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I am an old man in his eighties who has watched the world go by for about sixty five years. I’ve watched as law and order has collapsed and greed and aggression have taken over. I have noticed that the value of human life has dropped so far that one can be murdered for the contents of one’s purse. And I find myself asking myself the question why? Why, when we can fly to the moon and navigate the planet using satellite technology, why the collapse of modern civilization. In the fifties historians told us that a similar collapse heralded the end of the ancient Roman Empire.

While there have always been wars and trouble in the world all these things have escalated to alarming proportions in these days. The Bible has predicted all these occurrences, unfortunately most people no longer believe the Bible. Even religious people avoid discussing the Bible and are just content to believe in Jesus and feel that that is all that is necessary. Yet it is the Bible that gives us the answer to question of why problems have escalated. The established religions of Christendom have failed to equip there flocks with the true answer to the question.

History shows us that the dark ages for example were produced by the religions of the day. The church ruled supreme and controlled kings and nations. People were burned at the stake for reading the Bible until the printing press was invented and made the translation and distribution of the Bible impossible to stop. A change of tactics then appeared. Now the religious clergy claimed to represent and teach the Bible, however, they allowed doubts about its authenticity and accuracy to proliferate without giving people  the answers to these doubt.

The purpose of the true congregation of God was to educate their member to such a degree that their flocks would be able to know the truth and to put up a defence for the truth.

(Ephesians 4:11-15) 11 And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelizers, some as shepherds and teachers, 12 with a view to the readjustment of the holy ones, for ministerial work, for the building up of the body of the Christ, 13 until we all attain to the oneness in the faith and in the accurate knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of stature that belongs to the fullness of the Christ; 14 in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error. 15 But speaking the truth, let us by love grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ.

Notice that the purpose of the congregation was to build up its members in accurate knowledge so that the members would not be like babies in the truth but mature men able to defend themselves against false teachings. I was one of the victims.

In the fifties as a young man because of teachings like the hellfire doctrine, which made no sense and other teachings, I became an evolutionist, because it seemed the only logical explanation for why we are here. Fortunately for me, I was introduced to someone who asked me to explain how evolutionists could explain the development of an eye. I was staggered. An eye is an incredible camera, with 180° wide-angle vision. Auto-focus, stereoscopic vision, seeing in colour, automatic lens-cleaner, and a lens cap, requires no filters and can operate under water, operating in near darkness and blinding light.

My questioner was a person studying with Jehovah’s witnesses. After a short time I began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses. At last, now I know that the Bible is scientifically accurate, historically accurate and I understand the purpose of God in creating the earth and mankind and I can assure you that it is nothing like what the churches are telling people today.

The Bible teaches that God’s purpose was for man to enjoy a happy life on earth forever. However, humans could never live forever unless our Creator sustained them and protected them from physical harm. This was apparently his purpose for mankind because unlike animals, the Bible tells us that God put time indefinite in their hearts.

(Ecclesiastes 3:11) . . .Everything he has made pretty in its time. Even time indefinite he has put in their heart, that mankind may never find out the work that the [true] God has made from the start to the finish.

As the figurative heart is the seat of desire and motivation, this meant that the desire to live forever was implanted in our hearts. The question is, why would God put time indefinite in our hearts if he intended us to live such a short time on earth?

The Bible’s explanation for the reason that we have a limited life span is because Adam disobeyed God. God was certainly not going to sustain Adam’s life if Adam chose to disobey God. Would you or I be willing to guarantee a machine if the operator would not follow our directions on how it should be handled. Adam was not immortal as proven by the fact that he was dependent on food and breathing to live. If God intended that he live indefinitely God would have to look after him and sustain his life force indefinitely.

What actually happened?

God had warned Adam of what would happen if he disobeyed God.
Using a tree and its fruit as a symbol that God called the “knowledge of Good and Bad” God warned Adam not to eat of its fruit.

There were two trees in the paradise. The tree of life symbolized God’s guarantee to sustain them indefinitely and the tree of “knowledge of good and bad” that symbolized God’s right to decide what was “good and bad”. When God told Adam not to eat from the fruit Adam knew what was good and bad. However when he decided to eat from the fruit he took upon himself the right to decide what was good or bad for himself. That is why God said he became like one of us.

Up to that time only three persons claimed the right to decide what was good and bad. Jehovah God, our creator, Satan the apostate spirit son of God and Eve when she disobeyed God’s instruction. Therefore the expression one of us referred to these three.

