FROM THE CHURCH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 85, 21 August 1950, Page 7

FROM THE CHURCH

St. George Anglican Whakatane THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST Preaching at St George’s Parish Church, Whakatane, last nigjit, the Vicar the Revd. T. M. Loten, spoke on the subject of the Day of Judgment and the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. “It is the teaching of our Lord Himself, as found in the New Testament, the .teaching of the Creeds and the faith of the Church, that Christ rw'ill return on the last day to jufige the world,” he said. are many experiences in W ords to His second Waning and many signs are de-

scribed which will be the prelude to that coming. ‘Signs in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations.’ ‘Natisbn shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be great earthquakes, and in divers places famine and pestilence; and there shall be terrors and great signs of heaven’ and the persecution of the Church. ‘When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh.’ “From the earliest times, the times of the Apostles themselves,

Christians have expected the immediate return of our Lord. Times without number men have imagined that they have seen the signs which tell of our Lord’s arrival. The Great Apostle, St Paul, himself, said “We shall not all sleep” meaning that of those Christians alive at the time, some would live

to see Christ’s advent. “The bitter persecution - which was inflicted on the early Christian Church was regarded by the Christians as one of the signs which was to herald the Last Day. From then until now, men regarding troubled world conditions and taking into account scientific discoveries, have been convinced of the immenence of our Lord’s return. “For the true Christian, the belief in our Lord’s second coming brings no fear or terror. Constantly Christ urged His followers to live their lives in daily expectation" of

His return. Christian standards and ideals and morals being high and exalted, cannot permit in relaxation because the Lord is not expected, and then, because some fear an early Advent, enforcement. At all times and in all places, Christians should so rule th£ir lives in the presence of God that the knowledge of Christ’s return is not something to dread or fear, but rather knowledge of the arrival of a muchloved and welcomed Friend. “To those who love and serve God there is joy at the thought of Christ’s second coming, but until men return to their religion and learn to know God as a person who is to be reverenced and loved, not feared, thoughts of a second coming bring fear and consternation.

“Watch and pray said our Lord and that is what Christian people should do, but it must be done within the appointed body of Christ, the Church. Christians are not merely isolated individuals finding their own painful and solitary way to Christ, but living and active members one of another, stepping surely on the sure road of the Church.”