| News and Views | August 1940 |
Pastor Russell Not Founder of Sect—
“Jehovah’s Witnesses”
THE Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that saluting the American Flag is not an act of worship, hence that the sect of “Jehovah’s Witnesses” cannot, on religious grounds, legally claim exemption from this tribute of respect to the American Constitution.
An adverse attitude on the part of the sect members has precipitated riotous outbreaks against them in many parts of the country, causing property damage and personal injuries on a wide scale.
In the many news items of riots in which the Witnesses have been involved it has been erroneously implied that this sect was founded by the late Pastor Russell, whose sermons, at the time of his death in 1916, were syndicated by the American Press Association, and published in thousands of newspapers each week.
It is true that J.F. Rutherford, now head and ruler of the Witness sect, took over the presidency of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, founded by Pastor Russell. But what the general public does not know is, that Rutherford soon began to divorce the movement from its original teachings and spirit, and to establish a complete new organization of his own.
His revolutionary changes included the substitution of the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” His complete change of policy was established in 1938, when he persuaded his followers that the organization of which he was the head, was “God’s Theocracy,” and that thenceforth, neither individuals, nor groups of individuals among the Witnesses, were to have any voice whatsoever in the management of the work. All were to receive orders from headquarters; such orders, allegedly, coming from God through the organization of which he now was the head.
With this complete change of organization and name, there also was gradually set forth a whole new outline of teachings, radically different in spirit and objective from those preached by Pastor Russell, and which appealed to so many in his day.
Pastor Russell taught a religion of love, rather than of fear. He was far ahead of his times in denouncing the dark-age theory of, eternal torture for the wicked. He taught that people should be induced to serve God because of His love for them, and not through fear of the manner in which He might punish them after death.
Rutherford, the head of the Witnesses, doesn’t teach the torture theory, but he does attempt to frighten his followers into abject obedience to his organization through fear of being everlastingly destroyed in what the Bible calls the “second death.” He has misconstrued the commands of the Bible as being operative only through his “Theocratic Government,” hence disobedience to the organization is said to be disobedience to God.
For the future life, Pastor Russell taught that the world in general would be raised from the dead as human beings; that then they would be afforded a full, fair opportunity to obey the laws of Christ’s Kingdom. He insisted, upon the basis of Scripture, that only after such a fair trial, under those favorable conditions, would anyone forever lose God’s favor. He taught, furthermore, that those who do obey the laws of Christ’s Kingdom, when, in the resurrection, they are given the opportunity to do so, will be restored to perfection and live forever upon the earth.
Pastor Russell agreed with the teachings of most churches that the Bible holds out a heavenly hope for Christians. His claim was that according to the Bible, Christians are now being prepared to reign with Christ in that future Kingdom through which earthly blessings are to be extended to all mankind.
This teaching, in brief, meant that there was hope of salvation for others beside ourselves. He did not believe in the prayer, “Lord, bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife, we four and no more.” But Rutherford has changed all this. Now, it is claimed, there can be no salvation outside of his “Theocratic Government.” Those who, for whatever reason, do not accept the message of the Witnesses, have the wrath of God resting upon them, and when they die, will have their souls “blacked out” forever. To take the place of these multitudes who are destroyed in Armageddon because they have rejected Rutherford’s teachings, he has promised his followers the privilege of marrying in the new world and repopulating the earth. This is the Witnesses’ substitute for the Scriptural plan of a resurrection of the dead as taught by Pastor Russell.
Many years prior to 1914 Pastor Russell taught that that year would mark the outbreak of what the Prophet Daniel describes as a “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) He outlined this trouble as developing in three phases; first, a world war; then a world revolution, and finally a dissolution of all government in a short period of anarchy; the people to be rescued from this latter by the miraculous establishment of Christ’s Kingdom.
There were many then who said that such a “time of trouble” could not come; that civilization was making such rapid strides forward, that such a world-wide upheaval was unthinkable. But circumstances have proved that the Pastor was right. The war phase of the trouble is in the past; we are now entering the revolutionary phase; and millions are coming to believe that unless God does intervene, humanity is lost.
Rutherford has gone so far with his repudiation of Pastor Russell’s teachings, that he now claims that those who still hold to and teach them are the enemies of God. Howbeit, the majority of sincere Christian men and women throughout the country who rejoiced in the gospel of God’s love and free grace as outlined by Pastor Russell, are not connected with the Rutherford organization; and the few remaining ones still with him are rapidly leaving. These are working together in co-operative arrangements entirely separate from him, and still retain the name “Bible Students.” They have established meetings in hundreds of American communities.
