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those personal things which interest
them the most - their own jobs,
pleasures, pastirnes, financia! diffi–
culties, marital matters, or child
rearing problems.
An example of this kind of apathy
occurred in San Diego, California.
A man lived in an apartment next to
one which was ransacked by rob–
bers. The robbers bound and
gagged the lone male occupant,
poured fluid over his body, and set
him on tire. When police investi–
gated the crirne, they asked the man
in the adjoining apartment if he had
heard anything unusual. "Sure, I
did," he replied nonchalantly. "1
heard screams. In fact, they were so
loud, I had to turn up the volume on
my television set."
When a person is totally pre–
occupied with the satisfaction of his
own senses, he is not apt to take
warning of impending natural
calamity or dangerous political
events. Such people tend to be com–
pletely apathetic and couldn't care
less. They don't want to be re–
minded of reali ty. Completely ab–
sorbed with their own physicallives,
pleasures, and problems, they will
not react to extemal threats of danger.
We live in the age of the "un–
shockables." Our present generation
is so inured to the threat of nuclear
danger and other awesome world
perils that we are not as alarmed or
concerned as we ought to be. We are
like the inhabitants of St. Pierre,
who became "accustomed" to the
fiery activity of a volcano just four
miles away.
Lesson for Now
The catastrophic events which
overtook St. Pierre in 1902 should
serve as a vivid reminder to the now
generation. We also are human. We
also tend to have the sheep instinct
and tend to react with apathy. We
also tend to be self-centered and
totally engrossed with our own
activities.
Unless we take heed, we could
also fall prey to the sudden on–
slaught ofsorne fearful catastrophe.
12
Whether or not you believe
it,
the
Bible makes plain that awesome ca–
tastrophes, global cataclysms, and
tremendous maelstroms lie ahead
for the world. The book of Revela–
tion gives an insight into what many
of these fearful events will be. The
specters of famine , disease epidem–
ics, earthquakes, global wars, and
confiict, as well as universal reli–
gious deception, are all plainly out–
lined.
Jesus Christ also spoke of these
events 1900 years ago: "The nations
and kingdoms of the earth will rise
against each other and there will be
famines and earthquakes in many
places. But all this will be only the
beginning of the horrors to come"
(Matthew 24:7-8). (All Bib1e quota–
tions are from
The Living Bible.)
Jesus continued: "For there will
be persecution such as the world has
never before seen in all its history,
and will never see again. In fact, un–
less those days are shortened, all
mankind will perish. But they will
be shortened for the sake of God's
chosen people" (verses 21-22).
The book of Mark gives a similar
warning: "For those will be days of
such horror as have never been
since the beginning of God's cre–
ation, nor will ever be again. And
unless the Lord shortens that time
of calamity, not a soul in all the
earth will survive" (Mark 13: 19-20).
"Yes, these are the events that
will signa! the end of the age," Jesus
continued (verse 30). And then
come these sobering words of warn–
ing: "Keep a sharp lookout! For
you do not know when
1
will come,
at evening, at midnight, early dawn
or late daybreak. Don't let me find
you sleeping [off guard] .... This is
my message to you and to everyone
else" (verses 35-37).
Luke records another emphatic
warning for our generation:
"Watch out! .. . don't let me find
you living in careless ease, carousing
and drinking, and occupied with the
problems of this life, like all the rest
of the world.
Keep a constant
watch .
...
,
(Luke 21 :34-36).
Are you alert to world events? Or
- will you take your place with the
vast majority who don' t care, who
are apathetic, who follow the
crowd?
The world events Jesus spoke of
are beginning to unfold al! around
us. The clímax is not far off. Tbe
warnings are being read and heard
via the pages of the magazine you
are now reading and via
The World
Tomorrow
broadcast and the
Garner
·red Armstrong
program on televi–
sion. Will you take warning?
Or will you be one of those of
whom the apostle Paul wrote:
"When people are saying,
'All
is
well, everything is quiet and peace–
ful' - then, all of a sudden, disaster
will fall upon them as suddenly as a
woman's birth pains begin when her
child is born. And these people will
not be able to get away anywhere–
there will be no place to hide"
(I Thessalonians 5:3).
This common attitude was fore–
told over 2500 years ago by Isaiah
the prophet. He looked .into our day
and declared: "For the leaders of
my people - the Lord's watchmen,
his shepherds - are all
blind to every
danger.
They are featherbrained
and give no warning when danger
comes. . . . And they are as greedy as
dogs, never satisfied; they are stupid
shepherds who only look after their
own interest, each trying to get as
mueh as he can for himself from.
every possible source.
"'Come,' they say. 'We' ll get
sorne wine and have a party; let's all
get drunk. This is really living; let it
go on and on, and tomorrow will be
better yet! ' " (Isaiah 56: 10-12.)
The inhabitants of St. Pierre did
not watch; they were not heedful of
the danger which confronted them.
They ignored day after day ofwarning.
Then they were suddenly over–
whelmed with one of the most
calamitous destructions ever to be–
fall a city in modern times.
Are you willing to take warn–
ing?
o
PLAIN TRUTH Moy 1973