The Sabbath of May 1, 2010, was such a wonderfully relaxing day filled with simple blessings. For the first time in a long time, I was able to sit down with a good book. I choose I Will Come Again, the 1966 edition of Carlyle B. Haynes’ 1926 book, The Return of Jesus, which includes the sections that were censored and removed from the original publication by the U.S. Government. I did a brief Internet search, and I do not think this book is currently available in print. However, if interested, you can read the censored original online from Google Books. [Read Online]
This book focuses on the hope of millions across time in the glorious promise of the second coming of Jesus Christ, laying out in simple language what the Bible says regarding the second coming, the signs and events that would lead up to the end of time, and refuting certain misguided teachings that were just starting to appear in the 1920s. I also love the manner in which Haynes writes: it is easy to read, flows smoothly off the tongue when read aloud, covers in a simple way matters that are still relevant today and yet contains a certain old world tone that is not found in recent publications.
I would like to briefly share with you an excerpt from the book which happens to be a section censored from the original, as the United States was in the midst of World War I at the time Haynes wrote this book and the government did not want this type of matter to be published… since WWI was “The War to End All Wars”. Yet we know that it did not end anything, and the world has seen an increase in violence and wars since that time. How true is the following excerpt in regards to the consequences of war, the hollow promises of peace, and human nature:
When a war is won or lost or negotiated, the seeds of strife will remain. The germ of trouble among the nations will not be exterminated by treaties. Many questions will remain unsettled and undecided. National jealousies and animosities will still be smoldering. No settlement that can be devised will blot out the memory of the horrors which the war has wrought by land and sea, the fields strewn with corpses and the trenches soaked with blood, the pitiless exposure to merciless winter, the terrible suffering of the wounded, and the unspeakable wretchedness of millions of women and children who have been prisoners of despair.
After active hostilities have ceased, those who have fought will still recall the screaming shells, the mangled bodies, the rendering asunder of great ships, the rain of explosives from the clouds, the ruined cities, the tears of women, and the faces of little children pinched with fear and hunger. And from such memories the spirit of war will again blaze forth. Nothing will be decided, nothing settled, except that now all mankind is afraid, and living in a state of constant perplexity and perpetual shock.
There will still be the same national ambitions and the same national intrigues which caused trouble before. There will never be eradicated in this kind of world. There will always be the same distrust between those who have been enemies. Generations of peace, real or fancied, will not heal the wounds of Belgium or France, Hungary or Corregidor, Korea or Vietnam. Millions of men will have died. Billions of wealth will have been consumed. There will be ruined lands, towering debts, unnumbered graves. These things cannot be blotted out by the mere wave of a hand or by the signing of peace treaties. There may be peace, but it will be a peace of pretense and outward show. In the hearts of men, in the souls of nations, there will still be bitterness, hatred, hostility, jealousy, malice, fear, and all the potentialities of unending conflict and strife. We may have peace, yes, but peace only in name; only if we are willing to apply the word to that which is, in stark reality, a stalemate with consummate dishonor. Wars and rumors of wars will continue and increase. There is, and will continue to be, “distress of the nations with perplexity; … men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.Luke 21:25-26”
Source: Haynes, Carlyle B. (1966) I Will Come Again. Pg. 60, 61.
While Haynes lays out the horrid conditions of the world and the human heart, his intention is to give hope to the hopeless by explaining the promise of Christ Jesus’ return, the manner of His coming, the events leading up to it, the millenium, and what will happen to Satan and his followers. Here are some interesting excerpts:
The Doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming, pg. 79
One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths in the Scriptures is that of the second coming of Christ to this world, to complete the great work of human redemption. This wonderful truth is the keynote of the Bible, and this glorious event will be the consummation of all the hopes of Christ’s church. The time for its proclamation has fully come.
The Destiny of Satan, pg. 107
The destiny of Satan is also referred to by the prophet Malachi: “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 4:1
Thus the end of the great conflict of the ages between Christ and Satan will result in the utter destruction of Satan and his angels and all who ally themselves with him. The fires of the last day will consume them and “leave them neither root nor branch.” Satan is the root, and the wicked are the branches. The universe is to be cleansed from every stain of sin.
The fire that consumes the wicked will also purify the earth. Great billows of flame will burn the ruined works of men. The last remnants of sin will be consumed. “The elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10
The long controversy against God will be closed. The last foe, death, will have been destroyed. The warring world will at last be overthrown, and all will then be at peace with God. The first heaven and the first earth, the great theater of sin, the scene of strife and rebellion, will have passed away, b the fires which come down from heaven at the last day. Then by the word of His mouth, the Lord will bring forth “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13
The Home of the Saved, pg. 111-112
Throughout eternity, the purified new earth will be the home of the saved. At the second coming of Christ, His people will go with Him to heaven; but they will remain there only a thousand years. At the close of the millennium they will return to this earth to make it their eternal home. They will spend eternity, not in heaven but on earth.
[...]
This earth was given to the human race at the time of its creation; and although it has been captured by Satan, this lost inheritance will yet be brought back to the children of God by the great plan of redemption – which includes the lost dominion as well as the lost race. Mankind lost possession of the earth by sin, but it will be restored to the people of God through the gospel of Christ. And everything else which the race lost by sin will be restored by Christ.
Never Again Any Sin, pg. 115-116
“And there shall be no more curse.” Revelation 22:3 Sin will have been destroyed, and will never return. Every one of the created intelligences on the other worlds, all the angels, and every soul that has been redeemed at such an infinite cost, will have fully decided that God is righteous altogether. They will have had enough of sin. Thank God for the promise of the Word that when the Lord destroys sin, “he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Nahum 1:9
In that glorious land “my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” Isaiah 32:18 “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.” Isaiah 60:18
The entire book is a great read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in what the Bible says regarding the time of the end, Christ’s second coming, the millennium, the end of sin, and eternal life. Read The Return of Jesus by Carlyle B. Haynes Online.
