Signs of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 47. (12/1/1914)

Signs of the Times

Dec 1, 1914

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 1, 1914

PROPHETS FORESAW IT ALL

By ROSS C. PORTER

Described the Inconsistent and Rival Teachings of Both Peace and War — The War Spirit Comes from the Demons — Is Antichristian

By ROSS C. PORTER

FIVE Old Testament prophecies, and the Apocalypse in the New Testament, deal too plainly with the question of last-day war, its causes, professions, and spirit, to be misunderstood.

THE OLD SATANIC AMBITION

Lying at the foundation of enormous armaments and colossal navies of the world to-day there is a cause. That cause is the old satanic ambition for the highest place. As Satan was willing to sacrifice the brightest of the angels, which were the glory of heaven, and mankind, the glory of earth, on the altar of his ambition for the first place in the kingdom of God, so nations to-day are sacrificing the best in their dominions on the altar of military and commercial ambition for first place among the nations.

The cause is definitely declared by the revelator to be "the spirits of devils" gathering the nations and kings of the whole world into an Armageddon of war. Rev. 16: 14-16.

That spirit produces the same effect among nations as among angels and men. It fills them with distrust and bitterness toward each other.

THE ANGRY NATIONS AND THE JUDGMENT

This is further shown in the statement, "And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." Rev. 11: 18.

Three things are here emphasized. First, the nations are angry. Second, it is the time of God's final Judgment, just before He rewards His people. His people are rewarded at the time of Christ's second advent. Rev. 22: 12. Third, He will destroy the angry nations "which destroy the earth."

Here is an adequate cause for both the present war and the spirit that accompanies it. The angry nations that triumph will come forth from the struggle deluged in blood. They will point their fingers dripping with human gore to their triumphs, and say, "Behold what the unadulterated Bible, the pure gospel, has done for us." The vanquished nations will be jeered. But "God awaits His day. The cannon will not roar forever, the drum will not sound for long, the mocking of Christ's spirit will cease. And then? The Judgment."

PEACE PROFESSIONS AND WAR PREPARATIONS

Three prophecies point out these inconsistencies of peace professions and war preparations. Two of them, Micah 4 and Isaiah 2, after first declaring that they are describing a last-day scene, say: "Many nations shall come, and say:" "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." This is the prophetic forecast of the peace profession of the nations in the last days.

After announcing that his prediction applies in the last days (Joel 2: 1), the prophet Joel says: "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord." Joel 3: 9-11.

CHRIST ON THE BATTLE-FIELD, AFTER THE PAINTING BY HENRI DANGER

NOT CONTRADICTORY PROPHECIES

These are not contradictory prophecies. They merely foretell that the nations will in the last days be professing peace while preparing for and engaging in unparalleled world war. One prophecy foretells what they will be saying, the other what they will be doing. What are the nations saying? — In the Hague peace councils they are eloquently talking disarmament. What are they doing? The answer is found in the race for naval and military supremacy that has swept over the entire course of peace despite the efforts of

Christian statesmen, peace treaties, arbitration boards, and the Hague tribunals, and launched nations in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of intelligent, peace-loving citizens in this overwhelming tragedy of war. While professing peace, they are preparing for and engaging in war. Both prophecies are fulfilled in the present conflict.

IS THIS A HARBINGER OF PEACE?

Even in the midst of the present almost Armageddon conflict, nations are saying that "this war is the harbinger of peace. After this conflict shall have destroyed militarism, there shall be no more war." It was on this hypothesis that Lloyd-George, when speaking in Wales in September, said, "Germany's barbarism must be stamped out." The Yorodzu, a Japanese paper, is quoted in the China Press of October 2, 1914, as stating the real issues of the war as follows:

"Shall Germany be allowed to keep up her militarism or not? is the question. If she is allowed, the present war has no meaning. No, German militarism must be crushed. . . . To be plain, the ultimate object of the war should be to reduce the German Empire to the state of a semi-independent nation, in which she will be placed under the supervision of the powers as regards her diplomatic and military affairs."

Profound conclusion! As if the world's woes were all traceable to Germany's militarism! Has not Germany as good a right to seek military supremacy as has Great Britain to seek naval supremacy, or Japan to seek both military and naval supremacy in the far East?

