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MILLENNIAL MOUNTAINS & ISLANDS? DFO 2274 9/86--The New Heaven's Children!--Chapter 25!
1. MY WHOLE IDEA OF EDUCATION IS TO MAKE THINGS SIMPLE SO PEOPLE CAN UNDERSTAND THEM. I used to tell the professors in college, "It seems to me your whole plan & purpose of college is to try to make things as complicated as you can!" I mean, what's the point of making things as complicated as you can so folks can't understand them? It's all because of the pride of those smart people. They want to let you know how smart they are, &so the more they say, the less you understand, & that makes them smarter than you, see? But that's not very smart, I don't think, is it? If you get to where you use such big words & long sentences like Grandpa where people can't even understand them & you get all kinds of questions, "What do you mean?", then that's not too smart! So all the time I'm trying to make it simpler, praise God!
2. I HAD TO DEAL WITH A QUESTION THIS MORNING that somebody wrote in, & this is a sample of how people don't always understand what I'm saying, even when I'm quoting the Bible, & they don't even understand what the Bible said! Hart wants to know why I didn't say that in the Millennium there were no more mountains & that all the islands were gone. I wrote him an answer once & I said, "The mountains are not destroyed yet & every high place made low & everything levelled off into rolling hills until the New Earth", but he still wouldn't believe it! (David: But doesn't it say that in the Wrath of God there's a big earthquake that shakes down the cities?) Of course, but...all right, I'll read it to you:
3. THE VERSE HE KEPT QUOTING WAS IN THE 16TH CHAPTER OF REVELATION. Now it's interesting to find these verses are both in the 16th & the 6th Chapters. He says, "How can you say there are still mountains in the Millennium, Dad, when it says here in Revelation 16:20, 'And every island fled away & the mountains were not found.'?"
4. ALL OF THESE THINGS IN THE 16TH CHAPTER OF REVELATION ARE HAPPENING IN THE WRATH OF GOD. In the 15th Chapter He introduces the Seven Angels of Wrath with the Vials of God's Wrath & then he ends up that Chapter with this statement. He talks about the destruction of Babylon--when is Babylon really destroyed completely, finally, totally, utterly? (David: In the Atomic War.) Partly. (David: Partly?) Yes. (David: In Armageddon?) In the Wrath of God, finishing with Armageddon? There're buildings & cities collapsing in the Wrath of God, but they're not all destroyed in Armageddon.
5. THE ATOMIC WAR IS MOSTLY THE NORTH, the East & West of the North are destroyed, right? They destroy each other, but in the Wrath of God & Armageddon, all wicked cities are destroyed, even cities of the South, because God doesn't like cities, at least not that kind of cities. "And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup full of wine with the fierceness of His Wrath." (Rev. 16:19).
6. "AND EVERY ISLAND FLED AWAY & THE MOUNTAINS WERE NOT FOUND". (Rev.16:20) Every time Hart quotes me that Scripture like that, he tries to nail me down. "I got you, Dad! You're wrong!--Couldn't be! The islands are gone & the mountains are fallen flat along with the cities & the buildings & the towers! There it is, right there, so they couldn't have them in the Millennium because this is part of the Wrath of God!"
7. IT WAS A LITTLE DIFFICULT TO TRY TO GET THE INTERPRETATION OF THAT VERSE because it sounds like it's right here in the Wrath of God, right here before the Millennium! It's got "voices, & thunders, & lightnings, & there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the Earth, so mighty an earthquake & so great. And the Great City was divided into three parts, & the cities of the nations fell, & great Babylon" in the Wrath of God. (Rev.16:18,19) It sounds like before the Millennium, right? Because here is the Wrath of God, & it speaks in here in the same Chapter about Armageddon.
8. IT TALKS ABOUT ARMAGEDDON IN THE 17TH VERSE, then the Seventh Angel pours out his Vial of Wrath--that was the last one, right?--The very last one, the very last Wrath of God, right? And when the last vial of God's Wrath is poured out is when all these things happen, the mightiest earthquake the World has ever known, all the cities fall, & great Babylon is destroyed, totally, utterly & forever, & mountains removed & every island fled away!
