THE END-TIME HARVEST
- Opening
Sections
"... lo, I am with you always, even to the end of
the age."
Matthew 28:20 (NAS)
This e-book takes a positive view of the times we live
in.
We can explore this encouraging idea together by looking at the
following three questions:
| 1. How can we know that we are in the Bible End-Time? |
| 2. Why is this good news? |
| 3. What should our response to this good news be? |
This
text is in the
public domain.
Photo S-1. "Ready for Harvest"
Used with kind permission of
Holyland Photos
(Found at the website:
eBibleTeacher.com)
Writer - Patrick Bealey
Drawings - Cora McDowall
Table
of Contents
- Opening Sections:
- Dedication
- Apology
- Foreword
- Abbreviations Used
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Chapters:
- 1. The Unfolding
Plan
- 2. Who Is Christ?
- 3. The World's
Response
to Christ
- 4. Jesus Gave Us the Signs of the Times
- 4-1.
Sections A and B Items 1-3
- 4-2.
Section B Items 4-14
- 5. Other End-Time Signs
- 5-1.
Sections A and B Items 1-2
- 5-2.
Sections B Items 3-8, and C
- 6. How Long is the
End-Time to Run before Jesus' Return?
- 7. What Answer
Does the Word
Give about the Time of His Coming?
- 8. What About the
Great Tribulation?
- 9. The Rapture of
His Return
- 10. If We Let HIM Down
- 11. How To Respond to His
Call Today
- 12. The New Order - a
Christ-led
World
- Appendixes:
- Appendix A. Scripture
References
- Appendix B. The Bible,
Israel and the Fig
- Appendix C. Bible
Chronology
- Appendix D.
Israel's
Year of Independence : The End-Time
- Appendix E.
Astronomy
and the Date of the Crucifixion
Note: As you see, two (the longest) chapters in this electronic book
("e-book") are split into two webpages each. This is to reduce download
time. But all of the webpages are divided into parts - with links to
"Part 2," "Part 3," etc. This is to assist you in getting back to
where you were reading - assuming you don't read the whole e-book
in one session that is! :-)
Dedication
This e-book is dedicated to the Holy Spirit
of God - without Whom there would have been no e-book!
(The Patience of God with this at-times-haltingly-slow
writer is something he is grateful for.)
Any errors belong to the writer,
but the Inspiration of God is something marvelous to experience - any
and all good things in the chapters that follow are due to God's
Spirit.
Apology
When the initial version of this e-book was placed on the Web, it
emphasized a belief that the writer then held, that the Messiah
would very likely return in the year 2000. Well, the year 2000 came and
went, did it not? Proving the writer to be mistaken!
He would like to apologize to the Internet community, and
especially to anyone who was misled by this. Hopefully, the writer is
much more cautious now about making any predictions on the timing
of His Return.
(It was later pointed out to the writer that the reason our Messianic
expectations were not fulfilled in 2000 was: God loved us too
much to come before the time was right. In other words God did not want
us to be driven by
a spirit of fear - slogging away, consumed by the thought that
we won't have done enough by the time the Messiah comes!)
Foreword
This e-book is about the Return of the Lord,
the Messiah. It is written from the perspective of a Christian - of the
Quaker variety. Many Quakers hold to a belief that this Coming of the
Christ
is purely a spiritual event. Since this e-book goes in a rather
different
direction, perhaps we should look at these two strands of thought at
the
outset, and try to put them in context?
The main founder of the Quaker movement
was a man by the name of George Fox. He was given a special insight by
God into this subject of the Coming of Christ. George Fox realized that
when a person experiences what Christians call the new birth, this is a
kind of Coming of Christ. So that when God starts to move in a
person's heart in a life-changing way, Christ can be said to have
"come"
to that person, and in a vitally important way!
To emphasize its importance, George Fox
felt led to point out to the people of his day that they need not look
for any other Coming of Christ but this personal one. That was a valid
statement 300 years ago, but today the news is better! Hence the reason
for this e-book.
There is a principle which should be expressed here:
God Never Falls
Short on the Divine
Promises!
But God is allowed to do more, yes? The Return
of Christ is a case in point. God has done more than promised already,
by coming in the hearts of millions of believers. But let's remind
ourselves
what the actual Promise is. God's Promise states not only that the
Messiah
will come, but says what He will do when He gets here!
"Then the Lord of heaven's armies
will mount his throne in Zion and rule gloriously
in Jerusalem, in the
sight of all the elders of his people. Such glory there will be that
all the brightness of the sun and moon will seem to fade away."
Isaiah 24:23 (TLB)
God won't settle for less than this - why should we?
Abbreviations
Used
- Bible Versions:
- Amp. - The Amplified Bible
- GW - God's Word
- Jer. - Jerusalem Bible
- JPS - Jewish Publication Society
- KJV - King James Version (or Authorized Version)
- NAB - New American Bible
- NAS - New American Standard
- NEB - New English Bible
- NIV - New International Version
- NRSV - New Revised Standard Version
- NWT - New World Translation
- PME - Phillips Modern English
- RSV - Revised Standard Version
- TLB - The Living Bible
- TEV - Today's English Version (or, Good News Bible - U.S.A.
ed.)
- Note: The Jewish Bible used here is the JPS;
the Catholic Bible the NAB; the remaining versions are Protestant.
