The War Craze and Conscription
Any one who is giving any attention whatever to passing events knows that the world has passed into an unprecedented mania for war. There have been times in bygone ages when the world has seemed to have gone mad and plunged into war, but never have we had a time of such war madness in the face of so much enlightenment and boasting of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God. The conditions in these times and the theories that many have been holding are sadly out of harmony. But now that this furious war in the Old World has broken out and is spreading with such dreadful rapidity, the nations that are at peace are filled with men who are hysterically calling their fellow countrymen to prepare for war; and if some of the men who are in leading positions in this nation can carry out their plans when the next United States Congress meets, there will be laws passed requiring all the male population of the war age to receive military training. And while this military training is in process, our factories will be set to work turning out millions of the latest guns, and the latest and most effective ammunition, and for the purpose of being able on short notice to mobilize millions of men thoroughly equipped and ready to fight the prospective invader. Now if our civilization is what we claim, why is it that these militarists can drown the voices of the sane advocates of peace? Why is it that some of our great militarists receive rounds of applause when referring to our renowned peace leaders in the nation as “amiable old ladies”? It must be, after all, that we do not possess the real Christianity and the civilization that we have thought; and furthermore it must be true, as the Bible declares, that “the whole world lieth in wickedness.” And furthermore there must be some truth to the statements of divine Writ that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse”; and after all, it must be that Jesus of Nazareth was correct when He said: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” The Christ who knows the hearts of men has told us what the condition of the world would be; but multitudes of men have said: “No, Christ is wrong; the world is getting better. Those scriptures that seem to speak to the contrary, and to be so plain and obvious, have not been correctly interpreted.” Yet somehow or other, when we get right down to the facts, we find that the scriptures and the facts are in perfect harmony. But what a sad jargon of discord we get when we place the facts alongside the theories that men have been maintaining? Surely the theories of peace and good will that have been so urgently advanced cannot be true if it is necessary for an isolated nation like the United States to adopt military conscription to repel the possible invading armies that are said to be liable to come to us from other “Christian nations.” God’s word makes it plain that the last days will be characterized by war and unprecedented wickedness; and if we are willing to admit that God knows how to tell the truth in these matters, there will be no occasion for us to be misguided by the delusions that result in destruction.