9. THAT'S EVEN A MORE TERRIFIC STATEMENT THAN HAVING THE MOUNTAINS FALL DOWN! Now it seems that what Hart thinks is that when the islands flee away, it seems to indicate, at least he seems to think that how else could islands flee away unless they sank? (David: Unless they became part of something.) Now, you're really getting ahead of me now, Son. Very good! You've got a real idea, see, because you're led of the spirit! But don't steal my thunder yet, that's my answer!
10. HE'D BE SINKING ALL THE ISLANDS of the Caribbean, the Bahamas & Jamaica & Cuba & the whole string of islands down to Trinidad, & what are those little U.S. islands down there?--Puerto Rico & the Virgin Islands, & all these hundreds & hundreds & thousands of islands in the Pacific! All together they have hundreds of millions of people living on them!
11. HART SOUNDS LIKE HE WANTS THEM TO SINK, WITH HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE!--150 million people in Indonesia!--55 million people in the Philippines!--15 million people on the island of Australia! I don't know how many million people they've got in New Zealand, any idea? (David:--And Japan & Hong Kong!) And 100 million people on the islands of Japan, & you could hardly finish naming them all--Taiwan, & what is that one off the coast of China, that huge big island?--Hainan! And Hong Kong is an island with about 5 million people! (Fam: England.) Yes, the British Isles, they've got another 50 million people!--And some day we can add up all the islands & see how many hundreds of millions of people would be sunk if all the islands all sank, if they "fled away" that way!
12. I MEAN, ISLANDS ARE ALL OVER THE WORLD, & almost all the islands are inhabited with all those people on them! (Techi: What about the Canary Islands?)--Canary Islands! Right! Good for you!--Canary Islands, & another island we lived on once-upon-a-time after we had to flee from the Canaries, what was that island? (David: Malta.) Yes, that's one of them, but the very next one we fled to after we fled the Canaries?
13. WE FIRST WENT TO SPAIN & then we left Spain & went to an island that belongs to Portugal--Madeira! We lived in the capital city of Funchal, Madeira, quite a big, beautiful island, & thousands of people live there.--And Portugal has another group of islands out in the middle of the Atlantic & what are they called?--The Azores! Oh, we should be looking at the map! Oh my, look at this big World map here! Wow! That's gorgeous!
14. LOOK AT ALL THE ISLANDS THAT WOULD HAVE TO SINK, WITH HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE! Look here, let's turn over here to this side of the map, shall we? (Techi: Greenland!) Greenland, that's a huge big island too, & here's Iceland, that's a big island, & here's the United Kingdom, the British Isles, that's a bunch of big islands, & then there's the Shetland Islands out here. The Shetland Islands are right here but they're so small they're not even on this big World map.
15. BUT LOOK, HERE'S THE BALEARIC ISLANDS OF SPAIN & HERE'S THE CANARY ISLANDS, HERE'S MADEIRA, here's those islands out in the middle of the Atlantic that belong to Portugal, the Azores Islands, & here's Bermuda & here's Newfoundland, it's an island! There're oodles of islands, there're so many islands it's almost unbelievable!
16. DID YOU KNOW THERE'RE ISLANDS ALL THE WAY DOWN THE EASTERN COAST OF THE UNITED STATES?--There's Long Island, I'll bet that must have at least a million people, & islands all the way down the coast here, & then comes Florida here, it stretches out into a whole bunch of islands called the Florida Keys. Here's the Bahamas & here's the Dominican Republic & Haiti & Cuba & Jamaica & the Antilles & Puerto Rico & the Leeward Islands & the Lesser Leeward Islands & Barbados & Trinidad & Tobago & Grenada & the Netherlands Antilles.--There's thousands of islands!
17. GOING AROUND THE COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA, LOOK, THERE'RE GREAT BIG ISLANDS there in the mouth of the Amazon--huge big islands! And there're islands all along the coast of South America & a whole bunch of islands down here! Here's a place called Tierra del Fuego. Do you know what "Tierra del Fuego" means? It's Spanish. Can you tell them? (Maria: Land of Fire!)--The Land of Fire! That's the Island of Fire, right down there at the tip of Patagonia. It's partly in Argentina & partly in Chile & it's very cold down there!
18. HERE'S THE FALKLAND ISLANDS OVER WHICH GREAT BRITAIN FOUGHT A WAR WITH ARGENTINA! Think of that! Look at all these islands down here! Of course not many people are living down here in Antarctica, but they've got quite a few bases down there, science bases etc., all different kinds of scientific settlements in Antarctica. What's at the North Pole? Look here! (David: The Arctic Ocean.) The Arctic Ocean! There's no land there, it's all water!