(Genesis 3:22-24) . . .And Jehovah God went on to say: “Here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad, and now in order that he may not put his hand out and actually take [fruit] also from the tree of life and eat and live to time indefinite,—” 23 With that Jehovah God put him out of the garden of E´den to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. 24 And so he drove the man out and posted at the east of the garden of E´den the cherubs and the flaming blade of a sword that was turning itself continually to guard the way to the tree of life.

However that was the start of the trouble. Little did Adam realize when he disobeyed God and chose to follow Satan’s proposal, he became a slave to Satan and chose Satan as his God. As he had chosen to go his own way, he could no longer be trusted, and so God put him out of Paradise and took steps to prevent him from claiming God’s guarantee to sustain him as well.

(Romans 6:16) . . .Do YOU not know that if YOU keep presenting yourselves to anyone as slaves to obey him, YOU are slaves of him because YOU obey him, either of sin with death in view or of obedience with righteousness in view?

This is how Satan became the ruler of this world.

(John 12:31) . . .Now there is a judging of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

(2 Corinthians 4:4) . . .among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. . .

Why did God allow this situation to develop to the extent that it has? Basically, it was to demonstrate to the universe that only God’s way would work. Spirit creatures or humans could never produce a successful peaceful harmonious world independent of God’s direction. The present failure of the world bears testimony to this fact. With all the technical advances it is becoming more and more obvious that this world is becoming uncontrollable, just as God knew that it would.

The logicalness of God’s view is obvious. Imagine the chaos that would arise in traffic if there were no traffic laws. However laws do not work unless individuals accept them and willingly obey them. The spirit of independence that human’s have cultivated under Satan’s rule ensure the failure of any scheme that may be beneficial to them.
Therefore it has become apparent that only God’s way of ruling can be genuinely successful.
To achieve his aims, Satan has used his influence over people to bring forth governments and nations.

(Revelation 13:1-2) And it stood still upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a wild beast ascending out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, but upon its heads blasphemous names. 2 Now the wild beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were as those of a bear, and its mouth was as a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave to [the beast] its power and its throne and great authority.

I have discussed the explanation of this verse in detail in another article, (Can Revelation be Understood?) and so I will just give a few hints.
1.The dragon is the one standing on the sands of the sea.(according to the last verse in Rev. 12.
2. The sea represents mankind (Isaiah 51:20,21)
3. Wild Beasts always picture nations.(Dan 7:17)
4. “And the dragon gave to [the beast] its power and its throne and great authority”
This harmonizes with what Satan himself said to Jesus when he tried to tempt Jesus. Jesus never denied his claim but replied that Jehovah God alone deserved to be worshiped.

(Luke 4:5-8) . . .So he brought him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth in an instant of time; 6 and the Devil said to him: “I will give you all this authority and the glory of them, because it has been delivered to me, and to whomever I wish I give it. 7 You, therefore, if you do an act of worship before me, it will all be yours.” 8 In reply Jesus said to him: “It is written, ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’”

The present conditions of the world points to the failure on the part of the nations and their religions to sort out the world’s problems. This means that Satan has failed to produce an unified peaceful happy world, although he has had thousands of years to do so. Humans have tried every conceivable form of government under the direction of Satan. Satan cannot use God’s methods to accomplish his purposes as this would be an acknowledgment that God’s way is right and therefore he uses deception, intimidation and force, which are not God’s methods. Is it any wonder that He has failed to bring peace and happiness to mankind.

The way that God runs the universe is based on love. All of God’s intelligent creatures have been created in God’s image reflecting his attributes of love, wisdom, justice and power. Even though we are now imperfect we can still to some extent reflect those qualities. This means that we can respond to God’s loving example and obey him willingly.  God’s intelligent creatures trust him to always do what is right, respect his love of justice and therefore willingly obey him because they love him. The love they have is a principled love that is cultivated by appreciation of his lofty qualities. This is what makes everything work.

(1 Corinthians 13:1-8) 13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a sounding [piece of] brass or a clashing cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophesying and am acquainted with all the sacred secrets and all knowledge, and if I have all the faith so as to transplant mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my belongings to feed others, and if I hand over my body, that I may boast, but do not have love, I am not profited at all. 4 Love is long-suffering and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, does not get puffed up, 5 does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. 6 It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But whether there are [gifts of] prophesying, they will be done away with; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will be done away with. . .

