p. Seven | EDITORIAL by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California, U. S. A. · Jul 8, 1930

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 57, No. 26.

EDITORIAL

By Editor

WITHOUT ANY PARALLEL

Within recent months there have been very few days when the papers have not had something to say in regard to the murders and other crimes committed by the gangsters of Chicago. But recently conditions there became so acute that a meeting of leading citizens and business men was called to see what could be done to cope with the situation. The man chosen as president of this meeting made the significant statement that “a complete breakdown of law and order” was the occasion for the conference.

But, as suggested in an editorial in one of the Western great dailies, “if the causes of the breakdown were local and peculiar to Chicago, they would not be disturbing. But unfortunately they are not. The low level of civic standards in Chicago is due to conditions that exist to some extent throughout the whole country. The difference is one of degree only.”

The writer of the editorial from which this quotation is taken goes on to deplore the way in which crime in so many localities is linked up with politics, so that the political machine is employed not to enforce law and order, but to protect the criminals in such a way that the politician may reap great financial reward as the result.

This criminal condition of our age breaks out into all kinds of rioting and disorder, and in one way or another it is world-wide, as witness the revolution and rioting in China, in India, in Europe, in South America, and elsewhere. These conditions of lawlessness and rioting are causing the stoutest hearts to tremble as they see what is prevailing and constantly growing worse and more alarming.

UNDERWOOD
After the London Conference, the Chinese naval delegation has been making a tour of Europe inspecting and studying military affairs. The delegation, headed by Minister of the Navy K. H. Tu, are here seen making an official visit to the headquarters of the Italian navy in Rome. — UNDERWOOD After the London Conference, the Chinese naval delegation has been making a tour of Europe inspecting and studying military affairs. The delegation, headed by Minister of the Navy K. H. Tu, are here seen making an official visit to the headquarters of the Italian navy in Rome.

If we will seek an authoritative and trustworthy source, we may understand what all of this signifies, and hence what the outcome will be. The Master, in words that vibrate with the certainties of divinity, has told us, “As were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.” Matthew 24:37. And the same One who uttered those words toward the close of His ministry in Judea had previously inspired Moses to tell in detail the conditions that prevailed in “the days of Noah.” The record states that “Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. . . . And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:5-13.

Please note with thoughtful care what this text says concerning conditions in the days of Noah. Every thought and imagination ‘was only evil continually,’ and, furthermore, “the earth was corrupt before God;” and as the consequent result of this corruption, it is stated, and again repeated and emphasized, that “the earth is filled with violence.” Corruption produced through the evil thinking and imaginations of men have the sure result of so breaking down moral standards that men throw discretion to the winds, and spread violence and bloodshed everywhere.

And let it be understood and known by every individual everywhere that no less a person than the great Christ Himself has told us that the appalling conditions of to-day, so similar to those in the earth in the days of Noah, are among the things to be seen as incontrovertible evidence that the coming of Christ is right at hand. God stood by in those days of Noah to bring that violence and sin to an end by destroying the world through a flood; and the evidences are unmistakable all through the world of the universal prevalence of that great destruction when “all the fountains of the great deep [were] broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” Genesis 7:11.

The man is living in a fool’s paradise who does not see the parallelism.

Another prophet, in describing this time, says, “At that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince who standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Daniel 12:1.

This unprecedented time of trouble spoken of here by Daniel the prophet is due to the fact that wars and bloodshed in this time will be attended with more widespread ferocity and destruction than anything in all previous history, for the simple reason that the marvelous inventions of this time have made it possible for men to communicate their plans of rebellion with great rapidity to every corner of the earth. And then, as the dissatisfaction and discontent of criminality spread their violence into every part of the world, instruments of death and destruction to-day are far more terrible than anything known to any previous age; hence this time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation.

We need to sense these things; we need to recognize the tremendous significance and portent of this auspicious hour. And he who is trusting in the protection of the divine Lord Himself will grasp the fact that while there is to be “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation,” yet in the same sentence we read, “And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”

How assuring is this utterance! God’s people will find deliverance, and not one of them will be missing. “Every one” shall be sought out to receive the protection of the great God Himself. And how consolingly assuring is the promise and the prophecy made through another prophet as he in vision views the conditions of wickedness and violence that will prevail in this time! He affirms that “Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovah will be a refuge unto His people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.” Joel 3:16.

Do you know this “refuge” to be found in God? Do you know this “stronghold” of the Almighty Father?

“Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, Jehovah cometh forth out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” Isaiah 26:20, 21.