Earthquakes in the Lord's Day -Tremors in Human Society

From the mid-1870's,  Jehovah's people had been anticiopating that catastrophic evens would start in 1914  and would mark the end of Gentile Times. This is the period of "seven times"  (2m520 years)  running from the overthrow of the Davidic Kingdom in Jerusalem in 607 B.C. E.  to Jesus' enthronement in heavenly Jersualem  in 1914 C.E.  - DANIEL 4:24, 25; LUKE 21:24, King James Version. 

Thus, when C.T. Russell appeared for morning worship with Brooklyn, New York, Bethel family on the morning of October 2, 1914, he made the dramatic announcement: "The Gentile Times have ended; their kings have had their day."  Indedm the worldwide upheaveal that began in 1914 was so far-reaching that many  long-standing monarchies disappeared.  The overthrow of czardomin the Bolsheveik revolution of 1917 led to a long confrontation  between Marxism and capitalism.  Tremors of political change continued to disturb human society earth wide.  Today, many governments fail to survive more than a year or two.  Lack of stability in the political world is illustrated  in the case of Italy, which had 47 new governments in just  42 years following World War II.  But such advance tremors  are only preliminary to a climatic governmental upheaval.  The result?  God's Kingdom will take sole rulership of the earth. - ISAIAH  9:6, 7.

Historians, philosophers, and political leader have pointed to the year 1914 as the start of a new and momentous ephoch. Seventeen years into that ephoch, historian H.G. Wells commented:  "Gladly would the prophet prophesy pleasant things.  But his duty is to tell what adventurs; a world surrended   to suspicion and hatred, losing what is left of private liberties very rapidly,  blundering toward bitter class conflicts, and preparing  for new wars."  In 1953 philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: "Ever since 1914, everybody conscious of trends in the world has been deeply troubleed by what has seemed like a fated and predetermined tragedy, driven by angry gods and no longer the master of fate."  In 1980 statesman Harold Macmillen, reflecting on the peaceful part of the 20th century said:  "Everything  would get better and better. The was the world I was born in . . .. Suddenly, unexpectedly, one morning in 1914 the whole thing came to an end." 

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