The true God is beginning NOW to intervene in human affairs!
Events are swiftly building to a CLIMAX.
Read here the absolute NEED of DIVINE INTERVENTION in world events!
DON'T KID YOURSELF! God is soon going to intervene in human affairs and change this whole world!
Whether or not you are "religious" has NOTHING to do with it! Whether or not you "look at" it that way has EVEN LESS to do with it. It is GOING TO HAPPEN! You might as well wake up and FACE FACTS! The world you live in won't be here 15 years from now!
Handwriting on the Wall
We are now seeing the HANDWRITING ON THE WALL for this entire generation. And many top leaders and scientists agree!
Sir Philip Noel-Baker, the British authority on world disarmament, told a roomful of congressmen at Washington: ' I believe that within ten years we will all be dead and the earth will be an incinerated relic."
Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, in an address delivered at Goucher College; Baltimore, stated: "I assure you that I know nothing which is classified, but I know enough of what is going on to assure you that, in fifteen years from today, this world is going to be too dangerous to live in . . . Americans just don't believe that the future exists. The future is only important to us when it becomes the present. We can be told all sorts of things are going to happen. We never believe it until it's happened. Then it's TOO LATE to deal with." (Emphasis ours throughout article)
You Need to FACE FACTS
The above quotes from a top world scientist and a former Secretary of State in the U.S. Government ought to sober any thinking person. But, as Mr. Acheson stated, most refuse to wake up until it is TOO LATE!
Perhaps you never have heard the ten reasons which demand the intervention of God to save humanity from self-destruction. Even new readers and normally skeptical persons ought to be moved to REALIZE the definite prophesied events that lie ahead. We ought to be willing to take it from the Bible alone. But most people have not really PROVED the Bible is the Word of God.
These TEN major issues involved reveal the definite NEED of divine intervention in human affairs NOW.
IF THERE IS A REAL GOD IN HEAVEN — and that God is concerned about humanity, then NOW is the time when He certainly should and indeed MUST intervene in the affairs of His creatures here below to save us all from WORLD SUICIDE!
Remember, this is not a "religious" topic or approach. Men on the HIGHEST levels of our society and culture acknowledge the same thing even though they may not necessarily be seeking GOD'S solution to the problem. For instance, notice what General Thomas D. White, USAF, Ret., Newsweek Contributing Editor, recently stated: "Nuclear weapons have given man the ability to destroy civilization. Are we wise enough to control warfare and save ourselves?
"Little in the past suggests that wars can be abolished . . . Every rational person . . . must applaud the search for honorable alternatives for nuclear war. But many knowledgeable and intelligent people believe that there are none. In my view we must nonetheless make continuous efforts to find a solution which is of less risk to us than the status quo and its foreseeable projections. The process may be long; and it may FAIL — it always has. In the meantime we must have the guts, the wisdom, and the forces to survive. But in the long run mankind has to find another answer."
REASON I — The TERRIFIC Increase in Man's Destructiveness
Notice this Associated Press report from San Diego, California: "The former Director General of the World Health Organization warned here in a speech that any small nation with scientific know-how could knock out the United States overnight. Dr. Brock Chisholm said all that it would take is one biochemist, a handful of technicians and a delivery system . . . 'For the first time in history we must recognize that we cannot survive at the cost of other groups. We must survive as a human race or not at all."
And remember, as stated in the above quote from General Thomas White, "little in the past suggests that wars can be abolished."
A United Press release reported: "Dr. Linus Pauling, professor of chemistry at CalTech, Nobel laureate, and one of the world's leading scientists, says revised estimates indicate the United States now has 100,000 atomic weapons to Russia's 50,000. However, Pauling told a Chicago audience, a mere 4,000 of the weapons could DESTROY THE HUMAN RACE."
Notice the statistics given here! According to Dr. Pauling's statement, the United States has twenty-five times as many atomic bombs as are needed to annihilate all life off this planet. And our archenemy, the Soviet Union, has twelve and one half times as many atomic weapons as are needed to blast human life out of existence!
