Russian Successes in This War Forecast What? — The Threefold Confederacy of Evil — Why Turkey Is Attacked in the Final War — Forces Now Working Toward the Great Climax
By LUCAS ALBERT REED
"HISTORY repeats itself." One marked exemplification of this aphorism can be found in the repeated efforts made in various ages to found a world empire.
It was attempted in the days immediately after the Deluge. God had decreed that men were to go forth abroad and replenish the earth, but they rebelled against the law of Jehovah, and said, We will gather in one place, we will found a great city, we will build a tower that will place us above any danger of devastation by flood. And the tower of Babel became their impious affront against the purpose of Jehovah. Easily God found a means of dispersing that people. He confounded their language; and as a result of this, they were scattered abroad over the earth.
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WORLD EMPIRES
In the days of Nebuchadnezzar, another great attempt was made to found a world empire. It was partly successful; but when rebellion against God entered into the plans of the rulers of that empire, it went down in a crushing defeat. Other nations attempted a like work, meeting a like defeat.
And then came Rome, which set itself in opposition to Christ and His work, and it too was destroyed by its own lawlessness.
In the days of Charlemagne, and in the days of Napoleon, attempts were made to found a world empire; but the Word tells us that in the last days there will be no firm adhesion of the nations, as iron is not mixed with miry clay; and it also says that the final world kingdom shall be a divided kingdom. Dan. 2:41. In the seventh of Daniel we find that the last condition of world kingdoms will be a division into ten nations.
Yet the dream of a universal empire, of a great world kingdom, does not fade from the minds of men. And in our days there will be established a great world empire that will be headed by one man. There are units of this great aggregation now in existence, and they are marshaling into position. And not far hence we shall see the great combination consummated. Let us read a few prophecies with reference to it, note the marks of identification, and then ascertain the tendencies in the world pointing toward the fulfilment of the divine predictions:
"Therefore wait ye for Me, saith Jehovah, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy." Zeph. 3:8.
"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. . . . And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon." Rev. 16:13, 14, 16.
In the first scripture cited above, we read that it is God's determination to gather the nations, that He may pour upon them His indignation, all His fierce anger, for all the earth is to be devoured with His jealousy.
IDOLATRY THE CAUSE
The word "jealousy" points us directly to the Ten Commandments, where God forbids the worship of any other god but Himself, declaring that He is a jealous God. Hence idolatry is the sin that calls for the divine indignation which destroys the earth. And this gathering of the nations is but the last step in the idolatry that will be dominant in the establishment of the great world empire. It was idolatry that caused the building of the tower of Babel. It was idolatry that wrecked Babylon, and that caused God to send the supernatural writings upon the walls of the palace, declaring that the Babylonian kings were weighed in the balance and found wanting. It was idolatry that set the Roman nation against Christianity; and it was nothing more nor less than idolatry that attempted the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, so called, in the days of Charlemagne; and it was also idolatry in the heart of Napoleon that caused him to follow his "star." It proved to be only the will-o'-the-wisp of a mad ambition. So under the impulse of idolatry, the nations will be gathered in a final rebellion against God, and will suffer the fulness of His wrath.
THE WILFUL NATIONS ALLOWED TO TRY
We recognize that the prophecy says it is God's determination to gather the nations, but in this is meant that God is determined to let man show what is in his heart. He will permit the wilful nations to do what they are determined to do; because if He does not permit it they can not do it, and if they do not do it the universe will not see the full results of sin. But God has permitted a sinful world for a long time, that sin and all its evil results may be fully developed and completely revealed. And so the final rebellion of the world must be manifested.
THE MIRACLE-WORKING DEMONS
In harmony with this, we find it is "the spirits of devils, working miracles," that gathers the nations at Armageddon. Rev. 16:14, 16. But devils do not work in harmony intentionally with the will of God. Nevertheless God is so wise, His ways are so inscrutable, that even the devil, in his final opposition to Jehovah, will but play into the divine hands.
When Satan brought about the crucifixion of Christ, stirring up the mob with a hellish frenzy, he supposed that he was working defeat for the Son of God; but instead, he wrought only defeat for himself, for it was through death that God planned to destroy "him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Heb. 2:14. And by this means, instead of Satan's binding676humanity, Christ will forever deliver those who trust in Him. Verse 15.
