Brief Prophecies Concerning the Last Generation
The following are some of the prophetic utterances which apply to the last generation:— “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17: 26-30. We read that in the time of Noah “God 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. . . . The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Gen. 6: 5, 11. The record of the wickedness of Sodom is given in the nineteenth chapter of Genesis. “In Sodom there was mirth and revelry, feasting and drunkenness. The vilest and most brutal passions were unrestrained. The people openly defied God and his law, and delighted in deeds of violence. Though they had before them the example of the antediluvian world, and knew how the wrath of God had been manifested in their destruction, yet they followed in the same course of wickedness.” Thinking men and women can but be impressed with the fact that violence and crime of all kinds fill the land. Some who have been slow to acknowledge it are beginning to speak in no uncertain tones of the terrible manifestations of evil which are making up the world’s daily record. A sober and unprejudiced view of the condition of the world to-day, especially in the large cities, will warrant the conclusion that the days of Noah and of Lot are upon us again. This is the last generation. The religious experience of many church-members in the last generation is thus described: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 2 Tim. 3: 1-5. The decay of personal piety is a cause of alarm to those who are laboring for the establishment of Christ’s kingdom. In too many cases Christianity has become a mere profession without the power to save men from their evil ways. The standard of morality seems to have been lowered under the pressure of the times. Men connected with the church and prominent in the world’s affairs lead the way in disregarding Christian principles in business, robbing the people by “high financiering,” and seeking by many questionable ways to satisfy the ever-increasing desire for wealth. The influence of these leaders reaches far and wide. Many who have held positions of trust in the church yield to the prevailing temptations, or are overcome by their own evil passions and commit some outbreaking crime, bringing disgrace upon themselves and the church. This is the picture of the religion of many in the last generation. The character of much of the religious teaching of the last generation is also the subject of a prophecy: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” 1 Tim. 4: 1. Satan introduced sin into this world by suggesting a wrong conception of God and his character, and this has been his plan for making sin to abound. He inspires men with his own ideas of God, and then persuades them that these ideas are from the Bible. Thus seducing spirits teach the doctrines of devils. Much that is taught under the name of religion to-day has its origin with the enemy of righteousness, rather than with the Author of Christianity. This is a characteristic of the last generation. Inspiration furnishes a most wonderful description of the present conditions in the industrial world: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. . . . Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. . . . Establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5: 1-8. The piling up of wealth at the expense of the wage-earning class, and the luxurious life of the rich are here declared to be characteristics of “the last days.” Many of the economic conditions which prevail at the present time, and the problems which are seeking solution in the terrible strife between labor and capital, grow out of the situation described in this quotation from the Scripture. It is another view of the picture of the last generation, and this generation answers to the picture.