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To Deborah
Caldwell
Thursday
March 04, 2004
Dear Debbie:
I debated
this letter for some time. We are now dealing with events that are unprecedented
in world history. I know the enormity of what I am about to say. I simply did not
know how to handle it.
I decided
that you would be the most appropriate person to address. I needed someone who was
sincere about God, and who had some understanding of my personal spiritual situation
these many years.
I do not
speak here of the mythological images of fundamentalist Christianity; I speak about
the mighty Creator of a Universe.
Jesus
is coming back. He is not coming back as a man; he is coming back as God.
His return
is imminent.
I am sure
I would not have come to this understanding unless that event was about to descend
upon us.
In all
of my studies of his holy words to us, in the Old Testament, in the New, in the
extraneous texts, and in the Urantia Papers, for nearly forty years, I found no
indication of this event except in vague terms. He had promised to return but the
timing and nature of that return were not described to us.
Revelation
is important to our understanding:
P.1863
- §13 Although Jesus referred one phase of the kingdom to the future and did, on
numerous occasions, intimate that such an event might appear as a part of a world
crisis; and though he did likewise most certainly, on several occasions, definitely
promise sometime to return to Urantia, it should be recorded that he never positively
linked these two ideas together. He promised a new revelation of the kingdom on
earth and at some future time; he also promised sometime to come back to this world
in person; but he did not say that these two events were synonymous. From all we
know these promises may, or may not, refer to the same event.
I can
now say with great certainty that these promises refer to the same event. We are
now entering the gravest crisis this world has ever seen. Jesus is returning to
personally supervise this extreme condition.
He
is the only personality in the universe who has sufficient power, as Creator, to
prevent total world physical destruction.
In the
New Testament we have only smatterings of this promise. Matt 23:39 – “For I tell you,
you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord.'" Or the more famous one in Matt 24:30 – “Then will appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and
they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory.”
Jesus
did not describe this sign for us. Hence, we had no way to understand his words.
We now do.
We should
use care. We can see that he will come on the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory. He will not come as the babe of Bethlehem.
Not until
I began my study of the Apparitions of Mary occurring within the body of the Roman
Catholic Church did I get even a glimpse of this possibility.
During
the summer months of 1917 three shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal were visited
on the 13th day of each month from May to October. They were told of
a series of events to occur at the end of the age. Included was the devastating
destruction of our civilization, but misunderstood by the children and their compatriots
and distorted into weird scenarios. Among the later written descriptions by Lucy
dos Santos, the leading Fatima seer, in the early 1940’s, was this crucial one.
As the Apparition stated to the children:
When
you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign
God gives you that He is about to punish the world for its crimes by means of war,
famine and persecutions against the Church and the Holy Father.
The extreme
urgency the children felt over the conversion of the world, and the huge masses
of human kind who would go to perdition, is indicated by the following remark from
Jacinta, Lucy’s cousin. After one visitation, when Lucy saw her in deep thought,
she asked Jacinta what she was thinking about. Jacinta replied:
About
the war that is coming: So many people are going to die, and almost all of them
are going to hell! Many homes will be destroyed, and many priests will be killed.
Look, I am going to heaven, and as for you, when you see the light which the Lady
told us would come one night before the war, you run up there too.
A deplorable
distortion by the children was their belief that their revelations of nuclear destructions
were scenes of hell. While we might symbolically identify such world event as pure
hell, the application sorrowfully misdirected understanding.
We can
clearly see that this unknown light would come before the final conflagration.
Go back
and consider the remarks Jesus made about his return. As he said In Matt 24:30,
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven.” Now consider what
Lucy said, “When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is
the great sign God gives you.”
God, with
his personal presence, will give us this sign.
Clearly,
if Jesus were physically visible he would not need a sign.
Another
part of Lucy’s distortion was her belief that a great display of an aurora borealis
in 1938 was this sign. When she later wrote the passage I quoted above she thought
that the 1938 event was the unknown light, and was styling her description to match
that event. Thus she said it would appear at night. In attempts to understand matters
much beyond her conceptual range she substituted natural events.
