But Will You Survive the Sinking of this System? THE sinking of the Titanic was unthinkable. As the captain and commander of the Titanic, E. J. Smith, said: “I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.” But it happened. Even as the great ship began to sink, people on board refused to believe they were really in danger. As reported in the April 19, 1912, New York Times, one survivor made this statement: “The members of the crew urged everybody to get aboard [the lifeboats] and no one was in a hurry to do so. It was believed that there was no danger, and the general feeling was that those who had put off were making fools of themselves and would have the trouble of rowing back to the boat again after a few hours. “The people were apathetic at first all through the ship. The confidence that the ship was unsinkable was so great that most felt sure of its safety until the last minute. One of the stewards told us afterward that he had knocked at the door of a woman repeatedly, but she refused to move. Finally he tried to drag her out, but she fought him off, till he finally gave it up, and she went to the bottom of the sea, it is thought, in her stateroom.” The Titanic’s lifeboats had space for 1,178 persons—not enough for everyone, but far more than enough for the 700 survivors. Many died needlessly because those early lifeboats went out half empty, thanks to misplaced confidence in the “unsinkable” ship. Did you notice that a steward knocked at the door of a woman passenger, repeatedly warning her that the “unthinkable” was happening, only to be ignored? ‘How foolish!’ you might say. Yet people repeatedly knock at your door, too, giving you an urgent warning. Those people are Jehovah’s Witnesses, faithful “stewards” of Almighty God. Their warning is, not that this entire worldwide system of things is in danger of “sinking” in a flood of war, crime and brutal violence. Rather, that God will soon send it ‘to the bottom’ so that it can be replaced with a righteous new order ruled by his heavenly kingdom. What is your response to that warning? Like that woman passenger of the Titanic, do you say, ‘Ridiculous! Unthinkable!’ and close your door? Such an attitude can cost you your life. Danger Should Be Obvious Interestingly, a few alert people aboard the Titanic sensed impending disaster. Why? Because the ship was violating the most basic rules of sound seamanship. As one survivor pointed out: “We understood all afternoon that we were breaking all records for crossing the ocean. It was repeated among the passengers only a few hours before we crashed into the berg that we were making twenty-three miles an hour. We all knew of the warnings of danger that had come to the boat during the day.” Why the dangerous, breakneck speed? Another survivor had this recollection: “Before I retired [on the night of the disaster] I had a long chat with Charles H. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Railroad. One of the last things Mr. Hays said was: ‘The White Star, the Cunard, and the Hamburg-American Lines are devoting their attention and ingenuity in vying one with the other to attain the supremacy in luxurious ships and in making speed records. The time will soon come when this will be checked by some appalling disaster.’ Poor fellow, a few hours later he was dead!” Is not the present world situation much like that? Heedless of safety, trusting in the myth of its own invulnerability, the Titanic was in a dangerous race. The nations of the world today are engaged in a far more dangerous arms race, trusting, like the captain of the Titanic, that disaster will not ensue. But have they grounds for such trust? Or is their confidence misplaced? Thoughtful observers of the world scene argue that disaster is getting more and more likely. If you are tempted to say ‘Ridiculous! Unthinkable!’ when Jehovah’s Witnesses warn you of coming disaster for this system of things, remember: This world is violating the most basic rules of sound government, sound ecology and sound international relationships. Why should disaster be unlikely? Need to Heed Warning Of course, mere awareness of danger will not save a person from the end of this world system, just as it did not save Mr. Hays on the Titanic. The survivors of the Titanic were those who took the proper action in response to warnings of danger. For many, such action meant leaving a comfortable stateroom in the middle of the night to rush up to a chilly deck, clad only in a dressing gown. It meant strictly and humbly following the orders of stewards and crew to get into a small lifeboat, perhaps leaving a husband or a brother behind. It meant pulling away in that little boat from a ship described at the time as “a great fifteen-story floating palace, splendid and gigantic in every detail . . . with . . . great saloons and restaurants, a miniature theatre, squash and tennis courts, swimming pools and Turkish and electric baths; great smoking rooms, card rooms, beautiful music rooms, sun parlors, Winter gardens, palm courts, gymnasium, and . . . even a miniature golf links.” It meant giving up all that luxury and comfort for a hard seat in an open boat in a chilly sea. It meant, at least for those on the early lifeboats, overcoming the fear of ridicule by those who said they were “making fools of themselves” and would soon be sheepishly rowing back to the Titanic. Yes, even if you had heard the warning, heeding it might not have been easy! Heeding that warning called for determination, humility, a denial of materialism, and a spirit of self-sacrificing acceptance of hardship. But it was worth it! The alternative was a few more comfortable minutes, then death. Already Sinking This world system has been ‘sinking’ ever since 1914, when World War I began a remarkable fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy found in the Bible at Matthew chapter 24, Luke chapter 21 and Mark chapter 13. Jesus put it this way: “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.”