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EDITORIAL

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California, U.S.A. · Sep 16, 1930

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 57, No. 36.

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EDITORIAL

By Editor

“THIS IS THE HERITAGE”

A COUPLE of years ago Sir Philip Gibbs wrote his book, “The Day After To-Morrow,” in which he describes the fears of an approaching war that are haunting Europe. In one of his graphic paragraphs he states: “Europe is haunted by a thousand fears.” Many leading writers, in harmony with Sir Philip, have been talking the same thing. There seems to be quite a feeling among the leaders of the Old World that another general war cannot be prolonged beyond the year 1935.
Among other things, they think that the man power of the depleted nations will be built up again by that time, through the youths not old enough for war when the last conflict ended, but who will be old enough in 1935. A characteristic feature article in some of the recent leading papers, by Frank H. Simonds, goes into this question at length. He says:
A negro war mother of America signing the golden book at the Arc de Triomphe after placing a wreath at the tomb of the “Unknown Warrior” of France.
A negro war mother of America signing the golden book at the Arc de Triomphe after placing a wreath at the tomb of the “Unknown Warrior” of France.
“We shall, unquestionably, hear much in the next years of the possibility of war in 1935. Moreover, since many people are resolved to change their present status, and those nations which are opposed will be weakest at this time, it is not difficult to build up a theoretical case in favor of a new conflict. Nor is it hard to sustain such a case by pointing to the obvious preparations for the conflict going on along many frontiers.” And in a concluding paragraph he further states: “All in all, fixing the next war in Europe for 1935 seems, despite the appealing arguments advanced, rather more the product of fear than of actual sound reasoning. Europe is now, as it was in 1914, at the mercy of an accident. The material out of which wars are made is plainly available on every hand, but with precious few exceptions all peoples still remain ‘fed up’ in the matter of conflict, and every government, including the dictatorships [Italy and Russia], has sound reason for fearing the ultimate consequences of leading its supporters into the trenches.”
To-day, as in the years just prior to 1914, wise men are pointing out the threatened danger of a great world conflict, and to-day, the same as in those days, there are a multitude of other voices saying that another war can never come. But the individual who knows history, and especially he who knows human nature, understands perfectly well that greed, the desire for personal gain and personal wealth, the spirit of empire, and such like things, have been dominant in the degenerate human heart, and have always kept the world struggling with the problems of war. And in this time, as in no previous history of the world, men are reaching out for the amassing of wealth in the most senseless and greedy ways imaginable. For instance, just a few days ago a man who in his early life was a teamster, died over in Pennsylvania, leaving a fortune estimated at between $75,000,000 and $100,000,000.
Similar fortunes are being built up, and with greedy and conscienceless labors men are amassing wealth clear beyond any benefits that can accrue to the individual, and at the same time they are spreading poverty and distress among millions of men. This poverty and distress that are being spread through unemployment and the other contributing conditions are brought about by piling up fortunes in the coffers of a comparatively few men while leaving the millions to suffer. In the very nature of things such a situation results in revolutions that finally break out into war. The effect must follow the cause irresistibly and unquestionably. And our world-wide facilities for transportation and communication, and the tremendous advancements that have been made in destructive weapons since the last war closed, will make the next one the most terrible of anything that has ever been seen.
But has not the apostle said, “Know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money”? 2 Timothy 3:1, 2. The love of money, which is the outgrowth of the love of self, says the apostle, will make the last days grievous, and we see how that is being brought about through the conditions of this time. And as we turn to that familiar scripture recorded in the sixteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, we read of how the spirits of the demons will go to the kings of the earth to gather them “unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. . . . And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.”
The conditions of these times should be studied in the light of the Scriptures, for we have fallen upon the troublous days so clearly foretold in the Sacred Book. And while the heritage of the people of the world is the heritage of war, yet God says to those who will trust in Him, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness which is of Me, saith Jehovah.” Isaiah 54:17.
To know the power of this promise, and of the kindred promises scattered throughout the Sacred Book, is the greatest need and the greatest blessing of this hour. God can and will protect those who know how to place their trust in Him, and He conveys His power to you through His promises. Study these promises to know them for yourself. T.