An Audio Message From the Publisher:
This is Hank Scott, for The Pure Truth Restored...
Some readers of this publication have doubtless wondered why it sometimes takes so long between issues.
This begs the question: How long is too long?
Is a couple of months, half a year, or even a year too long?
We live is a rush-rush age of instant gratification. But what does that do for you? Are you better off as a result?
Putting this subject in a different light, can you rush our Creator or get Him to reveal something before He is ready?
When you consider scripture, think about all the people who lived from the time of Moses until the coming of the Messiah and the creation of the "New Testament" scriptures.
Would they have had any right to complain because none of that was revealed to them yet?
Of course not. The time wasn't right for that, so it didn't happen until the proper time had arrived.
Furthermore, it didn't happen in the Americas, in China, Russia, Europe or any of the isles or islands around the world.
So the right place was and is also important.
Do we have any right to complain about that, or can we force it to be other than intended?
Of course not.
Scripture -- or true spiritual inspiration -- was given to only a certain person or persons, in a particular place at the right time, in a manner fitting to the occasion.
And this process, which produced the scriptures that comprise most of what we now call the Bible, took many thousands of years to accomplish.
In fact, unknown to most "modern" people, in such a rush to get nowhere in particular, it's a process that is still ongoing today.
And because spiritual guidance, inspiration and revelation can only come when they are intended by heavenly decree, there is simply nothing you or I can do to change or hasten that process.
As prophesied in various places (such as Psalm 37:7, I Peter 2:20, and Revelation 2:2, 3, 19, 3:10, 13:10, and 14:12), patience is often a required virtue of anyone who would participate in the calling of the Elect.
It was required of the patriarch Abraham, as Hebrews 6:15 reveals. So is patience too much to be expected of you?
Not if you are a true spiritual offspring of faithful Abraham.
Patient endurance, or perseverance, are what your Creator wants to see you develop, to become one of His "little children," for we are supposed to be learning to emulate His character.
Where would the world be today had He not been patient with us during our most difficult and obstinate periods of disobedience, stiff-necked rebellion and carnal, evil-minded self-destruction?
The time is nearly here for another cataclysmic change, but only when there is nothing more to be gained from patient delay any longer.
Will you endure patiently through it all?
If so, perhaps you will also be found deserving of protection from that hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world to test all those living upon earth, when that time finally arrives (see: Revelation 2:10).
Like a seed takes a long time to germinate, grow and finally produce fruit after its kind, just so are we being tested and tried to see what manner of "produce" we will become.
Will you quickly develop into a showy, but ultimately empty and hurtful, tare of false grain?
Or will you produce some sort of desirable and healthy fruit instead?
Along with the seed of the Spirit, patience will be the telling difference by which we can see and acknowledge the production of real spiritual fruits that will bring life, happiness and joy to all inhabitants of earth at long last.
If you are patient, you will rejoice to see that glorious day finally dawn!