Book excerpt: Second Edition - Updated and Revised A Bible student reference A New Testament prophecy of a falling away from truth into apostasy and lawlessness, in the final generation before Jesus Christ returns in glory, is being fulfilled now and is shortly to end. Yet Christianity has overwhelmingly moved so far from its first century roots that it could not even recognise this – or that Christ’s return is therefore now almost upon us! How and why this is the case is here explained thoroughly and logically with many examples directly from the word of God. In God’s saving plan for the world, everyone must in time make a free will choice to become part of the ‘Israel of God’ in order to access eternal life in the kingdom of God. The route to take is the “strait and narrow” way (Mat 7:13-14) that very few have so far found, and it involves the biblical new and old covenants which both apply to this Israel. Embark on this voyage only if you are willing to: be challenged about some basic Christian preconceptions, be a serious open-minded Bible student, and trust what the Bible teaches - but remember that time is short. “What the Bible has taught me I see as both vital and urgent for our eternal salvation; yet I know of no church or individual theologian who teaches what this book deals with in any substantive way” “Be prepared for major challenges to your understanding just as God has challenged me.” “In the epistles, Paul refers to two Israels whom he calls Israel after the flesh (I Cor 10:18) and the Israel of God (Gal 6:16); I focus mainly on the latter (but I also explain an unexpected but critically important connection between them)” “Dependent on the teaching, nearly all Christian denominations either teach nothing at all on it or almost the opposite of what Scripture repeatedly showed me. Looking back, I find this absolutely staggering!” “Very few [Christians] understand that the new covenant also only applies to Israel (as I will clearly show).” “I no longer believe that the NT [New Testament] can be fully understood without this extra Israel dimension” “Had I felt I could deliver this in a more light-hearted way I would have done so, but its implications are too awesome and fundamental to our eternal life prospects for that”