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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 193?
aiiay not refer to a personality, as the Gog o f Ezekiel most certainly does. The spirit o f the two is one and the same, however— antichrist. May not the difficulty as to the iden tification o f the Gog o f Ezekiel be due to the fact that Gog has not yet come ? When he comes, need we be surprised if he simply appears on the scene as “ the chief prince of Russia, Moscow, arid Tobolsk” bearing the simple name, Gog? Cyrus was named by the Almighty one hundred years (Isa. 44:28) and Josiah three hundred years (1 Ki. 13:2) before birth. Why should not Gog be named twenty- five- hundred years before ? The Soviet rulers seefn to glory in exalting the name of Judas Iscariot and other enemies o f our Lord. Why should not one of them hurl defiance into the face of God by taking unto himself the simple name, or perhaps the title, Gog? Those Russian names need simplification anyhow!) “ T hou S halt C ome to T hy P lace out of the U tter most P arts of the N orth ” (38 :15 ; cf. 39:2 ). In its relation to Israel’s land, what nation, save Russia, can fit that description, stretching as it does across the frozen wastes from the Baltic to the Bering Sea? It was out o f the north that “ the destroyer of the Gentiles” (Jer. 4 :7 ) o f old swept down upon the land of Israel. ‘‘ Out o f the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants o f the land” (Jer. 1:14). “ O ye children o f Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out o f the midst of Jerusalem, . . . for evil appeareth out o f the north, and great destruc tion” (Jer. 6 :1 ). “ Behold, a people cometh from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roar- eth like the sea, and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter o f Zion” (Jer. 6:22, 23). How applicable to the Russians do these prophecies of Jeremiah seem! They sound as though they surely refer to Ezekiel’s “ Gog.” Yet they do not; for Jeremiah speaks of the Babylonians, who, twenty-five centuries ago, swept down upon Israel by way o f her northern boundary, while Ezekiel points to an invader still future. Yet in spirit, the two are one. The Nebuchadnezzar o f yesterday is the Gog o f tomorrow. “ A ll T h in e A rm y , H orses and H orsemen ” (3 8 :4 ). “ All o f them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army” ( 3 8 :15 ). The army of no other nation can possibly fit into Ezekiel’s portrayal o f Israel’s last great northern foe, as does the army o f the Union o f Socialist Soviet Republics (U . S. S. R .) . Cavalry is symptomatic of Russia. Herodotus affirms that, even in his day, two cen turies before the Christian era, the Scythian tribes of the north were equestrian. In spite of other modern nations turning from horses to machines for battlefield locomotion, Russia clings to her Cossacks, mounted on their marvelous, tireless little Siberian ponies. On the rough battlefields over which Russia’s hordes are destined to march in “ the next war,” we may safely predict that the pony will be far more mobile than any machine that man will have made. As for the air, with 18,000 pilots training, Russia is preparing to
care for that! Remember this— Russia alone of all the great nations is still expecting her cavalry to do exploits. No one knows the number save Russia herself; but it is known that her vast swarms of cavalry are her most efficient fighting force, and that they are ready to ride to victory or •to death within twenty-four hours after a mobilization order. “ T hou , and M an y P eoples w ith T hee ” (38:6, 15) Vast are the allied hordes that the eye of the seer be holds following Gog on his last march: Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer and all his hordes, and Togarmah with all his hordes. “Persia,” in October, 1922, became a Soviet ally and agreed that, in case of war between Britain and Russia, she would permit the Bolsheviki to march through her ter ritory for an attack on Mesopotamia. “ Cush” (not of A f rica, but a southern province of Persia) recently forsook the British for the Red sphere o f influence. “Put,” that is, upper Cilicia, will also answer the call. More important than all, “ Gomer and all his hordes” will be there. “ Gomer is the equivalent o f Gimirrai,” says Webster, quoting Hasting’s Dictionary o f the Bible. Gomer is Germany, say the rabbis. Careful study compels us to believe the rabbis are right. Poland and Roumania may very properly be counted as a part o f the Gomeric hordes. The Polish- Soviet “ pact” o f the hour becomes interesting! The British Bible Society reports that, in Germany, “ ‘Godless’ exhibitions, ‘godless’ plays, ‘godless’ gramo phone records, etc.,'have become the order o f the day in certain quarters; and the Bolshevistic propaganda finds ready reception among the millions of> unemployed and poverty-stricken people.” Germany seems about ready to fall into the ways of her “ godless” eastern neighbor. A German delegate to the League of Nations recently said that, unless other nations ease their demands on her, Ger many may yet be driven “ into the arms of, the Soviet, and the result in Europe will be chaos.” Many German editors insist that Germany can never march with the Bol sheviki. But stranger things than that have happened. Strange forces are at work these days in a world more afflicted with revolution and devolution than with evolu tion. When the hour strikes, Germany will tramp— with Gog! “ The house o f Togarmah . . . and all his hordes” will also join in that fatal march. Christian and Jewish writers tell us that “ Togarmah” refers to the Turk and the Turkoman tribes o f Central Asia-—antichristian all! This antichristian quintette o f nations doubtless will have its ranks enormously swelled by antichristian hordes from communistic elements in China and other nations o f the Far East, where the leaven of Bolshevism is now at work, forming the great “ northeastern confederacy” of prophetic story. Bukharin said : Soviet Russia lies geographically, as well as politic ally, between two gigantic worlds, the capitalist and im perialist worlds of the West, and the colossal masses o f the East, which are at present undergoing a process of ever growing revolutionary ferment. We have formidable reserves in the countless millions of the East (London Times, May 15, 1923). H. G. W . Woodhead, o f Shanghai, an authority on
THE GRANDIOSE MARCH OF GOG AND HIS MIGHTY ALLIED HOSTS TO A BONE PILE IN PALESTINE—WILL IT BE 1937? THIS IS THE SUBJECT OF DR. BAU MAN’S THIRD ARTICLE, TO APPEAR IN THE MARCH NUMBER. DON’T MISS IT!
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