How the magic power of electricity in these “last days” has changed the customs of the human race, and is contributing to the destruction of a world order—the prophetic “end of the world”

This Electric Age

THE Psalmist wrote that Jehovah’s “lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.” (Psalm 97:4) This outstanding demonstration of electrical energy is used in the Bible to symbolize the enlightening influences of truth, the prophetic “increase of knowledge” now causing the present world order to “tremble.” Lightning was about the only manifestation the ancients had of the operation of this invisible energy. They did not call it electrical power, however, for to them the term electricity was unknown, and the science of humanly controlled electrical energy undreamed of.

Some of the ancients did discover that amber, when rubbed, possesses the property of attracting and repelling light bodies, and it is from a Greek word meaning “amber” that the term electricity is derived. The expression was invented by Dr. Gilbert, of Colchester, England. Out of the study of this strange force, together with the study of kindred phenomena, arose this modern science. The name of the philosopher who first observed that amber, when rubbed, possesses the property of attracting and repelling light bodies, has not been handed down to our times, but he lived several centuries before Christ. Thales of Miletus is said to have described this remarkable property, and both Theophrastus (321 B.C.) and Pliny (A.D. 70) mention the power of amber to attract straws and dry leaves.

Centuries came and went, however, while the mighty powers of this invisible element of nature remained almost wholly unknown to man, hence unused by him as a servant. Dr. Gilbert (1544-1632) may be considered as the founder of the science of electricity, as he appears to have been the first philosopher who carefully repeated the observations of the ancients and applied to them the principles of philosophical investigation. He endeavored to determine if bodies other than amber would react in a similar manner. To do this he balanced a light metallic needle on a pivot, and observed whether or not it was affected by causing rubbed bodies of various materials to approach close to it. By this experiment he discovered that a number of substances in addition to amber became electrically excited by rubbing.

Robert Boyle added more facts to the new science originated by Dr. Gilbert; and additional discoveries were made by Otto Guericke. Later, Sir Isaac Newton interested himself in electricity and made further important discoveries. Many others during this same general period continued the rubbing and other experiments. It was not until 1745 that the science reached a stage of development which made it possible to accumulate and preserve electric energy. The first electric battery was styled the Leyden Jar, or Phial, being named after the town (Leyden) in which it was developed by its inventors.

Apparently about the first real service for which electricity was employed was that of firing gunpowder with a spark, which Sir William Watson succeeded in producing by his experiments. This was in 1747. It is a sad commentary that some of our modern sciences, even that of atomic energy, have first been used in one way or another to make war more deadly and devastating.

It was in this same general period that French and British scientists discovered the possibility of conveying electrical energy along wires. The French savants succeeded in transmitting the strange new influence from the Leyden Jar for a distance of 12,000 feet. Benjamin Franklin interested himself in the new science and wrote considerably about it. Sir W. Watson had suggested the possibility of positive and negative electricity, but it remained for Franklin to develop this phase of the science, and to clarify it.

Experiments continued in many parts of the world, some of them dangerous. In 1753 Professor Richmond, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was killed during a test that he was making. He had erected an iron rod on his house to collect the electricity of thunder clouds. To this he attached what he called an electrometer. A tremendous thunder clap burst over the neighborhood, and Richmond bent close to observe the result on the electrometer. A flash of bluish fire shot from the iron rod to the scientist’s head and he was instantly killed.

As the science developed it was discovered that electrical energy could be measured in relation to given resistances offered to its flow. Experimenters in these fields were Andre Marie Ampere, Georg Simon Ohm, Alessandro Volta, James Watt, and others. In a layman’s language what these men added to the new science was a method of determining the volume of electricity flowing through a wire; the amount of resistance to that flow; the pressure necessary to overcome the resistance; and the quantity of electrical energy dissipated in a given time. The units in the volume of flow are now called amperes; the resistance is measured by ohms; the pressure by volts; and the quantity used by watts: these unit terms all being in honor of the scientists who had most to do with the development of these phases of the science.

