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expected places would affiict the
earth (verse 7).
Next, he foretold a time of terri–
ble religious persecution (verses 9-
13).
J esus announced 1,900 years in
advance that these coming events
would be the most awesome and
dangerous in all human history and
would result in human annihilation
unless Almighty God intervened!
"For then shall be great tribula–
tion, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time,
no, nor ever shall be. And except
those days should be shortened,
there should no flesh be saved: but
for the elect 's sake those days shall
be shortened" (verses 21-22).
Here J esus clearly describes the
time when all human life-this
very civilization- would be blasted
off this planet unless God inter–
vened for the sake of his "elect"!
Thi s ls Tomorrow's News
Jesus Christ was more than 1,900
years ahead of time as a newscaster.
For he said that unless the real
God-the God most people do not
acknowledge and certainly do not
know- intervened in human af–
fairs, the threat of annihilation
would become a stark reality!
British scientist Sir Robert Wat–
son-Watt, the developer of radar,
once said: "1 am not optimistic the
human race will survive." H e
pointed out there are now three
ways in which the world's popula–
tion could be wiped out in a few
hours. The first is the hydrogen
bomb, which with nuclear fallout
could destroy humanity. The sec–
ond method is through biological
substances. It would take only a
half pound of the most deadly to
kili the animal and human popula–
tion of the world.
And the third method of
destroying man is through nerve
gases.
The good news Jesus brought is
that none of these three means will
be permitted to end all human life.
God will intervene in world affairs
to end man's destructive capacity!
Around the world, the handwrit–
ing is also clearly on the wall in a
veritable population explosion. The'
result is already visible in Africa–
the stark reality of hunger and star–
vation closing in on millions of
human beings every single year!
No human organization can
solve this problem. There are too
many economic, political and reli–
gious conflicts that stand in the
way. Here, too, J esus foresaw the
only possible solution-divine in–
terventíon and total reeducation in
family planning and agribusiness.
Why Man's " Last Hope for Peace"
Failed!
Even while the guns were still firing
and men were dying on the battle–
fields, the United Nations Confer–
ence assembled in San Francisco in
the spr ing of 1945 to found an inter–
national political entity to preserve
peace. Men and women of many
races and colors were there from 54
nations-representing the majority
of human beings living on the earth.
As the conference opened, Gen–
eral J an Smuts of South Africa
declared:
"lf
San Francisco fails,
then 1 see nothing but stark disas–
ter before mankind."
"It
is no exaggeration to say,"
said Britain's Anthony Eden, "that
the work on which we are making a
start here may be the world's last
chance."
Remember?
Yes, those were the words we
were hearing and reading back in
1945 from the acknowledged lead–
ers of modern human civilization!
"The world is unhappy
because it does not know
wbere it is going and because
it guesses tha t if it did know,
it
would discover that it was
beading for catastrophe."
-Giscard D'Estaing
But go back even further . Even the
League of Nations-formed after
World War 1-was formed for the
same basic purpose.
1
t, too, was
called "man 's 1ast hope for
peace"!
As all the world knew even
before World War 11 began, the
League of Nations miserably failed!
So too, the U.N. is failing to solve
the problems pressing in on the
Middle East today.
Why? Because all human at–
tempts thus far have sought to
build on the foundation of · this
world's civilizations, which is based
primarily on selfishness, greed and
competition.
What we call human nature is
basically hateful, resentful, com–
petitive and selfish. No wonder
people "are swift to shed blood:
destruction and misery are in their
ways: and the way of peace have
they not known: there is no fear of
God before their eyes" (Rom. 3:15-
18). Not until this nature is
changed will we have peace!
Newscasters talk about peace,
but they do not know the way to
this kind of permanent peace. Jesus
scooped all this world's newscasters
by getting his message into print
more than 1,900 years ahead of
time. That message of coming
world peace is called the gospel–
an old English word meaning "good
news."
Jesus ' message is good news.
It
announces the only way to end the
present crises- the reestablishment
of the government of God on earth
over all nations.
Imagine what a changed world
this will be when the God who
created the earth and life upon it
also rules it in justice and merey.
The good news is that a whole new
civilization is coming to bring
peace at last.
o
"Unless some effective world
supergovernment can be
brought quickly into action,
the proposals for peace and
human progress are dark and
doubtful."
- Winston CburchiU