Wallace G. Smith

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

God’s Creation: Evidence for God

Many claim that science has removed the need for a Creator. After all, they say, we now know that the universe began in a sort of Big Bang—expanding in every direction we can see. We understand the structure of matter—why it behaves the way it does, and the laws that govern it all.

Closer to home, we understand life itself, they say. It simply evolved from non-living matter, with chance combinations of chemicals, enduring over time as they were somehow more fit for survival and duplication until, billions of years later, you have a world of whales, giraffes, bald eagles and, yes, even television hosts.

Yet, when you look more closely, those claims fall apart. Because in every aspect of the world—if you’re willing to seek out and to accept the evidence—you see the fingerprints of a Divine Creator.

Ancient King David of Israel composed many of the psalms of the Bible, and in them he makes a simple and elegant point.

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).

Yet there are many scientists today who would call King David the fool. They stare into the cosmos above, or examine the variety of life in the world, and see no evidence of God anywhere at all. They look into nature and see nothing in it that points beyond nature.

This sentiment was, perhaps, most famously expressed by biologist, evolutionist, and staunch atheist Richard Dawkins, when he wrote:

The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference (River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life, 1995, p. 133).

That is, the universe and all that is in it look exactly as we should expect them to if there is no God.

So who’s right? Mr. Dawkins? Or King David?

Without a doubt, King David is correct.

Too many physicists, cosmologists, and biologists refuse to see the evidence before their eyes—refuse to acknowledge the fingerprints of God that exist all over the very subjects they study. They proclaim a dedication to following the evidence, but when the evidence points in a direction they find undesirable—they look away.

My friends, we don’t have to repeat their mistakes.

The Heavens Declare God’s Glory | Psalm 19:1

God’s fingerprints are numerous throughout His creation. For instance, in Psalm 19, David wrote:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork (Psalm 19:1).

That is, David looked on the cosmos around us and saw God’s fingerprints there. He recognized the truth revealed in the very first verse of the Bible.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

So without a telescope or spectral analysis or cosmic microwave measurements, David could still look at the universe above his head and conclude: This is a fingerprint of God who created all of this.

Big Bang Theory: A Beginning Requires a Cause

And science has backed the Bible up—as the evidence does point to a universe that did not always exist. There really was a “beginning” to everything.

Today, the Big Bang theory is taken so much for granted that many do not realize that when evidence for it was first discovered, scientists vigorously opposed it because it sounded too much like Genesis’s description of God’s creation in the book of Genesis.

For instance, when Georges Lemaître first suggested that relativity implied that the universe began at a certain point in time, Albert Einstein told him that “it suggests too much the (theological) idea of creation.”

Writing in the esteemed science journal Nature, astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington said of the idea:

Philosophically, the notion of a beginning of the present order of Nature is repugnant to me (Vol. 127 (1931), p. 450).

And astronomer and cosmologist Fred Hoyle mocked the idea of a beginning to the universe, saying that the idea of a “big bang” was “a form of religious fundamentalism.” In fact, he coined the term “big bang” to ridicule the idea, saying that:

The reason why scientists like the “big bang” is because they are overshadowed by the Book of Genesis (“The End of the World: from the Standpoint of Mathematical Physics,” vol. 127 (1931), pp. 447–453).

Why they were all unnerved is perhaps best summed in a statement by famous physicist Stephen Hawking. As New Scientist magazine reported in [2012], he noted:

A point of creation would be a place where science broke down. One would have to appeal to religion and the hand of God (“Why Physicists Can’t Avoid a Creation Event,” New Scientist Magazine, January 11, 2012).

Well, many years have passed, and the verdict is in. The scientists who rejected a beginning of the universe because it sounded too much like the Bible were wrong, and a universe that came into existence at some point in time is now considered the reigning theory in cosmology. As prominent physicist Alexander Vilenkin wrote in 2007:

With the proof now in place, cosmologists can no longer hide behind the possibility of a past-eternal universe. There is no escape, they have to face the problem of a cosmic beginning (Many Worlds in One, 2007, p. 176).

Why would so many scientists consider that a problem? Well, think about it: If the universe had a beginning, then what caused that beginning? After all, science is very much the study of cause and effect. If the universe itself is the effect, then what was the cause?

And when scientists talk about the universe, that means the entirety of the natural world: all matter, all energy, all space, and all time. So the cause of their beginning would have to be beyond matter, beyond energy, beyond space, and beyond time. That is, if all that is natural had a beginning, then it points to a cause that is supernatural.

That is, the beginning of the universe is one massive “fingerprint” that points to God.

But we can go further.

