BEFORE this awful war in Europe broke out, we were assured, over and over again, that our Christian civilization in all of the great world powers was such that we would have no more wars of any consequence. We were told that our powerful cannon and our big battle-ships, our submarines and our military aeroplanes, were so terrible that men would not face them in actual war, and that really they were "peacemakers." But this war, coming like an explosion, has dissipated that idea; and the world for the time being is awake to the fact that the most barbarous, the most cruel, and the most destructive fighting this world has ever known is now in progress.
Within two months, war is declared, millions of men are in the field fighting, and more thousands of persons have been killed, and more property has been destroyed, than in a year or possibly in four or five years of any past wars.
God's word has predicted that in this time, the nations would be angry, and the spirit of war would be rife; but men have been saying "No" to the sacred Book. They have been telling us that we are approaching an era of peace. So now our good peace advocates — thousands of whom, without any question, are perfectly sincere in what they have been and are saying — are beginning to tell us that we have been on the wrong tack in the past; that in place of these great implements of war being peacemakers, we should have disarmed the nations; and that if we did not have these destructive armaments, then we would have no danger of war, as our civilization would prevent it. Hence a strong crusade is already setting in in favor of peace and disarmament, and we are already earnestly told that this war will be so terrible that its lesson will be sufficient for all time, and that we will be in danger of no more wars.
But be not deceived by these things. The good Book says that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? I, Jehovah, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." Jer. 17:9, 10.
Our deceitful hearts lead us to believe that our civilization and our Christianity are very superior in this age and generation; and without question there are multiplied thousands of men and women living to-day who stand as high in Christian morals as any who have ever lived. But regardless of these, our world is in a desperate situation. God foresaw it, and pointed out, through the prophets, that the conditions in this time would be war and not peace; and the stormy sentiments in society everywhere ought to arouse us to the fact that God's word is correct in what it has foretold.
We may expect this war to close, possibly as suddenly as it began, but it will not end the strife. The Book explains that things will continue to grow worse and worse until finally the only thing that can meet the climax of violence, strife, and wickedness in general will be the mighty power displayed in the second coming of Christ.
Let us not lose sight of the fact that the Book which has foretold these wars has also foretold the mistaken notes of peace that would be sounding in these war times. It is "when they are saying, Peace and safety," that "sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape." 1 Thess. 5:3.
