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THE EARTHLY INHERITANCE SERIES of BIBLE SUBJECTS
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Various Bible study guides in subjects pertaining to
New Earth prophecy, as taught by Paul Phelps.
For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD,
they shall inherit the earth. Psalm 37:9
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In company with Christians in all time past we gladly affirm
and proclaim THE NICENE CREED as our Statement of Faith.
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We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with
the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy universal and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
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A NEW EARTH STUDIES INTRODUCTION
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This introduction to the New Earth Writings of Paul Phelps
explains humanity’s earthly inheritance and future of Earth,
based upon Bible theology and the knowledge of prophecy.
After several years of study this writing was completed in 2000.
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This is an introduction to New Earth Inheritance topics, originated and written
by Paul Phelps. These themes are Biblical but not religious in Church-teaching
style; they are essays in Bible wisdom and prophecy. We seek the wisdom that
reveals God’s plan for humanity as we go into the 21st century, entering earth’s
new millennium. These topics deal with humanity’s future in an earthly context,
as revealed in Scripture. (English quotes are from the NRSV Bible translation.)
The Bible was written far back in time; it was written by Hebrew writers and is
therefore best comprehended through Hebrew thinking. The task of sorting out
earthly doctrine from heavenly doctrine is hard but very valuable—because this
information is important. The Bible is the wisdom source in both sets of wisdom.
Jewish sages found part of this wisdom and wrote commentaries; Church sages
found more wisdom and wrote more commentaries. The wisdom that we teach
is about God’s purposes for this end time, and the preparations needed for the
new world to come.
The Bible was taught in a Church context for almost two millennia. That era
is closing and all things are being changed, but the Bible remains. It is God’s
unchanging word. The Bible is written in such a way that it has eternal wisdom
for all ages. In a sense the Bible has continuous revelation; in all ages its pages
are revealing more truth. Through divine guidance God’s servants are always
searching and finding new truth.Proverbs 25:2,
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
Amos 3:7,
Surely the Lord GOD does nothing,
without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
God is found by all that seek him but he hides from others; “Truly you are a
God that hides himself, O God of Israel, the Saviour” (Isaiah 45:15). In the past,
God has hidden himself from the world, but there will come a dramatic change
in the near future. The Bible says that God soon will intervene in earth’s affairs
with power and authority. He is coming as King.
New epochs do not come of themselves or from random chance. New epochs
come by God’s will and at his intervention. Even now a new epoch is evident
and more so as time approaches Christ’s return. The people of earth belong to
God’s creation and are in his ownership. He has put key responsibilities upon
mankind and he has the right to enforce compliance. He has ethical standards
by which every human shall be judged. These writings draw attention to God’s
ethical requirements for the New Earth.
A love for righteousness and a hatred of sin is the greatest need of our time.
For long, God has not intervened in earthly affairs, but he is intervening now.
As in Noah’s time sin is the cause of God’s intervention. There is the need to
acknowledge God and worship him as Creator, in faith accepting that we are in
his ownership by right of creation—and subject to his judgment. The issues that
greatly affect men’s relationship to God are his righteousness and his ownership
of mankind as the Creator-Father, and these are primary themes in our writings.
The first angelic message of the end time is focused on these issues; Rev. 14:6-7.
The second angel declares God’s judgment of the Babylonish world system
(v 8), and warns men to be separate from it, so as not to receive of the coming
plagues; Rev. 18:4-5. The Babylonish system affects the whole world but some
men are in more bondage to it than others. The call to be separated is for both
individuals and nations. God’s last-day elect is comprised of individuals of all
nations, kindreds, peoples, and tongues, and may also include whole nations.
The New Earth Studies are dedicated to the purpose of separating divine truth
from Babylonish errors, so that men can escape from Babylon’s entanglements
and enter into the kingdom of God.