Scientific Proof of God

What makes science and the study of this vast universe possible? Not just the fact that the universe exists, but that it is a law-abiding and orderly universe.

Calling the beginning of the universe the “Big Bang” gives the wrong impression that it was like an explosion of randomness and chaos, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Laws of the Universe

Just consider the collection of mathematical equations and laws that ensure all things in creation run in an orderly, structured way. The way in which the universe expands, the manner in which energy, matter, and the fundamental forces interact is strictly governed by precise, mathematical laws—such as:

• Newton’s Laws of Motion
• Maxwell’s Equations concerning light and electromagnetism
• the Einstein Field Equations
• the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
• the Schrödinger Wave Equation

Many fundamental laws reign over our reality, keeping it ordered and functional.

And yet, the order and structure go further. While there are still mysteries we don’t fully understand, such as theoretical dark matter and dark energy, the standard model of modern physics tells us that everything we see in the universe is built out of only 17 basic building blocks:

• 12 basic particles of matter
• 4 force carrying particles
• 1 particle giving the others mass

Imagine all the vast variety we see here on earth, let alone throughout the cosmos—all built from a construction set of only 17 basic, invisible, law-abiding particles, making the entire universe possible.

How can anyone in their right mind conclude that this astonishingly versatile, universe-building “construction set” came into existence randomly and without planning and intelligence?

And yet the order goes even deeper, because the universe is more than ordered and law-abiding. The laws exhibit extreme fine-tuning to make complex life like ours possible.

For instance:

• the strength of gravity
• the relative strengths of charges and the masses of the particles that make up the atom: proton, neutron, and electron
• the fine–structure constant, ⍺
• binding energy between proton and neutron in a deuteron
• the carbon resonance level
• the cosmological constant
• the rate of nuclear fusion in stars

All of these factors—and more—required values so precise that if some of them were off by only a fraction of a percent, stars could not form, the universe could not expand, and human life could not exist.

As Stephen Hawking put it in his groundbreaking book, A Brief History of Time:

The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life (A Brief History of Time, Hawking, 1988, p. 125).

Or as astronomer and cosmologist Fred Hoyle wrote:

A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question (“The Universe: Past and Present Reflections,” Engineering and Science, vol. 45 (1981), pp. 8–12).

Again, the science points in the direction of a divine God—a God whose superintellect and planning mind did exist before the universe.

Bible Verses About Creation and the Lawgiver

The Bible declares about that God in Isaiah 33:22.

The LORD is our Lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22).

And in Jeremiah 33:25, God declares that He has:

…ordained the ordinances of heaven and earth.

And the Bible says He did not just make it an orderly, law-abiding creation, but one intended to be inhabited by LIFE.

We see this in Isaiah 45:18.

For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”

Now let’s look at another passage written by King David that takes us in a completely different direction in our hunt for God’s fingerprints.

In Psalm 139:14, we read:

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

Yes, David saw God’s fingerprints on the grandest of cosmic scales, but he also saw them in the smallest and most intimate scales—in his own body. Frankly, in your body, as well.

Cells and DNA Carry Information Beyond Chance

Life itself carries the fingerprints of God.

Consider, for instance, the smallest unit of life: The cell.

As biologists have learned to peer into the microscopic world of the living cell, they have discovered an absolutely amazing world so intelligently structured in its vast array of inner workings and mechanisms that it puts to shame every piece of human technology ever invented.

Within that tiny, microscopic, invisible realm are amazing molecular machines:

• pumps
• gateways
• transportation systems
• waste management apparatus
• communication systems
• interactive architecture
• chemical recognition mechanisms
• environmental maintenance equipment

And in the center of it all: DNA—an information storage system of vast capabilities.

Richard Dawkins stated in his landmark book The Blind Watchmaker that:

There is enough information capacity in a single human cell to store the Encyclopaedia Britannica, all 30 volumes of it, three or four times over(The Blind Watchmaker, Dawkins, pp. 115–116).

Wow! DNA and proteins and other molecular apparatus that process, duplicate, repair and maintain it represent nanotechnology of nearly unimaginable complexity and wonder that, for all of our efforts, we have yet to be able to create ourselves.

In a paper published in 2012, prominent molecular geneticist George Church said plainly:

DNA is among the most dense and stable information media known (“Next-Generation Digital Information Storage in DNA,” Science, vol. 337 (2012), p. 1628).