MILITARY ALLIANCES THE CAUSE

It may be added that the marshaling of the millions to slaughter at the present hour is due more to military alliances than to Germany's militarism. If Germany's military power is broken, military alliances will remain as great a menace as before. It was by them that nations were unwillingly dragged into the great whirlpool of war at this time. For what?—For the settlement of a question that the Hague should have settled in a day. Why did it not go to the Hague?—Military alliances swept it past the Hague court into the arena of war with lightning rapidity.

The delusion that German militarism is alone a menace to the peace of Europe, is dispelled by a look at the roll of European nations who have led in wars during the past forty-five years. How does Germany compare with her rivals?

China-Japanese war ............................ 1894-1895 Spanish-American war .......................... 1898 British and Boer war .......................... 1899-1902 Belgian-Kongo atrocities ...................... 1901 Russo-Japanese war ............................ 1904-1905 Nippon-Chosen war ............................. 1907 Norway secedes from Sweden .................... 1907 Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina ........ 1908 French-Moroccan war ........................... 1908-1909 Spanish-Moroccan war .......................... 1909 Portuguese revolution ......................... 1910 Turko-Italian war ............................. 1911 Balkan war .................................... 1912

The only powers of Europe that have not been involved since the Franco-Prussian war are Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, and Germany.

SPIRIT OF MILITARISM UNIVERSAL

The spirit of militarism is as bad in an American, a Britain, a Russian, or a Japanese, as in a German. The spirit of militarism is satanic, and it blights the finer sensibilities of every nation that yields to its control.

Mr. Liang Chichao, of the Peking legislative council, introducing a motion before that body, gave his view of Japan's military movements, supported by Great Britain, as a menace to the peace of the far East, as follows:

"Great Britain can not be excused for violating our neutrality, because the two nations are allied, and their actions must be concerted. Great Britain went to war in Europe because of her wishes to maintain the neutrality of Belgium. Mr. Asquith has announced in the House that Great Britain's object to join the war is to uphold humanity and civilization, and we respect England on this account. Unexpectedly, Great Britain in the East has been acting contrarily, and using the allied forces to violate our neutrality in Shandong."—China Press, October 6, 1914.

The present war has abundantly proved that enforced militarism in the world is a menace to its peace. Most of the nations engaged in the present conflict desired peace. But they have been led by the spirit of militarism into these vast war preparations under the delusion that vast armies insure peace.

WAR PREPARATIONS AND PEACE

The New York World is justified in its statement that "all the loudly proclaimed pretentions of professional militarists, that huge armaments and incessant preparations for war are the best assurances that can be had for the preservation of peace, are disproved. There never was a time when Europe was more fully armed, and there never was a more needless and wicked war than that into which Europe has suddenly plunged."

Great navies and armies numbering millions are prepared for conquest. They are not kept up to such proportions for a police force. Prophecy says that as a sign of Christ's second advent, nations will talk peace and disarmament, while straining their resources to the uttermost in war preparations. Although men and nations, in the face of the fulfilment of this prophecy, may still cling to the delusion that after the war a millennium of peace will come. Paul declares:

"When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. 5: 3.

HEROES OF PEACE

But there are real heroes of peace who are not possessed with the spirit of militarism. They are putting forth heroic efforts to restore peace and stop this inhuman slaughter of their fellow men. America, Great Britain, and Germany have furnished some of the world's most noble advocates of national and international peace. It requires more heroic courage now to offer peace proposals to the angry combatants than to join them in the great war procession. What would we expect Great Britain and Germany to do in this crucial hour? In response to President Wilson's kindly offer of mediation in the interests of the world's peace, Reuter's telegram of September 19 said, "The English newspapers ridicule the talk of peace."

Why? Is it Great Britain's peace policy to prolong the war until the death-roll reaches millions, for the sake of crushing a military and commercial rival? Is this a "Christian nation's" application of the Golden Rule of the Prince of peace? Alas, militarism has become entangled in the meshes of its own ponderous net! "Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter." Isa. 59: 14.

