Russia’s Crisis a Terrible Warning
By K. C. Russell
THE student of the “sure word of prophecy” can not fail to understand the terrible import of the awful experiences through which Russia is daily passing. These demonstrate how God’s judgments are visited upon the nation that overrides and subverts the principles of religious and civil freedom. As surely as a harvest follows seed sowing, just so certainly will there be yielded a harvest of lawlessness and terror where the seeds of religious intolerance, sedition, and anarchy have been sown. This principle is voiced in the following words of inspiration: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” This principle has been demonstrated in the history of nations both in ancient and in modern times. One of the last, and perhaps the most striking, illustrations of how God deals with a cruel and despotic power is the case of Spain, the history of which is fresh in the mind of the reader. The awful judgments which have befallen Russia are signal warnings to this or any other nation which attempts to follow in the steps that have led to the crisis through which Russia is now passing. The daily record of the terrible atrocities which appear in the public press cause one to shudder, and even to shrink from reading the sickening and heart-rending descriptions of the barbarous destruction of human life which is being inflicted upon innocent women and children as well as others. It would almost seem that the czar of Russia had had a presentiment of the awful experiences through which his kingdom was to pass when we read and consider what he said in his world’s peace and disarmament proclamation in 1898. In speaking of the massing of war material, he said: “It appears evident that if this state of things were prolonged, it would inevitably lead to the very cataclysm which it is desired to avert, and the horrors of which make every thinking man shudder in advance.” It is not surprising that he should make such a proclamation as he did if he saw, even in a moderate degree, what has come during the recent perils that have befallen his country. With this nation’s awful history before us, should we not pause and seriously ask ourselves the question, What kind of seed are we sowing? It is not difficult for one who is familiar with the seed that has been sown in Russia for ages to detect the seed that is being sown in this country, and in some instances is already beginning to yield its fruitage. The widespread demand throughout the country for religious legislation, the untiring efforts of influential and powerful religious organizations seeking to have an acknowledgment of the moral laws of Jesus Christ the basis and standard of our legislation relating to the family, the great church federation movement, which is destined to gather the whole world in its embrace, and numerous other things, are springing from the same kind of seed. This condition of things will inevitably and logically lead to the same results which we now see in Russia. As truly as the blood of Abel cried from the ground against Cain, his assassin, so surely have the cries of the imprisoned souls in Siberia who for conscience’ sake have been confined and tortured in that dreary and desolate spot, been heard by him who has promised never to leave nor forsake those who put their trust in him. It should be remembered that not only those who are engaged in this awful work of sowing seeds that will result in the oppression and persecution of those who for conscience toward God refuse to acknowledge the authority of their mandates will be held responsible, but also those who withhold the light and truth from those in darkness concerning these things. May every soul awaken before it is too late, and realize his solemn responsibility before God and man, and cause the searchlight of truth to shine forth and dispel the darkness that is hanging over souls like a funeral pall. K. C. RUSSELL.