Less than a year later, the journal Nature reported that a team of scientists demonstrated this capacity in DNA by encoding all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets, the original scientific paper by Francis Crick and James Watson about the structure of DNA, a color photograph of the European Bioinformatics Institute in England and an audio excerpt of Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech in a tiny bit of DNA. Not a hard drive. Not a USB drive. In a tiny bit of DNA. Then, they mailed the DNA—in a vial with no special packaging—from the United States to Germany, where colleagues were able to successfully decode the contents back into their original text, visual, and audio formats, with 100% accuracy (“Towards practical, high-capacity, low-maintenance information storage in synthesized DNA,” Nature, vol. 494 (2013), pp. 77–80).

The complexity of the cellular machinery and the information-bearing capacities of DNA should be seen as fingerprints pointing to the presence of a great designer behind them. Yet most scientists continue to look away from the obvious conclusions of the evidence, no matter how much work they must do to convince themselves that the obvious isn’t obvious.

For instance, evolutionist Richard Dawkins wrote in his book, The Blind Watchmaker, “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose” (p. 1).

Similarly, Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the amazing structure of the DNA molecule, has written, “Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved” (What Mad Pursuit, p. 138).

What fascinating admissions! Each man is saying that biologists spend their time staring straight at the Designer’s fingerprints, yet must—for some reason—work to prevent themselves from concluding that there is a Designer.

Mr. Dawkins says that biology is the study of complicated things that appear to have been purposefully designed. Mr. Crick says that the evidence of design is so strong that biologists must force themselves not to accept the evidence and to believe in evolution, instead.

It seems that many scientists have forgotten the Duck Principle: If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

More seriously, such examples of willing and intentionally cultivated ignorance should remind us of a warning from the Apostle Paul.

In Romans 1, beginning verse 18, he wrote the following:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:18–20).

Truly, without excuse! It is sheer folly to ignore the evidence and choose to believe that such an intricate and powerfully intelligent system as we find in our own cells was not designed! With every cell reading the programs encoded in our DNA—like a hundred trillion computers reading a hundred trillion hard drives, every second of every day of our lives—then our own lives are astonishing evidence to the existence of our own Creator. The fingerprints of our Creator are there—all over life—all over our own lives, even down to the microscopic designs of our complex cellular machinery.

That is not an accident.

God Created You for a Purpose

God did create the cosmos to enable human life, and He did design human life—including you—for a grand and amazing purpose. And you bear His fingerprints on you because He is crafting something out of you. He is invested in you. And He longs to give you a life and a purpose greater than any you have ever imagined.

So to set up the experiment, consider this… God didn’t just design life. He designed a WAY of life that will help you accomplish His goals for you. And as the Creator of all life, God knows how life is to be lived.

Jesus Christ tells us in the book of John:

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

For those who want that life—who want God near to them, guiding their lives and steps—He explains very clearly how to make that happen in the book of James, chapter 4 and verse 8.

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).

If you want a closer walk with God, if you’re willing to take those first steps in building a deeper, more intimate relationship with your Creator—then the experiment I propose is this: Begin with your own prayer life.

Watch this next video showing how you can draw near to God in prayer—in the same way Jesus Christ did—when you learn to pray as He intended, as you follow the seven steps that Jesus Himself gave in the model prayer.

As you set yourself to draw near to God then, just as He promises, He will draw near to you.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Finding God’s Protection as the World Prepares for War

We live in times of startling upheaval. The Middle East continues to be a source of global chaos and instability. Alliances are breaking and reshaping at blinding speed. The systems and institutions on which our modern civilization depends—economic, governmental, medical, scientific, educational—all continue to prove themselves unworthy of our trust, yet with no alternatives to replace them. News programs seem to carry a litany of tales of suffering—not only on a global scale, but also the intimate and personal.

There has never been a time in human history when the entire world needed to pay more attention to Bible prophecy, yet many don’t.

God has given us Bible prophecy for a reason, and the times in which you and I are living, right now, make understanding those reasons more important than ever.

Today, we want to make those reasons plain, and to equip you to do more than wonder about prophecy—we want you to understand it.

Now, if you have watched Tomorrow’s World for any length of time at all, you already know that we don’t shy away from prophecy. In fact, we spend quite a bit of time with it, because it helps to make sense of the world around us, even as that world appears to be descending into chaos.

With the previous power structures of the Middle East detonating before our eyes, with national economies continuing to teeter on the brink of crumbling, with ethnic and racial tensions on the rise in multiple states and nations, world leaders are growing ever more worried about what lies ahead.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told his colleagues in June 2025:

“To preserve peace, we must prepare for war. Wishful thinking will not keep us safe. We cannot dream away the danger. Hope is not a strategy” (“NATO Secretary General invokes spirit of Churchill to spur on NATO defence spending.” Euro-sd.com, June 10, 2025).

