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T H E
K I N G ' S
B U S I N E S S
February, 1936
ment in conditions generally, “ for . . . they shall say, Peace and safety” (1 Thess. 5 :3 ). Then when he has the world at his feet, he will reveal his true character, and earth’s great tribulation will take place (Matt. 24:15-22). In this passage in Matthew, God has given a forewarningfefWhen ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him under stand,) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.” This will be the period o f “ Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:3-7), a time o f unspeakable suffering for the Jews, preparatory to their conversion and their acceptance o f Christ as their Messiah (Zech. 12). But all nations will be involved in this brief era o f unprecedented suffering characterized by war, martyrdom, and demon activity such as the world has never experienced, nor ever will thereafter (Rev. 9 and 16). V ast D ebacle L ooms This period will be a self-imposed, self-inflicted judg ment upon the nations of the earth for their sin and rejec tion of God and His Christ. A preponderantly large part of the race will kill itself by inviting the Striking judgments of God in this brief culminating era o f man’s defiance of God (Rev. 6 :8 ; 8 :9-11; 9 :18 ; 16:18-20). Revelation 16 shows this rebellious and unrepentant attitude: “ And men . . . blasphemed the name o f God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory” ; “ and repented not -of their deeds” ; “ and men blasphemed God because o f the plague o f the hail” (Rev. 16; 9 ,11 ,2 1 ). This then is the outlook for the world. No wonder the editor who has been referred to commented as follows on H. G. Wells’ article on the world-wide social state: “ He [Mr. Wells] leaves the impression that such a state is likely to develop through some peaceful and cooperative method. [Now note the significance of this editor’s com ment.] He breathes not a word o f the vast debacle that looms ahead.” Could anything have been said by this editor that would have been more nearly in line with the plain teaching o f Scripture about world chaos and the tribulation in the end time? A fter this reign of terror brought upon the nations by and through and rejection o f Christ (Psa. 2 :1 -5 ), in which a large part o f the race will meet death from natural and supernatural causes, and when divine judgment will have been visited upon a sinful race, Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will put down all godless and [Continued on page 51]
torial rule of the world toward which present events are marching with solidarity o f rank and ungovernable force. Christ may take His church away at any moment. There is not another prophetic event which requires fulfillment before the rapture can take place. It is the removal of the church that will make possible the swift culmination of present conditions for the rule of the arch-dictator. When I speak o f the church, I do not mean any one, or all o f the denominations, either Protes tant or Catholic. I refer to all true Christians, however, all who have been born again by the Holy Spirit, all who have personally »accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour from sin (John 1:12, 13), and who have consequently been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the one true church (1 Cor. 12:13), composed o f believers o f all denominations. This company o f the redeemed, saved, Spirit-born, and Spirit-baptized believers in Christ is the group whom He will remove silently, suddenly, unannounced, and simultaneously from all parts of the world into His presence in glory, for “ W e shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in corruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15 :51, 52). “ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice o f the archangel, and with the trump o f G od : and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the a ir: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4 :16, 17). Following the removal o f the true church from the earth, the prophesied superdictator will offer to the world his superhuman solution to the problems that baffled states men previous to his appearance. The state of affairs will be such that men generally, including political and religious leaders and rulers, will welcome this dictator’s solution and will respond to his leadership as he promises to lead the nations out of the bewildering mazes o f financial, political, social, physical, and spiritual bankruptcy. Were this super man to appear right now, he would find the world in the throes o f such a general bankruptcy and in the birth pangs o f such a universal dictatorship as the Scriptures describe. T rying the U ntried Experimentation is the order o f the day. Former methods, laws, policies have either failed or are being discarded. All known and tried human ideas have been exhausted and have proved inadequate. Consequently, explorers in the various branches of science and phil osophy involving the scheme o f human life and gov ernment have been forced into the laboratory o f the untried, and experiments are being made that hereto fore would have been ridiculed. Men have been driven to such lengths by the development of present conditions that in their extremity a superman would be welcomed, and a superman is coming. S atan I ncarnate Who is this coming world dictator ? He will be a .man specially prepared by the devil, energized by him, in fact, he will be Satan incarnated. He will be the Antichrist. He will be able to achieve superhuman wonders and to organize the world into a great unified social state over which he will rule with an iron hand that, by contrast, will make Mussolini and Hitler seem like gentleness personified. However, for the first three and a half years o f his short reign, he will conceal his real identity. He will rule by strategy and guile. His reign will be characterized by a period o f unprecedented prosperity and a striking improve
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