Exclaiming About the Peril of Our Time
ALMOST daily some clergyman, scientist or politician exclaims that great peril faces mankind. And what peril is it about which they exclaim? The peril of an atomic war. Exclaimed United States Senator Stuart Symington: “We are now in that era some of us have predicted with dread for a long time—the period of total danger.” The “total danger” expressed in the words of Dr. Edgar Douglas Adrian, one of Britain’s leading scientists, is radioactivity contamination earth-wide: “We must face the possibility that repeated atom explosions will lead to a degree of general radioactivity which no one can tolerate or escape.” So the fear of the atom peril is great. But in spite of the fact that the spotlight is on the atom, we ask, Is the radioactive monster the real peril that confronts mankind and that affects your destiny?
It may surprise some to know that amid all the blatant cries created by the nuclear-weapon threat the real peril has been obscured. This real peril is of supreme importance because it affects the everlasting destiny of all persons. How could such a peril ever be obscured? And just what is it? The real peril is the fate toward which Satan the Devil is leading all the nations of the earth. That fate is everlasting annihilation at the hands of Almighty God. This destiny of destruction will befall hundreds of millions, because the Devil is misleading the nations: “Down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth.” (Rev. 12:9, NW) There are no exceptions; every country on earth, the Bible declares, is being misled. For the sake of your very life you must now make certain that you are not being misled along with the nations.
But now more about the real peril. God’s Word declares that the Devil, through his organization of demons and men, would deceive the nations, thus leading them to destruction at Armageddon: “I saw three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and perform signs, and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty. And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.”—Rev. 16:13, 14, 16, NW.
Is it strange that the public press and the clerical luminaries have not warned the people of God’s war of Armageddon, the real peril? No, because so thorough has been the Devil’s deception that the mass of mankind will be caught off guard, just as they were in Noah’s time. Jesus brings this to our attention. He tells us that the catastrophic flood was pictorial of the great peril facing men of this generation. Through Noah, not through the worldly organization of that time, God proclaimed the peril of the preflood world. But the people “took no note until the flood came and swept them all away.” Then the Master explains: “So the presence of the Son of man will be.” (Matt. 24:39, NW) Thus, the masses will “take no note” of the real peril until Armageddon comes and sweeps them all away into destruction.
How vital to determine the real peril of our time! So many critical perils have appeared that the people are bewildered. This was foretold by Christ’s apostle: “But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here.” Now the important thing is to keep these secondary perils from obscuring your vision of the real peril. For the perils themselves are only a sign of the last days. Because of the Devil’s being hurled down from heaven, some of the perils foretold for the “last days” are famines, an unusual number of earthquakes and world wars. Jesus said that men would become so alarmed over these many perils that they would “become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.” Jesus did not mean that the masses would become alarmed about Armageddon and worry over it. But rather he meant that the war peril and others would cause men’s hearts to quake with fear. Such perils should never eclipse the import of them: to indicate or signify the nearness of Armageddon.—2 Tim. 3:1; Luke 21:26, NW.
Today only one organization is exclaiming about this real peril. This is the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. For many years now they have diligently sounded the warning. All others have remained silent. This very silence is the sign of a false religion. The Bible calls false religionists “dumb dogs” because they do not exclaim in warning: “They are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.”—Isa. 56:10, AS.
Do not be deceived. The atomic peril is not the vital issue. It is only a minor peril compared with Armageddon. Why? Because those who suffer death at Jehovah’s hands will be everlastingly destroyed. They are described as the “slain of Jehovah” and they lie as “dung upon the face of the ground.” With good reason we should fear Jehovah, not men! Explained Christ Jesus: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but can not kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” Since only Jehovah can destroy “the soul,” meaning, in this instance, one’s future right to life, no peril of everlasting consequence can come from men or their weapons.—Jer. 25:33, AS; Matt. 10:28, NW.
The real peril is near. Make no mistake about it. We are advised by the Master: “Keep praying that your flight may not occur in wintertime nor on the sabbath day; for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” Absolutely unprecedented will be Armageddon! Nothing in all the ages to come can be compared with it. No wonder Jesus advises fleeing now, not “in wintertime nor on the sabbath day.” The winter and sabbath here picture a difficult time for flight, and wise ones would not delay until then.—Matt. 24:20, 21, NW.
By all means, then, flee now to the New World theocratic system of things. Abandon the wicked world organization. A New World society is formed. Jehovah’s witnesses, who come to your door, will be glad to tell you more about the New World society, the only organization exclaiming about the real peril of our times.