Are you tired of bad news? Many terrible curses are hitting our nations all at once. We are feeling the sickness of covid-19, the isolation of social distancing and lockdowns, the financial crunch of lost jobs and reduced economic activity, the shock over abolished freedoms, the pain of cities burning, the bitterness of racial and political divisions. And as a result, we are also suffering more depression, anxiety, fear, despair and hopelessness.

Yet as terrible and shattering as these problems are, they contain the seed of extraordinary hope!

It is becoming clearer than ever that the leaders and governments of this world do not have real answers to the problems we face! In many countries, dissatisfaction and anger with government are spreading faster than coronavirus.

In the United States, we are in the final days before a presidential election. No matter who wins, it seems half the country will be convinced it spells doom for the nation. The governments of Britain and the Jewish state have faced political scandals that threatened to topple their leaders. Protest movements are shaking Lebanon, Belarus, Bulgaria, Spain and elsewhere. Authoritarian China has silenced dissenters in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Strongmen in Russia, Turkey, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and other nations have many people disturbed about their countries’ future. In so many cases, not only are our leaders not solving our crises, they are creating more crises!

In this Trumpet issue, we look at a news event—to occur in the very near future—that will actually solve all these problems. It is certain to happen whether or not you believe it.

It is the establishment of a new world government—an entirely different type than any of the governments that are struggling with these escalating disasters on Earth today.

Advance News!

This event was first announced nearly 2,000 years ago—by Jesus Christ Himself. Christ came to Earth with a message. Notice: “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). The word gospel means good news. Christ’s message was the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.

This advance news Christ brought has everything to do with the troubles afflicting our nations today! It was an announcement of how world peace will come! Yet it is completely ignored by most people today—and misunderstood by many more.

Even after His crucifixion and resurrection, Christ went to His disciples and continued to preach the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). He really wanted them to understand this news! We must not take this lightly. We need to listen to what the Bible teaches on this subject.

Just what is the Kingdom of God? To most people, this is an unsolved mystery. Even churches, theologians and Bible scholars don’t understand what the Kingdom of God is!

As a result, today few people talk about or preach the message Christ brought. Instead they preach a gospel of salvation, or of grace, a gospel about Christ, a social gospel, a religious science or some other gospel. Yet Christ said it is necessary to believe His news of the Kingdom of God to be saved! And the Apostle Paul pronounced a double curse on any man, or even an angel, who would dare preach any other gospel than that of the Kingdom of God! (Galatians 1:8-9). The Kingdom of God is the gospel.

Christ and His disciples preached the true gospel message over 1,900 years ago. But just a short time after Christ died, there came on the scene a counterfeit gospel! Within a few decades, that message of the gospel was suppressed! (You can read this shocking history in my free book The True History of God’s True Church.)

Professing Christians have many definitions for God’s Kingdom. One prominent evangelist said the Kingdom is not for us today. Others have said the Kingdom is all Christian denominations. But you cannot prove such views from the Bible.

One televangelist said the Kingdom of God is within each Christian. He used what Christ said in Luke 17:21 as “proof.” There Christ told the Pharisees, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Yet, as several Bible translations point out, this is a mistranslation of the original Greek; it should read “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Jesus Christ is King of the Kingdom of God, and He was there, in their presence, as a representative of that Kingdom! The Bible often uses the words “king” and “kingdom” interchangeably. The King, who is going to rule over the Kingdom of God and the whole universe, was in their midst! But none of them understood what He said about the Kingdom.

Every explanation of the Kingdom of God that professing Christians offer is wrong! How can someone possibly be a member of God’s Kingdom if he doesn’t know what it is?

This is a crucial subject. And it is the final mystery that Herbert W. Armstrong explained in his book Mystery of the Ages. I encourage you to read this eye-opening book. We will gladly send you a free copy (see the back cover of this magazine for details). You can understand the truth about this wonderful news!

Daniel’s Kingdom Prophecy

The Prophet Daniel understood what the Kingdom of God is. This is clear in his book, which was written for this end time (Daniel 12:4-9).

Daniel was in the Judaean captivity of 585 b.c., when the nation was conquered by Babylon. In captivity, Daniel looked to serve King Nebuchadnezzar in any way he could. The king had a dream one night that deeply puzzled him. He called for all his magicians and astrologers to explain his dream and its meaning. They couldn’t. Finally, the Prophet Daniel came to him with the answer.

Daniel explained: “[T]here is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these” (Daniel 2:28). Nebuchadnezzar’s dream held a prophecy for “the latter days”—our time today!

Daniel taught the king about the God of heaven who reveals secrets. Nobody else can reveal or interpret God’s Word.

Gary Dorning/Trumpet

Think about the great Being that Daniel is talking about! Though few people realize it, He rules this Earth and universe and always will! He orchestrates events to work out according to His master plan. The problems vexing our nations are God allowing mankind to learn some lessons the hard way—but even that is according to His design. In the world today, He allows mankind leeway to sin and transgress His law. It is not God’s choice—He allows us the choice. He tells us, Don’t choose death; choose life! (Deuteronomy 30:19)—yet men continually choose death. Still, God rules overall and shapes things to fulfill His plan to usher in His Kingdom to this world.

Daniel explained to Nebuchadnezzar that his dream depicted a vast statue representing four world-ruling kingdoms throughout history. The head of this statue was of fine gold, representing the Babylonian Empire. The breast and arms were of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the legs of solid iron—these represented three other successive world-ruling empires: Persia, Greece and Rome.

Then something strange happened in the dream: A supernatural stone came and smashed all those empires, establishing the Kingdom of God!

This is the gospel message, the good news about a literal, specific Kingdom that already rules the universe, and that will soon rule this Earth!