NOT IN HARMONY WITH CIVILIZATION

In its very nature, war is recognized to be hostile to civilization. "The law of civilization is to live and let live, while the law of war is to kill and let kill. They are opposites. They can never reach agreement and harmony. . . . In barbarous times, war was perfectly logical in the way it played its game. It did not hesitate to apply the sword and torch to their accepted ends."

### Prophets Foresaw It All (Continued from page 2) Thus it is logical that war destroys life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Civilization protects life, safeguards liberty, and guarantees to all the privilege of the pursuit of happiness.

Civilization regards every man’s home as his castle. It supports business, provides for the poor, suppresses crime, respects virtue, honors morality, regards individual rights, places a high estimate upon human life, embraces peace, enthrones love, and punishes murder.

WAR DEGRADES

War despoils the home, demoralizes business, beggars the poor, breeds crime, outrages virtue, invades individual rights, cheapens human life, scorns peace, turns civilians into savages, friends into fiends of hate, and honors slaughter. If nations were fully

civilized, war would not be tolerated. In proportion as they become civilized, the horrors of war are minimized.

The organization of the Red Cross Society at the Geneva Convention was civilization's protest against the barbarism of war.

WAR IS ANTICHRISTIAN

To be Christian is to be Christlike. Christ refused to bear arms, and commanded His disciples to put up the sword into its place, when it was unsheathed in His defense, because "the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

Paul voiced these sentiments in his instructions to Christians: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." Christ's doctrine was, "On earth peace, good will toward men." "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." "I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matt. 5: 44, 45, 39.

On these principles, Christ met the world's issues and conquered. He would permit Himself to be killed rather than bear arms, to slay His fellow men.

If Christ were here to-day, He would not be found yoked up with the great armies of professedly Christian nations slaying one another. He would weep in sorrow and humiliation over their folly, and over the slain who have fallen under the insane delusion that Christ approves of Christians' engaging in these last-day wars, which are inspired and led by "the spirits of devils." Rev. 16: 14.

ONE OF THE GREATEST TEMPTATIONS

By Ellen G. White

A Sympathizer Clothed with Power—He Gives Victory over Drunkenness

by Providing Control of the Appetite

By MRS. E. G. WHITE

ONE of the strongest temptations that man has to meet, comes upon the point of appetite. In all ages, temptations appealing to the physical nature have been most effectual in corrupting and degrading mankind. Through intemperance, Satan works to destroy the mental and moral powers that God gave man as a priceless endowment; and it is impossible for those who yield to him, to appreciate things of eternal worth. Through sensual indulgence, Satan seeks to blot from the soul every trace of likeness to God.

THROUGH INDULGENCE OF APPETITE

It was through the temptation to indulge appetite, that Adam and Eve fell from their holy and happy estate. It seemed a small matter to our first parents to transgress the command of God in that one act—the eating from a tree that was so beautiful to the sight, and so pleasant to the taste; but it broke their allegiance to God, and opened the gates to a flood of guilt and wo. And it is through the same temptation that the race have become enfeebled. Since the first surrender to appetite, mankind have been growing more and more self-indulgent, until health has been sacrificed on the altar of appetite. The inhabitants of the antediluvian world ate and drank till the indulgence of depraved appetite knew no bounds, and they became so corrupt that God could bear with them no longer. They filled up the cup of their iniquity, and by a flood He cleansed the earth of its moral pollution.

Christ knew that the enemy would come to every human being, to take advantage of hereditary weakness, and by his false insinuations to ensnare all whose trust is not in God. And by passing, a conqueror, over the ground which man must travel, our Lord has made it possible for us to overcome. It is not His will that we should be placed at a disadvantage in the conflict with Satan. He would not have us discouraged and intimidated by the assaults of the enemy. “Be of good cheer,” He says; “I have overcome the world.”

WHEN STRUGGLING AGAINST THE POWER OF APPETITE

Let him who is struggling against the power of appetite, look to the Saviour in the wilderness of temptation. See Him in His agony upon the cross, as He exclaimed, “I thirst.” He has endured all that it is possible for us to bear. His victory is ours.

