Are We Nearing Armageddon? - MORE EVIDENCE - Conclusion

Add this to the well-documented disintegration of family life and marriage in recent years, the vast increase of crime and violence of sorts, the enormous growth of drug abuse and alcoholism, and the upsurged of juvenile lawlessness. Is it not obvious that the very fiber of human society is breaking down, as Jesus said it would just prior to the "great tribulation"? (Matthew 24:12) In addition, consider this development, as noted in the World Press Review: "The world of the Eighties is in many ways frightening, not just because of poverty and injustice from which so many suffer . . . , but because of the machinery of the global destruction which men play." It called that machinery "horrifying," and no wonder, for Britain's New Scientists reports: "There are about 60,000 nuclear warheads in today's arsenals, with an explosive power equivalent to more than 16,000 tons of TNT (equal to 1, 250m 000 Hiroshima bombs)." Some of those weapons are so deadly that one bomb alone can wipe out a small country, or an entire section of a large country. Yes, for the first time in history, man is capable of annihilating most life on earth. 

Note: They will not get a chance to use them.  Jesus Christ, all his angels etc., will be coming down to war with all the countries and nations and this United States etc. And He  has the power to win. He has more power than human in this whole wide world.  I am convinced and have the faith of this happening because that is a prophecy and the past ones and the present ones have too. So have faith, because it will happen!

Are we to think that somehow, though, world leaders, because they may be sincere, intelligent, well-informed and powerful, will solve these problems? (Note: Have they yet?  No, they are incapable, they are not as intelligent as they believe they are. Note: Jehovah and Jesus Christ have more intelligence than all the people in this whole wide world).  Note what former United States Secretary of the Treasury Michael Blumenthal says:  "No one fully understands the present situation. That includes all government officials making policy. They are as puzzled as you are when open the paper in the morning. The fact is that no one . . . really has been able to predict with any degree of accuracy the problems we got into." But the Bible did and adds this wise counsel: "Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs." Instead, "Happy is the one . . . whose hope is Jehovah God, . . . the One keeping trueness to time indefinite, " AMEN! to that. - PSALM146:3-6. 

For a certainty, all the conditions foretold in Bible prophecy are here. We are indeed very deep into the "last days" of this system of things and nearing the final part, the "great tribulation" with its Armageddon finish. And just what will mark the outbreak of that "great tribulation"? An event that already is well along in development. 

Next time: To be determined

From the jw.org publications

Are We Nearing Armageddon? - MORE EVIDENCE -Continue

 Former chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Willy Brandt headed a group that investigated the world conditions for two and half years This was their conclusion recently:

"At the beginning of the 1980's the world community faces much greater dangers than at any time since the Second World War. It is clear that the world economy is now functioning so badly that it damages both the immediate and longer-run interests of all nations. . . . 

"The problem of poverty and hunger are becoming more serious; there are already 800 million absolute poor and their numbers are rising; shortages of grain and other foods are increasing the prospect of hunger and starvation. . . .

Between 20 and 25 million children below the age of five die every year in developing countries. . . .

"A number of poor countries ae threatened with the irreversible destruction of their ecological systems while many face growing food deficits and possibly mass starvation. In the international economy there is the possibility of . . . a collapse of credit with defaults by major debtors, or bank failures . . . [and] an intensified struggle for influence or control over resources leading to military conflicts." 

Next time: Are We Nearing Armageddon? - MORE EVIDENCE - Conclusion

From the jw.org publications

Are We Nearing Armageddon? - MORE EVIDENCE - Continue

 For instance, at the end of 1979 economist Leonard Silk wrote: "This holiday season, the scariest commodity is probably not oil but hope. For, with the turbulent decade of the 1970's in its final days, the dangers facing the world economy-and peace-are intensifying." Columnist Max Lerner said in the spring of this year 1980: "The world seems to have reached a stage where inflation, strikes, bankruptcy, fanaticism and terrorism come close to guaranteeing that nothing works and no one is in control. Can anyone anywhere govern?" 

Note: Apparently not, look at the shape this world is in due to man ruling man and the world. It isn't working and never did. 

When the mayors of large cities in the United States were asked why so many of these urban cities were in such deplorable conditions, one answered: "The problems are almost insurmountable.  Anyone who is not frustrated is not thinking." Another mayor was asked if the cities were "ungovernable" now, and he commented that the facts "would lead one to at least think along these lines." Similarly, Gus Taylor, author of the book Scarcity, said: "Mugging, burglary, assassination of police, dope peddling has brought a semianarchy to many cities." 

