It Pays to Be Informed
WITH only a twelve-hour advance warning, some 50,000 residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast area fled northward before nightfall of August 17, 1969. They barely escaped the fury of hurricane Camille, one of the greatest storms ever to hit the United States. How thankful they were to be informed!
In Pass Christian, the city hardest hit, Police Chief Jerry Peralta was making his final warning round from house to house. At an elegant apartment house a number of people were gathered to “party away” the storm. They refused to heed Peralta’s warning, whereupon Peralta took the names of their nearest of kin. They laughed at him. A short time later the apartment was completely demolished, killing twenty persons.
Said one refugee in Pass Christian: “Storms have hit here plenty times before, and we just pass them off. But this one really fooled us this time, and you’d better believe we paid for it.”
On a world scale, warning signs of another kind are now up. Leaders express fear of disaster on many fronts. But the Bible gives warning of an even greater danger. If this warning is true, and if you are informed, it may mean a saving of life for yourself and your family. If not heeded, it could mean being faced with no way of escape.
With his warning God kindly points out the way of escape. One would be foolish, therefore, to ignore and ‘pass off’ the warning. If, as the title of the following article in this issue of The Watchtower indicates, a collision of the nations with God is just ahead, this is the greatest possible danger. It would certainly pay to be informed as to the reasons for the collision, and what way of escape exists.
That is why Jehovah’s witnesses call on people in their homes with this magazine. They are not expressing mere opinion. They are really witnesses for God, who does not take pleasure in the death of anyone, but gives ample warning notice.—Ezek. 33:11.
Jehovah’s witnesses are concerned with people’s lives. However, they can only help to inform you. You have the privilege of weighing the information presented, then either acting on it or declining to do so. But it is extremely dangerous to adopt the attitude that ‘this world has weathered storms before, so we’ll just pass off this warning.’ Do not laugh or scoff at this Christian warning before you have read the article “When All Nations Collide, Head On, with God.”