234
to cast their billions of taxes, with no other result
than that boodlers and grafters multiply, scandals in
high places abound, and national fear and distrust
inereases. As a result a great ery of protest is going
up from the people. This protest is in the form of
labor organizations, socialism, communism, bolshevism
and general anarchy, and these are looked upon with
fear by the people, and in many quarters are re-
garded as an even worse menace than militarism.
Describing this same condition, which he foresaw
would exist at this time, Jesus uttered these prophetic
words: ‘‘Upon the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity; .. . men’s hearts failing them for fear,
and for looking after those things which are coming
on the earth.’’—Luke 21: 25, 26,
The question arises, Will peace cver come? Is de-
liverance from the present almost intolerable condi-
tions of suffering and fear a possibility? If so, how?
and when? The answer to these questions is found
nowhere except in the Bible. Not realizing this fact,
the people are looking to their leaders for an answer.
Some are hoping against hope that preparedness will
bring about peace; others are likewise hoping that
the peace conferences will lead to a gradual disarma-
ment, and that deliverance will come in that way;
others are hoping that the whole world will vote the
socialists into power, or the communists, or the bol-
shevists, and that these will reform the body politic.
These hopes are vain. Peace will never come from
any of these sourees. Men cannot bring about peace.
But peace is coming, and it lics in the very near
future. The author and promoter of wars and con-
fusion on the earth is Satan, and as long as he is un-
restrained there will be no peace. Peace, justice,
truth, righteousness and happincss belong to God’s
kingdom, Wars, confusion, unrighteousness, oppres-
sion and unhappiness pertain to Satan’s kingdom.
Few people realize that Satan is ‘‘the god of this
world’’, This means that Satan rules the world. He
controls the people by using selfish men as his tools,
Through these sclfish men he deceives the world into
believing that the hope of deliverance is in ‘‘pre-
paredness’’, ‘‘peace conferences,’’ ‘‘church union,’’
‘leagues of nations,’’ or else in ‘‘socialism’’ or eom-
munistic governments of some kind. These schemes
are deceptions put forth by Satan to divert the minds
of the people from the one and only hope of deliv-
erance set forth in the Bible.
Satan began his deceptions in Eden, first with Eve
and later with Adam. Having diverted them from
the service of God, he sct about to organize their
posterity into sclfish institutions, for the very purpose
of using these selfish institutions to blind people to
the purpose of Jchovah God. But what is God’s pur-
pose? It is this. When Satan led Adam and Eve into
sin and brought the eurse of sin and death on the
race, God determined to deliver the race from this
tke WATCH TOWER
Beoortyn, N. ¥.
eurse and also to deliver them from the power of Sa-
tan and his deceptions. He purposed to accomplish
this deliverance by and through his Son, and he fore-
ordained that the time of the deliverance would be
at the second advent of Jesus, and during the thou-
sand-year reign of Christ which begins at his second
advent,
This thousand-year reign is called ‘‘the kingdom
of God’’, and is what Jesus referred to when he
taught his followers to pray, saying: ‘‘Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done in carth, as it is in heaven.’’
Since God has ordained that Jesus shall bring peace
into the earth, he is referred to as the ‘‘Prince of
Peace’? and the ‘‘Prince of life’’. In Isaiah 9: 6, 7,
we read of this wonderful Prince, as follows; ‘‘For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and
the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his
name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, The
mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace. Of the inerease of his government and peace
there shall be no end.”’
Nearly nineteen hundrcd years ago, when Jesus
was on earth, Satan’s representatives, who were the
religious leaders of that day, called him ‘‘Beelzcbub
the prince of the devils’’. Those Pharisees were the
willing tools of Satan. By exposing their shams,
hypocrisies and false teachings, Jesus was bringing a
blessing to the people. No wonder Satan used them
to call Jesus the prince of devils. Peter accused those
hypoerites to their face and charged them with the
murder of Jesus. His words are found in Acts
3:14,15 and read: ‘‘Ye denied the Holy One and the
Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto
you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath
raised from the dead.’’ Again, in Acts 5:30, 31 this
same Peter renewed his charge against those hypo-
critical religionists, saying: ‘‘The God of our fathers
raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a
Prinee and a Saviour, for to give repentance to
Isracl, and forgiveness of sins.’’
Peace is coming to the world through this highly
exalted Jesus, ‘‘the Prince of Peace,’’ ‘‘the Princo
of life,’’ the ‘‘Saviour’’ of the world. His thousand-
year kingdom will be the ‘‘desire of all nations’’,
This kingdom is the only hope of the world. Over
and over, the Scriptures exhort the Lord’s people to
“‘wait for hig Son from heaven’’; and to ‘patient
waiting for the kingdom’, We do well to note some
of these texts, In Luke 23:51 we read of Joseph of
Arimathea as follows: ‘‘Who also himself waited for
the kingdom of God.’”’ In 1 Corinthians 1:7 we read:
- So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’? Again, in 1 Thes- salonians 1:10 we are exhorted to ‘‘wait for his Son from heaven’’, and in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 are these words: ‘‘The Lord direct your hearts into the love