And preparing for war is exactly what nations across the globe are doing, as munitions factories fire into production, engineers pour their passions into new forms of warfare, and governments scramble to find the billions they need to survive the conflicts they see on the horizon.

But unless they understand Bible prophecy, today’s leaders won’t be able to understand how events are being moved into place into their final end-game positions.

Anyone not paying attention to Bible prophecy is simply not getting it. And they are failing to truly understand the news at the very time when understanding it is increasingly becoming a matter of life and death.

In fact, in early 2026, a popular online “prediction market”—essentially a gambling site focused on different events—was taking bets on the just when a nuclear Armageddon would finally begin (“Betting on nuclear war: what are prediction markets and could they come to the UK?” TheGuardian.com, March 6, 2026).

If ever there were a time when Bible prophecy could help us understand what’s going on in the world, now is that time. And yet, so many professing Christians—and so many professing Christian churches—don’t spend any time on prophecy at all.

When they do, it’s often seen as a mere curiosity or distraction—something that’s not really part of the “important stuff” in the Bible—not related to your salvation in any way. Or it might be considered somewhat important, but it seems too confusing to spend time on, with all of its symbols and imagery—seven-headed beasts, and strange creatures and statues. Some worry that they just can’t make sense of it, and that there just isn’t any spiritual profit to them personally if they spend any time in it.

“Man shall not live by bread alone” | Matthew 4:4

Yet, when you go through the Bible verse by verse, you find that, by some counts, at least one-fourth of the entire Bible is prophecy. How big is that?

Well, from the beginning of the Bible, ignoring a fourth of the Bible would be like ignoring Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and 1 Samuel—maybe parts of 2 Samuel, too. Or from the other end, cutting out the last fourth of the Bible would be like removing most of the New Testament. Could God possibly want us to ignore that much of His word?

We don’t have to guess at the answer to that question. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who inspired the word of God, is the same one who admonishes us very directly in Matthew 4:4.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

And my friends, every word means every word—including the words of prophecy.

Today, all of us here at Tomorrow’s World want to encourage you to understand Bible prophecy—not to hold it out at arm’s length, but to begin studying it, to learn from it, to gain from it all the things God intends for you in His prophetic word. And He intends a lot.

In particular, we want to explain to you what the purpose of prophecy is. When you begin to see its purpose, you begin to appreciate why God gives prophecy, what He is trying to accomplish with it, and what its impact in your own life can be. Plus, prophecy provides context for events we see in the world today.

The Middle East has been shaken by Iranian leaders who look to their Muslim faith as justification for war and atrocity. On the other side of that conflict, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke of the American military, saying:

“The providence of our almighty God is there protecting those troops” (“Pete Hegseth wanted an ‘American Crusade.’ Now he’s leading a war in the Middle East.” CNN.com, March 13, 2026).

Of course, leaders have claimed God to be on their side throughout history, even when the conflict was between so-called Christian nations.

What has been missing has been an understanding of His mind, His desires, and His plan for coming world events. And prophecy is vital in gaining that understanding.

So, in our next segment, we’ll begin to focus on four vital purposes of prophecy. In doing so, we hope to encourage you to begin making a growing understanding of prophecy part of your own, personal Bible study. And we want to help you do it right.

Four Purposes of Bible Prophecy

Though the symbols of prophecy can seem strange and unfamiliar, there is a proper way to understand them. God does not allow us to simply interpret them however we want, and He makes that clear in 2 Peter 1:20.

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation [or origin], for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Prophecy reveals God’s thoughts, and we want to handle them rightly.

Prophecy is clearly important to God. But why? Why is it so important to Him? Why does Almighty God put such a priority on prophecy in His word—so much that at least one-fourth of the Bible is prophecy?

Understanding the answer to that question is at the very foundation of understanding prophecy. So let’s dive in and answer it together.

Bible Prophecy: Warning from God to Repent

When you look at the big picture, you find there are four fundamental reasons God inspires prophecy. The first purpose of prophecy is this:

1. Bible prophecy warns people and nations to repent so they can avoid punishment.

Like a good parent, God does not desire to punish people—He desires to bless. And He provides a warning to us as individuals and to entire nations when punishment is on its way, so that we can repent and change our course before it is too late.

Punishment is coming on the world for sin. Eventually, it will culminate in the greatest time of trial and suffering that the world has ever known—a time called the Great Tribulation.

Picture the footage we’ve all seen from the horrors of wars past, such as the Holocaust of World War II, the killing fields of Pol Pot, or the genocide in Rwanda. Today, our social media feeds bring us images of dead and mutilated Russian and Ukrainian soldiers at war, newly ravaged regions of the Middle East, and the devastation of civil wars around the globe, from Myanmar to Mali, from Afghanistan to Yemen, and elsewhere.