The Time of The End

In the light of biblical time prophecies it is significant that so many of those responsible for developing the science of electricity should have lived and worked when they did. The year A.D. 1799 is pointed out in the prophecies as marking the beginning of “the time of the end”—another scriptural name for which is the “day of his preparation.” (Dan. 12:1,4,9; Nahum 2:3) Ampere died in 1836; Ohm in 1854; Volta in 1827; and Watt in 1819. Benjamin Franklin died in 1790.

While the ancients knew of electrical energy as they saw its effects when rubbing amber, and while as early as the 16th century Dr. Gilbert began to experiment with this strange force in a realistic manner, the combined experiments of all the scientists did not materialize into any practical use of electricity until after the beginning of the “time of the end,” In this respect it was much the same as with printing. As we saw last month, the first printing press was invented in the 15th century, yet it did not begin to change the course of the world to any marked degree until the 19th century.

The first electric light of any kind was invented about 1710 by Fredrick Hawksbee, which he demonstrated before the Royal Society of London. It consisted of a hollow glass globe from which the air had been exhausted, arranged so it could be rotated rapidly. When rubbed by the hand while rotating, it produced a glow of light. But this proved to be of no practical value as a means of producing artificial light. It was merely a step leading in the same general direction as all the other experiments.

Early in the 19th century Sir Humphry Davy discovered the basic principles of arc and incandescent lamps. However, it remained for Thomas A. Edison to invent the first practical electric lamp. This was in 1879. It was an invention which in a few short years was destined to well nigh turn night into day so far as the work, pleasure, and pastime of the world are concerned. This epoch-making invention came not only within the “time of the end,” but, even more significant, shortly after the date shown by time prophecies for the second presence of Christ.

In the year 1878 the General Electric Company was organized for the purpose of developing further the use of this newly discovered energy, particularly in connection with dynamos and motors. Books could, and have been written, to set forth the details of progress in this wonderful science from one step to another, but we all know where these steps have led to as of today. The results are all around us and touch upon practically every phase of modern life. Jesus, in a prophecy of his second presence, likened it to a brightshining that would illuminate the world with knowledge, His thousand-year presence is also compared to the rising of the sun. (Mal. 4:2; Luke 17:24) Electricity as an unused energy existed throughout the century as a “seed” that needed the warming rays of the “sun” to cause it to germinate and spring forth in the thousand ways in which its power is now used and appreciated.

Let us try to imagine ourselves today without electricity and the things we use which are made possible by it. Unless we are living in isolated rural districts where this newly applied energy has not yet been supplied, we are awakened in the morning by an electric alarm clock; we push a button and our bedroom is lighted. An electrically controlled thermostat sets the automatic heater in operation, which also depends upon electricity in order to function.

The man of the house may shave with an electric razor. Our morning coffee is probably brewed in an electric appliance of some kind; and our bread toasted in an electric toaster. In many sections of the country the entire breakfast would be cooked on an electric stove. The milk and cream for the morning coffee are kept sweet in an electric refrigerator. The latest news and weather forecasts come to us over the radio.

If we travel to our work, and it’s a stormy day, electricity serves us again in the telephone by which we call a taxicab to take us to the railway station. The taxicab itself could not come to get us without electricity to make its motor function. The suburban train on which we ride to the city is hauled by an electric engine, and the coaches in which the passengers ride are lighted and heated by electricity.

Once in the city, if the railway station is any distance from our place of employment, we ride in an electric car, or else in a bus which depends upon electricity in order to operate. Arriving at the office building, an electric elevator takes us up to the floor on which we work. So we might go on from moment to moment in the day of almost any average person in America, or many other parts of the world, and we would discover that if electricity should suddenly cease to exist, or could no longer be utilized, the economic, social, educational, as well as many other phases of our modern life, would be paralyzed almost instantly.

Electricity is now depended upon by most farmers for many uses, even for milking the cows. It is employed universally throughout offices and factories. It aids in the construction and operation of our great industrial plants. It powers the world’s communication systems by use of wires, and without wires. The world’s entertainment, in the theatre, in sports, by the radio and television, is made possible through this silent and invisible servant. Medical science depends upon it for the X-ray, diathermy, fluoroscope, cardiograph, and innumerable other instruments now used for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Yes, in this “day of his preparation” electricity has certainly changed many customs and practices of the human race.