—Matt 24:7, 8. As Jesus went on to point out, those “pangs of distress” would be followed by persecution of Christians, the rise of false prophets, increasing crime and lawlessness, and the earth-wide preaching of the good news of God’s kingdom. “And then,” said Jesus, “the end will come.”—Matt. 24:9-14. Who can deny that these very predictions have been coming true more and more since 1914? It would be like the passengers of the Titanic denying that the great ship had really struck an iceberg! What happened to this world system in 1914 was something far more significant than any collision with a mere iceberg. Bible chronology indicates that in 1914 Jehovah God installed Jesus Christ as rightful ruler over this earth. Christ’s immediate action was to cast Satan the Devil from heaven to the vicinity of the earth, with the result that is well described at Revelation 12:12: “Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” That “short period” of worldwide “woe” began in 1914. How long will it continue? Jesus indicated it would wind up within the lifetime of the generation that witnessed its beginning. (Matt. 24:34) How would this period of “woe” end? Not gradually, but suddenly as this foundering worldwide ‘ship of state’ is finished off in a dramatic confrontation between this world’s political forces and Christ’s angelic armies, a final showdown known as the battle of Armageddon.—Rev. 16:14, 16, Authorized Version; 19:11-21. So do not be deceived by any false “buoyancy” of this system of things! Some people are like the foolish passengers of the Titanic who “joked over the matter.” In fact, according to contemporary newspaper reports, “some of the fragments of ice [from the iceberg the Titanic struck] had fallen on the deck and these were picked up and passed around by some of the facetious ones, who offered them as mementoes of the occasion.” Likewise today there are “facetious ones” who say, in effect, that the world has always had its share of war, crime and other hardships. ‘So,’ they ask, ‘what’s all the excitement about?’ (2 Pet. 3:3, 4) This ‘ship of state’ can stay afloat for a long while yet, they claim. But remember! War, lawlessness, famine and other hardships are merely indicators that the ship is sinking. They will not ultimately sink it. God will do the sinking—suddenly and soon! The Deck Is Sloping However, two world wars, unprecedented earthquakes, millions of yearly victims of worldwide famine, the accelerating arms race—all these indicate clearly to wise persons that the deck of this worldwide ship is sloping. Its time is running out. Just as the Titanic’s passengers could not find enough lifeboats when they finally woke up to the seriousness of their plight, so the Bible indicates that when most people finally realize that this worldly system is doomed, it will be too late. The “lifeboats” will be gone.—Matt. 24:38-42. Once those lifeboats were gone, those left behind had no hope of being saved. It did not matter that John Jacob Astor IV had a personal fortune estimated at $100,000,000 at the time. His money could not save his life. Nor could the money of his son Vincent. Back in New York city, he was described as “almost hysterical from grief” as he besieged the wireless office, telling everyone “that he would give all the money that could be asked for if the [wireless] operator would only tell him that he had heard news of his father’s safety.” All in vain. Yes, the disaster of the Titanic was great, but the disaster just ahead for this system of things is far greater. About one third of the passengers of the Titanic managed to escape death. However, there is no Biblical indication that so large a proportion of this world’s population will survive the impending destruction of this system of things. To the contrary, “those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth.” (Jer. 25:33) The slain ones will include, “kings . . . military commanders . . . strong men . . . freemen as well as slaves . . . small ones and great.”—Rev. 19:18. The warnings have been given in the pages of this magazine and its companion, The Watchtower, for many years now. There is still time for humble ones to find a place on a “lifeboat” by following the Bible-based instructions of “stewards” who still come to their doors. But time is running out! Why not ask Jehovah’s Witnesses what you should do to survive the sinking of this system of things while there is still an opportunity? [Footnotes] See the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, pp. 82-93, published by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. [Blurb on page 10] Like that woman passenger of the “Titanic,” do you say, ‘Ridiculous! Unthinkable!’ and close your door? [Blurb on page 11] There is still time to find a place on a “lifeboat.” But time is running out! [Picture on page 9] Do you heed the warning of the end of this system?
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 06:00:08 +0000
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