Jesus Christ prophesies in Matthew 24 that the time to come will be far worse than any of those times ever were. Read His thoughts for yourself, beginning in verse 21.

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:21–22).

A time of suffering never experienced before by mankind that will threaten to extinguish all life on earth if God were not to cut it short.

The Bible makes plain the fact that these days are coming, but they’re coming for a reason—because of this world’s sins. In particular, those days will begin with the punishment on the United States and the British-descended nations before engulfing the entire world, as we have explained from Scripture many times on this program.

But God takes no pleasure in any of this, and He tells us ahead of time so that we will change, so that we can avoid punishment. That is His desire.

Consider His loving warning in the prophetic book of Ezekiel, in chapter 18 and beginning in verse 30.

“Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live” (Ezekiel 18:30–32).

And for you, viewing today’s program. Your nation may not turn to God, and it may continue in national sin. But you do not have to. You personally can turn to God—cease from breaking His laws, cease from ignoring His commands, and seek to follow the true Jesus Christ of the Bible, in love and obedience. As the Apostle Peter warned his listeners (in Acts 2:40):

“Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them (Acts 2:40–41).

Though Jerusalem and its people paid a terrible price in 70AD, some heeded Peter’s words and were saved from the slaughter that followed in their day.

Jesus Christ died for you, so that you, too, can escape the snare of sin, turn, and be free. But you must choose to repent. May God give you the strength to follow Him and to commit your life to Him.

Part of the purpose of Bible prophecy is to warn people and nations to turn, so that they can avoid punishment.

Even Under God’s Punishment, You Can Repent

But not everyone will repent. Not everyone responds. We know that many of you, our viewers today, will choose not to respond to God’s desire that you repent and avoid what is to come. But prophecy has a purpose even then.

Purpose number two today is:

2. Bible prophecy encourages those in captivity to repent.

God had this purpose in mind when He made this proclamation to ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 4:27–31.

And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

God intended that those who have been punished for their sins and in captivity would remember the words and the warning they had heard, and they will begin to seek God in a way they did not before their punishment.

My friends, the Bible highlights in Malachi 3:6 that God does not change, just as Paul says in Hebrews [13:8] that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” For the reasons discussed in today’s free resource, these same, ancient promises apply to modern nations, today.

Concerning the coming Great Tribulation, the book of Revelation prophecies that many will learn from their suffering and will turn to God during that time—Revelation 7:9 calls them a “great multitude” or an “innumerable multitude.” In the despair of that time, they will begin to seek God as they never have before, and they will find Him and the comfort only He can provide.

For those of our viewers today who watch our program or receive our materials, but who never act on what they read and who, perhaps, will find themselves under the punishment of the Great Tribulation, it is our prayer that you will remember these things and remember to seek God with all your heart, with all your mind, and all your strength. He WILL hear you.

Bible Prophecy Points to the Kingdom of God

A third purpose for Bible prophecy is to:

3. Announce the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.

If you’re a regular viewer of the Tomorrow’s World program, you know that this is our primary focus—just as it was the primary focus of Jesus Christ and His disciples. In fact, vast amounts of Bible prophecy—in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament—are devoted to describing the coming of God’s Kingdom, what that Kingdom will be like, and the role of Jesus Christ as the King of that Kingdom.

Time would fail us to read them all, but look for yourself.

• Read of the miraculous change in the animal kingdom in a newly peaceful world in Isaiah 11.
• Read of people of all nations and languages coming to Jerusalem to worship God at the Feast of Tabernacles in Zechariah 14.
• Read of the removal of Satan the Devil and of resurrected Christians ruling beside Jesus Christ as kings and priests in Revelation 20.
• Read in Zechariah 8 of a world where children and elderly—the weak of society—are safe and able to congregate and play in the streets.
• Read of a world physically transformed, with deserts blossoming into life, and the lame and sick healedand whole in passages such as Isaiah 35.
• And of the world being spiritually transformed, described in Isaiah 11:9, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

In Acts 3:21, the Apostle Peter calls these prophesied times “the restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”

Regardless of how mainstream Christian churches ignore it, the prophetic message of the coming Kingdom of God is the main message of the Bible and the primary thrust of Jesus Christ’s message to the world. The message of that Kingdom was the Gospel—the good news that He brought to humanity. And His true ministers will continue to preach that prophetic witness to the world until its arrival with the returning King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Bible Prophecy Shows God Is in Control

So far, we’ve reviewed three of four purposes of Bible prophecy. It warns people and nations so they can repent before being punished, it encourages those in captivity to repent, and it announces the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.

