"…and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Luke 21:24

"And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matthew 24:3

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left…. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." Isaiah 11:11-12

Good morning, friends; and truly a good morning it can be to you who are the children of the living God!

Last time I spoke to you of the signs of the times in which we live, and with that I want to continue. But let me remind you that the word in the Authorized Version rendered "signs," which we are prone to think of in the terms of an omen, comes from the Greek word sameia, which carries a far deeper meaning. It actually stands for a message conveyed by means of signals; that is its basic and original meaning. Signals by flags used on sea to convey messages from ship to ship; signals used by news carriers which could be seen and picked up by runners at a great distance, and thus relayed by other runners to more distant signal-posts were sameia. Based on this true understanding of the word, I have pointed out to you that not until recent years has this Scripture been fulfilled, wherein the Lord Jesus Christ, in the days of His flesh, speaking of the end of this era, said that there would be "signs" in the sun and the moon and in the stars (Lk. 21:25).

Simple people have always believed that God in heaven would produce some marvelous phenomena in the heavens for man to look upon. But now for several decades I have been telling the world that all these things are to come about through the works of man. The reason is that all of our fortune – good or bad – as we call it, comes about through our own works. God is no wicked magician who stands by gleefully to inject serpents or dragons into the life of man. We create our own evil fortune, and we also prepare our bed of roses. So when God has foretold us of the things we are going to create for ourselves, and the disasters we are going to bring upon ourselves, He told us of the things that we would do just previous thereto, by which He meant to say that such acts of our own would be the acts that we were committing just previous to bringing about our own worldwide disaster. The only thing that God has said that He would do about that is, that when He sees His foolish children having burned up the pillars supporting the vast superstructure of our civilization, He would personally descend to earth for the purpose of saving a number of us, in order that not all flesh should be destroyed from off the face of the earth (Matt. 24:22).

Now with this thought hammered home a little more clearly, let me come back briefly to the signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars, of which the Lord spoke when talking to his disciples about the end of the world. But first, let me draw to your attention, that what the Authorized Version has rendered as "the end of the world" has not the faintest connection with what people used to believe would happen at "the end of the world." God has planned this earth to continue for untold millions of years into the future. The Greek passage rendered "the end of the world," simply means the end of the era, or the end of this dispensation, in the same way as Christ's coming to the Jews, His going to Calvary, and the complete dispersion of the Jews in 70 A.D., was also the end of their era or dispensation. In the Greek it would have been written precisely the same way as the passage which our translators rendered for us as, "the end of the world."

There are no such things as omens. That which we call an omen is simply something which the simple do not understand. Therefore, there is to be no omen in the sun or in the moon or in the stars – positively never. We have progressed far enough in our scientific achievements to send exploring rockets to the moon and to Mars and to the vicinity of the sun. And, these exploring rockets have on board electronic equipment which sends back to earth thousands of signals which tell us of the existing conditions obtaining there, and some of these signals even yield us pictures (after our scientists have processed the signals), even photographs of the surface of Mars. These, then, are the sameia in the moon and in the stars and in the sun, which are relayed back to tell us of those conditions. These, said the Christ, would be the indications to the world that man has progressed far enough in his madness to destroy himself and bring a sudden termination to the era which God has granted man in order to prove himself.

There is a God, and a very realistic God, and a very personal God; He is an individual Entity. But He is not a capricious God to bring evil upon man, but rather, He is a very loving Heavenly Father Who labors unceasingly for the good of His children. That is the explanation for The Voice of Tomorrow. For, on June 22nd, 1965, His "Voice" out of the glory spoke to me, saying, "Call My people together." Then, after a brief pause, with emphasis He repeated, "CALL My people together." That is why you are being called together through means of radio, literature and other forums such as conferences – to explain things to you in greater detail, that you may be fully prepared for the morrow and what it holds in store. Because the Heavenly Father loves you, He granted me a commission that you may be prepared for what tomorrow holds in store, and for the Lord's soon and sudden return to earth, "in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thess. 1:8). Much free literature has been prepared to further help you. A little brochure by the name of Signs in the Moon and Marshas been prepared. This booklet gives you the interpretation of the signals of prophetic measures of time until certain events are to take place. That you may more fully understand those sameia, and stare in utter amazement, I urge you to order Signs in the Moon and Mars, as well as The Heavens Declare the Glory of God.

Jesus was sitting with His twelve disciples on the Mount of Olives, and they had asked Him what the sameia were going to be to indicate the end of their era or dispensation, and of the time when His return to earth would be close to hand. They gave Him several questions, and He answered them distinctly and separately. At this moment we are only concerned with the sameia, or the signals, which shall indicate the end of our own era, and of His soon and sudden return. Of these, the principal ones were what I have just been dealing with – the signals coming to us from the moon and from the stars and from the sun, which we have now been receiving in abundance during the last decades, and particularly of very, very recent times.

