(followed by a translation of Isaiah 25 & 26)

Here is the text (and notes) of an ancient work which was known in the early church, was much valued literature, was originally written in Hebrew, then translated into Greek, and found its way into many diverse cultures. Of more recent years it has been found in Coptic and Slavonic translations, and it is to these that we now have to turn, for they are the earliest -available manuscripts. The Slavonic manuscript, the oldest known, has the title of “Codex Sylvester”, which belongs to the Library of the Printing Dept. of the Holy Synod in Moscow. Sylvester was a prominent priest in the reign of Ivan the Terrible, and who made a collection of early Christian books. The manuscript dates from the first half of the 14th Century, and was written on parchment, with two columns on each page, 216 leaves in all, with the Apocalypse occupying leaves 164-182. The other leaves being descriptions of the lives of other saints. [Read more…]

(followed by “Eight Points of Departure from Sound Doctrine”)

A number of people gathered around the bus as the conductor amiably encouraged everyone to get on board and enjoy the ride. He was a very personable young man with a winning smile and persuasive manner. He could well have been trained as a Public Relations Officer, or even a Disc Jockey. But his job was not in the world of entertainment. He had more serious work to do, even if his manner was light-hearted and jovial. [Read more…]

(followed by a Prophetic Word for the Nation, received by Arthur in 1981)

The rich young man knelt before Jesus. Perhaps his whole approach was too good to be true. “Good Master,” he began, but before he had said much more the Lord stopped him. “Why do you call me good? There is none good save One, even God.” (Mk.10:17) Why should the Lord have spoken in this manner? Was He not Emmanuel, God with us? Was it not very right and proper to have spoken to Him in this way? Maybe it was, but the Lord saw behind the words, straight into the mans heart. He was training His disciples as well. On another occasion He said to them, “Beware when all men speak well of you!” (Luk.6:26) He reminded them that their own forefathers had spoken well of the false prophets. [Read more…]

LAW HAS BECOME A DIRTY WORD IN THE society in which we live. Man has grown used to its disrespect. He tends to keep to a set of laws of his own making, rather than those of God’s giving. He looks upon the Old Testament as a document of historic value only. He refers to ‘the Law of Moses’, or to ‘the Jewish laws’, without realising that they were God’s own laws, written by His own hand upon tablets of stone, forming the basis of a divine covenant with a chosen people. They were only ‘the Mosaic law’ insofar as God chose Moses as His instrument in the giving of them, and they were only ‘the Israelite (not Jewish) laws’ because Israel was the name given to the people of God’s choice. [Read more…]

With two important collections of verses, “Much more” & “Better”.

Here is a subject that is full of big surprises! “Ah!” says the Christian, “I know all about the Atonement . Christ died for our sins. That is the atonement, it brings us back to God. Is not the Atonement the AT-ONE-MENT? We are once again made one with God, reconciled.” These are commonly held Christian sentiments. [Read more…]

In 2 Thess. 2:4 Paul refers to “the MAN OF LAWLESSNESS, who opposes and exalts himself over everything called ‘god’, or object of worship, so that he, as ‘God’, sits in the Temple of God, showing himself to be ‘God’.” [Read more…]

In this, the third of our articles, we shall have to look into God’s purposes towards peoples and nations. In the first, we saw that the 0.T. atonement was replaced by the better circumstances of Christ’s sacrifice, whereby all nations were made clean and every living human being had the individual right to come directly to God and ask for forgiveness. No longer did Israelhold the keys to the door of salvation. [Read more…]