But there is a somber side to this picture also, for electricity is now used in a thousand ways to make war more deadly and more horrible. In many parts of the earth whole cities lie waste because of the misuse of this invisible and inexhaustible power. The submarine, the bombing plane, and the atomic bomb would not exist but for electricity. How little did the ancients imagine that the energy which manifested itself when a piece of amber was rubbed with the hand or a dry cloth, would one day destroy millions of lives, hundreds of cities; and that out of this destruction would come the overthrow of a world order!

It is the manner in which the use of this indefinable energy is helping to fulfill prophecy that particularly interests us, for we hold that it is in God’s providence and as a manifestation of his wisdom in properly timing the various features of his plan, that this energy was permitted to lie dormant throughout the centuries, and only now is being used by man. Those early experimenters who knew what would happen when amber was rubbed were without question just as intelligent as those who, in these modern times, have found a way to harness and control this strange and wonderful energy. They did nothing about it for the reason that God did not put it into their minds to do so, for his due time had not come.

And God’s due time is in this “day of his preparation.” It is the “time of the end,” when knowledge was due to be increased. That is why the development of electrical science has gone on hand in hand with the art of printing. The printing press, as a matter of fact, aided the inventors, for each of them, through the printed page, was given the advantage of what all were learning. Without the printing press it is quite possible that the experiments of each scientist might never have been known to others, thus progress in the art of harnessing and utilizing electrical energy would have been greatly retarded; if, indeed, progress could ever have reached its present state.

In this connection it is interesting to recall that Benjamin Franklin was a printer, and history records that he was a reader of many books which came to his attention while plying his trade. Thus he gained a foundation of knowledge upon which he could build. The same was true of the others. Even from generation to generation the printed page helped the scientists round out and further develop their fund of knowledge. Thus when God’s due time came, a single century was sufficient in which to bring electrical energy under control to be used as a servant of man and also as a destroyer of man and manmade institutions.

The destruction of human life by instruments of war made workable by electrical energy has been heart-sickening; and property damage has been so extensive that the human mind cannot grasp the full reality of its awfulness. But back of this a far more significant destruction has been occurring; that is, the destruction of this “present evil world.” The old and supposedly staid institutions of pre-1914 have, under the impact of two global wars, given way to radical changes, the ultimate meaning of which is the final destruction of the present world order.—II Peter 3:7

What rich blessings may yet be in store for the human race through the unselfish application and use of electricity we may not know, but we can see the relationship of this discovery to the day of God’s preparation. It has come through the increase of knowledge, and, correspondingly, it is helping to increase knowledge. It is this prophetic increase of knowledge that has brought about the foretold “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation,” and electricity is contributing mightily to the awfulness of this trouble. There is every indication that this distress of nations will become still more terrible through misapplication and further misuse of electrical science.

Strange indeed are the many paradoxes so common to the times in which we are living. It is the prophetic time of an accumulating increase of knowledge; but strange to say it is an age of folly and madness. Evidences are multiplying all around us to substantiate faith in God, but unbelief and godlessness are on the increase. With all the advantages of our day, horizons of opportunity leading to peace and happiness should be appearing on every hand; but instead it is a time of darkness and fear, for the wisdom of the wise has perished. It is a time when the hope which springs eternal in the human breast should be lifting the world up to new heights of joyful anticipation; but instead there is despondency and despair on every hand. Science has placed a land of milk and honey before the whole world, but nearly all of the human race is in want, starvation, and misery.

There is no better description of this time of human experience to be found anywhere than that given us by the Prophet Joel when he wrote of our day, saying that it would be “a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains.” (Joel 2:2) Ah, yes! The morning has come. It is the time of early dawn. The highlights of dawn are discernible by those who are awake and watching: but it is like morning upon the mountains where the low-hanging clouds obscure the gray light of the approaching new day, causing a density of darkness that is depressing and frightening.