Similarly, in the great marshaling of the nations to oppose the purposes of God, it will be found that evil men and devils alike have done nothing against the truth, but for it, and will render only the more dramatic and complete the great victory of righteousness over all.
But notice: It is the spirit of devils working miracles that is to gather the nations together. And this gathering is to be in the place called in the Hebrew language Har-Magedon, or Armageddon.
WHERE IS ARMAGED-DON?
Some have supposed that the present war is the great gathering for Armageddon, but such is not the case. Armageddon is a place about fifty miles north of Jerusalem, in the valley of Jezreel, a valley at the head waters of the river Kishon. The valley of the Kishon makes this place directly accessible for the Mediterranean. It commands a pass leading into the plains north. It is on the old highway between Turkey, specially the Euphrates Valley, and Egypt to the south. It is to-day occupied by the kingdom of Turkey. According, then, to this prophecy, all the nations of the world, stirred up by the spirits of demons, will be gathered upon Turkish soil. When we consider the religious fanaticism of the Turk, it must be they are there against his will.
TURKEY AND THE RIVER EUPHRATES
In fact, in the twelfth verse of this prophecy of the sixteenth chapter of Revelation, we find that part of Turkey represented by the waters of the great river Euphrates has dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the east. The place called Armageddon could quite readily be reached from the Mediterranean by the western nations, through the valley of Kishon. It could also be quite readily reached from the north by an advancing army, but Constantinople must previously have been captured.
According to the divine picture, the river Euphrates is to be dried up. That is, the Turk, the Mohammedan power occupying the Euphrates Valley, is to be removed; and having transferred his capital to Jerusalem, he makes his last stand there against the united armies of all the nations.
WHAT NATIONS ARE INVOLVED?
Who are the nations thus gathered against the Turk at Jerusalem? We find a partial solution of this problem in the statement that the spirits of demons that gathered these nations came from the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the false prophet. To say that these spirits of demons come from the mouth of these characters, is but to say that the demons accomplish their work through what is said. That is, what issues from the mouths of these powers is inspired or dictated by the devils. It is an awful thing to contemplate; but as it is in God's word, and is His infallible prediction, we must accept it as absolute truth.
Then what are these powers whose mouths are used by demons? He tells us that the spirits of demons come from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet.
What is the dragon? We are told in Rev. 12:9 that the dragon is the devil. In Rev. 20:2 he is called again the devil and Satan.
Primarily, then, the dragon is the devil. But the work he did as presented in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, was accomplished through paganism, and paganism is but incarnate devilry. It is idolatry in which are manifested spiritualistic, supernatural workings, the workings of the devil himself, for idol worship is devil worship. Deut. 32:16, 17. Then spirits of demons working through paganistic teachings will be an influence in this final gathering of the nations at Armageddon.
This phase is pictured by a dragon because it was through the mouth of a serpent that Satan himself first began his work in tempting Eve in the garden of Eden. And he taught the fundamental pagan doctrine of inherent immortality. So again through a serpent, the dragon, paganistic teachings, he will speak to the world, to deceive it and to bring it to a complete and final ruin.
WHAT IS THE BEAST?
What is the beast? We find in the seventh chapter of Daniel that it is a beast of prey; and a beast of prey is one that is cruel, destroying life for its own personal advantage, without thought or care. The use of force is here pictured, and a force manifested against the truth and the people of God. This power represented by the beast is described in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, verses 1 to 10. This scripture tells us that the beast gets its throne and its great authority from paganism (verse 2); that the whole world will worship it; that it speaks great things, blasphemies; and that it continues 1,260 years (verse 5), forty-two months making 1,260 years, according to the Biblical interpretation of a day for a year; and finally, at the end of that time, it will have a wound (verse 3), but the wound will be healed. It will go into captivity only to come forth again.
All these specifications are answered by the papacy, which was fully established in 538, and which continued 1,260 years, until 1798, when the pope was taken prisoner by the armies of France under General Berthier. It is the power particularly that has used force, persecuting God's people, destroying the Bible and the printed and written teachings of the Bible, and the teachers as well.
WHAT IS THE FALSE PROPHET?
But the spirits of demons were also to come from the mouth of the false prophet.