The crucial element is the unknown light.
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Jesus
is not returning as a physical being. He is returning as a spiritual being, as the
Creator of the universe. He will not be visible to our physical eyes. But his spiritual
presence will be accompanied by visible phenomena. His presence will envelop the
world in this unknown spiritual light.
The Light will show us his great glory.
This event will happen suddenly, abruptly.
Every person on earth will witness this light. There will not be any doubt in the
mind of anyone that this is an event never before witnessed on earth.
Godless astronomers may believe it is light
from a distant supernova explosion, or some such astrophysical event. Many godless
minds may follow that belief.
But the presence of the Creator of the universe,
in his spiritual power, will produce mighty spiritual effects.
The spiritual contests now taking place on
our world will be magnified multifold. Those whose hearts are centered on God will
become more devout. Those whose hearts are centered on the Fallen One will become
more evil. This evil will not be manifested according to our foolish and common
notions about immorality. Such situation is already upon us. Rather it will be manifested
by intense desire to rid the earth of those who express love for their Creator.
We should give regard to the social loathing
such claims will stir in godless minds. Major segments of the world will turn against
us. Men do not want to know that they are responsible to a Creator.
Concomitant with the spiritual presence of
Jesus will be the liberation of the Fallen Prince from his long restraint as a spiritual
being. Remember what Jesus said in John 12:31? Shortly before he was killed he cast
the Devil from his heavenly position. But he did not remove him from this world.
Remember what Paul said in II Thess 2:3? Jesus will not come until the rebellion
takes place. Although Paul confused events he had the kernel of the truth of the
matter. The Devil will now be able to marshal his human cadres to bring about a
massive religious persecution.
At the same time Jesus will call his human
agents, those prepared in their deep minds to be of service for the salvation of
his people.
Now true revelation will spread throughout
the world. The foolish myths of the past will be forgotten. Every person on earth
will be given an opportunity to decide his or her eternal fate, in the spiritual
presence of our Creator.
We should recognize that this great battle
will unfold at the purely human level. No celestial beings will make themselves
visible. While the spiritual influences of both God and the Devil will now be displayed,
human beings will perform according to their response to those influences. This
will be a great spiritual battle with human beings as the soldiers.
Remember something else Jesus said:
Matt 10: 16-22 and Mark 13:9-13
"But take heed to yourselves; for they will
deliver you up to councils; and flog you in their synagogues (and churches); and
you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony. And
the gospel must first be preached to all nations. And when they bring you to trial
and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say; but say whatever
is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of the Father
speaking through you. And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father
his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and
you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will
be saved.
Jesus did not mean saved from physical torture
and death; he meant eternal salvation in heaven.
This unprecedented episode will go down in
the annals of the universe, as a memorial to faith and devotion in the face of abominable
opposition through physical death. Now this world will gain its reputation as the
Sentimental Shrine of all Nebadon.
In time, the human memory of this event may
fade, but the universe will never forget.
Again, we should heed the words of Jesus
as they were recorded:
Matt 24:9-14
"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation,
and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And
then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. And many
false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because wickedness is multiplied,
most men's love will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved. And
this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony
to all nations; and then the end will come.
I cannot express the depth of my feelings
concerning the nature of these imminent events. But I know that –
“Those who are wise shall shine like the
brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the
stars for ever and ever.”
Then you will be able to say about these
human servants: 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'
Will you be one of those?
Ernest
Copies to many persons.
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Postscript:
Monday, August 8, 2005
When I wrote this letter in 2004 it did not
occur to me to include a crucially important text from the New Testament. This text
states explicitly the event that will occur when Jesus comes.
Matt 24:27 ― For as the lightning comes
from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of
man.
We can see that the Great Light of the personal
presence of Jesus will shine from the east to the west.
It will come suddenly, as lightning.
Ernest
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