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THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NESS
June, 1937
This Befogged and Befuddled World
By LOUIS S. BAUM AN * Long Beach, California
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P RESENT -DAY nations are like drunkards who know well that drink will bring swift damnation; yet they persist in sucking their demijohns. European states men freely prophesy that another 1914-1918 holocaust will mean the annihilation of civilization; yet they speed the manufacture of the necessary weapons for the suicide. Mankind seems to realize that it has lost its way. It fails to understand that it has lost its way because it has lost the Way. C onditions in J a p a n — C h in a — I ndia The world’s sunrise begins, they say, ,in Japan. But the Sunrise Kingdom staggers about in fog and gloom. One moment Japan is terrified by the apparition of a monstrous world-devouring Bear, and the next moment she is terror ized by the specter of a still more monstrous Dragon. W ith a shudder, she arms and arms and arms, and totters on beneath the crushing weight of her armor into the dim and unknown tomorrow. She is spending a bewildering 70 per cent of her entire income for the accouterments of Mars. Her war lords have just informed the nation to prepare to grant a 26 per cent increase in taxes for new defenses. Her business men gasp: “Whither are these fear-crazed mad caps who ride our saddles leading us?” No answer comes! The orb of day next rolls on over China—vast China— in whose domain lies cradled one out of every four babies born to the human race. Perceiving what man power like that might mean, the great Napoleon once pointed his finger toward China, and cried: “ There lies a lion asleep! Let him sleep!” But that lion now awakes. Having retained national identity for ages because of her very passivity, China suddenly becomes conscious that she, too, must arm or perish. Her foremost philosopher, Hu Shih, exclaims: “ Even I, who have been twenty-five years a pacifist, now think that if China is forced to war with Japan, I will support it. Japan is forcing China to fight. I can see no other way.” Thus China, this millenniums- old pacifist colossus, peers into the immediate future, sees only fog, but hears therein the clatter of the hoofs of the steeds of four horsemen: War, Famine,•„ Pestilence, and Death! At this very moment, the Celestials (spare the name!) are pouring nearly all their material resources down the gullet of the god of war, while it is estimated that eighteen millions of China’s people are in the throes of starvation. China gropes in Stygian night. Beyond China lies India with her 350,000,000 souls. India’s Moslem hordes are disquieted. They stand ready, at a given signal, to swim through seas of blood that the Crescent may float over those teeming multitudes. Only the might of the Briton, leaning against the gates, holds back this Islamic flood. What is to happen should the Briton’s arm grow weak, none but God can tell! The outlook is misty, murky, black! Japan, China, India, embodying one-half the population of our globe, seething with hate, sinking in despair, floun der on— in inky fog! But we need not be surprised at the ferment among “ the kings of the east” (Rev. 16:12).
Nearly two thousand years ago, the Seer of Patmos beheld, and l o ! “ The great river, the river Euphrates . . . was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come [to Armageddon] from the sunrising” (Rev. 16:12, R. V .) These kings prepare to march! “ T h e N avel of t h e E a r t h ” The sun now arises over “ the navel of the earth” (Ezek. 38:12, R. V . margin) . "T h e navel of the earth"l What a significant expression! Abraham’s land a vital artery unit ing three mighty continents—Asia, Africa, and Europe! Millenniums ago, God chose Jerusalem as the spot whereon to erect the capital of His kingdom when it shall appear upon the earth. Omniscience never errs. Here, at “ the navel of the earth,” the Light of the W orld once lay cradled. That Light was “ despised and rejected of men.” Thereupon Peace, weeping, poised herself for a moment on old Olivet’s brow, lifted her wings, and returned into the heavens. And now the sons of Jacob and the sons of Esau are again at each other’s throats. They know little of the day of sorrow that is just ahead for them both. They keep the black flag hoisted and reel on, hating and fearing to meet— in the fog ! Across the Red Sea lies Egypt. Once again in that historic land, there is “ even darkness which may be felt” (Ex. 10:21)— Egyptian night! In that darkness, two bitterly antagonistic spirits prowl— the Roman and the Briton. And when they ultimately clash, the first awful crash of Armageddon’s thunders will reverberate across the face of a terror-stricken earth (cf. Dan. 11:36-45). And those thunderclaps will increase in intensity until outside the walls of Jerusalem, “ in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem,” the Gentile Goliaths gathered there “ shall be cut in pieces” (Zech. 12:2,3) when the battalions roll down from the heavens (Rev. 19:11-14) under the command of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5 :5 ; Joel 3 :16 ). The sun now moves along the southern shores of the Mediterranean. Here also, vast Moslem hordes are in ferment. They are badly afflicted with an ancient Moslem disease— a swelling of the chest. Mussolini’s recent pres ence among them has not served to lessen their blood pressure any. W ith their hot warrior blood throbbing through ever-quickening pulses, they mount to ride— they know not where! A ll is dark! F og -B o u n d E urope Across the “ Great Sea” lies Europe! Poor old Europe, still bleeding from ten thousand wounds! Was not the great prophetic eye centered upon Europe— the Europe of today—when the pen of inspiration wrote: " Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people” (Isa. 6 0 :2 )? Several years ago, one of the world’s foremost newspaper correspondents, H . N. Brailsford, having just completed a tour of all Europe, wrote from London to the Baltimore Sun, as follows:
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* Pastor, First Brethren Church.
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