The Evidence that the Times of the Gentiles have nearly run their Course

(Continued from page 191.)

And if we would watch intelligently it is necessary that we be able, through familiarity with the Word of God, to discern aright the signs of the times. In three short verses our Lord Himself has given us a marvelous epitome of the conditions that would prevail immediately before the great tribulation. Weigh carefully Matt. 24:5-7, and ask yourself if anything could more aptly describe the days in which we live. "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars:see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." With this, couple the equally pertinent words of Luke 21:25, 26:"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:for the powers of heaven shall be shaken."

The context makes it clear that these are the outward evidences of the near approach of the end-times. They do not definitely fix the time when the Lord must come. They simply show that the days of vengeance are coming on a pace. And one might fearlessly challenge anyone to give us a better description of our own days than we have in these verses, taking brevity into consideration. Note the leading features of the two passages:First:Many Antichrists. It might be said that there has never been a time since the very days of the apostles that this sign has not been manifested; and this I readily admit. But in a certain sense the whole Christian dispensation is marked by all those things predicted by our Lord, for ever since apostolic days men have lived in what John calls '' the last hour." The greater part of earth's time or course has been run; only the last hour remains ere the kingdom be ushered in. But while this is so, we gather that the characteristic features of the age will be accentuated at the close. And so it is at the present solemn moment. We hear of antichrists on every hand, and those who are deceived thereby may well be called legion! In all lands these false Christs are found. In America we have witnessed the"powers and signs and lying wonders" connected with the system miscalled Christian Science, which venerated its woman-founder as the second coming of Christ, and holds its false philosophy to be the promised Comforter, thus blaspheming against the Holy Ghost. Lesser lights have flickered and flamed up, then died down, leaving hosts of disappointed dupes, like Dowie, the pseudo-prophet of Chicago; Sanford, the Elijah of New England; Dr. Teed, the Koresh; and others too numerous to mention:and as they pass away, other deceivers take their places, for men would rather believe any lie than God's truth. A Persian
antichrist, Abbas Effendi or Abdul Bahai, appears in Europe and America and is accorded the liberty of proclaiming his propaganda from "Christian" pulpits, and now has his societies in such numbers that they recently held a great congress at the World's Fair in San Francisco-and this in a land of Bibles! The Order of the Star of the East, a Theosophical off-shoot, is increasing by leaps and bounds, and all its members are avowedly waiting for "the coming one"-who is not Christ, as they dream, but Antichrist. The Christ of God comes the second time from heaven. The-Antichrist will come from the earth-born in a natural way. No earth-born person, however wonderful, can deceive the elect, who wait for God's Son from heaven.
Second:A period of terrible unrest and warfare among the nations would manifest " the beginning of sorrows." Men have flattered themselves that the world would never again be desolated by wars and wholesale slaughter. In the very month that the present European conflict broke out, the organ of the Peace Society, published tn Toronto, contained an .ably-written article declaring that war was now an impossibility, and a great world-conflict could never occur again! Clergymen, oblivious of Scripture, and carried away by the loose theologies of the day, were loudly voicing the same empty boast up to the day before the awful conflict began; and, ever since, our Lord's words have been fully applicable. Nation after nation has been drawn into the struggle, and the end is not yet. The nations seem war-mad and demon-led as the time draws near for the great Armageddon conflict yet to be fought out in the land of Palestine, when all nations shall be drawn into -the fray. Even should peace intervene, it will prove to be but a temporary truce; for there can be no lasting peace until all Gentile dominions are destroyed, and He comes whose right it is to reign.

In the third and fourth places we read of famines and pestilences, the very natural outcome of war, which are even now reaping fearful harvests, though the science and skill of the world are endeavoring to successfully cope with them. Already many high-spirited and noble-minded physicians and nurses have laid down their lives in the overpowering conflict in trying to hinder the on-rushing pestilence, while the charity of the world is strained in its efforts to check the ravages of famine-and what may it not yet be in the near future ?

In Luke's account we get the fifth sign that the end is drawing near, calamities such as the world has never previously known. Were the dreams of evolution true, we should long since have passed earth's formative period, but events of recent years show us that this very globe is going through great and momentous changes, preparatory to the conditions prophesied of for millennial times. Surely never have there been so many terrible disasters on land and sea as since the midnight cry summoned the virgin band to trim their lamps. Earthquakes, tidal waves and kindred phenomena have occurred with amazing frequency. Is it any wonder that we see the sixth sign on every hand?- "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth? " Confidence is shaken. Nations are bewildered and perplexed. Pledges even of nations are violated,
and promises broken. Individuals are in fear and dismay where a cheery spirit of optimism prevailed but a short time ago. Yet, amidst it all, the Christian need not be in perplexity or doubt. The Word of God has forewarned of all this. Minutely it has foretold existing conditions, and the fulfilment of its solemn prophecies should only strengthen the faith of the believer as he turns from all men's empty vaporings to the unerring and inerrant word of God. H. A. I.

(To be continued.)