p. 3 | A Dangerous Message by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 30, 1915

A Dangerous Message

By C. M. S.

THE message which God puts into the mouth of men is always a message which it is safe to give and safe to heed. The danger lies in not giving it, or in not heeding it when it is given by another.

The idea of universal peace is in the air. It is fighting for its place among the clouds of battle smoke. Numerous peace conferences have been held, and the majority of religious papers look upon this as a hopeful sign of the banishment of war and the rule of amity and righteousness.

While the desire for peace is a righteous desire, and the special blessing of God is pronounced upon the peacemakers, it would be the height of folly for us to pin our faith to the inauguration of a reign of universal peace in this world before the advent of our Lord and the destruction of the wicked.

The cry of “No danger” will not save the lives in a burning house, nor extinguish the hungry flames. It will not save lives on a sinking ship, nor stop the inflowing of the rushing water. No more will the cry of peace and safety now insure the welfare of those deluded by it, or bring about the conditions so ardently hoped for. The only place of safety in this world is under the shadow of the Almighty, and the only abode of peace in this world is in the heart of the one thus sheltered.

As long as the human heart can hate, the human hand will know how to fashion the instruments of hate and how to use them. As long as human hearts are carnal hearts, the people of this world will war upon one another. Legislation cannot change men; law cannot alter desires; international congresses cannot turn sabers into scythes or soldiers into peaceful tillers of the soil. There is nothing in legal enactments to make men hate the terrible business of the battle field or look with sorrow upon the pomp and pageantry of military “glory.”

This world is powerless to “enact” peace, because it possesses no method by which to change the hearts and aspirations of men. It cannot give men the power or inclination to love their enemies, to return good for evil, to pray for those who despitefully use them and persecute them. Only the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ can effect such a transformation in the souls of men. And that agency is not employed in this “peace and safety” movement.

The gospel is certain, however, to bring about peace and safety; but when that condition obtains in this world, all the elements of discord will have been winnowed out. There will be no need for peace congresses then; and still the inhabitants of that purified land will “delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” The soul truly converted to God may enjoy peace and safety now in the very midst of this world’s alarms. While peace congresses are talking of peace and the great men of this world are spending their millions in peace propagandas, the truly converted man has peace without congresses and without the expenditure of great fortunes to obtain it. While they are longing for it, he has it—a veritable foretaste of heaven. The Christian can have peace and safety even now; but this present world can never have it: it is wrongly constituted. Oratory cannot bring it; congresses cannot bring it; wealth cannot bring it; legislation is powerless to insure it; but the gospel of Christ in the individual soul does bring it—not to nations or states or cities or societies in this present world, but to individual hearts.

This is the generation of the “peace and safety” cry. It is also the generation of war, calamity, and distress unprecedented. The “children of this world” are determined to force peace and safety. In the midst of thunderous artillery and smoke of battle, and shrieks and groans of wounded and dying men, the delusive cry of the “peace and safety” advocates is still heard. They are determined so to arrange matters that another great war can never come. The “parliament of the world” is the will-o’-the-wisp that is leading them on into the quagmire of deception and destruction. They may attain to a semblance of what they desire, and then make the declaration that it has been achieved. But “then sudden destruction cometh upon them; . . . and they shall not escape.”

Giving the “peace and safety” cry will be, so far as eternal consequences are concerned, the most dangerous business in which men can engage. The giver of that message will deceive and ruin his own soul. It is worth while to know what the “peace and safety” cry involves, and where the true peace and safety can be found, now and always.

C. M. S.