Frightening?
Most people don't seem to think so, really. Because they would rather watch television, hit the cocktail party circuit or "escape" by some other means. The "END OF THE WORLD" talk and idea seems "unpleasant" to most of them — so they simply Ignore IT.
Intelligent?
As applied to nearly any other subject, most people would say that this is a RIDICULOUS approach or rather "escape" from life and reality — a form of mental sickness, actually. But, as applied to today's terrifying world events, it is becoming a rather common thing and most people seem to take it for granted. Very few seem to realize that these events were directly prophesied in the pages of their own Bibles, and the EXACT FUTURE is laid bare IN ADVANCE by Jesus Christ Himself for all to read, to understand and to find therein the ONLY way of escape.
Foretold in Advance
Although it is little realized in this day of religious confusion, modernism and maudlin sentiment, the Christ of your Bible was in actual fact the greatest PROPHET of future events who ever lived! In Matthew 24, His disciples asked Jesus: "Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" (Verse 3)
Then Jesus proceeded to answer and to state, in order, several MAJOR EVENTS which would lead up to and climax in His second coming to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.
First, He said to beware of false prophets who would come preaching in His name and deceive THE MANY — not just the few (Verse 5). Then He described an increase of wars leading to WORLD WARS (Verses 6-7).
After this, He prophesied definite and terrible FAMINES and PESTILENCES or disease epidemics and increasing EARTHQUAKES in various places around the earth (Verse 7).
Next, He prophesied a time of TERRIBLE religious persecution (Verses 9-13).
Jesus Christ stated that these coming events will 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 TRIBULATION, 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 Jesus clearly describes the time when all human life would be BLASTED off this planet unless God intervened for the sake of His "elect"!
This Is Tomorrow's NEWS
In plain language, Jesus Christ was just about 2000 years ahead of time as a newscaster commenting on major world events that are REALLY GOING PTO HAPPEN! For He said that unless the real GOD — the God that most people do not acknowledge and certainly do not know — intervened in human affairs, the threat of HUMAN ANNIHILATION would become a stark reality!
You need to realize that there are presently MANY ways by which this might come about. Notice this news release: "Eight ounces of a substance developed by bacteriological warfare experts could wipe out ALL LIFE on earth, British scientist Sir Robert Watson-Watt says. The developer of radar said he was making, this disclosure because, 'I am not optimistic the human race will survive another ten years.' He said there are now THREE WAYS in which the world's population could be WIPED OUT in a few hours. The FIRST is the HYDROGEN BOMB, which with the initial explosion and fallout could destroy man. He said the SECOND method was through BIOLOGICAL SUBSTANCES and the most deadly of these was the half pound of toxin which can be produced by the organism botulinus. It would take only a half pound to kill the animal and human population of the world. He said it was easily produced, was well-known and with a well-trained group could be distributed easily to make it lethal. Sir Robert said the THIRD METHOD of destroying man was 'through NERVE GASES, which have long been known.' "
Our first real, factual REASON why Christ MUST return now is the literally TERRIFYING increase in man's destructive capacity.
REASON II — Greatest DROUGHT, FAMINE and STARVATION in Human History
The June 17, 1963, issue of Newsweek magazine presented some arresting facts regarding the increase in conditions leading to STARVATION in many areas of the earth.
This respected news magazine reported that every day of the week some 10,000 people will DIE of malnutrition or starvation — more than at any time in history. They stated that more than HALF of the world's 3 billion people live in perpetual HUNGER. In India alone, 50 MILLION children will die of malnutrition in the next ten years!
Appalling?
Yes, it is. But it is even MORE appalling to realize that this is JUST THE BEGINNING!
For around this entire earth a veritable POPULATION EXPLOSION is taking place and — at the present rate of increase in human kind — there will be 4 billion people on earth within 17 years and 6 billion within 37 more years! Viewing these facts, the world famous British historian Arnold J. Toynbee recently told the World Food Congress: "Today, mankind's future is at stake in a formidable race between population growth and FAMINE."
