Suddenly, at Jehovah’s own predetermined “day and hour,” his fury will be unleashed upon the world’s religious, political, and commercial elements, together with the wayward people who make up this contemporary “wicked and adulterous generation.” (Matthew 12:39; 24:36;

1. Why should we endure and take courage?

ENDURE we must​—amid a faithless and twisted generation! Since 1914 a generation of people has become corrupt, just as in Jesus’ day. And today the corruption is on a worldwide scale. In these “last days,” the “critical times hard to deal with” described by the apostle Paul are afflicting mankind. ‘Wicked men and impostors continue to advance from bad to worse.’ Clearly, “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one,” Satan the Devil, who is now making his final effort to ruin the earth.

Rather than provide a rule for measuring time, the term “generation” as used by Jesus refers principally to contemporary people of a certain historical period, with their identifying characteristics.b