The false prophet is described in Rev. 13: 11-18. It is a power that is to be seen arising in 1798, when the papacy goes into captivity. It is a power that works miracles in the presence of the beast. Rev. 13: 14; 19:20. It is a power that makes the earth and them that dwell therein worship the beast, whose death stroke thus becomes healed. The signs, the miracles that the spirits of demons work, will be greater in this power than in the others, because the prophecy declares: "And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast," that is, do just as the beast has done. Thus he gives breath to the image of the beast, and causes it to speak, and as many as do not worship the image of the beast, he declares shall be killed. And he gives a mark to all—namely, the mark of the beast; that no one should buy nor sell save he that has it.
These specifications are all met by apostate Protestantism. It is the only institution in the world that can place the papacy once more in power; for its Protestantism was its protest against the papacy, and when that protest ceases, and it establishes an institution like the papacy—an image to it—all free institutions must die.
IT ESTABLISHES A MARK
But in doing this, it establishes a mark, a mark of the beast, or the mark of the papacy. And the one sign or mark of papal authority is the Sunday institution. They themselves say so; and they say that Protestants, in accepting Sunday, accept the authority of the papacy, for there is no authority for Sunday save the authority of the papacy.
But where will paganism stand with reference to Sunday?—It will stand in perfect harmony with them, because Sunday is "the wild solar holiday of all pagan times."
At first thought, it seems preposterous to suppose that paganism,—the teachings of Buddhism and theosophy and Confucianism, and all the other doctrines of the East, could ever be made to blend with the papal teachings, or with the teachings of Protestantism. But in the doctrines now preached from the pulpits of the land, we see that the great work of destroying the Christian religion is making sure and rapid progress. In a modern form of Unitarianism, we have a perfect culture ground for the doctrines of theosophy and "new677thought"; and Christian Science itself is but a modification of Hinduism. But their real unity will not be in speaking precisely alike; for God calls this assemblage of the last days Babylon, and Babylon is confusion. Revelation 17. However, in the Sunday institution, all will find perfect agreement. Sunday is the old day of paganism dedicated to sun worship. Sunday is the day chosen by the papal church from paganism, and clothed with its own authority as a mark of ecclesiastical power. And Sunday is the great religious institution accepted by Protestants from Catholicism, and now about to be enforced by law. In fact, it is already enforced by law in many parts of this world.
PAGANISM, THE PAPACY, AND CORRUPTED PROTESTANTISM
Then we see what nations will be involved in this great final gathering for the last and awful war. They will be the nations influenced by this later form of Protestantism, primarily the United States. They will be the nations influenced by the papacy, primarily the ten kingdoms of Europe. And they will be the nations influenced by paganism, primarily the nations of the East. And strange as it may seem, the pagan nations will be the last ones to join the great world-wide confederacy of rebellion; for we read in Rev. 16: 12 that the kings that come from the East are the ones last to break through the kingdom of the Turk and arrive at Armageddon. And even more strange to say, the false prophet, the one that has stood as a prophet of God, and has proved false to His name and His trust, will be the first to enter into this great confederacy of evil; for "he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast." Rev. 13: 12. Thus we see exemplified again the fact that he who rejects the most light is the most abandoned in his wrong.
A GREAT SUNDAY MOVEMENT EXPECTED
Then before Armageddon, before the gathering for the world-wide war, we may expect that apostate Protestantism will make some great movements with reference to the Sunday institution; that she will thereby legislate the papacy into power; and that afterward paganism will unite with the other two, and we shall have the great final movement in the closing drama of time.
But there are two more powers that we must consider besides the three just mentioned.
As already intimated, these three powers will gather at Armageddon, within the domain of the Turk, fifty miles or so north of Jerusalem; and at Jerusalem, or in the Valley of Jehoshaphat — that is, in territory adjacent to the city of Jerusalem — the final battle, the battle of God's judgment, will be fought. Joel 3: 1-17. The nations will even lay siege to the city in their war against the Turk, but it will be to them of no avail. Zech. 12: 2-4. We read in Dan. 11: 45 that the Turk will come to his end and none shall help him; and in the hour of apparent victory for the nations, God will smite them. So their triumph will be brief indeed.