19. DID YOU KNOW THAT HERE IN THE MILLENNIUM IT'S GOTTEN WARM NOW AT THE POLES & people are beginning to inhabit these Arctic & Antarctic countries, big cold places like that. You see in the Arctic region there are lots of islands. Look at all these islands in the Arctic region! Look at all these islands of Canada! Here's the Queen Elizabeth Islands, the Parry Islands... (David: It would knock this whole place off! Do people live there?) Oh yes, of course!--Indians & Eskimos. Here's the Banks Island, Victoria Island, Baffin Island--huge big islands in Northern Canada up there!
20. THESE ARE THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS OFF OF ALASKA & islands out there, but we haven't even finished South America yet! Here's Tierra del Fuego--do you know why they call it the "Land of Fire"? (Children: No!) Because certain times of year the Sun sinks low & shines on the snow & the ice there, & some of the first explorers coming around here saw that & it looked like the land was on fire, so they called it "Tierra del Fuego".
21. THERE'S A BUNCH OF CHILEAN ISLANDS all the way up the coast of Chile & there's the San Felix Islands here & the Galapagos Islands off here. (David: Those are where those big sea turtles are.) Yes, islands here & islands here & here & here & here & here & here, all across the Pacific!--Hawaii & Samoa & Fiji & all of these islands! (Techi: Australia & New Zealand.) Yes! You just can't even name them all! Caroline Islands, look Australia & New Zealand are two great big islands...(Techi: Tasmania.) Yes, Tasmania is an island off the coast of Australia. Australia itself is a great big island.--It's so big they call it a Continent!
22. THEN HERE WE COME OVER HERE TO WHAT USED TO BE CALLED GUINEA, now it's called New Guinea, & part of it belongs to Indonesia. See, it's a big big island that belongs to two countries here.--Then there's the Philippines, Taiwan, Hainan Island off the coast of China & all these Japanese islands, & here's Sakhalin, an island off the coast of Russia.
23. HERE WE HAVE BORNEO, A GREAT BIG ISLAND, CELEBES, JAVA, SUMATRA & ALL OF INDONESIA, we already named Indonesia. (Techi: Sri Lanka?) Right! We've lived on various islands like that, we lived in Sri Lanka once upon a time, it's a big island.--In fact, it's a whole country! Then you come here to the Arabian Sea & down the coast of Africa & there's the great big island of Madagascar. (David:--And the "Skellies" Islands.) Seychelles! It looks like Skellies, but it's not "Skellies", it sounds like "sea shells"!
24. DOWN HERE THERE ARE ISLANDS AROUND THE COAST OF AFRICA & all around up here until you get to the United Kingdom again, & then we're back where we started, aren't we? Look at all those islands up in the Arctic Ocean! (David: Do people really live up so high?) Yes, definitely!--And the Equator runs right through the middle of the Earth. (Techi: Where is the Equator?) That dotted line is not the Equator, but if you go a little further down, you'll find the Equator. The dotted line is the Tropic of Cancer, & then there's the Tropic of Capricorn & these are the Northern & Southern boundaries of the Tropical Zone or Tropics, & this solid line going right through the middle is the Equator.
25. OH MY, THERE ARE JUST THOUSANDS OF ISLANDS--I'll bet there're millions of islands where there are hundreds of millions of people living, & dear Hart wants to sink them all!--Ha! Think of that! He says that all the islands fled away, but he didn't have any suggestion where, so I suppose he expects them to sink!--Maybe not.--Hart is really a nice guy, one of our best Editors. (Maria: That's why he's asking you!) "A little child shall lead them" (Isa.11:6), & dear David already hit on the answer for the islands, & that is part of the solution for the mountains too!
26. SO I WAS WONDERING, & HART KEEPS BRINGING UP THIS QUESTION ABOUT THE MOUNTAINS & ISLANDS & it's pretty hard to refuse Scriptures that sound like that is what is happening. Because it comes at the end of the 16th Chapter of Revelation, it sounds like it comes at the end of the period that we call the Wrath of God, before the Millennium.--But does it?--You'll find the answer in the next Chapter!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
