. Then LIVE them, and reap in joy the wondrous fruit of His glorious Kingdom (for the HERE and for our NOW).