Those who would have clear minds to discern Satan’s devices, must bring appetite under the control of reason and conscience. If we would see the standard of virtue and godliness exalted, we must control appetite, the indulgence of which counteracts the force of truth and weakens the power to resist temptation. The heart can not maintain consecration to God while lustful appetite is indulged.

One of the most deplorable effects of the original apostasy was the loss of man’s power of self-control. Only as this power is regained, can there be real progress.

HE WOULD ENFEEBLE THE BODY

The body is the medium through which mind and soul are developed for the upbuilding of character. Hence it is that the adversary of souls directs his temptations to the enfeebling and degrading of the physical powers. His success here means the surrender to evil of the whole being. The tendencies of our physical nature, unless under the dominion of a higher power, will surely work ruin and death.

The body is to be brought into subjection. The higher powers of the being are to rule. The passions are to be controlled by the will, which is itself to be under the control of God. The kingly power of reason, sanctified by divine grace, is to bear sway in our lives.

THE ESSENTIAL POWER

Apart from divine power, no genuine reform can be effected. Human barriers against natural and cultivated tendencies are but as the sand-bank against the torrent. Not until the life of Christ becomes a vitalizing power in our lives can we resist the temptations that assail us from within and from without.

When one surrenders to Christ, the mind is brought under the control of the law; but it is the royal law, which proclaims liberty to every captive. By becoming one with Christ, man is made free. Subjection to the will of Christ means restoration to perfect manhood. Obedience to God is liberty from the thralldom of sin, deliverance from human passion and impulse. Man may stand conqueror of himself, conqueror of his own inclinations.

AWAKEN TO SELF-MASTERY

The requirements of God must be brought home to the conscience. Men and women must be awakened to the duty of self-mastery, the need of purity, freedom from every depraving appetite and defiling habit. They need to be impressed with the fact that all their powers of mind and body are the gift of God, and are to be preserved in the best possible condition for His service.

A living sacrifice, holy and without blemish.

In that ancient ritual which was the gospel in symbol, no blemished offering could be brought to God’s altar. The sacrifice that was to represent Christ must be spotless. The word of God points to this as an illustration of what His children are to be,—“a living sacrifice,” “holy and without blemish,” “well pleasing to God.”

Meeting in His Name

By John Norton Loughborough

"If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." Matt. 18:19, 20.

What is it to gather together in His name? That may appear as we study the revelation of His name. Reading of His dealing with Moses, we get His name: "And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Ex. 34:5-7.

Gathering together in His name is coming together believing "that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6); gathering together with the mind impressed that we are coming to One who has benefits to bestow, and that He has an appointment to be there with us, and to bestow upon us the benefits implied in His name. This truly would be gathering in His name. Coming thus to the house of prayer, life and power may be realized by us. Otherwise the failure is our own, in not claiming what is our privilege. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

Prophet Sees Three Periods of Persecution

By C. S. Longacre

The First Was Against Christ Himself, and His Early Church — The Second Was the Conflict of the Dark Ages — The Third Is Yet Before Us

By C. S. LONGACRE Editor of "Liberty"

This is the first of three articles by Mr. Longacre on the prospect of persecution breaking out again. Men are teaching that we are to have no more religious persecution. They were also teaching, a few months ago, that we would never have any more war. Are they likely to be as much mistaken on the question of religious persecution as they have been on the war? Next week the article will show how both political and religious issues are shaping things for intolerance and persecution.

MORE than eighteen hundred years ago, the seer of Patmos saw, through the Spirit of revelation, the three distinct periods of great persecution that would come to God's people during the Christian dispensation. A prophecy covering the whole Christian era, beginning with the twelfth and ending with the fourteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, vividly portrays and announces the final outcome of each of these three conflicts between Christ and Satan, and between Christ's people and their enemies.

A GLIMPSE OF THE THREE

The twelfth chapter gives a brief survey of the whole field, where we catch a glimpse of the three conflicts; while the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters give a description of the parties and issues involved in these struggles.

The first conflict brought to view opens with a personal struggle between Christ and Satan. Of course Satan always uses human instrumentalities, through which he works to accomplish his designs. In the first conflict, he used Herod, a Roman ruler in Palestine, to carry out his persecuting schemes. Pagan Rome waged war upon Christ and His followers in this first struggle.