The third angel gives warning about the last-day antichrist empire, telling us
to have no connection with it. The punishment is clear, “Those who worship the
beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands,
they will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his
anger; and they will be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the
holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment
goes up for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship
the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name;”
(Revelation 14:9-11). These writings serve a warning about Satan’s last attempt
at world domination in the last days.
No one need be afraid of the antichrist empire if he seeks righteousness and
meekness and is obedient to God. “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
who do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be
hidden on the day of the LORD’s wrath;” (Zephaniah 2:3). We are in a cruel and
violent age of confrontation between God and Satan. It is a time of martyrdom
for some of the faithful saints (Revelation 14:12-13) but they will be resurrected.
The resurrection of the righteous is a main theme of our writings.
God’s long-term plan for earth is not well understood by many Bible readers
and is entirely unknown to those not familiar with the Bible. We’ve decided to
expound on this theme to provide a theological base for the earthly inheritance
for all who want it. This is the desire of all nations always; but this world system
must go away before earth can be renewed. “And I will shake all the nations, so
that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendour,
says the LORD of hosts;” (Haggai 2:7).
Bible prophecy is a big topic. There is need to explain how end-time events
lead into the Messianic age. Most prophetic Bible texts pertain to earth but the
traditional ways of interpreting Bible prophecy do not sufficiently explain about
New Earth inheritance. Traditional Church teachings focus entirely on heaven
but our approach focuses on the New Earth.
New Earth theology involves the study of Israel in both an historic sense and
in a prophetic sense. We reject any prophetic interpretations suggesting that
Israel has been replaced by the Church. We rather affirm that the Church and
Israel are two different peoples—for the two different parts of God’s kingdom.
The two different parts are heaven and earth. On the individual level, heaven
and earth will each have every people group represented, including Jews. But
historically and prophetically Israel always refers to an earthly people. Many
Bible believers make a distinction by saying spiritual Israel when speaking of
the Church, and fleshly Israel when speaking in the earthly context. We do not
argue but only point out that in prophetic terms Israel is always Israel of earth.
There are however details of earthly Israel that are not well known and that
greatly affect prophetic interpretation. Not only has God hidden himself from
the world, he has also hidden a large part of his people. He will show himself
openly at the proper time, and the same is true of his people whom he has hid.
This idea affects an overall worldview of prophecy and has special significance
for the Eastern world, and this theme is an important part of our writings.
God aims to save as many as possible of the whole world, of all generations,
but salvation does not necessarily mean heaven. The Bible has information on
different inheritance provisions for different purposes. We in this generation
are more familiar with the ‘heavenly’ hope, as taught by the Church for the past
two millennia; but there is also need to teach about the ‘renewed earth’ hope.
The New covenant of Christ has both heavenly and earthly provisions and the
earthly provision will come in effect at his soon return. God has planned that
people of all generations will enter the earthly Kingdom by the resurrection of
the righteous. This is part of the eternal gospel (Rev. 14:6), which is the main
focus of New Earth Inheritance studies.
There is a big difference between heaven and earth, both as to body nature
and environment, and as to activity and purpose for God’s kingdom. There is a
different theology for each—because the requirements and provisions for each
are different. There is a need to explain the nature of both elections compared
to each other, and explain all the relationships, showing how the Scriptures can
be rightly understood for both heavenly and earthly teachings.
The promise of an earthly inheritance in the Messianic age stimulates hope.
It may also raise further questions. These writings have many answers but the
writer is well aware that with every answer come more questions. This subject
is like opening a door that was locked a long time and finding a room filled with
unexpected rich treasure.Prov. 24:3-4,
By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled with all
precious and pleasant riches.
God’s kingdom is the great house (2 Tim. 2:20). The Bible contains the plans
but these have not yet been fully explored. There is still much treasure to find.
The earthly inheritance touches on many subjects; with God’s help they will all
be explored and put in writing. This theme is of God and its emergence means
that the New Earth is a soon-coming reality. The time is at hand.