Praise Him, All Peoples!
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FALL 2016 • VOLUME 103, NO. 3 —Psalm 117:1–2 (GNB) raise the ord, all nations! raise him, all peoples! P is love forL us is strong and P is faithfulness is eternal. H H EDITORIAL “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer” -Psalm 45:1 by RUTH E. SISSON WE BELIEVE… H in God, the Creator and sustainer of the earth, the DO I QUALIFY? world, the universes, and all life, in whom we “live, and move, and have our being.” To be part of almost any organization, one must qualify. To be ad- mitted to the bar, one must qualify by passing rigid examinations. H in the Bible as our only source of true knowledge To become a certified public accountant, one must be approved by about God and His purposes selected individuals already in the field. and plans for His creation To become a licensed practitioner in any specific area of medicine, and for the salvation of human kind. one must prove his or her qualifications. To enter a trade union, to join the working teams of the trades, one H in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Perfect must be tested and approved. Example, who was conceived Even to enter an institution of higher education, one must pass of the Holy Spirit and born exams. of a virgin; who ministered among His brethren, was If you want to enter a race, you must first pass the preliminary crucified, resurrected, competitions. and taken to heaven and If you want a certain job, you must prove that you are competent seated at the right hand of the Father, crowned with to do it. immortal glory, and who How we live now Is it unreasonable, then, that God requires those who wish to live shall shortly return to be in His Kingdom to prove their qualifications? King of the whole earth. either qualifies The way we live in this world either qualifies us or disqualifies H in the Holy Spirit, the openly manifest power of or disqualifies us us for life in Christ’s Kingdom. To qualify for eternal life, Jesus said, God, which God bestowed “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the at various times and in to live in Christ’s right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” various ways to reveal His knowledge to humankind, to Kingdom. (Rev. 22:14 NKJV). support His spokesmen, to Years earlier God’s instructions to Israel were, “What does the Lord confirm His utterances, and your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to demonstrate His supreme to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your power and autho rity. soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you H in life as the gift of God, and in our sacred responsibility today for your own good?” (Deut. 10:12–13 NIV). We must meet God’s to use it for God and His requirements to be eligible for His long-term blessings. coming Kingdom. Paul described the conditions in another way in his letter to the H in humankind as providing Romans. He said that sin results in death, and obedience will lead to the raw material from righteousness and life. “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves which shall be selected and developed a superior, to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you God-honoring people upon obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedi- whom God will bestow the ence, which leads to righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16 NIV). blessings of immortal life in His soon-coming Kingdom. What is the end of failing to qualify? Jesus said the broad way H in ourselves as capable, leads to destruction (Matt. 7:13)—not eternal torment, not eternal with the help of God, of misery, not life in a burning inferno but simply nonexistence, death. applying to our own lives To receive the benefits God is offering, we must qualify. We must the precepts and principles taught in the Word of God, in follow His rules. Life is filled with rules, which are the same for all. If this way perfecting that high we smash our thumb with a hammer, the immediate response is pain. quality of moral character It is just as absolute, says Jesus, that one who takes the broad way and which God has promised to recompense with life eternal follows it through will end in destruction, and one who takes the nar- in His heavenly Kingdom on row way and follows it through to the end will receive life. earth. In the natural course of time, all die, whether they are serving God H in the promise of God, that or not, whether they are eligible for eternal life or not. But for those Jesus Christ will soon return who die in Christ, there is hope of resurrection. This is the teaching of to rid the earth of all sin and suffering and inaugurate the Word of God. The prophet Daniel wrote, “And many of them that an eternal and worldwide sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and Kingdom of peace and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). righteousness, until God’s will is done here as it is now God has arranged that all who serve Him will be judged, and will done in heaven. continued on page 9 2 MEGIDDO MESSAGE • FALL 2016 INSIDE THIS ISSUE FALL 2016 • VOLUME 103, NO. 3 4 The Megiddo Message (USPS 338–120) (ISSN 0194–7826) is published quarterly by the Megiddo Church, 481 Thurston Road, Rochester, New 13 York 14619. Telephone: 585–436–1614. Periodicals postage paid at In Times Like These Rochester, New York and additional offices. Publication Staff: Ruth E. Sisson, Editor; Gerald R. Payne, Executive Editor. Art and design by Margaret A. Tremblay; Subscriptions Manager, Donna R. Mathias. Subscription Rate and Renewals: 21 One year (four issues) $12.00. Send to Megiddo Church, Inc. 481 Thurston Road, Rochester, New York 14619–1697. Or e-mail EDITORIAL [email protected]. Or call 585–436–1614. 2 Do I Qualify? by Ruth E. Sisson Note: For the protection of our subscribers, we do not sell, rent, lease, publish or distribute our mailing list. SPECIAL FEATURE Address Changes? Be sure to notify promptly of any change in your address. Please include 4 A Steady Faith In Times Like These your old mailing label and your new address. Mail or e-mail to Megiddo As It Was in the Days of Noah… Church, 481 Thurston Road, Rochester, New York 14619–1697. Postmaster: Send all changes of address to Megiddo Church, 481 ARTICLES Thurston Road, Rochester, NY 14619. 10 Real Belief Includes ACTION URL: www.megiddochurch.com E–mail address: [email protected] 12 Remember…And Thank God! Manuscript Policy: Unsolicited manuscripts for publication are not accepted. 13 David Remembers The Megiddo Message is the official organ of the Megiddo Church, Inc., founded in 1880 by L. T. Nichols. Publication was begun in 1915. 15 What Will You Harvest?! Maud Hembree, Editor-in-Chief (1915–1935); Ella M. Skeels, Executive Editor (1935–1945); Percy J. Thatcher, Editor (1945–1958); Kenneth E. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Flowerday, Editor (1958–1985); Newton H. Payne, Editor (1985–1997). What happened to those who died The Megiddo Message is available in microfilm from Bell & Howell 16 Information and Learning, Serials Acquisitions, 300 North Zeeb Road, Before Jesus Was Crucified? by Gerald R. Payne Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Publishing Frequency: The Megiddo Message published with the KNOW YOUR BIBLE? seasons—Spring (March), Summer (June), Fall (September), and Winter WHEN • FINISH THE QUOTATION • WHERE WAS (WERE)…? (December). 21 Unidentified quotations are from the King James Bible Quotations: ARTICLE Version or the New King James Version. Other versions are identified as used. 22 Needed: More Apolloses by H. Eva Goertzen The following lexicons are abbreviated as: BDAG—Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. AWESOME DESIGNS (1996). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other 24 Meet the Amazing Engineers! early Christian literature; DBL—Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains; EDNT—Balz, H. R., & YOUTH IN CHRIST Schneider, G. (1990-). Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament; GES—Gesenius, W., & Tregelles, S. P. (2003). Gesenius’ Hebrew 26 Pretty On the Inside and Chaldee lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures; HAL—Koehler, Gary Run for Class President? L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M., & Stamm, J. J. (1999). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament; —Liddell, H. LSJ SHORT ARTICLES G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S., & McKenzie, R. (1996). A Greek-English lexicon; LN—Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon 28 Growing In Patience by Melva Walton of the New Testament : Based on semantic domains; SHG—Strong, J. (1997). The new Strong’s dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words. 29 Don’t Say It! THAYER—A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889). LINES TO LIVE BY 30 The Art of Thanksliving MEGIDDO MEANS… “a place of troops” (Gesenius’ Hebrew Lexicon); BACK COVER “a place of God” (Young’s Analytical Concordance). We Will Wish We Had Given Him More! by Ruth E. Sisson Megiddo was and is a town in Palestine, strategically 32 located, and the scene of frequent warfare.