The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1915-03-11

OF Cne naClOnSE WnaC means Cne peat
ing of this fail of death, on the CULVER
ing flesh of civilization Is it only
step in human evolutionf Is it the |
wreck of civilization Is it the long
expected Armageddon of Biblical T,
Yesterday this world was a neighbor-
hood; today it is slaughterhouse, a
charnel, cyclone, cemetery. Yes
terday there was comparative peace and
prosperity, confidence, friendly inter
course, and kindly ministration; today
there is turmoil and famine, distrust,
mutual desire to injure and to kill.
Does it mean nothing to this race but
the changing of few rulers and the
making of new boundary lines!
1t means much more. Civilization as
a guarantor Of peace has proved itself
a broken reed. The hand that leaned
upon it has been pierced by it; and
the innocent victims Of that trust are
watering the storm swept soil with their
tears and their blood.
Centuries ago this world was warned
that time would come when the call
to war would go ringing through the
earth, and the nations would respond.
Certain religious leaders have been
teaching the world for years that we
were soon to enter upon a millennium
of peace. They have deluded themselves
and their hearers with the belief that
some Of the wishes of the human heart
are the very oracles of God. They have
wanted wars to cease, and have declared
that they would cease. God has record
ed their declaration; and then they have
declared that God record Of their de-
claration in this matter was Gods own
declaration to the human race Of what
he purposed should be. This utterance
from Isaiah they have thus interpreted:
"And he (God) shall Judge
among the nations, and shall re-
buke many people; and they shall
beat their swords into pillow shares,
and their spears into pruning hooks,
nation shall not lift up sword
against nation neither shall they
| learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4.
1t is essential that we know who is
saying this. The verse Immediately
preceding the one quoted reads:
And many people shall 60 and
say, Come We, and let us 60 up to
the mountain of the Lord, to the
house of the God of Jacob; and he
will teach us of his ways, and we
| will walk in his paths: for out of
| Zion shall 90 forth the law, and the
| word of the Lord from Jerusalem
Who says to- Many people,. And
they are saying it now. And what else
are they saying?-That "they shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks;' and
that "nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn
! A.
it i? The second verse of the same chap
ter tells us that lit shall come to pass
IN the last days etc.
Then :" in the last days we are to
hear much talk of an epoch of peace,
tranquility, and prosperity; much talk
of regulating all human conduct by
regulating all the affairs of the world;
much talk of the speedy and perpetual
elimination of war from the activities
of this world. If we had no other proof
that we are living in tho last days, pres
ent-day facts fulfilling that prophecy
would be proof enough That scripture
describes our times, and our times full
! fill that scripture.
Now what is the truth of the matter, ;
In the same chapter we learn what the
true conditions will be in the last days.
1t portrays condition of terror in the
world:
Enter into the rock, and hide
thee in the dust, for fear of the
Lord, and for the glory of his ma
jesty. The lofty looks of man shall
be humbled, and the haughtiness of
men shall be bowed down, and the
Lord alone shall be exalted in that
day. For the day of the Lord of
hosts shall be upon every one that
is proud and lofty, and upon every
one that is lifted up; and he shall
be brought low And thew
shall go into the holes of the rocks.
and into the caves of the earth,
for fear of the Lord, and for the
glory of his majesty, when he
ariseth to shake terribly the
earth" Isaiah 2:1O-21.
A very different condition of things
is this from the condition which "many
people" are looking for; but that
scripture agrees perfectly with what
our Saviour himself declared would be.
There is no promise there of any
epoch Of peace and safety. 1t is time
of distress and perplexity and fear and
terror, and it leads right into the com
ing OF inc son OF OOu, the deStruct ton
of the wicked and the reward of the
righteous.
Since Turkey has decided to throw
herself into this fray, there is every
possibility that this terrible grapple of
the nations of the world is leading
straight on toward Armageddon. While
Turkey kept out and the war was con-
fined to Europe, Arinageddon did not
seem so near. That old battle ground
of the ancient nations is located in
Palestine, at the foot of Mt Megiddo,
in the plain of Esdraelon, north of
Jerusalem, accessible from north and
south and from the sea. That is to be
the gathering place of the hosts of
the nations in the last mighty battles
of this world
The reason for the assembly of the ma
tons at Armageddon seems plain when
we consider the logical result of Tur-
keys entrance into this war. If she
is driven out of Europe and forced out
of western Asia Minor, it would seem
she must withdraw into Palestine.
! When Islam and other heather religion
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