[Box on page 7]

DOES MANKIND NEED GOD’S KINGDOM?

“If a one-megaton nuclear device were exploded over New York City, it would probably kill 2.25 million people immediately, seriously injure an additional 3.6 million, . . . a group of physicians and nuclear physicists agreed yesterday. . . . Their belief is that the world will experience such a war before the century is over and that it would make the continued existence of humans impossible.”​—New York “Times,” September 27, 1980

2, 3. What changes in recent years emphasize the need for God’s kingdom?

² However, things are far different now. For we are passing through times that the Bible describes as “hard to deal with.” (2 Timothy 3:1) You know how these critical times have touched your own life. Many who will read these pages have lost loved ones in the wars and other violence of this century. Yet the nations are engaged in the most feverish armaments race of all time. And they already have on hand far more than enough weapons to bring about the annihilation of all humankind.

³ Other problems, very close to home, also concern us. With the upsurge of muggings, murder and rape, many of us find it dangerous even to walk the streets. And do we not hear of more divorces, broken families and delinquency than formerly? In this age of permissive sex and drug addiction, many persons are apprehensive about sending their children to the public schools. If you live in some neighborhood or country where such problems have not yet surfaced, you should be thankful indeed!

4, 5. (a) What other problems touch our lives? (b) What world trends show that it is urgent for ‘God’s kingdom to come’?

⁴ How much does it cost to put food on your table these days? And how much does it cost to run your automobile? As food and fuel prices soar, the shaky world situation casts ominous shadows into the future. Where is our world headed? An item in U.S. News & World Report of August 4, 1980, underlined the seriousness of the crisis. It said: “Unless major new steps are taken, the world 20 years from now will be a filthy, unstable planet with billions of poor people scrambling for scarce, high-priced resources. That warning emerged on July 24 from a presidential commission completing a three-year study.” Among other things, this study revealed that by the year 2000 the world’s population will reach 6.3 billion, that​—inflation aside—​food prices will double, that deserts will expand and forests disappear, and that at least half the world’s oil will be depleted. That is, if the present system should survive that long!

⁵ What have individual nations, or even the United Nations, been able to do about this crisis? Very little, as yet.