Next time: Are We Nearing Armageddon? -MORE EVIDENCE -Continue

From the jw.org publications

Are We Nearing Armageddon? - HOW WE KNOW WE ARE GETTING NEAR

 In 1918 before the war was over, the Spanish influenza epidemic began sweeping the earth. It killed over 20 million people, more than the number that died in the war. During and after the war, millions of others died from starvation. Also, earthquakes took a high toll: In 1915 nearly 30,000 were killed in Italy; 1920 about 180,000 died in China; in 1923 some 143,000 perished in Japan. For good reason did reporter Frank Peters write in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Civilization entered on a cruel and perhaps terminal illness in 1914." Yes, world war, disease epidemics, food shortages and earthquakes "in one place after another." Surely, there were a beginning of pangs of distress" that Jesus foretold. The "last days," the "time of the end," had indeed begun. - MATTHEW 24:8; 2 TIMOTHY3:1; Daniel 12:4. 

MORE EVIDENCE

Now, in late 1980, 66 years have passed since the crucial date of 1914. During that time, World War II also took place, killing some 55 million people, and ending with the atomic destruction of two cities, ushering in the nuclear age. Since then, conditions show that mankind is unable to solve its problems, and every part of this system of things is experiencing decay. All of this tell us that we are deep in the "last days," and events are moving rapidly toward the "great tribulation." 

Next time: Are We Nearing Armageddon? - MORE EVIDENCE - Continue

From the jw.org publications

Are We Nearing Armageddon? - HOW WE KNOW WE ARE GETTING NEAR

 Without a doubt, the time period that Jesus and inspired Bible writers such as Paul pointed toward is that in which we now live! In fact, it has been in progress since the "turning point" of modern history, the year 1914, which saw the outbreak of World War I, many historians correctly point to that year as the piviotal one for mankind, because that is when the world entered a period of difficulty never before experience on an earth-wide scale. World War I was an evidence of this, since it was so much worse than any war that had ever preceded it, which is why, at the time, it was called "The Great War." It was the first global or world war. It was total warfare and affected every country on earth. 

Regarding World War I, Martin Kieffer writes in the preface to the book The First World War, published originally in France by General Richard Thoumin under the title La Grande Guerre (The Great War): "The blood and tears of the First World War changed the face of the earth." The general also wrote: 

"When in November 1918 the arms were laid down at last, ten million men had lost their lives, and twice that many had been wounded or crippled. Little wonder that the conflict should be called the 'Great War' . . .

"The unique 'greatness' of the First World War . . . was one of scope and numbers, of industrial output and material destruction. . . . Never before had so many countries and such large armies faced each other in such gigantic battles never had such high proportions of combatants been killed or maimed; never had men gone to war with such powerful weapons." 

Next time: Are We Nearing Armageddon? - HOW WE KNOW WE ARE GETTING NEAR

From the jw.org publications 

Are We Nearing Armageddon? -HOW WE KNOW WE ARE GETTING NEAR

 When Jesus spoke of the coming "great tribulation," he also foretold some of the evidence that would indicate its approach. On one occasion his disciples asked him what would be the "sign" of the "conclusion of the system of things." (Matthew 24:3) Jesus spoke of a particular generation of people who would begin experiencing problems on a scale never before seen. He foretold for that generation international war, disease, epidemics, food shortages and earthquakes" in one place after another." He called these "a beginning of pangs of stress." So intense would be the difficulties be that there would be great anguish of nations not knowing the way out," with many people becoming "faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth. - MATTHEW 24:7, 8, 34; Luke 21:10, 11, 25, 26. 

About 32 years later, the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God's holy spirit, wrote prophetically about the "conclusion of the system of things," saying: "In the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride."  The prophecy also says that "wicked men and imposters will advance from bad to worse, "showing that after the beginning of the "last days" there would be continued degeneration of human affairs, to be climaxed by the outbreak of the "great tribulation." - 2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5, 13.

Next time: Are We Nearing Armageddon? - HOW WE KNOW WE ARE GETTING NEAR

From the jw.org publications

Are We Nearing Armageddon? - The Coming "Great Tribulation" -Conclusion

 "But unlike those thresholds, which were essentially benevolent for civilization's progress, this one . . . hold the potential for malevolence such as the world has never seen." 

