Raymond Arthur Waugh, Sr. A Journey in Writing
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In my files that cover more than 65 years, there is a yellowed tabloid paper of four pages entitled, "The Last News, Prophesying The Coming of Christ." On page two of the same, the word is, "The Last News is printed by the Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, Missouri. Number 8-5846." Then the prices are given, "1,000 for $16; 500 for $9; 100 for $2.75. Available only in multiples of 100." It is noted as being "Vol. 3 -- No. 1" and has a three and one quarter inch, two line, boldface letter headline, "CHRIST IS COMING," along with a dramatic picture on page one that is identified as, "The Baker Day explosion of the fifth atomic bomb at Bikini, July 24, 1946 ... ."

Inside on page 2, there is an editorial, "This is the most important Newspaper you have ever read." On page 3, there is the headline, "Fearful Signs Soon To Appear in Heavens." Alongside this article are pictures of an "Earthquake Disaster In Iran," "Death Stalks The Sidewalks" with a purse snatcher lying dead in the gutter, "Quake Victim All Alone" with a weeping boy on the rubble in Bouein, Iran, and "Suicide Pact" with two dead New Jersey youths sprawled in the front seat of their car.

Finally, on page 4, there is the headline, "The End Is Near." This is followed by the word:

That was then! Some 45 years have intervened. America has concluded W.W.II. We have been involved in the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam conflict, and Desert Storm. "The endtime signs" of that distant day read somewhat like ancient history. The Russia that was supposed to have filled the sky with missiles in that distant day is no more today. The China that existed then apparently does not exist as such today. Africa is as much in turmoil today -- perhaps even more -- as it was some 45 years ago, and some of the nations that were then supreme are today without that place of preeminence. South America is "rumbling" even more today than it was then. The crime, delinquency, drug addiction, sex, hates, and fears that were abroad then were more like a Sunday School Picnic in comparison to the same conditions in our day in 1993.

It is obvious that those who put this tabloid together were of the opinion that some things had to happen before Jesus could return to the earth. This, I believe, is the continuing evidence of the thinking folly of many who have lived during the last 1,900 or so years. If we are going to understand the import of Matthew 24:36 that reads, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only," we must realize that Jesus is saying He could return within a few hours or that He may not return for 10,000 or 10,000,000 years. Therefore, when men attempt to give a temporal emphasis to something that really is timeless and which is related to our eternal God's determination, we can know that they are not thinking with our Lord Jesus Christ.

First, it is understandable, then, that many of the redeemed in that first century could properly and Scripturally look for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, they had something of an intellectual grasp on "the timelessness" of His statement. Secondly, it should be rather evident, then, that those who tell us that certain "events" or "Church-Age events" must happen before Jesus can return are not being either Scriptural, logical, or honest. This detail should be sufficient also to prove that all Church-Age prophets who have come with what they speak of as "endtime signs" in any generation have been out of touch with the Word of God, and they have been out of touch with those redeemed ones in the first century. We may know, too, that they actually have been out of touch with God. What has been transpiring in the past is transpiring in the present as well. We shall demonstrate this in the following pages, if our Lord is willing!

One dear man whom I heard on several occasions many years ago has made an attempt to answer the question, "Why Has Christ Not Yet Returned?" In a book by this same name that does not bear a date, but something of the nature of its age is found in his asking price of 10 cents for this 20-page booklet. In this work he gives five reasons. He lists them as, "I -- Because of the Long-suffering of God," "II -- God's Measure of Time is Not Man's," "III -- The Church Must Be Complete Before Christ Comes," "IV -- The Gospel is to be Preached in All the World for a Witness to all Nations Before Christ can come," and "V -- Knowing the overwhelming disaster that will befall the unbelieving world when Christ comes, God mercifully delays the hour" (John Linton, "Why Has Christ Not Yet Returned?" -- unnumbered pages 10 - 16).

Each one of these reasons may seem to be reasonable. Yet, there is no such implication in the above quoted passage from Matthew 24:36 to justify such thinking. This is but the figment of one man's imagination for which there is not any Scriptural justification. The continual dying of those who have been born upon the earth should be rather clear evidence that God is not delaying the end while men are getting right with Him. Instead, both the saved and the lost are dying in their sins, and they are doing this whether by natural death or by disasters. Jesus certainly is not telling us that "the church must be complete" before the end will come. There is not one word anywhere in Scripture to justify such a conclusion. Nonetheless, this, as we shall note later, was the cry of many evangelists in the 1920's and the 1930's. In a sense, I would suppose, this was just one of their gimmicks to get people "to come forward" and thereby prove in a measure their success as the servants of God. It is quite probable that some did go forward supposing that their activity would bring on the end.

