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→Neverificat: Pagină nouă: Avaust 1, 1930 of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.” Speaking of this period of waiting, Daniel, in chapter 12, verse 12, says: ‘‘Blessed is he that waiteth, a...
(→Neverificat: Pagină nouă: Avaust 1, 1930 of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.” Speaking of this period of waiting, Daniel, in chapter 12, verse 12, says: ‘‘Blessed is he that waiteth, a...) |
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Versiunea de la data 23 martie 2020 18:32
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Avaust 1, 1930
of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”
Speaking of this period of waiting, Daniel, in chapter
12, verse 12, says: ‘‘Blessed is he that waiteth, and
cometh to the thousand three hundred five and thirty
days.”’
Yes, a blessing comes at the end of this waiting
period. At that time Christ will be in power. As
the great General of Jehovah, he will assume command
of Jehovah’s army and begin action against Satan.
His forces will make an assault against the forces of
Satan. That battle will be short and decisive, and
Christ will be the victor.
That victory will mean the destruction of Satan’s
organization on earth, and will result in the binding
of Satan for a thousand years so that he will deceive
the nations no more till the thousand years are ended.
(Rev. 20: 1-8) That victory will mean the deliverance
of the people from Satan and his oppressive and decep-
tive institutions; it will end all fraud, hypocrisy, in-
justice and unrighteousness; that victory will witness
the establishment of a permanent and everlasting
peace on earth, and good will toward men.
Peace can never be established by human effort.
While men recognize its necessity and will put forth
efforts to establish it, yet the Scriptures tell us that
their efforts will be futile, and the reason is that
selfishness governs their every effort and controls
their every act. In Jeremiah 6:13,14 we read of
this selfishness as follows: ‘‘For from the least of
them even unto the greatest of them every one is
tke WATCH TOWER
235
given to covetousness; and from the prophet even
unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have
healed also the hurt of my people slightly, saying,
Peace, peace: when there is no peace.’?
The Scriptures assure us that when earth’s wise
men are talking about peace, and making efforts to
that end, conditions will continue to go from bad to
worse, and finally culminate in what men eall ‘‘the
battle of Armageddon’’. In 1 Thessalonians 5:3 Paul
says: ‘‘For when they shall say, Peace and safety;
then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.’’
Thus the apostle tells us that man’s efforts to estab-
lish peace in the earth are doomed to failure. The
sudden destruction foretold in this text is about to
overtake them. ‘‘The battle of that great day of God
Almighty’? will soon occur. Satan will soon be bound,
and his power to blind and deceive be fully restrained
for a thousand years,
‘‘The Prince of Peace’’ is now on the throne, and
the announeement of this fact is going out all over the
earth. Multitudes of people have heard this announce-
ment, and hope is springing up in their hearts, The
time is near at hand when the words of the prophet
will be fulfilled as recorded in Psalm 85:10, 11, which
read: ‘‘Merey and truth are met together; righteous-
ness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall
spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look
down from heaven,’”?
THE DESTINY OF MAN
(Fifteen-minute radio lecture]
human creature has to face this question at
some time in life. Those who die in infancy
escape its consideration, and some who are suddenly
swept out of existence by accident or calamity have
never given it proper thought. In the excitement of
youth, the young do not pause to consider; in the
busy activities of manhood’s and womanhood’s estate
the subject is pushed aside, because it is an unpleasant
one, and the necessary daily duties are allowed to
submerge it; but when life’s span is measured by a
few hours, or days, or wecks, or months, it becomes
a subject for solemn consideration. Then there are
some who have dragged out long years in almost daily
expectation of death, who have had the subject forced
upon their attention for all those weary years.
With the majority of people the plunge into eternity
js taken without any very definite hope. At home and
in Sunday school, they were taught that those who
are reasonably good will somehow manage to get to
heaven, while those who are vile and degraded will
spend eternity in a place of torment. These teachings
W/ ‘iime shall I spend eternity? Nearly every
are accepted because they are taught in the creeds and
by religious leaders. Notwithstanding these facts,
when faced by death there is usually doubt, fore-
boding and dread, due to the fact that the dying one
is not sure that the creeds and the religious leaders
are right in their teachings. Ile realizes that these
teachings have never been proven to be correct.
Thus it occurs that with the majority of people the
exit from this life is accomplished with uncertainty
as to whether they will spend eternity in heaven in
indescribable bliss, or in hell in indeseribable agony.
The exceptions to this rule are a few people who have
convinecd themselves that they are so far above ‘the
common herd’ that they are sure of a place in bliss.
They have convineced themselves that they are deserv-
ing of God’s best gift, and that heaven’s portals will
swing wide open to them and that they will be wel-
comed with glad acclaim.
The fact that persons are sure they are going to
heaven does not prove a thing about the existence of
such a place or about the existence of a hell of tor-
ment. The devout Buddhist, Confucianist and Indian