While this editor was not viewing Armageddon entirely from the Biblical context, he was correct in saying that mankind is nearing a time of trouble "such as the world has never seen." What mankind actually is nearing is the "great tribulation such has not occurred since the world's beginning until now, no, nor will occur again," as Jesus foretold. 

Therefore, if we love life and want to live a righteous new order of God's making, we very much need to learn about this coming "great tribulation" and its Armageddon climax. We need authoritative answers to such questions as: How do we know we are really nearing the "great tribulation"? What event will be a sure sign that it actually has begun?

Next time: Are We Nearing Armageddon? - HOW WE KNOW WE ARE GETTING NEAR

From the jw.org publications

Are We Nearing Armageddon? - The Coming "Great Tribulation"

 For many decades, Jehovah's Witnesses along have been very active on the international scene in sounding the warning about this coming time of trouble that would climax at Armageddon. (Mark13:10) At times, though, others sense that something cataclysmic is approaching, for they observe world conditions worsening with no hope of genuine or lasting improvement. For example, on May 4, 1980, the editor of the Miami Herald, Jim Hamton, wrote: 

"Do you have growing deep in your gut these days, the same kind of knot I have in mine? The awful, keep you awake nights knot that tells you something is dreadfully wrong with your country, with the whole world? The knot that makes you shiver sometimes because it has just dawned on you that Armageddon isn't just some allegory you read about in the Bible. It's real? And that for the first time in your life the match is so close to the fuse that Armageddon is actually possible? 

"I have that knot. And I am ashamed to admit it, because I have asked a dozen of my friends if they have it too, and not one doesn't. . . .

"Anyone with half a logical mind can put together the cataclysmic events of the past few years and see the world is at a historic threshold. It's a threshold as important as the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, or the Electronic Age. It will change forever the way men live. 

Next time: Are We Nearing Armageddon? The Coming "Great Tribulation" - Conclusion

From the jw.org publications

Are We Nearing Armageddon? -The Coming "Great Tribulation"

 God's war of Armageddon will be the final part of a period of time called the "great tribulation." Jesus spoke of it this way: "Then there will be great tribulation such as not occurred since the world's beginning until now, nor will occur again." (Matthew 24;21) Considering the catastrophes that taken place in the past, it is apparent that the "great tribulation" will be a time of upheaval unequaled in the entire history of the human family. But mercifully, it will be brief time, one that God will cut short." - MATTHEW 24:22.

However, while the "great tribulation" will be the worst of times, we can be comforted by the fact that it immediate precedes the best of times -in God's new order. Also, there is the happy prospect that many people now living will survive the coming time of trouble! God's Word promises that "a great crowd, which no man was able to number, our of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues" will "come out of the great tribulation " as survivors. Even now God has wipe out every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:9, 14, 17) For this reason, Jesus was very optimistic of the future, although knowing that mankind had yet to face the "great tribulation." His hope-filled words are: "As these things start to occur, raise yourself erect and lift up your heads, because your deliverance is getting near." - LUKE 21:28. 

Next time: Are We Nearing Armageddon? - The Coming "Great Tribulation" - Continue

From the jw.org publications

Are We Nearing Armageddon?

 While Armageddon will not mean the end of all mankind, nor of the earth, it certainly will mean the end of this system of things (or "world") as we know it. Armageddon will be God's way of totally crushing out of existence deteriorating political, social, and religious systems that have caused so much grief. "My judicial decision," says Jehovah, "is to gather nations, for me to collect together kingdoms, in order to pour out upon them my denunciation, all my burning anger." (Zephaniah 3:8) Thus, God's war of Armageddon, will mean the execution of his adverse judgment against "kings," "nations," and "kingdoms." Others to receive his adverse judgment, the Bible says, are the supporters of this present wicked system of things.  the "military commander," "strong men," "freemen," "slaves" and "small ones and great." - REVELATION 16:14; 19:18.

The end of the present system will pave the way for an entirely new order of God's making, a human society in which the will of God is going to be carried out "as in heaven, also upon earth." (Matthew 6:10) In that new order after Armageddon, Bible prophecy tells us, "righteousness is to dwell." (2 Peter 3:13) How refreshing, how thrilling that will be ager so many centuries of injustice, suffering, heartache and tears! With God's will being done over all the earth and with righteous conditions established, a time of unprecedented happiness will be ushered in. The Bible foretells: "The meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace." (Psalm37:11) It is no wonder that Jesus called it "Paradise." - LUKE 23:43. 

Next time: Are We Nearing Armageddon? - The Coming "Great Tribulation" 

From the jw.org publications