Interestingly, as of September 9, 1993, one Paul Crouch was on what is known as the TBN TV broadcast. On his program on this evening, he was allegedly at his Television Tower somewhere in the land of Russia reading from the Bible. Along with this effort, he went on to advise those from the USA who had accompanied him and the Russians who were in attendance that perhaps as a result of their activity "the last soul would be saved, and that Jesus would return to the earth. He assured all of those in attendance and all of those who were tuned in to the broadcast that "the last soul was alive upon the earth at that moment and could be in Russia.” That which men were doing in America in the 1930's and the 1940's when people were rather naive and quite gullible is now being promoted as a sensationalist ploy or gimmick in a Russia that is just now "recovering in a measure from communism." The schemes of men are ever renewed for the benefit of those who delight in "believing a lie."

Without any fear of Scriptural contradiction, then, we boldly make the following statement: Those who indulge in endtime prophecies for "The Church Age" are false prophets. Very simply, we shall see that nothing had to happen and that nothing has to happen in order for Christ to return. All, then, who attempt to justify the thinking that something has to happen before Christ returns may be thought of as Bible Scholars, good Pastors, or excellent Evangelists, or even the best of Religious Professors, but the historical and Scriptural detail will still show that they have been or that they are false prophets! These may be thought of as some of the best of the Religious or Christian Leaders, but if they give us "endtime signs" or "endtime prophecies" that supposedly outline the events that will bring "The Church Age" to a conclusion, we can know that they have not yet understood what Jesus was saying in Matthew 24:36 or what "the two men in white" were saying in Acts 1:11. In the course of the next few pages, we shall document most specifically that all such have been and that they are false prophets!

What these false prophets who have lived since that first century have not seemed to realize is that the Apostles and the Disciples who lived in the concluding years of that first century looked for the Return of their Savior. In the writings that they have left for our study and for our benefit, we see on nearly every page their anticipation that Jesus would be returning soon. This being the case, it should be evident that they were not appealing to "endtime signs" such as those that have been referenced by the many false prophets in the subsequent centuries.

Do not be surprised that some of the best minds who have ever been Christian have given their lives to promote and perpetuate the fiction regarding "signs of the end" that C. I. Scofield popularized regarding there being a Church-Age prophetic-period emphasis to the Seven Churches in the Book of Revelation. We search the Word of God in vain for any Scriptural justification for such a practice.

First, in order to come to the conclusion that Archbishop Ussher and the Dispensationalists who followed him spoke with heavenly wisdom and set up "a Laodicean Return," all of these had to presume that Jesus did not know what He was talking about. In a very real sense, all such had to overtly reject the plain teaching of Jesus, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only (Matthew 24:36).

Second, in order for these to have reached their conclusions, they, of necessity, had to discount completely the words of the "two men in white apparel who stood beside" the Apostles on the day of The Ascension. Jesus left without any signs of His leaving and without any signs of His returning. The message of the "two men in white apparel" was,

Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. 
Acts 1:11

We note that some men have referenced the Bible as they have made their "endtime prophecies" for "The Church Age." We discover, however, that their prophecies have never come to pass, that their prophecies are not coming to pass, and we may be reasonably certain that their prophecies or their "endtime signs" will never come to pass. With some confidence, then, we may say, every "endtime sign" and every "endtime prophecy" that men have indulged with respect to the concluding of "The Church Age" must come under the indictment,

A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so ... 
Jeremiah. 5:30-31

We shall not provide a listing of all of the past and present endtime prophecies of men in "The Church Age." The representative list we shall include will demonstrate that every endtime prophecy made since the days of the early church has been false. We shall reference just a few in order to demonstrate the thesis: "All Church-Age Endtime Prophets Are False."

Though men may find a measure of delight in supposing that things will be getting better and better, the Apostle Paul advises us that this shall not happen. In fact, we can know by the Word of God that things will get worse and worse. As we have noted above, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." It will become so bad in this world of ours that a most fateful question will be asked; namely, "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).