Yet, as recently reported by U.S. News and World Report magazine, this same body was told by its secretary general that: "No sizable reduction of population through birth control is in sight within the next 15 to 20 years."
U.S. News summarized their article on this terrible problem as follows: "Result: the world over, fear grows of population pressures building up in 'have not' nations. Those pressures, in times ahead, are seen as bringing the world closer to the 'solutions' of the past — war, pestilence or famine."
Undoubtedly, U.S. News did not realize it was almost QUOTING VERBATIM from Matthew 24:7! "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be FAMINES and PESTILENCES, and EARTHQUAKES, in diverse places."
The only difference is that Jesus Christ "scooped" this world news item by getting it into print TWO THOUSAND YEARS AHEAD OF TIME!
Drought and Famine Directly Prophesied
This same Jesus Christ — as the "Word" or Spokesman of the Old Testament — prophesied in specific detail of these events as they were to affect modern-day America and Britain — the descendants of the "House of Israel." (If you do not understand this vital key to Bible prophecy, write immediately for our free booklet, The United States and the British Commonwealth in Prophecy!)
Speaking of events to befall Israel (America and Britain) in the very last generation of man's human society, God said: "Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten" (Joel 1:3-4).
Notice Verse 10: "The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth." In these verses, God is obviously speaking of a latter day DROUGHT and insect plagues which would obviously lead to conditions of famine and STARVATION in America and Britain.
Verse 15 gives the time setting: "Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a DESTRUCTION from the Almighty shall it come." This prophesied "Day of the Lord" is speaking of God's intervention in human affairs at the TIME OF THE END — just before Christ RETURNS BODILY to rule this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. This exact time is described specifically in over thirty places in your Bible! It is a time just ahead of us — NOW!
Speaking to us, God says: "How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. 0 Lord, to thee will I cry: for the FIRE hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the FLAME bath burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are DRIED UP, and the FIRE bath devoured the pastures of the wilderness" (Verses 18-20).
Unless you really STUDY Bible prophecy and sincerely and humbly ask for understanding, it may seem strange to you to apply these verses to modern United States and Britain NOW. But you can absolutely PROVE this by writing for the booklet mentioned above, plus Mr. Armstrong's additional free booklet, "1975 in Prophecy" — a fully illustrated booklet dramatically portraying in plain language the prophesied events just ahead of us leading up to the coming of Jesus Christ.
Prophesied Events NOW Beginning to Occur
But THINK! The events described here in Joel are actually HAPPENING at this time, aren't they? For God said that pastures would dry up, the cattle and other stock animals would SUFFER, and terrible FIRES would break out and devour the fields and the pastures and the forests!
Just a few days ago, United Press International reported: "An Indian summer drought Tuesday triggered open burning bands in tinder-dry Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
"The DROUGHT dried up crops and precious water supplies from New England to the Great Plains, encour aged a spat of forest and prairie FIRES in at least eight states and left the Susquehantia River at an ALL-TIME LOW LEVEL. More than SIXTY FOREST FIRES blazed in New York State. Scattered fires burned in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa.
"No real relief was in sight. Mayor Robert F. Wagner warned that New York City faces a SERIOUS WATER SHORTAGE if the drought continues."
And this very same week, newspapers headlined the news of the terrible DROUGHT CRISIS facing the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil! The Los Angeles Times reported: "This city of three million people may be without drinking water if it does not rain here within the next two weeks. The WORST DROUGHT OF THIS CENTURY also brought about the curtailment of electric power that brought back memories of World War II.
"Every industry, commercial enterprise and household is having electricity cut off for six hours daily on a staggered time and area basis which started Friday. The gravity of the crisis, replacing politics for now as Brazil's major immediate concern, was reflected in one bold, black newspaper headline which said: 'Only God Can Give Water to Guanabara.' Guanabara State includes the city of Rio.
"The drought comes at a time when TORRENTIAL RAINS in the southern most state of Rio Grande do Sul are causing FLOODS of almost unprecedented proportions."