January 1, 1944 Issue
by T. F. Thomasson

The prophecies of the Old Testament have most of them been fulfilled but teachers and preachers continue to try to place them in the future. Solomon said: "There is nothing new under the sun" (Ecc 1:9). The conditions that now prevail have already been, but we use different methods to carry them out. And, these conditions are brought about by the nations rebelling against God's Law. The things that are happening now is just a repetition of what has already been, hence Paul tells us these things "are written for our admonition" and examples for us to consider (1 Cor 10:11). But, like them of old, we will not heed the warning. "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people, slightly saying, peace peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush; therefore, they shall fall among them that fall at the time that I visit them. They shall be cast down, sayeth the Lord. Thus sayeth the Lord, stand ye in the way and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls; but they said, we will not walk therein. Also, I set watchmen over you, saying hearken to the sound of the trumpet, but they said, we will not hearken. Therefore, hear, ye nations; know 0 congregation, what is among them: hear, 0 earth, behold I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law; but have rejected it" (Jer 6:14-20).

When the same causes exist the same results will automatically follow. So, the nations today are suffering the consequence of their own folly. I cannot see that the present condition fulfills any special prophecy. The nations have always been at war; because they have always been rebellious.

Christ said there would be "wars and rumors of war but the end is not yet" (Matt 24:6). He said in the same chapter, there would be signs by which we may know the end is near, but no one knows when and how near, but God, Himself. For us to contend that this war is the "tribulation" or prelude to the end is nothing more than mere speculation. We should engage our time in learning and doing the things that make us ready for that time, and God will take care of the time. It may be tomorrow and it may be a thousand years. God just did not intend for us to know. Christ said, "Nations shall rise against nation and false prophets arise deceiving many and because of iniquity the love of many would wax cold but he that endures to the end shall be saved" (Matt 24:7-14).

You say it is "awful the way the way the European nations are suffering" and it is, but if you will read the prophets, you will learn that nations in the past have suffered just as bad, and you will also learn why they thus suffered. Then, you can better understand the conditions that now prevail. Why did not Germany invade England after Dunkirk? Those in position to know say they could have easily done so. God must have had a hand in this. England has been severely punished but she is still intact and growing stronger. The U. S. is being punished and is due for more before it is over, but she is still intact and growing stronger. It maybe that God plans after using Germany, Italy, and Japan, to accomplish this purpose; then use the U. S. and England to punish them. He has done such things in the past. He used Babylon to punish Jerusalem, then destroyed Babylon (Read Jer 51:33-59).

But, if the allies win what kind of nation will we have? Much is being said and written about the post war world and the peace but not much is being said about the most important thing of all; and that is the home. Mothers are leaving their homes to fill night shifts in factories and letting their children go to the dogs, Hence, the R. R. and bus stations, hotel lobbies, streets, and alleys, honkey tonks, and other drinking places, are filled with teen-age girls looking for pick ups, and they always find them. You will see these conditions all hours of the night. What kind of nation can you think of being built upon these conditions? Destroy the home and you have nothing left. When the one, and the only one, that can make a home is taken out of it, you just do not have a home. As one writer said: "We may win the peace on the production line and lose it on the home front." I fear that if there is not a change along this line, that later a worse calamity will befall the nations. "If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land, but if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" (Isa 1:19-20)

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