Such is the condition of the world today. The “brightshining” of the Master’s presence is discernible to the “watchers” through the “sure word of prophecy.” It is enlightening men’s minds along all lines, but in their selfishness they are misusing the light to their own confusion and the destruction of their world—this “present evil world.” (Gal. 1:4) But soon, thank God, the storm of human passion stirred up by the first effect of the morning light will be over. The commanding voice of earth’s new King will bid the storm be calm. Then, through a proper use of divinely created principles and energies, the lives of men will be enriched, and peace and joy will be the common heritage of all.

Science, of course, will not give man everlasting life. That will come only through the individual acceptance of Jesus as the Redeemer and Savior, and obedience to the laws of the kingdom in which he will then be the King. The highlights of dawn are increasingly convincing evidence that this new day of promise, the day of Christ, the millennial day, is near. It is breaking upon a world distressed and bleeding from its self-inflicted wounds—wounds which have been made more painful and deadly by the selfish misuse of God-given blessings. But the soothing rays of the rising “sun of righteousness” will heal these wounds; and the people, emerging from the darkness, will say, “Lo this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us, … we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”—Isaiah 25:9

The railway reaches Jerusalem, but!

A Proverb Comes True

THE railway station in Jerusalem has been blown up by a group of Jewish terrorists outlawed by the World Zionist Organization. The lawless destruction of a railway station at any time and in any place is grim business, but when it is done by the descendants of Abraham, and in the ancient capital of the Abrahamic nation, it is cause for serious reflection as to what is really occurring in the world.

More than a half century ago there was a Jewish proverb to the effect that “when the railway reaches Jerusalem, Messiah comes.” Since then, the railway has reached Jerusalem, and now the unruly among this historic people blow up the railway station in their terroristic campaign of protest designed to force the hand of England to loosen immigration restriction to permit larger numbers of Jews to return to their ancient Promised Land. Certainly this makes strange news.

Following the first World War, the now defunct League of Nations gave Great Britain a mandate over Palestine, the main purpose of which was to protect Jewish interests there and to make possible the establishment of a home for this wandering people. Then many Jews—and Christians as well—believed that the time had come when God would fulfill his many promises to restore the Holy Land to his people. There was great rejoicing over this. The Prophet Isaiah speaks of their returning on “swift beasts,” and the Prophet Nahum tells of “chariots” with flaming “torches.” (Isa. 6:20; Nahum 2:4) Many have interpreted these prophecies to be descriptive of railway trains and of the fact that they would be used by the Jews as one of the means of travel back to Palestine.

But strange things have happened. Persecution arose in Europe. Six million Jews were murdered. And now, thousands of those who remain want to get out of Europe and back to Palestine, but the door is virtually closed to them, largely because of Arab opposition to having their Jewish cousins establish themselves as a people in the land which God promised to them.

In this strange situation, as in other world developments the meaning of which is so difficult to understand, the real answer is to be found in the Bible. The time HAS come for Israel to repossess the Land of Promise. Not long hence England as well as the Arabs will discover this. However, the prophecies show that in connection with their return to Palestine they would encounter bitter persecution—not only in the countries where they were domiciled, but also in the Holy Land itself. These prophecies are being fulfilled; and in their fulfillment we have another evidence of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Yes, the railway reached Jerusalem, and although the railway station has been blown up, Israel’s deliverance from her enemies draws near.

The President explains

Protestants Protest

MYRON C. TAYLOR has again been sent to the Vatican by President Truman; and once more there has been an outburst of criticism on the part of prominent Protestant churchmen and others. This criticism was based on the fact that the Constitution of the United States is opposed to the recognition of any religious court, as was done by sending Mr. Taylor to Rome. True, Mr. Taylor did not go to Rome as an official ambassador from the State Department, but merely as the personal representative of the President. However, those who voiced their opposition to it claim that this is merely a distinction without a real difference, and that the Vatican should not in any way be given recognition by our government or by our President.