Some of Pastor Russell’s old associates from all aver the country have joined in a co-operative movement to republish his Scripture Studies, of which many millions were distributed in his lifetime. They have a plant on Fulton Street, Brooklyn, known as, The Dawn Publishers, near the old Brooklyn Tabernacle on Hicks Street, which was used for years by Pastor Russell as his headquarters.
Bible Students generally believe the Bible to teach that Christians should be respectful of and obedient to the government under which they live. They hold that this is specially true in America, where the Constitution divorces the church from the state, so that respect for the government, and for the flag which represents the government under which liberty is guaranteed, should in no sense be construed as an act of warship. They feel that Christians living in America should be specially appreciative of the freedom of worship enjoyed in America, when such liberty is now being denied to the people in so many other parts of the world.
| The Everlasting Gospel |
Peace Assured
Prayers to Be Answered
EVERY right-thinking person desires peace. It is this desire for peace, not only among nations, but within nations, that prompts so many in a time like this to pray for peace, and to urge others to do the same. For years now there has been an ever-increasing number of people who have come to the conclusion that only a miracle, performed by God in answer to prayer, can straighten out the tangled affairs of communities and nations, and establish lasting peace and happiness world-wide.
The Bible supports this conclusion, hence Christian people are justified in their hope that such a miracle will soon be performed, resulting in the happiest and most blessed era of human progress and prosperity ever experienced here upon this planet. The prophecies of God’s Word give us this assurance. Written thousands of years ago they present an exact preview of major world events during the intervening centuries until now, and portray present world conditions so accurately that many of the predictions would make vividly-true headlines for present-day news events.
These same prophecies tell us that this is the time when God will interfere in the affairs of selfish men, and in answer to His people’s prayers perform a miracle which will advantageously affect the destiny of men and nations for all time to come. Because God’s due time has come to act, it is proper that Christians should ask for, and expect, divine intervention in this time of world crisis.
We are confident, however, that leaders of religious thought among both Catholics and Protestants, yea, among our Jewish friends also, will agree, that if prayer is to be answered, it must be in harmony with the divine will. Surely God will not change His plans in order to satisfy our preferences and prejudices; hence we should be guided by His Word in the matter of prayer, lest we be among those described by St. James, who “ask and receive not,” because they “ask amiss.”
If we believe in prayer then we must believe in the “Lord’s prayer”—that remarkable prayer which Jesus, the founder of Christianity, and the personification of our hopes, taught His disciples, and today is still being repeated by millions. In that prayer is the one request for peace that God will now honor. It states, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Christ’s Own Prayer
This is Christ’s own prayer, in which He asks us to pray for His Kingdom, in the expectation that when it is established it shall impose the divine will upon the nations of earth. When Jesus was here the first time Satan gave Him a view of all the Kingdoms of this world, and offered them to Him, but the Master refused to take them on the devil’s terms. But Jesus knew that the time would come when He would take over the control of earth.
In the Book of Revelation we are told about this transfer of earth’s sovereignty, and that it would result in the nations becoming angry, indicating that they would not willingly turn over their authority to the rightful King of earth, but would have their power wrested from them. (Rev. 11:18) It is this act of divine power that constitutes the miracle for which we are to look in answer to our prayer, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Yes, the answer to the prayer, “Thy Kingdom come,” will be an “act of God.” Divine power, operating through the returned Christ, will accomplish it. Our mistake in the past has been in supposing that Christ’s Kingdom could be established through human agencies. Many sincere efforts have been made to establish Christ’s Kingdom for Him; and today we are witnessing the tragic failure of them all.
The establishment of Christ’s Kingdom will not depend upon human efforts, however sincere many of these may be. Surely, we all appreciate the many blessings of freedom and opportunity that are ours here in America; and it is regrettable that the sincere efforts which have been, and are being made to provide a more abundant life, are so often sabotaged by human selfishness. But human selfishness is one of the problems with which Christ’s Kingdom will deal effectively, and nothing that man can do will interfere with the divine program for human uplift and lasting peace and prosperity.
But once we get the Scriptural thought that in praying for Christ’s Kingdom we are praying for that which will completely supplant the rule of selfishness in the earth, let us not be surprised at the colossal upheavals of society and nations that must, at first, result from the answer to our prayers. The overthrow of one government, and the taking of its place by another, always results in temporary hardship and trouble. How much more so will this be the case in connection with the transfer of all earth’s kingdoms to Jesus, who is to be “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Today we are witnessing the first stages of this transition, hence the “distress of nations.” The Bible indicates that we may expect this transfer of rulership to be completed within the lifetime of the present generation.—Matt. 24:34; Luke 21:25,26
All Problems Solved
But in anticipating the full answer to our prayer, we should look beyond the transition period of the present, to the time when the divine Kingdom is in complete operation. Then war will, indeed, cease. We can’t imagine, for example, that the angels of heaven need to wear gas masks; and remember, God’s will is to be done in earth even as it is now done in heaven.