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE TURK
But we see to-day, in the movements of this present war, omens that the nations are moving into position for the great final campaign against the Turk. Slowly his power has been waning and his territory wasting, and some day he will move his capital to Jerusalem (Dan. 11: 45), and later his power in all the outlying territory will be gone, he himself shut up in that city. When he establishes his capital in Jerusalem, the great trouble, unheard of before in all the history of the world, will break over the nations, striking fear, apprehension, and dread into the hearts of all who are not fully resigned into the hands of God. Dan. 12: 1, 2.
EAST INDIA RIFLEMEN BROUGHT BY ENGLAND TO EUROPE TO ASSIST THE ALLIES
Then every step that you see bringing Russia into prominence, bringing Turkey into collision with Russia and England and Italy, is an omen of that day when not only these nations, but every nation in power, will be united in some great plan that they will suppose augurs peace and prosperity and world power. For according to Ezekiel 38, Russia (Rosh), Moscow (Meshech), and Tobolsk (Tubal) are to be the dominant factors in the great inroad into the territory of the Turk. With them will be Persia, Cush (Egypt), and Put (Libya or Tripoli), along with Gomer (the Crimea) and Togarmah (the Armenians).
STEADILY MOVING TO THE GREAT OBJECT*
Watch this war. You will see it steadily moving forward toward the one great object. How fast it will move, I can not say. Whether, after this war is fought, Russia will at once organize a campaign against the Turk, I do not know. But some time in the very near future she will set out, strengthened by other nations, in her final work of taking that territory; and as it is a rich territory, and occupies an important position in the very center of Europe, Asia, and Africa, other nations will demand a part in it, and thus they will be assembled to take a spoil, and to take the prey. Eze. 38: 13. But at that time God will interfere with their plans, and speak against the remnant of the nations that appoint His land to themselves for a possession. Eze. 36: 5.
We have mentioned now three great world-aspiring powers. In addition, we have mentioned Mohammedanism. There is still a fifth influence in the world that must be considered. First, let us say a word by way of introduction.678
Powers That Gather for Armageddon
(Continued from page 5)
MOHAMMEDANISM AND SUNDAY
Mohammedanism is one of the religions of the world that disregards the Sunday institution. It is itself a protest against idolatry, and therefore against sun worship, and therefore against the Sunday. It was also, when it entered both Asia and Europe, a menace to the papacy. In fact, God permitted its work in the Middle Ages as a check upon the power of the papacy. Rev. 9: 20, 21. History tells us that the Turk made war upon the image worship of Catholicism, even as they made war upon the image worship of paganism. We can readily see, then, how both paganism and the papacy could be rallied against Mohammedanism. It not only will not mix in the wine of Babylon, but it is a poison that can not be tolerated by the world-wide powers. For this reason, every step in the downfall of Turkey is a movement toward the establishment of the triune religious confederacy that is to head in the papacy itself through the pope himself. Rev. 17: 12-14, 17.
It is therefore no wonder that God should tell us that when Turkey establishes its capital in Jerusalem, pressed away from its former capital, the same is a mark or sign of the ending of probation, when Christ stands up, lays aside His priestly robes in the heavenly sanctuary, and assumes His royal garments as King. Dan. 12: 1. Then as the sovereignty of Christ begins to be felt in the earth, there is a time of trouble for the nations, such as they have never known before. Dan. 12: 1, 2.
PALESTINE TO HAVE BEEN NEUTRAL
In Deut. 32: 8 we find that when God gave the nations their inheritance, and set the bounds of their territories, He did it with respect to the children of Israel occupying Palestine. That is to say, as we understand it, God designed that Palestine should be neutral territory, occupied by a people entirely neutral, a people who in thought or plans or work would not unite with any of the nations of the world. They were to be a separate people. We know that through the rebellion of Israel, this purpose failed. Israel had to be driven from the Holy Land. But the purpose of God, that should have been carried out in one way, must still be carried out in another. It would not do for some mighty nation, some dominant nation, to occupy Palestine; because this territory is strategic, lying between Europe, Asia, and Africa—the one connecting link between the three—and the strong nation that would hold it would become a dominant factor in the world, and establish a new tower of Babel of opposition against God.
Therefore we find in Palestine a nation that will not mix with the other nations. Its thought, its policy, its work, its religion, are such that it can not mix or be mixed with the others. Consequently when the great world confederacy is to be formed, the people occupying this territory must be conquered. Had God's people remained true to Him,
they would be occupying this territory, as is intimated in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and the great confederacy of evil would have been both a design against God's people and an invasion of their territory. As it is now, God's people are scattered throughout the world; but the plan of the evil one will still work out both to secure the territory once occupied by Israel and also to destroy God's people, even though they be scattered everywhere.
