World News and Trends
Beyond Today Magazine
Good News Magazine: March - April 2011
Course Content
The last book in the Bible, Revelation, was penned by the aged apostle John late in the first century, nearly 2,000 years ago. Yet the Holy Scriptures remain the most up-to-date book available to our modern age.
They reveal both the origins and the prophetic destiny of America and the British Commonwealth of nations, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Our free, 110-page booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy charts the whole course, showing where we have come from and where we are headed. The final chapter sets out America and Britain's future, first severe national punishment but mercifully followed by dramatic divine intervention for the remnants of our English-speaking peoples.
Far too many present-day Americans, Australians, Britons and Canadians have refused to acknowledge the true God and the bountiful undeserved blessings He has bestowed on our nations. Many have even chosen to deny the very existence of their Creator and have instead accepted the false theory of evolution as well as secularism in general. Some have embraced a false version of Christianity, one generally devoid of obedience to God's spiritual laws.
Many prefer to believe that the awesome blessings of national wealth and power came either by chance or are the results of their own efforts. Like their ancestors in ancient Israel, they have chosen and are currently choosing to ignore God's patient warnings in the Bible. The inevitable outcome of such long-term, persistent behavior has already been recorded in Scripture (see Deuteronomy 8:10-14).
Many biblical prophecies portray the real repentance of God's people at the return of Jesus Christ to earth. Then Americans, Australians, Britons, Canadians, New Zealanders and South Africans will return to the true God. But only after they have suffered severe crises worse in many ways than the catastrophes that befell the ancient nations of Israel and Judah.
The latter-day deliverance of the modern descendants of the patriarch Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, has been recorded by the Old Testament prophets. Read just one example, this one concerning the Great Tribulation, which is also mentioned in Matthew 24:21 and Daniel 12:1: "How awful that day will be...It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but [after suffering through it] he will be saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:7, NIV).
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
