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dispute. It is the day when the Lord "shall bring again the captivity of Ju dah and Jerusalem” (Joel 3:1), when “He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock . . . and they shall not sor row any more at all” (Jer. 31:10, 12). Incontrovertibly, that day has not yet come to the weeping "wanderers among the nations” (Hosea 9:17). The sons of Jacob must continue to wander and to weep until that hour when the Almighty, whose words “can not be broken,” shall Himself “gather all nations . . . into the valley of Jehosh- aphat” (Joel 3:2) for the judgment (Matt. 25:31-46) that will mean the sunset of vaunted Gentile power and glory. The infallible Word of the living God only knows one gathering of “all nations” to battle, and that gathering is to “the great winepress of the wrath of God” to be “trodden without the city” (Jerusalem) when blood will gush “out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles” (Rev. 14:19, 20; cf. Zeph. 3:8; Zech. 12:2-6; Rev. 13:17-21). The Direct Cause of Armageddon: Anti-Semitism God’s far-seeing prophet does not leave us in the dark as to the direct cause of the divine command to the na tions to mobilize for the fateful march to their predicted "full end” (Jer. 30:11).' The direct cause is anti-Semitism! It may be that it can still be truly spoken to Israel’s seed: “Ye stiffnecked and unoircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost f as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51); but nevertheless, the Word of the Lord of hosts stands fast: “After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye. For, be hold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants” (Zech. 2:8, 9). The chastise ment of Israel’s sons is a task that the omnipotent God has reserved unto Him self. The Gentile that undertakes the task, in the light of history, or of rev elation, is a monumental fool. The direct cause of Armageddon is plainly stated: “I will also gather all nations, and Will bring them down into •the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink” (Joel 3:2, 3). The “Parted” Land That Israel has been scattered among ’the nations is a matter of common knowledge. That Israel’s land has been
A Twenty-Seven- Genturies-Old J^rephecy
In Remarkable Present-Day Fulfillment
By LOU IS S. B A U M A N * Long Beach, California
Illustration by Ransom D. Marvin
S HUT their eyes to it as the would- be optimists will, in each passing hour events are swiftly moving the ceivable ghastliness. The world situa tion was sized up by Louis Bromfield, the novelist, who, after having lived in Europe for twenty years, recently moved his wife and children to an Ohio farm as a place of safer residence. Just be fore leaving Los Angeles recently, he said: “The situation in Europe is so precarious that a popgun will be enough to start a general confla gration of war. Every American expatriate who is in a position to leave is packing his belongings and heading for home before war starts.” Our whole world seems hell-bent on the wholesale murder of all its inhabi tants. The mighty butchers of men, women, and little children are at work full speed, whetting their knives for the general slaughter. A Momentous Hour and Man’s Amazing Indifference One can only stand amazed at the indifference of the average man to the awful possibilities of the next World War. If, with the implements now in the hands of Satan’s lieutenants, an other World War does not produce Ar mageddon’s effusion of blood, then Ar mageddon must be an old witch’s dream —devoid of all possibility of fulfillment. If, on the other hand, we are approach ing Armageddon, then we face the cer tainty of the resurrection of the right eous dead, the translation of the saints to meet the Lord in the air, the brief *Pastor, First Brethren Church.
reign of the Antichrist, the judgment of the nations, and the millennial reign of Christ—tremendous events, appalling unto the unregenerate, but wondrously assuring to saints. And the consensus of opinion among all but the willfully blind clerical world- saviours is, that Armageddon is not only certain, but is also imminent. In formed men of the world are saying “out loud” these days: “It is not a question as to whether another such war is coming. The only question is as to the exact hour the storm will break.” The legions of the nations are poised upon their tiptoes. A popgun fired on the right spot by some reckless hand, and the “multitudes, multitudes” are off on their race to the gates of death and hell. The Vision of Joel We doubt whether the entire Bible contains a single chapter that is so timely—so significantly descriptive of the present hour—as is Joel 3. Twenty- eight centuries ago, this great contem porary of Elisha beheld this remark able panorama. Vividly did he describe the world situation as it is to exist just before the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roars forth from the opened heavens. Eight centuries later, God’s seer on Fat- mos rehearsed it once more (Rev. 19: 11-21). Joel was stirred to the depths of his soul as he beheld later centuries, even our twentieth century, with its boasted civilization rushing pell-mell to the world’s slaughterhouse as if driven by a insatiable thirst for blood. The prophecy is so applicable to the present world situation that one marvels how any thinking man can ignore it. How ever, the mass of humanity seldom thinks! The day foreseen by Joel Is beyond
world of men to a holocaust of incon
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