But war is not the only evil to be destroyed in that new Kingdom. Take, for example, the economic problems of today: Millions unemployed, even in war time, when other millions are in munitions factories and in the armies. Then there are the moral and social evils. Financial, social and religions conditions will all need to be recast in harmony with the divine will.—Micah 4:4; Isaiah 28:17
But even with all of these problems solved by the Kingdom of Christ, it still would be a suffering world, due to the fact that disease and death would continue to stalk up and down in the earth, successfully preying upon every family throughout all the nations, resulting in pain, death-bed scenes and funerals practically every minute of every day.
Surely no such scenes of suffering and death are experienced in heaven—there are no funeral processions among the angels—so it must needs be that when God’s will is done here, it will be exactly as the Creator has promised in His Word, saying of that blessed time, “There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”—Rev. 21:4
While many, no doubt, have tried to visualize an ideal condition here upon the earth such as we have briefly outlined, and have, perhaps, vaguely sensed that it may at some time be partially realized in answer to the Christian’s prayer, “Thy Kingdom come,” yet the tendency has been to put this glorious time so far in the future that it has no practical bearing upon the world’s present problems.
This deferring of God’s answer to the Christian’s prayer is due in part, no doubt, to the failure to realize that His Kingdom is to be an actual government that will take control of the affairs of mankind. The thought in many minds is, that Christ’s Kingdom is merely a righteous influence which we, as individuals, permit to take control of our lives, and that it is only when this influence has succeeded in entering into the lives of all individuals throughout all nations that His Kingdom shall have fully come.
An Actual Government
Christ’s Kingdom is indeed to be a righteous influence in the hearts and lives of all individuals, but we should not lose sight of the fact that, according to the Bible, this holy influence of God is to be implemented by a well organized governmental arrangement over which Jesus Christ Himself will be the Head and King. (Psalm 47:7; Zechariah 14:9) In other words, the Creator is not depending merely upon the zeal of His good-intentioned worshipers here upon the earth to spread this holy influence with the thought that they will be able finally to make it an effective one, world-wide.—Isaiah 9:7; I Cor. 15:25,26; Psa. 110:1,2,5,6
That it is the divine intention that Christ shall one day be the actual and all-powerful ruler of the whole earth, is abundantly attested by many of the promises and prophecies of the Bible. If we believe in God and in the Bible sufficiently to cause us to pray for that Kingdom which the inspired Word describes, surely we should give careful consideration to these heavenly communiqués, which not only furnish us much information concerning the organization of God’s Kingdom, but also present a preview of the glorious work of rehabilitation which it will accomplish. Note the divine prophecy recorded in the Second Psalm:
“Why do the heathen [nations] rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed. … He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen [nations] for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like potter’s vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”
We can see from this that when God answers the Christian’s prayer, “Thy Kingdom come,” and Christ actually establishes His Kingdom, that it will mean drastic and far-reaching changes in the national and economic affairs of the whole earth. The prophet here definitely declares, not only that the nations will be given to Christ as an inheritance, and that the uttermost parts of the earth will be His possession, but that, in the establishment of the divine will in the earth, He is to break the nations with a rod of iron, and shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. There can be no doubt that the fulfillment of such a prophecy calls for a very definite exercise of divine authority and power in the affairs of men. Note also the following prophecy concerning Christ, the King in the divine Kingdom:
“And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins and faithfulness the girdle of His reins. … They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain [Kingdom]: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”—Isa. 11:2-5,9
An Absolute Rulership
Here we have described a dictatorial rulership which will brook no interference with the laws of righteousness and justice which Christ will establish among all nations and peoples. Yes, just such a rulership we pray for in the words, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Still another prophecy very much to the point in establishing the fact that Christ’s Kingdom for which we pray is to be an actual governmental arrangement which will impose its authority upon all mankind, is that of Isaiah, Chapter 2, verses 2 to 4. We quote:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain [Kingdom] of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, … and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and ‘let us go up to the mountain [Kingdom] of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
In this preview of the divine Kingdom, we have particularly emphasized the fact that its establishment in the earth will cause the nations to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks. In other words, it will actually establish an enduring peace—not a peace imposed by the force of arms, but a peace which will be voluntary because based on international good will—good will which will he demonstrated by all peoples through the actual destruction of their machines of war.