But momentarily, let us look at this one, wherein He said, "...and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Lk. 21:24). This treading down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles commenced at the final overthrow and destruction of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar, at which time the glorious Temple built by King Solomon was also destroyed. Historians have placed that event in 586 B.C., although the authorities do not agree precisely, some placing it in 587 B.C., and others close to those years. Actually it is not so important what the precise year may have been, because we are not interested in setting a future date fixed in any one particular year, month and day. So long as we know the approximate time, that is all we need, and we see through the general agreement of the historians, that the event I just mentioned must have approximated 586 years previous to the commencement of our common (or Christian) era.

"Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him." Daniel 4:16

The passage rendered "7 times" is the same as our expression of 7 years. So when we extend this prophecy to apply for these last days, we must understand that we have to use the standard God laid down in the days of Moses, that one day is going to mean a full year for the world (Num. 14:34).

According to the account given us in Genesis, the original year before the days of the flood was an even 360 days. On that basis, times 7, the seven years become 2,520 days, that is, years for us, while on the basis of our own true year, it becomes 2,500 and almost 57 days – that is, prophetically speaking, years. Let us add these two periods of time to the year approximating 586 B.C., and that takes us into the 20th century, to the years approximating 1935 and 1971. We do know in the time as approximating 1935, 36 and 37, there was much trouble in Palestine, which was then under British mandate. At the time, a royal commission came out with the decree – they called it a "White Paper" – that Palestine had to be partitioned into different zones, in order to promote peace and tranquility within the land for the two nations involved; that is, for the Jews and for the Arabs. Instead of this leading to peaceful conditions, it led to increased trouble, becoming so great that Great Britain decided to wash her hands of the whole mess and pull out. That decision was completely implemented by May 14th, 1948, and a few hours later, the Israel people declared themselves a reborn nation in Palestine.

We see then by this prophecy of the Lord, and as founded in the events of recorded history, that there was to be a period of turmoil and clashes between the Jew and the Arab in Palestine throughout at least 36 to 37 years. [That took us into the first few years of the decade of the 70's, after which we again beheld the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the war in Lebanon, and the continued clashes and "intifadas" which have contributed to the present crises in the Holy Land. – Editor] From this particular prophecy, and its connecting events of history, we cannot fix the exact year, but we are quite safe in saying that the termination of the era of the Gentiles of which He spoke (who are to tread down Jerusalem), may come anytime now.

To many of you, that may not mean a great deal, for you will say to yourself, "If the Jews are in complete power of Palestine, or only confined to a portion thereof, what difference does that make to us?" But the point is, that according to the prophecies, the land will not be completely restored to the Jews until the Lord Jesus has descended from heaven, in bodily return to the Mount of Olives. And that, in turn, means worldwide, world-rocking and titanic events to take place previously. Therefore I say, our time is short to "call the people together," that those who will hear the Word of God may be fully prepared for the utterly astounding events that are now upon the world horizon.

The Jews are indeed a people in a class by themselves. By many they are hated, and have in some lands been turned into scapegoats – as they were by Hitler in Germany. Often they have been persecuted – to the extent that some have labeled them the "indigestible Jew." No doubt there have been many bad characters among them and, I am equally as sure, there still are.... But out of the tribe of Judah came my Lord and Redeemer and the Savior of the world. Therefore should those people be held in high regard, except for the occasional individual who may merit our contempt.

Many intellectuals of today pooh-pooh the claim that God chose any particular people, claiming that would be partiality. Yet such people lack much in intelligence. Wherever we have a great work to be accomplished, leaders are a MUST. Even in sports, a coach will place certain men in key positions. THAT is what God required: a KEY people which He chose for a strategic work and placement. THAT they have remained into this very day.

WHO among intellectuals (of any age) would have dared to predict that the Jews would again be a nation in their land, after Babylon carried them captive? Or who would have had the temerity to forecast their return to nationhood after Rome took them over completely in 70 A.D.?

Yet the Word of God fulfills with astounding precision! "Seven times" did He say that He would cause the sword to glitter at their heels. As their dispersion under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came in stages, with a great many years separating, so have we in these days witnessed their REgathering to their land of promise in corresponding stages. In fact, THAT constitutes the greatest sign of our times, that there is a God in Heaven still on the Throne of power, and that He did reveal Himself to His chosen KEY-people in ages bygone, even according to our sacred Scriptures.

Close to three thousand years ago, He spoke through His Prophet, saying that He would "...set His hand again the second time..." to gather the remnant of Israel (Isa. 11:11). That was hundreds of years before their second dispersion. Now, you and I see His Word fulfilled to the letter. And, in seeing that, we are expected to come to our senses, realizing that the balance of His Word will also fulfill.

That you may better understand the days in which we live, and what is in store for the world, I have prepared a booklet entitled Signs in the Moon and Mars.