The President’s explanation was that he sent Taylor to the Vatican in the interests of peace; that he wanted to get the views of the Pope on how best to pursue the path of peace. This may be true, but many will wonder at the need for all the secrecy. Good advice on how to make peace should not be kept a secret. Why couldn’t our President simply ask the Pope to publish his views on peace, so that the whole world would know them, and could judge their merits? We doubt if Jesus would be interested in secret formulas for peace.

We can well understand the deep feeling of the many Protestants who are on the alert to speak out against any move which might even in the remotest sense, look like a recognition of church-state forms of government; for doubtless they have in mind the many evils which history records concerning such governments. Religion and civil power should never be united. The cruelties of the Nazi regime were no worse than the evil practices of church-dominated governments of Europe during the Dark Ages. The Founding Fathers of America were well aware of those evils and endeavored to guard against them when the Constitution was drawn up. It is well for the American people today also to be on the alert to keep the church, both Protestant and Catholic, out of politics.

The professed Christian world is sometimes called Christendom, which means Christ’s kingdom. It was at one time supposed that the church-state governments of Europe constituted Christ’s kingdom on earth. Probably no one in America believes that now. The best proof that those governments were not parts of the kingdom of Christ is the fact that for the many centuries of their existence they were almost continuously at war with one another. Surely one segment of Christ’s kingdom could not be at war with another!

Following the first World War, the League of Nations was formed and was hailed by some enthusiasts as “the political expression of Christ’s kingdom on earth.” But now the League of Nations is dead, which proves that it was not Christ’s kingdom, either. But the world is exercising more cautious judgment today, for no one, to our knowledge, has yet claimed that the United Nations organization is Christ’s kingdom. We all hope that the United Nations will do a better job of keeping the peace than the League of Nations did, but let’s not try to give the new organization a halo by calling it Christ’s kingdom.

Christ’s kingdom will be established by Christ, not by representatives from Moscow, London, and Washington; and there will be no uncertainty as to where its headquarters will be located. For that kingdom all true Christians will continue to pray, knowing that when their prayers are answered—as they are sure to be—there will be universal and enduring peace.

Though many have tried

The World Not Converted

A CONFERENCE of one thousand representative Protestant leaders was held recently in Des Moines, Iowa. One of the problems discussed at this conference was how to improve the religious standing of rural and small town communities throughout the state. A report to the conference revealed that fully one-half of the churches were either standing still or else declining in membership. The state of Iowa is not alone in this, for there is a phenomenal lack of interest in the churches, not only throughout America, but in Canada and Great Britain as well. Right now the Church of England in Great Britain is engaged in a nationwide campaign to convert England to Christianity. In an article appearing recently in The Christian Century it is stated that only an insignificant fraction of both the faculty and students in our colleges have any interest at all in the church. This is indeed a serious outlook for those who are trying to maintain their faith in the ultimate triumph of Christianity.

The recent announcement that John R. Mott, of the Young Men’s Christian Association, and Emilie Greene Balch, of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, were given the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize, while gratifying, is at the same time cause for serious reflection. Mr. Mott headed the Students Volunteer Movement at a time when that organization reached its greatest momentum under the slogan, “The Evangelization of the World in This Generation.” Since that slogan was adopted under the leadership of Mr. Mott, the world, instead of being evangelized, has well nigh been destroyed by a global war—a war that has left the nations bleeding, starving, and chaotic, with godlessness and crime increasing everywhere. These Nobel Prize winners are to be commended for trying, but citizens of a professed Christian nation might be inclined to ask, Why the failure? There is a passage in the Bible which states, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.”—Psalm 127:1

For centuries sincere and well-meaning people have been trying to win the world for Christ, to evangelize all nations. Not only have these efforts failed in heathen lands, but on the home front as well. Unbelief is on the increase. Instead of peace, we have had two global wars, and now atomic destruction is threatening the very existence of the race. If this proves anything at all, it certainly proves that God hasn’t been backing these efforts; for certainly we cannot conceive of failure where God is concerned.