Such a happy result of the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom will be assured by the fact that through it, the prophet shows, a program of education in the knowledge and laws of God will be inaugurated to teach the people the advantages of love and good will as against selfishness and hatred which now dictate the policies of so many in all nations.
The Lord’s Ruling House
This prophecy also speaks of “the Kingdom of the Lord’s house.” The term, “Lord’s house” is used to describe the government that will take the place of the various ruling houses that have held control over the nations throughout the centuries of the past. These ruling houses, as we know, are really ruling families. Even in modern times, for example, we have had the house of the Hapsburgs, the house of the Hohenzollerns, the house of the Bourbons, etc. But when we pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” we are not praying for the re-enthronement of any of these ruling families of Europe, but are asking God to establish a Kingdom which will be in the hands of His ruling family.
The Scriptures leave no doubt as to who will constitute God’s ruling family in the Kingdom which He will establish in answer to the Christian’s prayer. First and foremost in God’s house will he His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ Himself. It is concerning Him that the prophet writes, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way.” This indicates how necessary it will be, when the divine Kingdom is imposed upon the affairs of men, for each individual to gladly accept that new ruler ship and make terms of peace with the new King.
Jesus will not be the only Son in this new ruling house of God. The Bible shows us that the footstep followers of the Master, those who have willingly suffered and died in His service, also are resurrected and made a part of that “ruling house” of God’s sons. One of the Scriptural illustrations we have quoted (Psa. 2:6,7), depicting Christ established in kingly authority over the earth, presents Him as standing upon Mount Zion, and when John the Revelator was given a picture of this Kingdom, he saw in it the church of this age standing with Christ on Mount Zion, having “His Father’s name written in their foreheads.”—Rev. 14:1.
Thus in this, and in many other Scriptures, we have the assurance that God has been creating a house of sons over which Jesus is the Head, and that it is this “house” of the Lord that is to reign upon the earth for a thousand years in answer to the prayer, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”—Rev. 5:10; Heb. 3:6
By a careful study of the Scriptures pertaining to the development of God’s ruling house, we discover the reason why Christ’s Kingdom was not established at His first advent. That reason is, that God had set aside the period between the first and second advents of Christ in which to select from the world of mankind, and prepare for Kingdom glory, those who would, together with Christ, constitute the house of Sons through which the divine Kingdom authority is to he exercised. This means, at the same time, that the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom was not due to take place until after the second coming of Christ. We hold that that due time is now here, and that the first steps are already being taken, by Christ to establish His Kingdom.
Times of Restoration
In Acts 3:19-21, the Apostle Peter describes the work of Christ on earth following His second advent, and declares that ultimately it will be a time of restoration of all things. He then asserts that these wondrous blessings to be dispensed by earth’s new King have been foretold by the mouth of all God’s holy prophets since the world began. Thus, when we pray as Jesus taught us to pray, it means that our prayers are not only in harmony with the words of Jesus, but in harmony, also, with the testimony of all of His holy prophets since the world began. Can there be any doubt therefore, that such a prayer will be answered?
Need we be surprised, on the other hand, that prayers, no matter how sincere, which are not in harmony with this divine program for the establishment of peace and happiness upon the earth, have not been and will not be, answered?
When the Apostle Peter describes the Kingdom blessings by the expression, “Times of Restitution,” he reminds us of another Scriptural fact, namely, that man experienced a fall from divine favor through sin; because only that which is fallen needs to be restored. The account of man’s fall into sin and death is given us in the Book of Genesis. There we are told of man’s creation, and of God’s wondrous provision for him in the Garden of Eden. We are told also of the divine requirement that man obey the law of his Creator. God reveals that our first parents disobeyed the divine law, and because of this disobedience the sentence of death was imposed upon them, and they were driven out from their perfect home into the unfinished earth to die. Briefly, this means that man lost divine favor, lost his perfect home, and also lost life itself.
Death Follows Rebellion
Yes, man rebelled against the divine will, and it is in the wake of this rebellion and as a result thereof, that the human race has been a suffering, warring, and dying race ever since. A part of the sentence was that man should thenceforth eat his bread by the sweat of his face, and that the thorns and thistles of the imperfect earth would continuously serve as handicaps to his economic security throughout all the weary days and years of his losing struggle for life. How tragically true this has been is attested on all the pages of human history, and is still made manifest in the failures and disappointments of the present time.
