WHAT WILL WE DO NOW?
The period we are entering could well be the most incredible millennium mankind has ever encountered! - the Seventh Millennium. We believers in Christ Jesus are on the threshold of the next millennium with the rest of global society - just days away now! A sense of  “all this is a dream” has drugged many people I have been speaking with. They don’t appear to be able to project themselves in their minds past Christmas and the New Millennium fire-works night. The first week of January has become to them “never-never land” : the time which is so unclear and maybe unthinkable that they must attempt to blot it out of existence. Christians often gaze at the next brief period between Christmas day and THAT Y2K date, January 2000 AD, with wonder that we are still here, and are also frozen in time. What will January 2000 AD bring with it? What will we do now, as God’s chosen ambassadors on this planet?
So, the Rapture didn’t come before in the 1990s. We are STILL here, what now?

Mankind is already separated into two major groups. One group is massive, the vast majority of humanity belongs to it. They are swallowing the New Age New World Order party line that sprouts that the earth is entering the most promising period of man’s history here. The new millennium, they believe with the New Age pundits, will be a time of unparalleled peace, prosperity for all, humanistic values giving justice, equity  and fraternity for all - at last. They believe that mankind has found a way to have harmonious relations and love between races and cultures, and that the nations will unite as never before and end all wars. A thrilling millennium seems imminent to them. A man-created, blissful next thousand years could well be secured by those who are building a united, democratic, euphoric Seventh Millennium - they naively, radiantly believe. Promises of peace, religious tolerance and global “peace-keeping” has never before brought such optimism to the majority’s hearts.

The other group of humanity is much smaller. It is made up of those who do not swallow the New Age line, with its bait of peace and tolerance. They are the redeemed people of God who see prophetic events filling our skies even now with the dark clouds that will assuredly bring destructive storms to all the earth! They know these events are determined by Almighty God, and their hearts are filled with foreboding and deep grief for rebellious and lost mankind:
“And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is DETERMINED SHALL BE DONE.” (Daniel 11:36).

The second group believe God, not man. The world leaders of this earth have so utterly rebelled against the Almighty Creator that sure destruction faces their humanistic Plan for a United One World. Far from being at the helm of a pleasure ship of a world, setting off on a cruise sparkling with promise and delight, they are entering uncharted, precarious waters. The good ship Titanic is the good ship lollipop - a world society of fairy floss, an meaningless pleasure ship about to be sent to the bottom of the ocean. Already we see the huge rips in her side, put there by the iceberg - New Age Lies.

Is your mind going numb? This world scene can have that effect. The Adversary has planned such a delusion for the people of this earth that only the redeemed can see that the Lies are really lies. The dastardly plot is being played out, it is hideous to watch the delusion being perpetrated against humanity. Our eyes are open, praise our wonderful Saviour, but this brings its own suffering. We need the Grace of God as never before to be able to enter AD 2000 and the coming months without anxiety, intense fear and deep sadness. We can actually see that without a doubt Satan’s rebellion against the Lord God, and Satan’s desire to raise up humans to extreme rebellion against their Creator, is entering its climactic stage. A last mighty battle between Satan and God is looming just up ahead. All the events facing us now in the AD 2000 world are leading up to the ultimate horror - the devil incarnate in the Antichrist sitting as God in the temple at Jerusalem! BUT God has commanded us:

“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.  Let your moderation [sweet reasonableness] be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”  (Phil. 4:4,5).

WHAT WILL WE DO NOW?
We Christians can do so much more than just look on in horror. We must  know deep down, in every fibre of our being, that we are called to this period for a purpose. We have a job to do, we have our Great Commission:
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”  (Mark 16:15).
We must trust the Lord Jesus Christ with everything that pertains to our lives here. He is the blessed hope whether the Raptures comes soon or it doesn’t come for a little while yet. He cannot fail us, and although we in the natural would be too weak to face the future, HE is our strength and endurance as we set about our task of the Great Commission:
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8: 37-39).

WARN unsaved people of the coming Tribulation period;  tell them about the rise of the global system of the Antichrist; warn them not to take the mark if they should be still here when Satan forces it upon the inhabitants of the world. Explain in depth, don’t hold back. Do not be afraid of their faces. These days we are living in could be the most easy time of all to win the unsaved to Christ. Don’t take their laughing faces as an indication of what they feel inside, many people out there are afraid and realise that something weird is happening at this period of history.  If nothing happens with Y2K they will then be almost unreachable, and they will then ridicule you. Take this opportunity, strike while the unsaved are vulnerable. Unfair tactics? Not at all, we are seeking to save their souls and see them safe in Jesus’ arms.

I found myself speaking to a man on the telephone yesterday who had only rung to try to sell me pay television. I said, “have you ever received Jesus Christ as your Saviour?”  His voice now a completely changed one, no longer like a robot selling machine, he said stumbling over his words, “ yes, I did once, but I have sort of slipped away a wee bit.” I urged him to sure he was saved, to read John 3:16 again, to return to the Lord, to repent of his sin. We had a gentle, heart to heart talk before we parted company. Use your opportunities, time is short indeed. Pray for the lost! Especially those who are lost in your own families. Pray - it is not too late for them to come to Christ. God IS moving in their lives as you pray!

God will never fail to support, provide, comfort, strengthen and enrich His people. We may well see economic collapse, utter despair all around us, spiritual blackness far worse than the present day New Age nightmare. This AD 2000 could bring many changes which will plunge our world into chaos. But God will cause His people to be fortified and to be in prosperity spiritually through it all. He will make ourselves and our families pillars of faith and hope, if we yield our all to Him. Always keep in mind, there is a joyous day up ahead - Jesus Christ is coming back soon!

HAVE YOU PREPARED MATERIALLY?
The passage II Corinthians 9:6-13 has many encouragements for the Christians in these days. These words show that God loves a cheerful giver. If we are generous and give, then God will give to us. How wonderful to have some supplies to share with the needy, should food be scarce. This is what God says to us as we face the change of the millennium:
“He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:  (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness reImageseth for ever.  Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness)  Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.”  (Verses 6 -11).

Every day we live on this earth we can be joyful!  We can smile in the midst of the disasters and trials. We can sing in triumph as we see the new millennium come in:
“Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name. “
(Exodus 15: 1-3).

Jesus Christ will soon be here, and in that day He will set up his own Millennial Reign that will bring peace and end suffering in this world of horror! Be patient and endure, you are greatly loved by the Lord:
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”
(Daniel 2:44).

May God grant to you peace in the New Year of AD 2000.

W. B. Howard ...Editor of Despatch

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