"Note of regret:" Some of the Bible quotations
use gender-exclusive language. (These quotes have been chosen for their
beauty/aptness in other respects.) Apart from these, inclusive language
has been aimed at throughout the text of this e-book.
- Other Abbreviations and Terms:
- aka - also known as
- approx. - approximately
- BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation
- BCE - Before Common Era (aka BC)
- bn. - billion (the U.S.A. billion = 1,000 million)
- CE - Common Era (aka AD)
- CEMT - Membres de la Conférence
Européenne des Ministres des Transports
- ch. - chapter
- D.O.T. - Department of Transport (a British
government agency)
- EC - European Community
- ECMT - European Conference of Ministers
of Transport
- ed. - edition
- esp. - especially
- EEC - European Economic Community
- E.T. - End-Time
- HMSO - Her Majesty's Stationery Office
- HO - Head Office
- hrs. - hours
- Hymns A. & M. - Hymns Ancient and Modern
- incl. - including
- ind. - independent
- km. - kilometre
- m. - million
- OECD - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
- pass. - passenger
- pg/s - page/s
- ref. - reference
- Rev. - Revelation (Book of)
- TB - tuberculosis
- UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization
- vol. - volume
- vss. - verses
- WBGS - West Bank and Gaza Strip
- WW - World War (as in - WWI)
- WWF - World Wildlife Fund
List
of
Illustrations
- Opening Sections:
- Photo S-1. "Ready for Harvest"
incl.
thumbnail
- Chapter 1:
- Chart 1-1. Travel
Increase
- Chart 1-2.
Education Increase - Africa
- Chart 1-3.
Population Increase
- Chapter 2:
- Drawing 2-1.
Healing in Action
- Diagram 2-2. The
Salvation Pillars
- Chapter 5-2:
- Map 5-2-1. The
Sahara Region -
Showing
the Plough Boundaries incl. thumbnail
- Photo 5-2-2. The
Plough in the
Heavens incl. thumbnail
- Drawing 5-2-3. A
Traditional Design
of
Plough
- Map 5-2-4.
Israel’s Boundary - the
Footprint
- Map 5-2-5. The
"Strange" Map of
Israel’s
Boundary incl. thumbnail
- Map 5-2-6.
"Normal" Map Showing Israel’s True Boundary incl.
thumbnail
- Chapter 6:
- Chart 6-1. Wars
With 5 Million or More
Participants
- Chart 6-2. The Time
Since His Birth -
Shown
As 24 "Hours"
- Chapter 7:
- Chart 7-1. How Many
Days?
- Chart
7-2. Seven Millennia -
Promise to Kingdom
- Chapter 10:
- Drawing 10-1. God
Dealing with the
Nuclear Mess
- Appendix D:
- Chart D-1. 1948
& Independent
Israel :
End-Time Duration
- Appendix E:
- Chart E-1. Moon
in Eclipse
Note: To reduce download time, a few of the above graphics (as
indicated)
first display a "thumbnail" version - with a built-in link. If you want
to
see the full-size version of these graphics, you activate that link.
(Then [as you may/may not know] you need to use the "Back" button in
your
browser to get back to the chapter you were viewing.)
Acknowledgments
Many people have contributed to this e-book. Only a few individuals and
organizations can be named here, but the
writer trusts that all those who helped in a direct way are
represented.
Some have given especially generously. Donna and Forrest Brewster's
names
spring to mind. Their support as initial website hosts was invaluable,
but
that's not all. They have also saved the writer from numerous errors,
and
their patient attention to detail has been outstanding. Then again
there are the good folks at St.Andrew's Scots Memorial Church and
Hospice, Jerusalem.
And so many other people have aided the writer in ways that they (and
often,
he) may be unaware of.
But no list of acknowledgments would be
complete without mention of the writer's wife Pat, his son Josh, and
his
parents, Kathleen ("Nancy") and Frank. Their contribution to the e-book
has
been great - it cannot be put into words.
- Individuals:
- Les Coppin (passed on) - formerly of Northampton, England
- Lon Diffenderfer - Thompsontown, Pa, U.S.A.
- Roy Down - Northampton, England
- Emma Given - (then) of St.Andrew's Scots Memorial Church
and
Hospice,
Jerusalem
- Yossie Klein HaLevy - Jerusalem
- Andy Hibbert - (then) of Our Daily Bread Co-operative,
Northampton, England
- Colin Humphreys - University of Cambridge, England - for
Appendix
E
- Bill Simons - Northampton, England
- Adrian Smith - Ryde, Isle of Wight, England
- Organizations:
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - London HO
- East Jerusalem Baptist Church
- Our Daily Bread Co-operative - Northampton, England
- Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic
Church - Harrisburg, Pa, U.S.A.
- Quakers - many, especially in Britain Yearly Meeting
- Librarians:
- In Britain -
- British Library, and its branches - Newspapers, Science
- Catholic Central Library
- DHSS Main Library
- Imperial War Museum
- Local libraries in Northamptonshire, Camberley, Farnborough
- Northampton Central Library
- RAF Museum Library - Hendon, London
- Wiener Library - London
- In Israel -
- American Cultural Center - Jerusalem
- Hebrew University Library - Jerusalem
- Mercaz Pedagogi Library - Jerusalem
- In the U.S.A. -
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - Central Reference Library
This e-book is at: http://www.timelywords.org/teth/start.htm
The writer is at:
patrick@timelywords.org
This page last updated: Mar. 15, 2008.