When mankind lost God’s favor because of rebellion against His will, he lost everything worth while. The prophet declares of God, “In His favor is life,” and then adds, “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psa. 30:5) From the day of Adam until now, the world has been passing through this dark night of weeping. It has indeed, been a tragic blackout of peace and happiness. But how we can rejoice in the assurance that “joy cometh in the morning.”
This means that the night-time of human suffering and death is not to last forever. It means that the divine will and favor is again to be established in the earth, and that as a result thereof all of the blessings of health, happiness and lasting life that were lost because of man’s rebellion, are to be restored in the “times of restitution” foretold by all God’s holy prophets.
Jesus, Man’s Redeemer
But in order for this to be made possible from the divine standpoint, it was necessary that Jesus first of all come to earth and die as man’s Redeemer. By His death on Calvary’s cross, He, as the Just One, died for the unjust. His death as a perfect man was a corresponding price for the forfeited life of father Adam. (I Tim. 2:3-6; I Cor. 15:21,22) As all mankind lost life through Adam, they are also to have the opportunity of regaining life through Christ. Thus seen, the restoration of the divine will in the earth shall automatically result in setting aside the curse of sin and death. It is for this, also, that we petition the Lord when we pray, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
The dispensing of such far-reaching and wondrous blessings to mankind does, indeed, call for the exercise of miracle-working power. Yea, it will require the miracle of a resurrection from the dead. Not alone will these blessings be available for the generation living at the time the Kingdom is established; but because all who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth, these same blessings will he equally available for all who have gone down into death, from Adam down to the present time. (John 5:28,29) Thus, when we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,” we are also praying for the resurrection of the dead—not only a resurrection of our own dear ones, but for all who have died.—I Cor. 15:22; Rom. 2:6,16
God’s answer to His people’s prayer will also mean the establishment in earth of one form of worship, in which all mankind, instructed in the knowledge of the true God, will serve Him with one consent. (Zephaniah 3:9) He promises that the knowledge of His glory shall fill the whole earth as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14) When the people realize the true source of the blessings for which they have longed, and struggled and prayed, they will say, declares the prophet, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, … we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” —Isaiah 25:9
When all nations acknowledge the true God and how to His will, it means that they will be under the control of His law of love. (Isa. 26:9) In this way, love will take the place of selfishness as a motive power for human thought and activity, hence genuine peace and good will at long last will be a reality, when in answer to our prayer Christ reigns “from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”—Psa. 72:8
The Holy City
The Apostle John was given a vision in which He saw the answer to the Christian’s prayer depicted as the “Holy City,” coming down from God out of heaven—that is, coming to earth. This city symbolizes God’s Kingdom, even as London symbolizes the British Empire, and Washington the Government of the United States. In this prophecy we have emphasized that Christ’s Kingdom is not of human origin—it comes from God, and in answer to the Christian’s prayer. John describes some of the blessings of that Kingdom in the following words:
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, … neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, … Write: for these words are true and faithful.”—Rev. 21:2-5
Thank God for this blessed assurance of a real time of peace and happiness goon to be realized by a war-weary and dying humanity. And we can be satisfied that Christ’s Kingdom will soon be established, because the testimony of the Scriptures pertaining to the present time is proving true, and this gives us assurance that the blessings to follow the present trouble will also be certain to materialize. Yes, there is every reason to believe that God is about to answer the Christian’s prayer by establishing the divine Kingdom.
As we have already suggested, Biblical prophecies indicate that the first steps are even now being taken to answer that prayer; and this is the very reason we now see the kingdoms of the old world falling. In the 2nd chapter of Daniel’s prophecy the old-world Gentile powers, beginning with Babylon, are represented by a great image, like unto a man. In this prophecy, Christ’s Kingdom is depicted as a stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands; and which, in this end of the age, smites the Gentile image on its feet, causing it to fall, and to be ground to powder. Then the stone takes the place of the image, becoming a great Kingdom that fills the whole earth. Today we are witnessing the fall of that which was represented by the Gentile image.
And, do you know that the Bible points out the year 1914 as the time when the overthrow of Gentile Kingdoms would begin? Do you know that this overthrow was prophesied as being accomplished by spasms of destructive trouble, likened to “travail upon a woman with child”?—I Thess. 5:1-3
Do you know that the Bible foretold that this great time of trouble in which Gentile Kingdoms were to fall would be accompanied by unusual efforts for peace, and cries of peace, even as we have all witnessed, for example, in the claim that “peace has been saved for our times,” and otherwise?
These, and many other interesting prophecies of the Bible are convincingly discussed in the booklet, “God and Reason.”