Nowhere does the Lord tell us that His Truth (Word/Law/Gospel) will ever be taken from the earth.  His Words will be available as long as man inhabits the earth.  Jesus made this clear in Matthew 28:18-20.  Here He tells His apostles then, and His end-time apostles today, that God had given HIM all power in heaven and in earth (the Holy Spirit without measure–Jn. 3:34).  Notice that in verse 19 He uses the word “therefore.” In so doing He was saying that because HE had been given all power in heaven and earth to do His work among the Jews, THEY AND THEIR MINISTERIAL DESCENDANTS would have all power to do the same work throughout “all nations.”  In this passage the Lord is telling His apostles then and His end-time apostles use that same power to “… TEACH ALL NATIONS ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU … UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD.”  Note it: the ancient apostles, as well as the end-time apostles to teach all of His Words throughout all of the world until the end of the present world.  Therefore, His Word must be taught, in the power of the Holy Spirit, until His Second Advent when He will award salvation to His Very Elect whom He will raise from the dead during the first resurrection.  Read The Three Resurrections.  Key word–Three.  Jesus told His apostles to teach all of HIS WORD to all nations “… UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD.”  The world has not ended.  The Word still abounds internationally.

Now let us look at the time involved in the Amos 8 prophecy.  In verse 9 Jehovah says that various signs will take place in the heavens during that end-of-the-age period: “… I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.”  Such heavenly, though terrifying, signs will take place during the period between the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of the Day of the Lord (Rev. 8:12).  This means that these heavenly signs will take place one year before Christ’s return.  Terrified by what is happening, people will run to and fro in an effort to find God’s Word but will not be able to HEAR it.  Recall that the famine will concern “HEARING” His Word.  God’s Word and all references to it will have been outlawed by the Great Whore church and the Beast government.  Having taken control of world affairs some two years earlier, this church-state conglomerate will be ruling the world.  Just as the Catholic hierarchy, using the Roman Empire as its enforcer, would not allow their parishioners to own, read or hear the Bible generations earlier, this church-state world-ruling power will again not allow God’s Word to be owned, read or heard during the Tribulation and the Lord’s Day that will take place just prior to Christ’s return.  The Great (Catholic) Whore called Babylon the Great (Rev. 17:1-5), along with her harlot (Protestant) daughters will, through the power of the Beast, will have removed all traces of the Biblical God from the earth.  However, that does not mean that His Word will not be spoken.  Though it will be spoken, the world’s masses will not be allowed to hear it.  The suddenly “woke” world will “awaken” to the truth of the Word they had rejected and will run to and fro trying to hear it.  However, their efforts will all be in vain.  With God’s Very Elect (church) safely ensconced in her place of safety, who will be left to speak His Word to the “woke” world?  His Two Witnesses.

In Revelation 11:3-14 we read about two witnesses who will prophesy for 1, 260 days (3 1/2 years).  Note that they are called “witnesses.”  Jesus said that His Gospel would be preached throughout the world as a “witness” before His return (Mat. 24:14).  These two men will prophesy God’s Truth while standing before Satan–the god of the earth (vs 4 & 2 Cor. 4:4) who deceives the whole world (Rev. 12:9).  No one, no weapon will be able to harm the witnesses as they wreak havoc on the earth during the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, which will last 1,260 days.  They will not allow it to rain on the earth.  They will turn what water there is available into blood.  They will smite the earth with plagues.  They will do these things as often as they wish.  Then, when they have finished their “testimony” (vs 7), God will allow them to be killed.  The world will rejoice while viewing their corpses which will lie in a Jerusalem street for 3 1/2 days.  Then He will call them back to life and will tell them to “come up hither.”  Rising to their feet, they will ascend into a cloud in view of the entire world.  Read the rest of chapter 11 to learn what will happen following their removal from the earth.

In this series we have explored two periods of time since Jesus established God’s church in 31 A.D. in which His Word was not being heard throughout the world.  The first period lasted from approximately 100 A.D. until 1933.  The second period will take place with the removal of God’s saints to their place of safety and will end with the ascent of His two witnesses.  During the Tribulation and Day of the Lord the world will have God’s two witnesses speaking His Truth on earth.  However, the masses will not be allowed to hear them.  Though the world-wide web will most likely be available, the Whore and the Beast will determine who can use it and when.  I believe that the deaths of the witnesses will prompt the powers to allow all of mankind to see their dead bodies.  Scripture reveals that throughout the world there will be rejoicing that those two trouble makers were at last dead.  Then, to their surprise Jesus Christ will return.  L.J.