The holy heavens were called upon to rejoice over God’s victory, a divine victory, but what about us here on earth? The loud cry in heaven said: “But woe to you, earth and sea!” Why “woe” for us, whether on land or on sea? Because “the Devil has come down to you in great fury, knowing that his time is short!”​—Rev. 12:12, NE.

Cause of Humanity’s Distress Nears Removal

1. According to the Bible, what is the main cause of humanity’s suffering increasing distress?

IT IS true that selfish, loveless men are not free from blame. But the main reason for humanity’s suffering increasing distress is that Satan the Devil and his demon angels have been thrown out of the holy heavens and down to our earth’s neighborhood, and these ousted devils are furious at this. They are furious because the “war . . . in heaven” resulted in divine victory, God’s victory. They are furious because God’s kingdom of his true Messiah was born in the heavens at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, and they could not block it. They are furious because their time of confinement here is short before they are ousted even from the earth and imprisoned in an abyss from which they cannot exercise their wicked influence over all mankind.​—Rev. 20:1-3, 7.

2, 3. (a) How is the aim of Satan the Devil like the political aim of the late dictator Hitler? (b) Why is Revelation 12:13-17 quoted to show that Satan’s aim is not for the preserving of human life?

² With the late Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler, the political aim was, Rule or ruin! He got that idea from the same place where earlier dictators got it, namely, from Satan the Devil. Now that Satan will shortly be unable to rule all mankind as he did during the Gentile Times and even before that, he is determined to ruin all mankind. Then, as he thinks, no humans will be left on earth over which God’s kingdom of his Messiah can rule. Suicide by humanity by nuclear war or self-pollution is no deterrent thought for Satan the Devil. His purpose toward mankind is murderous, and this is indicated in these further words of the Revelation:

³ “Now when the dragon saw that it was hurled down to the earth, it persecuted the woman that gave birth to the male child. . . . And the dragon grew wrathful at the woman, and went off to wage war with the remaining ones of her seed, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness to Jesus.”​—Rev. 12:13-17.

War at Har–Magedon

4, 5. (a) Against whom has the symbolic dragon Satan declared war, and for how long? (b) To what is he unsuspectedly leading political rulers of earth, and how is this operation of his pictured in Revelation 16:13-16?

⁴ Satan the symbolic dragon has declared war against God’s organization (as symbolized by “the woman”) down to the very end. Unsuspected by the political rulers of Christendom and heathendom, Satan “the great dragon” is leading them to destruction in a final war. Not a war between themselves with nuclear weapons and biochemical agencies, but a war against God, who is the Father of the heavenly Messianic kingdom from the womb of his “woman,” his organization. This is true, not only for the anti-God Communist bloc of nations, but also for the nations of religious Christendom. The rulers of distressed humanity are today following the war propaganda of Satan the symbolic dragon.