GOD'S PEOPLE WILL NOT BLEND
What about God's people? If it is an impossibility to get the Turk to blend with the great triune confederacy, far more will it be impossible to get God's people to unite in what is nothing more nor less than black re-
bellion against the government of God. Hence we find foretold in the thirty-eighth of Ezekiel that when the great nations shall enter into the land of the Turk, at the very time when they are pressing their campaign within the Mohammedan domains, God says, "It shall come to pass in that day, that things shall come into thy mind, and thou shalt devise an evil device." What is this evil thing that comes into mind, this bad thought invented for the occasion? We read on: "Thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell securely." Who are these? Read a little farther: "In that day when My people Israel dwelleth securely, . . . thou shalt come up against My people Israel, . . . it shall come to pass in the latter days."
THEIR PROPERTY CONFISCATED
From Rev. 13: 15-17 we know precisely what this evil device is. It is a law first providing that those who do not accept the authoritative sign of the great world confederacy, the Sunday institution, shall have all their property confiscated, shall neither be able to buy nor sell, and thus shall be left to starve to death. And when, by the providence of God, this decree of confiscation does not accomplish its purposes—for the Lord cares for His own, their bread and water is sure (Isa. 33: 16)—then a second decree will go forth that all who do not worship the image of the beast shall be killed.
When this decree is issued, giving permission after a stated time to slay God's people who refuse the sign of worldly authority, and who accept the Sabbath—a sign of God's creative power—the nations will be invading Palestine. They will be gathered at Armageddon. They will be laying siege to Jerusalem in the last stand of the Turk. And as they end the power of the Turk at Jerusalem, and are about to accomplish their will upon God's people scattered throughout the earth, God Himself speaks from heaven the great final word, "It is done."
SATAN'S REIGN ENDS
The end of sin has then come, the end of suffering for God's people, the end of the reign of Satan, the end of the sufferance of the Most High. It is done. And under the thunder of the voice of God, the earth shakes as it never has shaken since men were on it. Rev. 16: 17, 18. The triune confederacy is broken in sunder, and divided again into the three parts of which it was composed—the dragon, the beast, the false prophet. And the cities of the nations fall in ruin, the islands flee away, the mountains are not found, and a hail—every stone weighing about fifty pounds—completes the work of devastation. Verses 19-21.
GOD IS OUR REFUGE
In the midst of this final world cataclysm, the people of God will stand unmoved, sustained by the grace of heaven. Of them the prophecy has spoken. This is the prophetic prediction concerning the words which in that hour they will utter: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, and though the mountains be shaken into the heart of the seas; though the waters thereof roar and679be troubled, though the mountains tremble with the swelling thereof." Ps. 46: 1-3.
What we have said in this article we know will strike many with surprise and some perhaps even with indignation; but it is the truth, for the word of God is true. It foretells these things, and they will certainly come; and if any soul is disturbed over what we have said here, we ask you to study the situation in the light of these predictions.
EVIDENCE ALL ABOUT YOU
You will find all about you evidences that this very confederacy is now working toward its determined end. The Sunday institution is pushed forward and established by law as a day of rest. Yet it has not one word from God to sanction it, and it is now enforced and will be more fully enforced, in spite of the fact that any compulsion in the realm of religion is absolutely antagonistic to the spirit of Christ. Force belongs to the beast. It should never be used by the true disciple of Jesus. He said, "Resist not evil." His invitation is to "whosoever will." With Christ, hence with the Christian, it is not force, but the persuasion of love.
If you will look about you, you will see the great final drama that is to destroy the Turk, establish the papacy, and threaten with destruction those who truly follow the word of God, now rapidly acted. All the factors are here. All the movements are in the one direction. The word of God tells us the outcome, the full consequences of it all.
God help us to be true to Him in "the hour of temptation" that is to "come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Rev. 3: 10.
THE fact that one has committed sin will never exclude him from the kingdom of God. All have sinned. It is unconfessed sin that debars any one from receiving eternal life.
S. N. H.
Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. BRITISH BICYCLE CORPS, WITH ITS COLT GUN, FORDING A STREAM
