Basic HTML Version
seems, to grasp the rclationship of
any of the foregoing with
Bible
prophecy!
Yet, according to the prophecies
in your Bible. you are living in the
last days
of this present civi lization.
An
age
is about to end. A vast epic
is taking place - the decay and final
destruction of civilization as we
know it - and a
new and different
age
is soon to emerge which will be
utterly different in every respect to
this
age. But millions upon millions
are
unaware
of the relationship be–
tween present world conditions and
Bible prophecy!
Fo r twenty long years on
The
World Tomorrow
program. 1 have
been referring repeatedly to Christ's
prophecies found in Matthew 24. 1
have continually said that wars and
rumors of wars would intensify on
the world scene, along with famine.
droughts, shortages. disease epidem–
ics, record-shattering earthquakes,
and all the prophesied events lead–
ing to the "great tribulation" (Matt.
24 :21-22). Take a quick look at this
wor ld the way it really
is.
A Sick, Sick World!
Growing civil anarchy - terrorism.
violence and crime - continues to
tear at the threads of Western civ–
ilization. Twenty thousand murders
per year in the United States alone.
These are the headlines that rock
the world today.
The g rim events of Entebbe
served to remind us that anti-Semi–
tism is far from dead in this world's
society. Blatant, unabashed, raw
racism is a sleeping time bomb
which threatens to erupt anew.
Recently there have been veiled
threats ("We will bring down the
temple of humanity") by a smaller
power to use the unthinkable
weapon if pushed into a corner. As
the United States continues to foster
the proliferation of nuclear weap–
onry in the world (albeit through
the beneficent spread of "peaceful"
nuclear reactors). the number of na–
tions actually possessing the bomb
increases year by year - whether we
have the courage to admit it or not.
Meanwhile, Western arms pol–
icies continue lo fuel the Middle
East. America finds it necessary to
supply both sides of the fence with
supersophisticated weaponry. Take
12
lran for example. Reports
The
Middle East
magazine:
" It
(lran)
now has 'on order' 80 F-14 Tomcats.
along with 190 Phantoms and 179
F.SE interceptor aircraft. Tehran is
also attempting to obtain in oil-for–
a rms barter deals another 300 of the
latest available aircraft on the West–
ern ma rket, including F-16s and F-
18s.... Besides these. there are re–
portedly another 1.500 Chieftain
tanks 'on order' from Britain" (Oc–
tober 1976, p. 19). If current ordcrs
are filled, combat aircraft levels in
lran will be doubled. West and East
have been rushing arms into thc
Middle East at record rates. The
spa rk is bound to be touched off
sooner or later. Those weapons will
no doubt be used .
The Energy Crunch
Militarily speaking. the West con–
tinues to sell advanced munitions to
countries that have their hands on
its throat. As
Fonune
warned:
"Since the Yom Kippur War. our
dependence on OPEC oil ha in–
creased from 17% to 22% of our
[American) domestic production,
and
if
present trends continue, we wi/1
be buying nearly ha!f
of our oil from
OPEC countries by 1980" (January
1976. p. 102).
Have Western nations been about
the business of encouraging con–
servation of unrenewable energy re–
sources by, say, cutting back on the
use of "our toys"? Frankly, no! In
the U.S. , Detroit is back to building
more
big gas hogs than ever.
The
Fortune
editorial continues:
"It almost seems as if we have set–
tled apathetically for living indefi–
nitely at OPEC's merey.... lf the
Arabs were to unlimber their oi l
weapon against countries support–
ing Israel , we could be left with the
option of ei ther giving in or taking
military action. Viewed against
these ugly possibilities, the current
dithering [inaction and lack of pol–
icy] looks like an abdicatíon of the
national interest."
The panic period of the energy
crisis (late 1973 and early 1974) will
be paled into insignificance by the
next one, especially in the United
States. Can you imagine what it's
going to be like with our crude oil
faucet turned fully halfway off?
Already there is a very real natu-
ral gas shortage in the United
States. Notes
Business Week:
" Each
year across the count ry. the shortage
of natural gas worsens. concealed to
sorne extent by the recent string of
warm winters ... but nonetheless
real and ever more threatening. ln–
deed the gas shortage is in many
ways the leading edge of the real
'energy crisis.' ... According to fig–
ures released last week by the Fed–
eral Power Commission, the nation
this winter will suffer a
22% shortfa/1
in supplies.
Last year the figure was
18%. The year before 14%" (Sep–
tember 27. 1976, p. 66).
The Time of the End
As l 've sa id so many times before.
a ny way you want to slice it. this
world is headed into a time of inde–
scribable troubles on a global scale.
We are
now
living in what the Bible
calls
"the time ofthe end."
The end-time fulfillments of Mat–
thew 24 are shaping up very fast.
Th e time for procrastination in pro–
claiming an urgent warning and wit–
ness to the nations of this world is
over. We must fulfill our awesome
responsibility.
Yet prophecy after prophecy in
your Bible warns us that at the time
when the second coming of Jesus
Christ would be imminent. vast
numbers of God's own people
would drift into lethargy and
apathy, sleepily going about their
own day-to-day affairs as if trying to
shove the unacceptable future into
the back of their minds and pretend
there is unlimited time left for the ir
own personal pleasures.
lt
makes no sense at all for people
in a burning building to be telling
jokes - or farmers given severe
storm warnings to scatter their stock
to summer pastures. Yet. as the
Biblc predicted. many today live
their. daily lives as if oblivious to the
deadly potential ofthese times!
Soon, a great depression that will
make the crash of '29 look like a
picnic by comparison will rock the
world. From any given moment na–
tion after nation in the affiuent, in–
dustrialized world could plunge into
poverty - with banks failing and
closing, business and industry goi ng
bankrupt, and a barter system re–
placing present economic systems.
Out of this will emerge growing
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1977