September, ,1938
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
286
Left: Display of military might in parade of armored tanks before Lenin's tomb in Red Square, Moscow. Below: Soldiers of the Red national army on a reconnoiter- ing maneuver such as the Word of God declares will be directed toward Pales tine in a coming day of conflict.
Photos courtesy of the Los Angeles Examiner
Russia and Armageddon l By LOU IS S. B A UM A N * Long Beach, California
M UN ITION factories of all nations are working far overtime to fulfill literally the prophecy of God’s Word that the sun of Gentile dominion will set in pools of blood in which horses will plunge to their bridles’ bits. For the judg ments of God will be such as offended Deity never before permitted to fall upon a god less world, and never will let fall again as the eternal years roll on. Our Lord Him self assures us of this fact: "Then shall be great tribulation, such as w as not since the beginning o f the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Matt. 24:21, 22). Men today may sneer at the possibility that they stand face to face with sorrows such as not even the Egyptians passed through in the days of Moses, nor the Nephalim met with in the days of Noah, nor the Sodomites experienced in the days of Lot. Nevertheless, their sneer is only another evidence that the situation is even so. When "Lot went out, and spake unto his sons-in-law, . . . and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city . . . he seemed as one that mocked [lit., ‘babbled like one gone insane’] unto his sons-in-law” (Gen. 19:14). And, "As it was in the days of L o t. . . thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is re vealed” (Lk. 17:28, 30). Mobilization in the East It seems that there is scarcely a spot on the face of all the earth today whereon
The Northern Alliance The prophet Daniel, in his great delinea tion of the events that will bring the war of Armageddon to its climax, sees the Anti christ going forth “conquering and to con quer” (Rev. 6:2; cf. Dan. 11:36, 41-43) until the “king of the south” (Dan. 11:40) is overthrown and “the precious things of Egypt” (Dan. 11:43) shall become Anti christ’s. Then it is that "tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: . . . [and] he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many” (Dan. 11:44). It is apparent that it is a great north eastern federation, the last vast amassment of cannon fodder for the guns of the world’s coming super-Caesar. What possible "tid ings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble” this Satanically energized superman? The news could be nothing save that the legions of the "king of the north” (Dan. 11:40) [which can only be Russia, even “Gog . . . the chief prince of Meshech, and Tubal”—Moscow and Tobolsk (Ezek. 38:2, R. V . margin) ] are mobilizing to gether with his eastern allies, for a march “to the land of unwalled villages . . . to take a spoil . . . upon the people that are gathered out of the nations . . . [even] my people of Israel” (Ezek. 38:11-16). There has been considerable confusion as to just what peoples will make up this great northeastern federation of nations whose allied hosts shall swoop down "upon the people that are gathered out of the na tions” at the time of the end. It is certain, however, that Russia will be the heart and soul of that great godless federation.
warlike forces are not on the march for the complete fulfillment of the words of the prophets of God, spoken centuries, yea mil lenniums, ago. The Seer of Patmos beheld the drying up of "the great river Euphra tes . . . that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared . . . [to join] . . . the kings of thè earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle [R. V., ‘war’] of that great day of God Almighty... [even the war of] Armageddon” (Rev. 16: 12-16). For when “the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David” (Rev. 5:5) “shall roar out of Zion” (Joel 3:16; cf. Rev. 19: 11 ) to meet the challenge of “the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him” (Rev. 19:19), then Russia, China, and Japan must be there, together with “all the people of the earth” (Zech. 12:3), for that conflict. Thus the 400,000,000 pacifist inhabitants of old China are certain to be aroused wholly out of their drowsy sleep of ages, and to be made thoroughly war-minded. Nations do not march to Armageddon un less they are war-minded. If China’s four hundred millions—being practically one- fourth of the inhabitants of the earth— should have slept on, how then could the word through the prophet have been ful filled: "I will gather all nations against Jeru salem to battle” (Zech. 14:2)? Verily, the Chinese dragon is aroused today; and it be came the folly of Japan to prod with the bayonet and to let fall the bomb that has stirred him to a frenzy. And when the guns of Armageddon roar, the five-clawed dra gon will be there.
*Pastor, First Brethren Church.
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