Satan believes otherwise. He regards the fact that God limits the use of his power in this way as a weakness and set out to prove his point by misleading the first humans. He felt that God would not be able to fulfil his word without contradicting his own word. That is why it has been necessary for Jehovah to allow Satan and the disobedient humans to experience the failure of their attempts to rule themselves.

(Jeremiah 10:23) 23 I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.. . .
(Ecclesiastes 8:9) . . .All this I have seen, and there was an applying of my heart to every work that has been done under the sun, [during] the time that man has dominated man to his injury.

God knew what their actions would ultimately lead to. Satan and humankind have had the enough time to produce a successful outcome, if that was possible. Satan has tried every kind of government. He has produce thousands of different religions. He has contradicted every arrangement that God instituted for mankind’s benefit. True, the vast majority of mankind have accepted Satan’s ruler unknowingly by carrying out his will but God foreknew that there would be those persons who if given an opportunity to choose would choose God’s way.

The present escalation of the unhappy conditions caused by the failure of Satan’s world indicates that; if God intends saving mankind, never has the need been greater for God to take action than now. All of this background information is necessary if we are to properly understand why problems have escalated. Unlike conditions in the past centuries, the leaders of the world appear to be losing control of the situation.

Because God is absolutely righteous and merciful he could never destroy this world without first giving persons an opportunity to change their ways, just as he did in times past. Why he even had an occasion recorded to show us his point of view.

(Genesis 18:1-2) . . .Afterward Jehovah appeared to him among the big trees of Mam´re, while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent about the heat of the day. 2 When he raised his eyes, then he looked and there three men were standing some distance from him. When he caught sight of them he began running to meet them from the entrance of the tent and proceeded to bow down to the earth. . .

The three men proved to be angels, one of them was God’s personal representative, bearing God’s message to Abraham, while the other two men were being sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

(Genesis 18:20-33) . . .Consequently Jehovah said: “The cry of complaint about Sod´om and Go·mor´rah, yes, it is loud, and their sin, yes, it is very heavy. 21 I am quite determined to go down that I may see whether they act altogether according to the outcry over it that has come to me, and, if not, I can get to know it.” 22 At this point the men turned from there and got on their way to Sod´om; but as for Jehovah, he was still standing before Abraham. 23 Then Abraham approached and began to say: “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous men in the midst of the city. Will you, then, sweep them away and not pardon the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are inside it? 25 It is unthinkable of you that you are acting in this manner to put to death the righteous man with the wicked one so that it has to occur with the righteous man as it does with the wicked! It is unthinkable of you. Is the Judge of all the earth not going to do what is right?” 26 Then Jehovah said: “If I shall find in Sod´om fifty righteous men in the midst of the city I will pardon the whole place on their account.” ……

To save space we see that Abraham pleaded with Jehovah repeatedly until at last his request was for only 10 righteous persons.

…..32 Finally he said: “May Jehovah, please, not grow hot with anger, but let me speak just this once: Suppose ten are found there.” In turn he said: “I shall not bring it to ruin on account of the ten.” 33 Then Jehovah went his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

What can we learn from this account?

(2 Peter 3:9-10) 9 Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with YOU because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance. 10 Yet Jehovah’s day will come as a thief. . .

God is merciful and kind and will never act harshly without giving persons whom he considers might reasonably respond to his warning. Furthermore we see how highly he expects absolute obedience to his directions.

Scripture then records that the two angels went to Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed the two cities and all that were therein. However they only did this after they gave an opportunity to escape to so those who God considered might take advantage of the warning. The prospective son-in-laws of Lot’s daughters got the warning but turned it down. Another one, Lot’s wife lost her life because she was not obedient to the instructions of the angels.

(Genesis 19:14) . . .Hence Lot went on out and began to speak to his sons-in-law who were to take his daughters, and he kept on saying: “Get up! Get out of this place, because Jehovah is bringing the city to ruin!” But in the eyes of his sons-in-law he seemed like a man who was joking.

Other scriptures show that God knows that the majority will be destroyed because they will not take note of the warning. However there will be a minority that will listen to the warning and take the necessary steps to do what God tells us to do to survive.

(Matthew 24:14) 14 And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.

(Matthew 24:37-39) . . .For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 38 For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; 39 and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away,. . .

To properly understand where we are in the stream of time and also why the rapid escalation of the problems of our day, we need to consult the way Jesus answered the questions that his disciples put to him.

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