Milton G. Henschel, Barr, Barry, Klein, Sydlik.
25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York 11201, USA

20 December 1994

Dear Brother Henschel,

I will be staying at the Dorset Hotel again, 30 West 54th street, 212-247-7300, from December 26th to December 30th, and then I am going to lake Tahoe for the new year, and then I will be back in the Dorset Hotel from January 4th onwards. I would love to see you and/or your brothers on the writing committee in December or January.

He that has the bride is the bridegroom. However, the friend of the bridegroom, when he stands and hears him, has a great deal of joy on account of the voice of the bridegroom. Therefore this joy of mine has been made full (John 3:29).

John the baptist said this three and a half years before Jesus even became a groom. John died before Jesus became a groom, before he made the new covenant with your brothers, his marriage proposal to them. Therefore John, although literally speaking about the groom-to-be and about his Joy on hearing Jesus's voice in this context, was prophetically speaking also about a later time, after the marriage proposal had been made. He was referring then to his antitypical successor:

However, the disciples put the question to him: "Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" In reply he said: "Elijah, indeed, is coming and will restore all things. However, I say to you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him but did with him the things they wanted. In this way also the Son of man is destined to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples perceived that he spoke to them about John the Baptist (Matt 17:10-13).

This shows us that there is a second antitypical Elijah, who comes after John, who himself was not the literal 'Elijah', but was a human vessel for the angel Gabriel, who also inhabited the human vessel of literal Elijah for some of his life. This is how one reconciles John's statement that he was not Elijah (John 1:21), with Jesus' statement that he was Elijah (Matt 17:13).

And if the first antitypical Elijah, the second Elijah, the one who Jesus said was John, should speak about the big wedding, then so will the second antitypical Elijah, the third Elijah, the restorer of all things, the one who Jesus said 'is coming'. Look! he has now come, at least as far as the Dorset Hotel! It is the friend of the groom who hears the voice of the groom, not the bride. What I have to say, what the voice of the groom has said to me, as I understand it, is this: Your wedding day will be 2008Nisan14. This day will be 2008March21, the spring equinox, I think. I have not thoroughly checked this but the passover in 2008 is very close to the equinox itself, this may be the first time for a long time that this has happenned. This leads me to accept a wonderful symbolism namely: the sun conquering the moon, in respect of time, the day becoming longer than the night, on that day, symbolises the victory of Jesus, the greater luminary dominating the day, over Satan, the lesser luminary dominating the night, at the end of this system:

There will be signs in sun and moon and stars (Luke 21:25).

So brothers, what sort of a bride does not know the date of her own wedding day? Was there ever such a bride? OK maybe in Las Vegas, but not in first century Israel. Neither should there exist such a bride in spiritual Israel!

It is true that to the man of faith, the coming of Armageddon is a foregone conclusion, and so a knowledge of the precise day when it will come is nice to have but not neccessary for saving his life. But to the man without faith, the man who has not yet come to know God, the man who doubts that there will ever be an Armageddon, this date is a very powerful tool indeed. It may play a major role in convincing him of the certainty of this final battle, and will definitely impress upon him an urgency in his bible study. Therefore it is a tool that we should use, not so much for our sakes, but for the sakes of those yet to come in. Let us therefore preach the good news of the date of the kingdom of God in all the inhabited earth, and then all will know when the end will finally come, and who better is there to do this than us?

Dear brothers of the writing committee, sons of Martha, the new covenant, I know that you have a huge amount of cooking and food preparation to do in the kitchen of the house of our master Jesus Christ, in order to feed not just 5,000 but over 4.5 million souls, at the proper time. But please take a few minutes off and come and sit down with this son of Mary, the newer covenant, at the feet of Jesus. Let us listen to his word together. For I am no prophet like the real Elijah or like the real John the baptist, the second Elijah, I can only interpret through reason, and I am often wrong. But with your knowledge and experience and with my wisdom and alacrity, and with God's holy spirit in union with our spirits we can prepare a banquet of well oiled dishes on the dregs, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs, such as no man has either seen or tasted. Before this however, we need a few new recipes from the master chef, the great teacher himself, for well you know the scripture:

Here a certain woman named Martha received him as guest into the house. This woman also had a sister called Mary, who, however, sat down at the feet of the Lord and kept listening to his word. Martha, on the other hand, was distracted with attending to many duties. So, she came near and said: "Lord, does it not matter to you that my sister has left me alone to attend to things? Tell her, therefore, to join in helping me." In answer the Lord said to her: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and disturbed about many things. A few things, though, are needed, or just one. For her part, Mary chose the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42).

Perhaps Martha should rather leave her kitchen and 'join in helping me'?

Yours faithfully

Gordon Ritchie