The fourth purpose is simple, but inspiring:

4. Bible prophecy demonstrates God’s total sovereignty and power.

In the book of Isaiah, God comments on this aspect of prophecy’s purpose—in chapter 46 beginning in verse 9.

Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,” calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it (Isaiah 46:9–11).

Our predecessor in this work, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, said many decades ago that there is one most important fact in all the universe, and it can be stated in three simple words:

God reigns supreme.

My friend and colleague on this program, the late Richard Ames—who is the author of today’s free booklet offer—frequently reminded others of this inspiring truth, and I have benefitted from the passion, clarity, and focus it gave him in his life.

Prophecy teaches us that God reigns supreme. It is meant to remind us that all of history—both history past and the rest of human history that is yet to unfold—is all under the care and providential guidance of a loving and All-Powerful Creator.

What does this mean?

It means that His purposes will be fulfilled.

• His plan of salvation, climaxing in the Kingdom of God and the transformation of His people into glorious children in that Kingdom will come to pass.
• The removal of Satan the Devil for all eternity will come to pass.
• The complete purification and utter transformation of this world will come to pass. God has declared it.

And He is not only the God who announces prophecy, but He is the God who has the power to make His prophecies come to pass.

A God of prophecy who has the power to declare the end from the beginning is also a God in whom we can place our trust. He’s a God with whom we can share our hopes, our dreams, and our concerns. He’s a God who knows our purpose and has it in sight, even when we don’t. He’s a God we can obey and place ourselves 100% in His hands, even under threat of persecution or harm, because we know that in His hands is the best possible place we can be.

Indeed, Bible prophecy does declare God’s sovereignty and power. And it reminds us that the one who lovingly demands our loyalty and obedience is truly worthy of that loyalty and obedience, for He is GOD, and He reigns supreme.

I pray that God blesses you abundantly as you grow in your understanding of Bible prophecy.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Are You Truly Following Jesus Christ?

Over the last 2,000 years since it was first used, the word “Christian” has taken on many meanings. And, as it has done so, the word has become almost meaningless—to the point that many today who call themselves Christian would not be recognized as such by the founder of true Christianity Himself, Jesus Christ.

What about you and me? When Jesus looks at us, does He see someone who claims His name but isn’t actually following Him like a disciple?

If you have the courage to ask yourself this question—and the integrity and humility to answer it—it has the potential to completely change your life.

Our question today is whether Jesus would recognize you as a Christian—or, even, would He recognize me, for that matter. And before we jump into answering that question, I should warn you—some of the points we’re going to discuss today might make many of you uncomfortable, maybe even angry. They made me uncomfortable and angry the first time I heard them. The sort of truths that move us forward in life and in our relationship with God often do.

But I hope you’ll stick with me for the whole program and hear me out. It might take some courage on your part, but seeing the Bible’s own answer to this question may very well be the most important thing you’ve ever done in your life.

What Is a Christian?

At the heart of our discussion today is the word “Christian.” It’s an interesting word—a simple word that seems like it should be obvious in meaning, and yet a word that is the source of so much confusion today.

The Bible itself reports on the first time it was ever used in history. We see this in the book of Acts in chapter 11.

This was early enough in the Church’s existence that the Apostle Paul wasn’t even an apostle yet—and he still went by the name of Saul.

Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:25–26).

We see here that there were disciples of Jesus Christ in Antioch, and they numbered enough that people began calling them Christians—identifying them as disciples of someone named Christ.

Some have speculated that the name Christian might even have originally been meant as an insult. But whether it was intended as an insult or not, the early followers of Jesus seem to have accepted it.

In chapter 4 of Peter’s first letter, the Apostle uses the word to encourage his brothers and sisters in the faith who were being persecuted.

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter (1 Peter 4:16).

In the New Testament letters, we see the disciples referring to each other as brothers and sisters.

Biblical Definition of Christian

But in contrast with the world, the word “Christian” helped to identify them as those who believe in, follow, and obey the teachings of Jesus Christ.

However, that was a long time ago. And things have changed a great deal since then.

Of the two billion people on earth claiming to be a Christian, there are a maddening number of different doctrines, different practices, different traditions, different beliefs about creation, different understandings of prophecy, different beliefs about the afterlife, different beliefs about what God is like and the purpose of man—even different understandings of who and what Jesus Christ really was. The list goes on and on.

Frankly, as the executive editor of the Tomorrow’s World magazine, I’ve seen how the word “Christian” is a real challenge. It’s come to mean so many different things that the word is a source of confusion. When we say the word “Christian,” many of our hundreds of thousands of subscribers think different things—just like our hundreds of thousands of viewers do.