THE DRAGON SOUGHT TO DEVOUR HIM

We are told that as soon as Christ was born, the dragon stood ready to devour Him. Satan inspired Herod to enact and execute a law causing all the little children in Bethlehem under two years of age to be slain, thereby expecting to apprehend Christ, who had just been born. But God intervened in behalf of His Son, and through an angel directed His flight into Egypt. After the king was dead, it was revealed again that He should return to Palestine.

When the Son of God began His public work, Satan dogged His steps, and on many occasions tried to arrest and slay Him. Finally he did succeed in laying hold of Him, and condemning Him to death before the courts of the land. Satan succeeded in carrying out the death sentence, and locking Him up in his prison-house, the tomb, sealing it with the Roman seal, and guarding it with the bravest of Roman soldiers. Evidently Satan thought he had triumphed over Christ, and that He would remain in his power forever.

TRIUMPED OVER DEATH

But God again intervened in behalf of His Son, because of His perfect righteousness, and sent an angel from the courts of heaven, who broke the Roman seal, and called forth the Son of God to life. He arose a mighty Conqueror over Satan and the power of death. Thus in the opening conflict, Christ Himself triumphed gloriously over Satan, and He is now seated as a Prince and Saviour at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Alps and Piedmont mountain fastnesses greatly aided the true church.

PERSECUTED THE EARLY CHURCH

We are next told, in this twelfth chapter of Revelation, that Satan immediately began to persecute the woman, the church, which had brought forth the man child, who was caught up to God and His throne. Satan used pagan Rome and a false religion to persecute the true church for three centuries after Christ. Then a pagan emperor espoused the cause of Christianity for political reasons, and for a short time persecutions ceased, and the world was at peace. The first period of persecution closed, and Satan's schemes for wiping out the church were defeated.

THE SECOND CONFLICT A PERSECUTING FLOOD

A second conflict soon opened, worse than the first. Satan again aimed to drown the true church with a flood of persecution; and he would have succeeded, said Christ, if God had not intervened and shortened those days of persecution for the elect's sake. The exact length of this second period of persecution is given in six different places in the Scriptures as "a time, and times, and half a time," "forty and two months," or as stated more definitely in Rev. 12:6, "a thousand two hundred and threescore days."

According to prophetic interpretation, this would mean one thousand two hundred sixty literal years. See Eze. 4:6. But God shortened those days of persecution. Mark 13:20. He caused the earth to help the woman. See Rev. 12:16. "The woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God." Verse 6. The Alps and Piedmont mountain fastnesses greatly aided the true church in protecting herself from the onslaught of her papal enemies during the days of medieval persecutions. However, many millions were cruelly slain for their loyalty to the word of God.

THE NEW WORLD DISCOVERED, AND A HAVEN OF REST

In the midst of these terrible persecutions, the New World was discovered; and in a special way "the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood" of persecution. Christians fled from European oppression to America, the land of promise, where they could worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. Finally, through the Protestant princes of Europe, the Jesuits were banished from Protestant countries, and the work of persecution was stayed a second time. Satan's plan to blot out the truth and its adherents was again frustrated, and his work of persecution was brought to a standstill. The second great conflict was ended.

THE LAST CONFLICT YET TO COME

Rev. 12:17 introduces the third and last conflict, with the following significant language: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

The war "with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ," is very specific and analytic, in reference both to time and to the denominational faith of the parties involved in the conflict. "The remnant" must refer to the last generation. Nothing else could be the remnant. They must necessarily keep all of God's commandments; for in God's sight, if they break one of His commandments, they are guilty of all. See James 2:10.

THE PEOPLE AND THE ISSUES INVOLVED

The latter half of the thirteenth chapter of Revelation reveals the parties and the issues involved in this last conflict between God's people and their enemies. The fourteenth chapter reveals the outcome of this last crisis. We are not left in darkness as to the results. Thank God, His people obtain the final victory over the beast and his image and their apostate issues, and they are seen triumphantly marching up to Mount Zion, singing the song of deliverance and victory.

Continue reading: THE VOICE OF THE DEAD on the GREAT EUROPEAN WAR