Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-05-14
THE END OF THE WORLD.

Christ and the consequent end of the
world has been brought prominently
befors US by this great world war.
The various bodies of Christian be.
levers who have made this doctrine
prominent in all their teaching have
seized upon recent evsnts as sure
proof that the end is at hand. One of
them, the Russellites, or L. B. S. A.
have even got into conflict with the
government through their teachings
And a group of famous e~lergymreH, of
whom q. Campbell Morgan is perhaps
the most noted, has issued a manifesto
giving their reasons for believing this
war is to end this age. In view of these
things it seems fitting to discuss this
topic at this time.
. Thes. 2:1,2. Now we beseaeh you,
brethren, by the coming of cur Lord
Jesus Christ That We be not soon
shaken in mind = . as that the day
of Christ is at hand.
Ever since that day on 0livet when
the little company of disciples watched
their Lord ascend until the cloud hid
him from their sight, and heard the
angels message that SOM time he
should so come again in like manner
as they had seen him 60 into heaven,
the Christian world have e~xpeetantly
looked for his return. If we road our
Bible correctly this hope is founded up
on scripture promise as positive and
definite as the promise which so long
awaited fulfillment in the Old Tesla
ment DAYS, that the Messiah should
come. But just as there was much con-
fusion and misunderstanding regarding
the promise of his first coming, so tho
prophecy of his second coming has been
misunderstood and m~isconstrued until
the Christian public is hopelessly bewil-
dered upon this matter.
But the majority hold to a definite
end Of the world, at which time our
Lord will definitely return, and end the
present world order. But those who thus
believe are divided into two parties,
holding quite contrary beliefs. The one
party, known as Observation-Disclosures, hold
that as Christ is directing his church
and inspiring their activity by his in
dwelling spirit, his cooperation is max
ing his church a triumphant church,
through whose activities the world is
growing continuously better, and will
continue to do so until Christ s king
dom shall be established upon the earth.
and the reign of righteousness and peace
shall prevail during the millenius (the
thousand years spoken Of in Revelation
a figurative period of q longer or short
er time), after which time Christ shall
come, and this world, at least under
present material conditions, shall pass
away. .
The other party, known as pre-mil
lenialists, hold many things in common
with their opponents, but they declare
! that in spite of Christ's presence VIII
his church, that church is not a trium'
, plant church, but that the world il
steadily growing worse, and will con
tinue to do so until Christ shall com(
and end the present age, conquering hii
enemies by his heavenly forces, ant
} calling out his faithful ones from
/ amongst both the dead and the living
4 and with these he shall establish thu
] millennium here Oh the earth, the thous
and years Of his personal reign. Boil
Of these views have been defended by
biblical scholars in all churches and IL
) all lands. Many, many volumes have
: been written upon the question and foI
: 1.-TWO thousand years IT, argument ha'
: internationally arisen and died down.
1t is our purpose to mention som'
: reasons why We are not able to aecep
: the pre-millenial view.
: First-The scripture argument TO
: pr~emillnnialism is based upon an ex
!. tremely literal Interpretation OF bib
{ Ideal passages which are found for tn
the most part in books which are high
| ly figurative. For example the chief re
a l~liance for the argument are the tw'
! books Of Daniel and Revelation. 1t !
(; very doubtful whether any man Oh
: earth can correctly unravel all the mys
:. teries Of the visions found in those tw'
). portions of scripture. And yet, tn
maintenance of this view under con
I s~ideration depends upon an understand
!; ing Of these two books and q literal In
terpretation Of manifestly figurativ
passages. We cannot go into this SCRIP
l.. Iture argument in detail. The lack o
a space forbids. But the only place in tn
!. Bible where the thousand years is mer
o Itioned is in the twentieth chapter 0
Revelations. II is expressly stated her
o that the saints are to live and reig
/, with Christ evidently upon the cart
n for this thousand years, while Satan
o bound for that time, and APPARENT
as the pre-millenialists teach, there
no opposition to Christ 3 reign durin
n that whole time. But, at the close Q
that millenial period we read in thu
|. account (Rev. 20:7-9) that Satan
loosed, and he ''gathers together til
nations. Cog and Magog, (which al
q in the four quarters OF tine earth, th
f number Of whom is as the sand Of tn
" sea-" to battle with Christ and HI
followers. Now, if VIC are to take tn
literally, where have these multitus
f ious peoples been during this thousan
r. yearsi We have been told that III
| whole earth was to belong to Christ an
his people for this millenial era, an
here we find Satan at the close OF tn
I'd era gathering this army as numero,
e sTas the sand Of the sea- to figl
against the army of Christ. This who
account is manifestly figurative. Ju
like the description Of the New Jerus
lem which begins in the next chapte
But if it is figurative the chief scri