How to Follow Jesus Christ: 5 Steps That Matter

So let’s get down to the basics and frame today’s question this way: If a TRUE Christian is a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ, then what does that mean? How can we know whether Jesus would recognize us as one of His disciples? And if He wouldn’t, how do we need to change?

We’ll cover five key points about being a real disciple of Jesus Christ that most do not understand.

Get to Know the Real Jesus Christ of the Bible

The first point might seem like the most obvious, but don’t be fooled.

1. A disciple of Jesus believes in and follows the real Jesus Christ.

Now, that might prompt you to think, “Excellent! That’s me. I believe in Jesus.”

But the Bible would push back on that conclusion and ask you: Which “Jesus” do you believe in?

Because many believe in a “Jesus Christ,” but it is not the real Jesus Christ. Don’t take my word for it—take the Apostle Paul’s.

In his second letter to the Corinthians in chapter 11, Paul discusses this very real possibility.

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it (2 Corinthians 11:3–4).

Yes, “another Jesus.” Jesus Himself warned His disciples that, right after His resurrection, many would come in His name, proclaiming Him as Christ, yet they would be false teachers who “deceive many” (Matthew 24:5). And they did.

Even in the first century, writers of the Bible were warning their readers to:

Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).

While so-called “Christianity” is the largest religion on the planet, Jesus says that His true disciples would make up a “little flock” on the earth (Luke 12:32).

In fact, after someone asks Jesus if many or few would truly follow Him, He answers with a warning that we should all take seriously.

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity’” (Luke 13:24–27).

Jesus is warning us not to take for granted that He even knows who we are. Many think they know Jesus Christ, but the “Jesus” they are following is, in Paul’s words, “another Jesus.”

So, how do we know we are following the REAL Jesus?

True Christians Repent and Turn Away from Sin

Our next points will give us some clarity. For instance:

2. A disciple of Jesus repents of sin.

You know, “Just as I Am” is one of the most popular Christian hymns in history. And yet, it is also a lie. One of the very first steps one takes to become a disciple of Jesus Christ is to repent of one’s sins—to turn away from disobeying God and to begin obeying Him.

Again, don’t take my word for it—take Jesus’.

Mark 1 records the beginning of His earthly ministry. Let’s see it there for ourselves.

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14–15).

Repentance and turning from sin is fundamental to being a true disciple of Jesus Christ. So much so that the need to repent was emphasized in the very first sermon of the Church Jesus founded. We read of that in Acts 2. There, we see that after being convicted by Peter’s sermon of their guilt in the death of the Messiah, the people are moved to take action.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:37–38).

Now, I’ve heard some so-called Christian preachers say that repentance was only for the Jews, and never a requirement made of the non-Jewish Gentiles.

Well, let’s just say that those preachers must have purchased a defective Bible, because such claims are deceptive hogwash. For instance, look at Paul’s statement to King Agrippa in Acts 26:19–20.

“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”

In fact, in Athens Paul told the assembled Greeks that:

[God] now commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).

Far from saying we come to Christ like the old hymn says, “just as we are,” being a disciple requires repenting of our sins—a necessity for anyone to be a true follower of Christ.

But what does that mean, repenting of sin? Most people don’t understand the most basic definition of sin—even though it’s right there in the Bible under their noses.

Let’s look at it in 1 John 3:4. In the New King James Version, we read this:

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

The meaning is even plainer in the old King James Version.

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).

Jesus Christ Said to Keep the Commandments

That brings us to the next point about being a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

3. A real disciple keeps God’s commandments.

Many so-called Christian teachers will tell you just the opposite—claiming that God’s law and commandments are not required of Christians. But if you want to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, ignore them and listen to Jesus.

In Matthew 19, we read of a rich young man who came to Jesus and asked Him what he needed to do to have eternal life. Jesus’ answer was simple.

“If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:7).

The young man asked Him which ones, and Jesus listed several of the Ten Commandments.

Many like to cast commandment-keeping and obedience as if it is somehow foreign to Christianity, claiming that you need only to believe—and cherry-picking verses here or there to prop up their ideas. But all such arguments always fail when the whole of God’s word is taken together.

For instance, how important did Jesus think obedience is? Let’s read it ourselves in Matthew 7:21–23.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

Notice that. Those who profess Christ’s name and even work wonders in His name—if they practice lawlessness and will not obey God’s law—are told by Jesus Christ Himself that He does not know them.

If Jesus HIMSELF does not recognize us as one of his followers, how does the word “Christian” apply to us?

John, the last of the Twelve Apostles, understood this. Let’s look in 1 John, which he wrote near the close of the first century.

