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War Dogs Gone Mad

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 8, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 31.

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War Dogs Gone Mad

By E. E. Andross

Will the World Yet Be Converted?

By E. E. ANDROSS
WRITING of the beginning of the present great world war, Mr. W. Morgan Shuster said: "In the hot days of August, dogs go mad. Thus is it now written in history that in August, 1914, Europe's dogs of war went completely mad. None of the familiar symptoms of the malady was lacking. Kings, emperors, czars, councilors, and blood relatives first snarled and growled, with bristling necks and gleaming teeth, then launched whole nations upon one another in barbarous fury. Not content with this, they slashed and tore every living thing in sight.
Blind madness mounted upon rage until even those of the same pack fell upon one another. Innocent babes were no safer than full-armed soldiers; indeed, much less so. Neither women, sick, nor aged were spared. All laws, precedents, treaties, oaths, pretensions, decencies, and even God, were forgotten. His name served but to adorn the specious appeals for aid which were put forth by earthly rulers."—Century Magazine, February, 1915, pages 503, 504.
It was not supposed that such scenes as are described in the foregoing quotation, and as are to-day enacted in Europe and Asia, ever could occur in this enlightened age. But now we are told that "all the accumulated mass of knowledge, the slow-won mastery of natural forces and materials, the skill, the craftsmanship, the cunning manipulation of tools, the huge apparatus of world-wide transport by land and sea—all the means which man has in the lapse of ages gradually made his own, and applied to maintain life, increase comfort, and serve daily needs in countless ways—all these are suddenly turned to purely destructive purposes, with an order and energy unknown to civil life."—Dr. A. Shadwell, Edinburgh Review, copied in American Review of Reviews, page 356.
Speaking of the influence of war upon the fighting man, Mr. Hereward Carrington says: "All the centuries of intervening civilization are swept away in an instant; and we see before us, not the cultured gentleman of yesterday, but a primitive brute beast, fighting for his existence and his life in precisely the same way that his ancestors fought—and with no other, higher ideals in mind. That, perhaps, is the most instructive item of all. It shows us at once and graphically the effects upon the mind of war—and proves to us that it leads not only to material destruction, and to mental and moral deterioration, but also to the very extinction of the spirit of man itself—in the almost instant reversion of civilized man to savagery."—The Forum, quoted in the American Review of Reviews, page 235.
By multitudes, the questions are asked: "What will the end be? What do these things mean? Can they mean that the nations, through this experience, will learn to abhor war, and will turn from it, converting their implements of war into implements of agriculture? Will there be awakened in the hearts of all men a desire to find God, and so all men be converted? Or is this all merely the legitimate and inevitable fruitage of sin, the result of following the leadership of the arch-rebel? Is it the fulfillment of the sure word of prophecy, revealing the approach of the day when the Prince of peace will begin His eternal reign of righteousness?"
From the beginning, the work of Satan has been to pervert. Once he bore the name of Lucifer—day-star; but when he fell into sin, and, having stubbornly persisted in rebellion, was cast out of heaven, his name was changed to "the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." Isa. 14: 12-17; Rev. 12: 7-9. His character from the beginning of his rebellion has been that of a destroyer. It is said of him, "Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof?"
The Saviour, in speaking of him, said: "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8: 44.
His followers partake of the same characteristics, hence in the world there has been almost continuous war and strife.
"From whence come wars and fightings among you?" asks James; "come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" James 4: 1.War originated with the devil, and he has been responsible for the destruction wrought by war ever since. The last supreme effort of the devil in his work of rebellion will be to lead his followers against the city of God at the end of the thousand years. Rev. 20: 1-11. The wicked dead, having been raised from their graves, are led to believe that they can take the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, that will come down to earth from God out of heaven. Rev. 21: 2, 3, 10.
Led by the great deceiver, the myriad hosts of the wicked surround the holy city. Lifted up above its jasper walls, seated on a glorious white throne, surrounded by the redeemed of all ages, the Saviour appears before that vast throng. With inexpressible anguish, the wicked behold what they have lost. They see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom, but themselves thrust out.
They think once more of the time when they were almost persuaded to give their hearts to God, but listened instead to the voice of the tempter. They remember the prayers of father, mother, sister, wife, or other loved one, as they plead in their behalf before the throne. They recall the pale, upturned face and the last words of mother as she pleads with them to meet her around the throne. They remember the awful moment when the decision that determined their eternal destiny was made. With anguish of heart such as none but the lost can ever know, and with insatiable hatred for the one who deceived them, they turn in wrath and indignation upon their leader.

The Great Controversy Closes

ONCE more, and for the last time, fire is employed in battle as an element of destruction. A "curtain of fire" "came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone." Rev. 20: 7-10.
Thus ends the great internecine conflict extending through the ages, but reaching its climax in the scene just described. Today the enemy is preparing the hearts of men for his final deception. He is making the world mad.
One of the signs heralding the approach of the great day of God, as given by the Revelator, is, "And the nations were angry." Rev. 11: 18. Jeremiah, writing of this same time, said: "Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad because of the sword that I will send among them." "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth." Jer. 25: 15, 16, 32, 33.

A Strange Breath Blowing

A CANKER has long eaten at the heart of the world — the canker of suspicion, envy, jealousy, rancor, of insatiable hatred. A strange breath has blown upon the world. Evil spirits seem to be walking abroad. The great destroyer is marshaling his host for "the war of the great day of God." "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful." Rev. 17: 14.
"The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." Dan. 7: 27.## WAR DOGS GONE MAD (Continued from page 2)
We may not possess much of this world's goods; but we shall discover, in that day, that God has "chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him." James 2: 5.
"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1: 10, 11.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1: 3-5.

World's Conversion Not in Sight

WE can discover no sign of the world's conversion to Christianity; but instead, there are many indications that it is under the spell of evil spirits. When the Saviour comes, comparatively few will be ready to meet Him. He speaks of this company as a "little flock," saying, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Luke 12: 32.
But of the world it is written: "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. 6: 15-17.
The time is surely approaching, and that very rapidly, when those who destroy the earth will themselves be destroyed.