I try to do a blogpost every 3 days, so 10 a month, and am now running a bit short of month for my last two blogs. So I am posting a letter I wrote and sent to a reviewer. When I read it to a friend, she liked it so much that she said "Why not put it in your blog?" So I will. I hope the Speccie will forward it. I am a long time subscriber and they have always been reliable with letters before.
I have removed the Reviewer's name, as I don't know how she would feel about appearing in my blog. Anyway, this is what I wrote to her, as you will see, it took me a long long time to get it right - or as right as I can get it.
Personal, (Reviewer)
The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP.
17th April 2021
Dear (Reviewer)
You
reviewed “The Antichrist: A New Biography” in The Spectator of December 19th
last year. I was impressed that you know
that the Antichrist is not the devil, and I found your review very
interesting.
But it
was this paragraph that made me want to write to you (and sorry it has taken me
so long!), because you said: “Another
(and possibly more pressing) dilemma facing the church related to Christ’s
second coming (which, since Jesus had preached an apocalyptic world view, was
firmly believed to be imminent by his early followers and disciples). As the
decades gradually passed and Christ failed to return, a practical and
intellectual void needed to be filled.”
This is
so important, as the Bible – from Genesis to Revelation – claims to be the
inspired word of our Creator, the God of Abraham. It is his message to us. It claims to be the truth. So does it tell us that Jesus’ second coming
was imminent?
Jesus
himself had warned that many things had to happen before that time came. You might want to think of the parable of the
Wheat and Weeds for example. And the Apostle
Paul had to correct some Christians in the earliest days of Christianity. The words he wrote down, under inspiration, have
been preserved for us to this day.
He
said: "However, brothers, concerning the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our being gathered together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken
from your reason nor to be alarmed either by an inspired statement or by a
spoken message or by a letter appearing to be from us, to the effect that the
day of Jehovah is here. Let no one lead you astray in any way, because it will
not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets
revealed, the son of destruction." - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
Paul pointed out that a lot of things had to happen before that
time came. A great apostasy, a false
version of Christianity, was going to rise up. And it was going to be exposed. So the Inspired Scriptures make it clear that
Christ’s coming was not imminent.
Interestingly, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) who clearly knew the
Bible well, and who lived centuries later, also understood that it was not
imminent even in his day.
“Newton considered Christ’s presence to be
centuries away. “One reason why Newton saw the Kingdom of God so far in the
future was because he was profoundly pessimistic about the deep Trinitarian
apostasy he saw around him,” said historian Stephen Snobelen. The good news was
still veiled. And Newton saw no Christian movement that could preach it. He
wrote: “These prophecies of Daniel and John [the latter recorded in the book of
Revelation] should not be understood till the time of the end.” Newton
explained: “‘Then,’ saith Daniel, ‘many shall run to and fro, and knowledge
shall be increased.’ For the Gospel must be preached in all nations before the
great tribulation, and end of the world. The palm-bearing multitude, which come
out of this great tribulation, cannot be innumerable out of all nations, unless
they be made so by the preaching of the Gospel before it comes.”— Daniel 12:4;
Matthew 24:14; Revelation 7:9.10
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2009603
I really do want you to know that the Bible accurately tells us that Jesus’ presence was far from imminent in the first century, and that it also tells us that his presence would be marked by a worldwide preaching work.
This good news of the Kingdom is being preached now, all over the earth If you would like to know more, please go to our website JW.org. Or, of course, I would be happy to tell you more about the Kingdom of God. We have something so wonderful to tell you, if you will allow us to.
Yours etc
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