John is often called the “Apostle of Love” because of his great emphasis on the need for Christians to love others. But He could also just as well be called the Apostle of Law, because he also emphasized obedience to God’s commands. Again, don’t just take my word for it, let’s look in 1 John 2:3–4.

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

My friends, read that in your own Bible as many times as you need to in order to take it in and believe it! If we believe that we know Jesus and are His followers, yet we do not seek to keep the Commandments, then the Apostle John, the Apostle of Love, says we are liars.

And those who say we do not need to keep the commandments to be Christians are liars, as well—lying in ignorance, perhaps, but lying all the same.

That lie is rooted in the doctrines and traditions of men, who have warped the truth of God for almost two millennia.

Be Doers of the Word, Not Substituting Man-Made Traditions

And understanding that leads us to our next point about true disciples.

4. A disciple of Jesus believes the Bible over traditions of men.

Many so-called Christian organizations will pay lip service to God’s word, but in practice they put their own human traditions and council decisions above Scripture time and time again. They do not keep the biblical festivals like Jesus, His apostles, and the first-century Church did. They keep holidays intermingled with pagan symbols and practices, which God condemns in multiple places in His word. They do not keep the seventh-day Sabbath—the only weekday set apart in Scripture for rest and worship, often choosing instead Sunday—a day taken from pagan worship practices and enforced by Roman decree, long after the Apostles’ deaths.

Yes, there is a real human, organized, and ordained authority in the REAL Church Jesus founded, which persists today. Many passages make this plain. Christianity is not a “lone wolf” religion, in which everyone interprets the Bible based on his own, individual ideas.

But did Jesus ever think human beings could OVERRULE the Bible with their own traditions? We see His own answer in Mark 7.

There, talking to the Pharisees, who had used their legitimate authority to make God’s word of no real effect through their traditions, Jesus had harsh words.

He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Mark 7:6–7).

In verse 9, He continues His condemnation.

He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition” (Mark 7:9).

No, Jesus is not interested in all the fancy arguments and theological traditions that various denominations use to justify their commandment-breaking idols in their cathedrals, Sunday meetings instead of observing the biblical Sabbath, and pagan-tainted holidays instead of biblically-commanded Holy Days.

For the disciple of Jesus Christ, God’s word is just that: God’s word. And it outranks any traditions that effectively contradict it and make it of no effect.

Disciples of Jesus Put God First | Luke 14:26-33 Explained

The last point we’ll discuss today is this—and it’s a big one:

5. A disciple of Jesus yields his or her whole life to Christ.

This might seem like something obvious. But it is far from clear to most who call themselves Christian.

This requirement of Jesus’ disciples is probably best explained by Jesus Himself—like most of our points have been! We read His description of it in Luke 14. We don’t have much time, but let’s look at portions of that passage together. We can start in verse 26.

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

Now, don’t misunderstand. Jesus isn’t saying you must truly hate your family. If so, He’d be contradicting Himself, because He also says to love each other and to keep the commandment to honor your father and mother.

Rather, He is speaking of loving Him more than them. He must come first in the lives of His disciples—before their own parents, siblings, spouses, or children—yes, even before their own lives.

Note His words there. He doesn’t just say this priority is a “good idea.” He literally says that those who will not put Him first above all “cannot be [His] disciple.”

That means that if following Jesus, repenting of our sins, and beginning to obey God’s commandments and living according to the Bible means going against the wishes of our family, then that’s what we do. Even if it costs us our lives, Jesus expects us to do just that, to give up our lives. As He says toward the end of this passage:

“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33).

Those are powerful words, not to be taken lightly. “All that we have” literally means all that we have. Our work and business connections, our personal or political preferences, our hobbies and pastimes—all that we have must be laid at Christ’s feet and seen as tools for His purposes, sacrifices we are willing to make for the sake of His Kingdom and His righteousness.

Now, the good news is that, in many ways, the reward for doing so is often immediate. For instance, it’s remarkable how much better and happier a marriage can be when both husband and wife put Jesus Christ truly first in their lives, even over each other. Yet, I would be lying if I didn’t say that a commitment to Christ never entails instead the sacrifice of these things.

Yet being willing to go further than comforting, but ultimately confusing, labels like “Christian” and strive for the reality and commitment of true discipleship under Jesus Christ makes available rewards so much more profound than anything we would ever have to give up in this life:

• A real and living relationship with our Creator and our Savior
• The forgiveness of sins and the gift of God’s indwelling Spirit
• The power of divine purpose as we seek membership in the Family of God
• And the hope of unending glory, love, and joy, with our Father, the Son of God, and our fellow disciples, as we enter eternity at the return of Christ.