In the center of this page is a photographic reproduction of some of the headlines that appeared on the first page of a recent issue of the New York daily World. There were some other similar headlines on the page, but the ones selected require no explanation in order for the reader to understand the character and import of the matter that would follow such headings.
As a general rule, newspapers put what they consider to be the most striking, and the most important news matter on the front page, and since the headings herewith reproduced were on the front page of that particular issue of the World, it follows that the things thus described were, in the mind of the editor, the most important happenings of that day.
The matter in the columns that followed these headings took up almost all the space on the front page, and no comment is needed to show that it is a record of crime and fraud. And, furthermore, any one who glances at the papers from day to day, knows that the records of crimes, vices, and iniquities form a large part of the news of our times. And on the days when the vices and crimes are not so prominently mentioned, it is often because of the fact that some strike, or some of the rumors of wars among the nations, or something of the kind, has become so prominent as to absorb and hold men’s minds.
These facts show the criminal and vicious tendencies of the times. They also show the strained and unsettled condition of society. These things are plainly before the minds of all men; yet in the very face of such overwhelming evidence, men vehemently tell us that the world is getting better instead of worse. There is no evidence before us that the world is getting better. Every vestige of the evidence surrounding us in society points in the other direction. Then how can we, in the name of reason and common sense, be asked to go directly contrary to the evidence?
But if this evidence that is so strikingly before us in the doings of the world were not so plain, there is still another witness, and its testimony can not be set aside. The Lord’s Word plainly says, “Evil men “and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, “and being deceived.” 2 Tim. 3:13. The Lord, who knows the end from the beginning, has foretold the conditions that would prevail in the world. And He plainly says that “evil men” “shall wax worse “and worse.” And not only will they be getting worse and worse, but they will be “deceiving” others because they are “being deceived” themselves.
The man who is under the spell of a deception can not see things straight. And this is the solution of the amazing mystery of men persisting in saying that the world is getting better, when the evidence of every one of our senses shows that things are getting so bad that society will soon be broken up by violent wars, revolutions, and every conceivable social disorder. Any one who is not “deceiving and being “deceived” can plainly see the conditions that surround us, and he can also see the impending disaster that these conditions portend.
Some Headings from the First Page of a Single Daily Paper.
Only those who know the Word of God will be saved from this terrible deception. The world is so intoxicated with the follies of fun, the people have gone so wild after pleasure, and are so absorbed in money-getting, that their sensibilities are largely stupefied. The god of this world has so blinded their eyes that they do not see things clearly. They do not want to be disturbed in their pleasure-seeking and money-getting, and so they endeavor, by every means, to persuade themselves that these bad things in the world are not so bad after all. And having entered upon this road, they fondly boast of being “optimists,” and say that they are not looking for the evil, and that they consequently see only the good. But in this they are greatly mistaken. They see the evil in the world just as much as any one, but are trying to make themselves believe that there is no evil worth mentioning. Since they are “optimists” they must not see the evil, no matter how prevalent it becomes.
Since God was able to look forward thousands of years and foresee the evil of this time, and since He caused His prophets of those ancient years to foretell it in the divine Book, we do well to give heed to the inspired utterances. Not that God’s Word changes the facts as they are in these days, but that Word faithfully presents just what the conditions are. And if the facts appear to us in a different light from what is said in the Bible, we may know that it is because we are under a delusion, and consequently can not see things as they really exist.
The last days are to be made “perilous,” because of the crimes and wickednesses of men. The first five verses of the third chapter of second Timothy plainly state this. And it will be observed that it is from that same chapter that we have quoted the statement that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse “and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” The events of the present time show that we are in the midst of these last-day perils. We are even in the days when evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse with an unparalleled rapidity. And in this they are both “deceiving, and being deceived.”
It is not from the standpoint of arguing the case that we write this. For it seems to us when God’s Word is speaking with such a manifest clearness, and when the predictions of that Word are being so strikingly fulfilled, it is becoming to mortal man to give audience to our all-wise Father, rather than to argue.