This dream of Nebuchadnezzar’s was no ordinary dream! God was revealing to this Gentile king the true gospel—the gospel of the good news of the Kingdom of God!

When people today think about the gospel or the Kingdom of God, they don’t think about one supreme Ruler, ruling over the Earth and universe. Yet that is what it is all about! When Jesus Christ returns—the most colossal event ever on Earth—He will establish the Kingdom of God!

This world will not be the Kingdom. Christ said flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50). “The Kingdom of God will rule over the peoples and nations of the Earth,” Mr. Armstrong wrote in Mystery of the Ages. “Yet these mortal peoples and nations will NOT be the kingdom, not even in the Kingdom of God. They shall be merely ruled over by it!” The Kingdom is not composed of flesh and blood; it is comprised of spirit beings.

The Bible shows that those spirit beings will not just be God and Christ. They will include all those whom God calls before that Second Coming, who will be born into that Kingdom by becoming spirit beings, and then help Him rule the world!

Those who follow Christ and allow Him to direct our lives before the Second Coming will be changed to immortality and become Christ’s Bride. I wrote in our August issue about the mystery of the Church. The purpose of the Church is to prepare called-out ones to teach and rule in the Kingdom of God.

Eventually God will give everybody a chance to learn about His Kingdom. Many millions of people who never understood the Kingdom of God are going to be resurrected, and their eyes shall be opened. But right now, the whole world is deceived, and the Kingdom of God is a mystery.

The Kingdom of God is not some ethereal sentiment in your mind or something that is within you. It is very literal and specific—a ruling kingdom in the Earth and universe! Read these scriptures and think about them because they reveal the inspiring solutions to this world’s problems—and they have everything to do with your future!

‘In the Days of These Kings’

Take special note of Daniel 2:44. Get out your Bible and read it for yourself: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” This is referring to the days of the “10 toes” of the Daniel 2 image, which represent 10 earthly rulers. This is the time we are living in right now!

Mr. Armstrong wrote about this verse in Mystery of the Ages: “This, by connecting the prophecy with Daniel 7, and Revelation 13 and 17, is referring to the new United States of Europe that is now forming out of the European Common Market [now European Union].” This European empire is ready to burst on the world scene! It will have 10 kings. It will be unified. And it will be a superpower that will shock and stun the world. Your Bible prophesies that it will initiate World War iii!

It is “in the day of these kings” that Christ will return, smash those kings, and establish the Kingdom of God to rule Earth and the universe forever!

This world has been cut off from God for 6,000 years, since Adam turned away from God and was banished from the Garden of Eden. This whole world has followed in his footsteps. But there is a seventh 1,000-year period when Jesus Christ will take over and rule with a rod of iron.

“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). When God’s Kingdom is set up, it will supplant all the governments in the nations around us. The leaders who are struggling and failing to address the problems today will be removed and replaced by rulers of God’s choosing. And His Kingdom will never be destroyed! Christ will rule with His government and His law forever.

That is when the beautiful World Tomorrow will begin. All people who have open minds and receive the Spirit of God will be brought into the Family of God. There will be no more pain, no more suffering or tears, no more curses like those we see today.

This is the advance news Christ brought! What a gospel of good news! That is the message Christ preached everywhere He went: The Kingdom of God is coming to put an end to the kingdoms of this world.

Sadly, millions of people know nothing about this. They have never heard that Jesus Christ is going to return and rule Earth. Though the Bible is filled with this truth, most churches overlook these marvelous scriptures.

The King of the Kingdom

Just before His crucifixion, Pilate asked Christ, “Are you a king?” Christ responded, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world …” (John 18:37). Christ was born to be a king, ruling every nation and person. What a beautiful plan!

Christ is King over the Kingdom of God. He came to Earth and qualified to kick Satan off his throne, and He is about to do just that—after He has developed some people who will be His helpmeet and Bride, helping Him teach and rule over the entire world in the Millennium!

The Kingdom of God is a literal kingdom, just like Nebuchadnezzar’s, Alexander the Great’s, Caesar’s—or any great nation today, for that matter. The difference, however, is that this Kingdom is ruled by God!

Isaiah 2:2-4 and Micah 4:1-3 make clear what wonderful conditions are about to prevail in this new civilization: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains [in biblical symbols, a mountain represents a government], and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we shall walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” This world would have you believe God’s law has been done away. But these scriptures show that law going forth to the nations!

The conclusion of these verses is written on the United Nations building, but few understand it. It is about the Kingdom of God ruling the Earth! People want peace. They don’t want nuclear war. But the problem is, they won’t let God guide them, and thus war is inevitable!

The world today, ruled by men inspired by Satan, is plagued with unsolvable problems. The very creation itself is in a state of decay because of Satan’s rebellion! It is a dead universe. But very soon, God is going to bring it to life! As the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21; Revised Standard Version).

Read that carefully! The universe is just waiting for the birth of God’s sons—those sons who will be born into the Kingdom, or Family, of God at the time of Christ’s Second Coming! And why? Because they will help Christ remove all that decay and make that universe beautiful and thrilling!

Though the Kingdom of God is a mystery to this world, it is the only hope they have! And it is a sure hope. The advance news of that Kingdom which Jesus Christ brought nearly two millennia ago is about to come to pass. A new world government is coming! This government will oversee a worldwide revolution that will eliminate sickness and establish robust health, that will build strong families and vibrant communities, that will encourage and produce near-universal prosperity and industry, that will promote good will between races and secure peace among nations.

You need to understand the truth about this soon-coming Kingdom. This is the subject of the final and most inspiring chapter in Herbert W. Armstrong’s masterwork Mystery of the Ages. Request a free copy of this book to come to understand this truth as revealed in your Bible. Remove the mystery—and even as the world is weighed down by bad news, you will be filled with the hope of the Kingdom of God!