Times When the World Has Trembled in the Balance — The Critical Condition Now — The Great Crisis Just Ahead of Us
By J. W. McCORD
ELDER McCord prepared this, and two articles that are to follow it, and sent them to us several weeks before the war broke out in Europe. The match has already been applied to the powder magazine, and the explosion has come. This article is one of the many evidences that those who are guided by the prophecies were not taken by surprise when all Europe burst into a flame of war. They knew it was coming, and they understand what it means. Editor.
THERE have been hours in history so startlingly critical that the destiny of the world for centuries to come trembled in the balance. There was such an hour in the history of Europe in A. D. 732, when Charles Martel faced the Saracens at the memorable battle of Tours. The great victory gained by Martel over the forces of Islam saved Europe from the evils of Mohammedanism, and thus preserved the choice seed, from which liberty and progress have sprung.
Crucial Hours for the Church
Likewise in the history of the church, these crucial hours have frequently appeared. It was surely a solemn hour for the church in Egypt when the destroying angel passed over the land. Again at the Red Sea the fate of God’s people trembled in the balance. The Egyptian army was behind them, a desolate wilderness on either side of them, and in front of them the sea. Look which way they would, escape seemed impossible, and death in some form appeared to be inevitable. In that hour of supreme peril, the Lord delivered His people, and destroyed their enemies.
Once again the church of God is passing through a crisis—even the solemn hour of the Judgment. The heavenly tribunal is now investigating the records so faithfully kept by the angels. The Judgment is set. The books have been opened. The Judge has taken His place on the throne. The angel witnesses are in attendance, and Jesus is now pleading the cases committed to His care. The people of God are now on trial for their lives, and the universe is awaiting the verdict.
“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the Judgment was set, and the books were opened.” Dan. 7:9, 10.
“For the time is come that Judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 1 Peter 4:17, 18.
Where Is the Higher Type of Man?
We are told, however, that according to evolution, a higher type of man is constantly evolving, and therefore a general Judgment is unnecessary. If this dictum is true, why does the apostle describe the world as “this present evil world” (Gal. 1:4), and also declare that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13)?
Surely if “evil men” “wax worse and worse” in “this present evil world,” it logically follows that the world is growing worse instead of better, and therefore the dogma of natural evolution is nothing but a fallacy.
Facts Rather Than Fancies
In this connection, kindly note the following statistics compiled by the American Federation of Hygiene, of which Dr. Charles W. Eliot is president. According to these statistics, the United States spends twelve million dollars every year to evangelize the heathen, and thirteen million dollars on chewing gum. Yet to-day more people die without having even heard of Christ than are reached by the combined missions of Christendom.
According to the same authority, we spend over thirty dollars every year on vice and needless luxuries, to every dollar spent by all the churches in America on spiritual uplift. Think of it,—thirty dollars for Satan, and only one for the Lord! If figures, therefore, are reliable data, the above statistics favor the Judgment at the ratio of thirty to one.
The Bread and Butter Test
If the world is improving in religious ethics, one of the first to profit by such an uplift would be the laboring man. Do we find the mass of toilers well fed, well clad, well housed, and well paid, or do we see signs of unrest and dissatisfaction among these workers in every land? If the world is improving in morals, the first would doubtless be true; but, alas, we all know that the second view prevails.
Recently in Calumet, Michigan, a great strike was called, and eighteen thousand miners put down their tools, and walked out together. While it is true that many object to the strike as the weapon of labor, yet the public generally favors the axiom that a living wage ought to be the minimum wage in every industry.
Our captains of industry may favor a living wage in theory, but in practice the vast majority do not grant it. Instead of meeting Labor halfway as a friend, Capital is inclined to strangle her as an enemy. This shortsighted policy will soon receive its just reward, and the prophecy of James 5:1-8 will be fulfilled to the letter.
On the other hand, syndicalism retaliates with the general strike and direct action. In the terms of mathematics, direct action means the straight line, or the shortest line between two given points. To the militant industrial workers of the world, direct action usually means force.
No wonder Alfred R. Wallace, codiscoverer with Darwin of evolution, in summing up conditions as they exist to-day, said: “It is not too much to say that our whole system of society is rotten from top to bottom, and the social environment as a whole, in relation to our possibilities and our claims, is the worst that the world has ever seen.”
The War Spirit
In our quest for the millennium, we must now pass from the individual to the nation. With individuals as the basis of analysis, it is always possible to make mistakes, and to claim for the many what really belongs to the few. But with nations this is impossible, for the dominant traits in the lives of the people are always faithfully mirrored in national life. What, then, is the predominant characteristic among the great nations of to-day?—Doubtless it is the war spirit; that spirit which is from beneath, and which is now vitalized by demons (Rev. 16:12-18), that spirit which is the very antithesis of the principles of the Prince of peace.
We are told by Senator Burton that Uncle Sam spends sixty-seven cents out of every dollar on wars and armaments, and in Europe over half the yearly revenue is spent in the same way.
Some One Will Apply the Match
Yet they tell us the great nations are at peace. If this is peace, then another decade of such peace would bankrupt the world. Europe to-day is sitting on a barrel of gunpowder, and somebody—some nation—sometime will apply the match. Then the present mad race for supremacy will have reached its climax, and the most sanguinary war in the sad history of war will be the result.
Surely this fearful waste of time, treasure, and blood is a sign that “the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged.” Rev. 11:18.
Omens of the Judgment
To-day we see ominous clouds gathering rapidly. Conditions everywhere are so hopeless and so terrible that it is very evident some catastrophe is imminent. Star after star has vanished from our moral and social sky, and now the world is left in midnight darkness. These fearful omens bespeak the Judgment, and the close proximity of the end of the world.
If any of us had a case pending in an earthly court, we would surely employ the72best counsel we could get. Then why not adopt the same measure in the case we have pending in the court above? In that court, Jesus Christ alone is advocate, and He will gladly plead our case if we only let Him. Without a mediator, we are lost forever, but with Jesus as our advocate, our case will be won.
