Everett/Gig Harbor Bible Students, November 15, 2015 The End of "the World" GAME

The political kings and princes, with all their henchmen and retainers, will follow in line on the same side. The financial kings and merchant princes, and all whom they can influence by the most gigantic power ever yet exercised in the world, will join the same side, according to this prophecy. They do not realize, however, that they are coming to Armageddon.

These "doctrines of demons," represented by the frogs, will lead many noble souls to assume an attitude quite contrary to their preference. For a time the wheels of liberty and progress will be turned backward, and medieval restraints will be considered necessary for self-preservation—for the maintenance of the present order of things and for the prevention of the new order which God has decreed. Even those who may be God’s people do not stop to consider whether it is His will that things should continue as they have been for six thousand years.

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Many noble people in this great army will assume an attitude quite contrary to their preference. For a time the wheels of liberty and progress will be turned backward, and mediaeval restraints will be considered necessary for self-preservation—for the maintenance of the present order of things and for the prevention of the new order which God has decreed, the due time for which is at hand. Even those who may be God’s people do not stop to consider whether it is His will that things should continue as they have been for the past six thousand years. The Bible says that such is not God’s will, but that there is to be a great overturning—a new leaf.

For a brief time, as we understand the Scriptures, these combined forces of Armageddon will triumph. Free speech, free mails, and other liberties which have come to be the very breath of the masses in our day, will be ruthlessly shut off on the plea of necessity, the glory of God, the commands of the Church, etc. The safety-valve will be sat upon, and thus will cease to annoy earth’s kings with the sound of escaping steam; and all will seem to be serene—until the great social explosion described in the Revelation as an earthquake will take place. In symbolic language an earthquake signifies social revolution, and the Scriptural declaration is that none like it ever before occurred. (Re 16:18,19.) Mt 24:21.

The Lord’s Great Army.

At this juncture, the Scriptures show divine power will step forward and God will gather the marshalled hosts to Armageddon—to the Mount of Destruction. (#Re 16:16.) The very thing which they sought to avert by their union, federation, etc., will be the very thing that they will hasten. Other Scriptures tell us that God will be represented by Messiah, and that He will be on the side of the masses. "At that time shall Michael (the God-like one—Messiah) stand up." (#Da 12:1.) He will assume authority. He will take possession of His kingdom in a manner little looked for by many of those who erroneously have been claiming to be His kingdom, and authorized by Him to reign in His name and in His stead....

The same principle will apply in the coming Battle of Armageddon. God’s side of that battle will be the people’s side; and that very nondescript host, the people, will be pitted at the beginning of the battle. Anarchists, socialists and hot-headed radicals of every school of reason and unreason, will be in the forefront of that battle. He who has any knowledge of army life knows that a great army is composed of all classes.

The masses will be restless under their restrains, but will be conscious of their weakness as compared with the kings and princes, financial, social, religious and political, who will then hold sway. The majority of the poor and the middle class prefer peace at almost any price. The masses have no sympathy with anarchy. They realize truly that the worst form of government is better than none. The masses will seek relief through the ballot and the peaceful readjustment of earth’s affairs for the elimination of evil, for the placing of monopolies and utilities and the supplies of nature in the hands of the people for the public good. The crisis will be reached when the hitherto upholders of the law shall become violators of the law and resisters of the will of the majority as expressed by the ballot. Fear for the future will goad the well-meaning masses to desperation, and anarchy will result when socialism fails.

Bro. Johnson D 23, 24 —Epiphany, as a period, is the Time of Trouble. Luke 17: 28-30 is a passage to the point. Sodom represents Christendom and Lot represents the Great Company (Rev. 11: 8; 2 Pet. 2: 11). The fire and brimstone here represent the complete destruction of Christendom (Jude 7), which will take place in the great tribulation (Rev. 16: 18-20; 19: 20)...proves that He will be revealed, i.e., manifested, in the Time of Trouble...