For Peace and for War

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 1, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 38.

For Peace and for War

WHEN one listens to the spokesmen of a large section of society, the impression is made that surely we are soon to have world-wide peace, there will be no great wars any more. And on the other hand, when we hear from another section of society, and look at another class of facts, it would seem that war could not be averted. These conditions present a peculiar contradiction.

As one of the many instances of the war fever that is raging, mention may be made of the way in which Germany and England have been so strenuously working for several years past in order to be prepared for the conflict that both nations think will surely break out between them in no far-off day. Both nations are openly discussing what each can do, and England has just been conducting some elaborate war maneuvers, in which an invading army is made to enter the island from the direction of Germany, and the British force is rallied to repulse it. Such are very queer things to do if it is desired to promote peace and good will between the two nations.

Both countries are agitating the matter of having all their women trained to the highest degree of efficiency, so that they may support the men at the front of the battle. It is not talked to any great extent that the women shall bear arms, but it is agitated that all able-bodied women should be required to take the training necessary to enable them to join the army at once in case of war as a trained and efficient hospital corps. Some of the women would have to follow the army to the field of action for emergency work there, while others would be on active duty at home so as to be able to take care of the wounded and the sick as soon as they could be brought back from the field. This plan of the home contingent could not be carried out, of course, if the war were at a great distance. In such a case, more of the women would have to go to the front.

Commander of the British Women's Auxiliary Corps

Napoleon, a little over a hundred years ago, was the first to put the whole of the male population under military conscription. It has been reserved for the war demands of today to agitate the question of compelling all the women to enter the service.

But while these war maneuvers are on in England, and while so much discussion and preparation for war may be seen in every part of the world, we at the same time have a Peace Congress in session at Geneva, Switzerland. This congress, that has its delegates from so many of the leading nations, it is true, is not so imposing in its plans and arrangements as some of the Hague congresses were, still it shows how the minds of men are working to oppose the spirit of war. It shows the contradictory and opposing forces that are arrayed against each other.

Soldiers of the new British force, called the Women's Auxiliary Corps, organized to aid the men in war

Those who are holding peace congresses may be working in a laudable direction, for Christ Himself is called the Prince of Peace, and a blessing is pronounced upon the peace-maker. But on the other hand, the Bible also tells of those who heal the hurt of the daughter of God's people but slightly by saying "Peace, peace; when there is no peace."

Many of those who are working for the peace of the world, and who say that the nations will never have any more wars, make frequent quotation of the texts in Isa. 2: 4 and Micah 4: 3, which speak of the time when "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." But those who quote these texts do not take the pains to observe that both of these scriptures are telling what the "many people" and the "many nations" are saying. It is not the Lord who is saying this, but it is the Lord foretelling what the "people" and the "nations" will be saying in the "last days." Study the text with ordinary care and you will see that this is the case.

Another text affirms the fact that the great climax is reached just before the time of the final destruction, when the "people" affirm that they have actually reached the time of peace and all is safety: "Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober." 1 Thess. 5: 1-6.

The foregoing text plainly tells of a class that will be overtaken "as a thief in the night;" and it just as plainly says that the "brethren" are not in darkness and hence will not be thus overtaken. They are of the light, and know where they are standing. This class who are overtaken "as a thief in the night" are the ones who are also saying "Peace and safety." They are the ones who the Lord has foretold will be telling the world that all the swords will be beaten into plowshares and the spears into pruning-hooks. Did you ever stop to think what a marvel it is that our God could foretell thousands of years ago just what the people would be actually saying in this time? and, too, He describes them as "many people," thus showing that it would be the great popular cry.

At the same time that the Lord foretells what the people would be saying on the subject of peace, He also foretells what the actual conditions will be in the field of war. His word is, "And the nations were wroth, and Thy wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged." Rev. 11: 18. And again the divine Word declares: "And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrising. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.) And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Ar-Magedon." Rev. 16: 12-16, A.R.V., margin.

Only a part of the scriptures that might be given on the subject are quoted in the foregoing. But enough is given to show that there will be an awful spirit of war right at the close of time. The spirits of demons will be gathering the whole world into it. The nations will be wroth. And right while this will be going on, the "many people" will be crying that all is peace, there will not be any more war.

It is not necessary to do more than to observe just what the foregoing words from the Bible say, in order to see that both war and peace

will be great world-wide movements right in the last days. And we need only to open our eyes to the actual facts as they exist to-day, in order to see the most strikingly literal fulfilment of the prophetic forecast.

Let the reader ask himself: "If I had been going to make a prophecy, would I have made one that seemed to carry such contradictions with it as do these predictions that the Lord has made? Would I have foretold that the last days would mark the worst furies of war that the world has ever seen, and at the same time also predicted that when the war storm was gathering, the people would be saying, 'All is peace?'" Only the Infinite One who knows the end from the beginning can make such accurate predictions of such improbable conditions. If we follow the leadings of the One who can prophecy after this sort, we will certainly be "sons of the light," and not be among those that are overtaken as a thief in the night by the day of the Lord.

Female general of the king of Dahomey's army