p. 10 | THE LAST DAYS by J. G. Wood

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 4, 1878

THE LAST DAYS.

By J. G. Wood

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke,” Joel 2:30; or, as Peter quotes it in Acts 2:19, “vapor of smoke.” Our Saviour says, that men's hearts shall fail them “for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Luke 21:26.

The passage from Joel gives us some of the unmistakable omens of the last days, as foretold by the prophet eight hundred years before Christ, and re-iterated and confirmed by the disciples of Jesus on the day of Pentecost, when filled with the Holy Spirit which emanated from the Father to do its office work upon the heart; viz., to lead us into all truth and show us things to come. John 15:26; 16:13.

God has spoken to us by great signs in the heavens. The earth groans under the curse, waiting for redemption. Sweeping storms and devastating cyclones are becoming more and more frequent. Socialists and Communists are organizing for their work of carnage and bloodshed, taking upon themselves fearful oaths to perform whatever falls to their lot, however innocent or unsuspecting the victim.

The following extracts give us some idea of the fulfillment of the Saviour's words: “Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth”:—

“Last Saturday a cyclone struck Richmond, Mo., resulting in the killing of twelve persons and the injury of seventy-five, the destruction of one-third of the city and leaving about sixty families destitute.”—Kansas City Times.

“It is stated that in the track of the Ray county whirlwind, which caused such destruction of life and property in Richmond, the grass, trees, and shrubbery were found to be scorched as if by heat. This could not have been done by mere wind, however great its force.

“It is said still further that the awful funnel-shaped cloud, whose approach to the doomed town filled the inhabitants with terror, emitted smoke and appalling reverberations louder than thunder. These features suggest some other agency than mere wind, and the theory is advanced that it was electricity, the constant passage of which between the cloud and the earth, accompanied with heat, was the real agent of destruction.”—Missouri Republican.

“The late attempt to assassinate the emperor of Germany evidently creates serious uneasiness, not only in Germany, but in other parts of Europe. It is regarded, not as the individual act of a desperado or a madman, but as the attempted execution of a plot of which Nobiling was the instrument. He says he fired at the sovereign because he was chosen by lot to do so. He is therefore the tool of a Socialist or Communistic conspiracy, and this conspiracy will attempt the third time what it has twice attempted and failed to do.”

“A violent shock of earthquake was felt at Lisbon Saturday night.”

The above are taken from the Missouri Republican, of June 13.

J. G. Wood.