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Hill
WHYNOT
PEACEON EARTH?
"And on earth peace, good will toward men." This is
one of the most oft-quoted scriptures, particularly at
this season of the year. A prayer of hope. A ray of light
in a dark world. And, unfortunately, a so far unful–
filled promise!
The scripture applies to Christ, the Prince of Peace,
and is more correctly rendered, " ... peace on earth
toward men of goodwill." The dove of
pe~ce
is a
weary and wary bird, endlessly searching throughout
blood-soaked history for a resting place and finding
none. There will be no peace until King Christ person–
ally rules all earth in His Kingdom soon to come.
Peace is ever elusive. Men speak peace and make
war. Peace treaties are for the purpose of giving men
time to gather strength for the next war-and are of
themselve~
all too often the very
cause
of the next war!
We forget the prophet's stern warning to beware of
those who say, "Peace, peace!" when there is
no
peace
(Jer. 6:14; 8:11). We forget the repeated maxim:
"There is n.o peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isa.
57:21 ). We forget that Jesus said. "Think not that 1 am
come to send peace on earth: 1 carne not to send
peace, but a sword" (Matt. 10:34). We forget that one
of the main signs that heralds the returníng Christ is
"wars and rumours of wars" (Matt. 24:6)- which sign,
if we look around today's world, we see fulfilled to its
greatest extent in history! We forget the blood–
drenched prophecies of the book of Revelation which
culminate in that horrible word "Armageddon"-all of
which must come to pass
before
the Prince brings
peace to earth!
Why do we have wars? The answer is given very
plainly by James: "Isn't it because there is a whole
army of evil desires within you? You want what you
don't have, so you kili to get it. You long for what
others have, and can't afford it, so you start a fight to
take it away from them. And yet the reason you don't
have what you want is that you don't ask God for it.
And even when you do ask you don't get it because
your whole aim is wrong- you want only what will
give
you
pleasure" (James 4:1-3 ,
The Living Bible).
As long as there is even
one
group of men left on
earth who covets what sorne other group has, we will
continue to have wars. When one person within a so–
ciety exercises this lustful desire, it is called a
crime;
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1978
when one society exercises that desire against another
society, it is called a
''just war''!
Just war-that's all!
Let's take a very brief look around this war-crazy
world of ours.
The Soviets want to bring the entire world under
their domination and will go to any lengths to achieve
that goal: they want what everyone else has. The U.S.
wants "peace" because
it
already has more than any
other nation and wants to keep it and enjoy it. The
Palestinians want the land which the Jews now l1ave
and are openly determined to
take
it- and beyond
that, many among them will not be satisfied by simply
taking but will not rest until the last Israelí has been
"pushed into the sea"!
The Chinese want what the Soviets have because
proportionately they have more than the Chinese; but
the Soviets want "peace" with their renegade Red
brothers because they want to keep what they have
(and get more) and enjoy it!
The blacks of Africa want "freedom" from the colo–
nial power left to whites because they want what
someone else has developed on their land. The whites
want "peace" because they want to keep what they
have and enjoy it. And sadly, those blacks who have
achieved "freedom" are living under sorne of the
bloodiest, cruelest, most dominating dictatorships
known to mankind.
J;:ven the "liberals' ' are making sounds of concern.
George McGovern, onetime candidate for President of
the United States, has called for a U.N. expeditionary
force to put a stop to the " holocaust in Cambodia."
Too little too late. And what about the twenty million
or more who perished in the purges which put Stalin
in control of the Soviet "Union"? Or what about the
more than thirty million Chinese who were executed
to make China safe for communism?
It
is not a peaceful world-and it will get increas–
ingly Jess so with each passing year.
But you can achieve peace as an individual, even in
the midst of a war-torn world. Christ's peace is avail–
able oow to all who seek it-and will be available to all
mankind when He comes to establish His Kingdom,
after the many wars yet to come.
Please make your individual choice of peace on
earth! Why not?
o
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