Perhaps if Adam and Eve had obeyed God mankind never would have brought itself into such misery. But Adam and Eve did not obey God and so we have the debauchery and injustice that presently exist throughout the world.

Philosophers, educators, politicians, military leaders have all promised to bring mankind to a state of peace and prosperity. But wars and rumors of wars continue to the present hour, just as the Lord Jesus predicted.

The various Christian organizations have addressed the problems of mankind in two ways: one, by promising a better life after the believer dies; two, by attempting to develop social programs that would alleviate the causes of suffering. We would not for one minute express anything but admiration for an individual who gives his or her life to better the conditions of suffering humanity.

Many religions of the world speak of paradise in the spirit realm, a place of abundance and ecstasy for those who adhere to the tenets of the faith. No passage of the Scriptures present the Judaic-Christian salvation as being the means to escape after death to a paradise in the spirit realm. Yet it may be true that the prevailing concept of the Christian faith of today, following the teachings of other religions, is that the believer makes his eternal home in a paradise when he dies.

The idea of making Heaven our eternal home after we die is so widely believed that anyone who would challenge this concept would appear to be ignorant of the Bible. The truth is, however, that the Bible does not point us toward an eternal home in the spirit paradise.

If the Scriptures do not point us toward Heaven as the eternal home of the saved, what then do they proclaim? The Scriptures proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth, a kingdom that will bring justice and peace to the nations. Christ will come and bring righteousness, peace, and joy to every saved person on the earth.

The basic meaning of the term salvation is preservation in the Day when the Lord Jesus comes and sets up His Kingdom on the earth.

Before we speak of the announcement of the coming of the Kingdom, the appearing of the King, and the re-creation of the nobility of the Kingdom, let us first expose a commonly held misunderstanding of the Divine plan.

It is being taught in Christian circles that in the future there will be a Jewish Kingdom on the earth and a heavenly, Gentile Kingdom existing in the spirit paradise (in Heaven). While this doctrine is taught by Christian scholars its source is in Satan.

The reason Satan (through well-intentioned people) has advanced the doctrine of the Jewish kingdom on earth and the Gentile kingdom in Heaven is twofold. First, Satan understands very well that Jews on earth who are not an integral part of the Body of Christ, who do not have God's Spirit, do not have the wisdom or power to abolish Satan and sin from the earth. Second, Satan greatly desires that all the saved Gentiles be carried off to Heaven. Satan understands better than any of us how superior the environment of earth is to the environment of Heaven. This is why Satan and his angels left their first position in the heavens and invaded the earth. As long as the Church is in Heaven Satan can express his lusts in the earth.

To be continued.