But let’s not judge too quickly. God does intend that the world shall be converted. He does intend that Christ shall establish peace. However, at a conference of the apostles of Christ held in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus was raised from the dead, it was found from the Scriptures, and the fact announced, that the purpose of God during the present age is not to convert the world, but to select from mankind a people to be associated with Christ when his kingdom of peace is established in the earth. (Acts 15:13-l8) This divine purpose is now nearly accomplished; and man’s final failure will be the signal for Christ to take over and become the Ruler of all nations. Then the world will be converted. Then there will be peace. There will also be freedom from sickness and death. In view of this, let us not be discouraged by man’s failure, but instead, rejoice that the world’s hope for the future is as bright as the promises of God.

Must mind its own business

The Church in Poland

THE President of Poland has recently done some very plain talking concerning the status of the Catholic and other churches in that country. He is of course pro-communist, and it is not to be expected that he would be much of a promoter of the Catholic Church, for the Kremlin and the Vatican are avowed enemies. His statement clarifying the position of the church in Poland was prompted by the claim that priests and other representatives of the church were interfering in politics. The Polish President made it plain that the church would not be interfered with if it kept itself free from governmental affairs, and attended strictly to its own religious business. If the church does not do this in Poland, it was emphasized that it could not expect to exist there at all.

In principle, this stand is undoubtedly the correct one. Church and state should be separate, and the church—all churches—should stay out of politics. Freedom of religion should assure all churches the right to carry on their religious activities, but the lesson of the past is that when one church or another finds itself in a position to dictate the policies of a civil government, that particular church is the only one that has freedom of action in the country concerned. Human nature seems to work that way.

Opium Traffic Condemned

IN THE minds of most people, opium is associated with the Chinese, but there are probably few persons now who realize that this accursed drug was forced upon China by professed Christian England more than a hundred years ago. China passed laws prohibiting the manufacture of opium from Chinese-grown poppies, but in a war with the British she was forced into signing a treaty permitting the import of opium from India. In the minds of the heathen Chinese, this has served as a serious handicap to their acceptance of the Christian religion. In an article by Wong Chin Foo, a graduate of a New England college, published in a New York paper more than fifty years ago, he wrote:

When the English wanted the Chinaman’s gold and trade, they said they wanted to open China for their missionaries. And opium was the chief, in fact the only missionary they looked after when they forced the ports open. And this infamous Christian introduction among Chinamen has done more injury, social and moral, in China, than all the humanitarian agencies of Christianity could remedy in two hundred years. And on you, Christians, and on your greed of gold, we lay the burden of the crime resulting; of tens of millions of honest, useful men and women sent thereby to premature death after a short miserable life, besides the physical and moral prostration it entails even where it does not prematurely kill. And this great national curse was thrust upon us at the point of Christian bayonets. And you wonder why we are heathen? The only positive point Christians have impressed upon heathenism is that they would sacrifice religion, honor, principle, as they do life, for GOLD. And they sanctimoniously tell the poor heathen: “You must save your soul by believing as we do.”

That was the honest viewpoint of a Chinaman of fifty years ago. It is no wonder that China has not since then been converted to Christianity. Now of course, China is prostrate from years of aggressive and revolutionary war. Since then, too, most of the church-state governments of Europe that committed so many crimes in the name of Christianity have been overthrown, and representatives of non-religious governments of the earth are endeavoring to rectify one of these crimes by outlawing the opium traffic, not only as it affects China, but the whole world. This reflects a true principle of Christianity, whether or not it is done by Christian governments. May the world move forward toward the light in other ways as well.

The United Nations Narcotic Drug Commission has voted to make a legal study of severe and uniform sentences of narcotic violations throughout the world. This commission has also approved a proposal introduced by Harry S. Anslinger, United States Commissioner of Narcotics, recommending that the Economic and Social Council “urge all countries which still legalize the use of opium for smoking to take immediate steps to prohibit such use.”

In a topsy-turvy world such as ours, when it would seem that nearly everything is going wrong, we have here a refreshing bit of evidence that in some respects the conscience of the world is more sensitive to evil practices than it was fifty or a hundred years ago. This recommendation of United Nations Commission to outlaw the use of opium was made, not in the name of Christianity particularly but as an expression of the common decency of man.

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