Why the Crisis of All Mankind?
What does the present crisis really mean? Why is it more severe than any previous one, and what can you do about it? If you really want to know the wise course today, then this article is for you.
POLITICAL leaders have a great deal to say about today’s crisis. So do religious leaders, newspaper writers, atomic scientists and others. However, this article is not about the world’s crisis. Rather, it is about your crisis, the one that you as an individual face today.
A crisis is a time when a vital decision must be made. Consider an example: An airplane pilot flying over a vast ocean through a stormy night finds he is low on gasoline. Nearing the shore he knows that he must decide immediately whether to take the chance of ditching his plane in the sea, or whether if he throttles back and flies carefully he will have just enough gasoline to reach shore, get over the thickly settled city and land safely at the airport.
This is a crisis. The decision must be made immediately; it cannot be put off. Also, it must be well informed, based on sound knowledge of how far the plane is from the airport, the amount of gasoline it has and the distance it will fly on that gasoline. Upon his decision rests the pilot’s own life and the lives of many others.
A different type of crisis was faced by the Christian congregation in Jerusalem in the year 66. More than thirty years earlier Jesus had said that when the city was surrounded by armies they should flee to the mountains. Now the city was surrounded. The crisis, or point of decision, had come. Would they heed Jesus’ warning and flee the city? Yes, these Christians made the wise choice, abandoning their home city and moving into the mountains across the Jordan, just as Jesus had instructed. This right decision enabled them to escape being killed in the terrible destruction that came upon Jerusalem A.D. 70.
Now, you are not flying an airplane, nor living in Jerusalem in the year 66, but you do face an equally grave crisis today. Like the pilot’s decision, it is a matter of life or death that cannot be put off. It must be made immediately, and it must be well informed, based upon an accurate understanding of where we are in God’s purposes and the amount of time that remains for us. Just as in Jerusalem A.D. 66, Jehovah has commanded a specific course for his servants to take, the sign that he indicated has become evident, and the only question that remains is, Will you do what he instructs?
YOUR INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY
Why does this crisis concern you as an individual? Because the world has already passed its point of crisis. It has made its decision, and its decision was the wrong one! It is because the world has taken the wrong course that Christians, even back in Jesus’ day, were separate from it. Jesus said to his followers: “If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you.” (John 15:19, NW) This old world’s crisis has passed. Its doom was long ago stated in the Bible and foretold in the divine prophecies. But the end of the world will not mean the end of earth and all mankind. It will mean only the end of this wicked worldly system. Thus survival is possible: “Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3, AS) So while the world’s doom is set, you as an individual can take the right course and receive God’s protection.
Whether or not you will survive depends upon your attitude and your course of action now. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with this corrupt world? Are you a part of it, or have you kept yourself free from its corruption? Are you willing to get out of Satan’s system and be marked as one who loves righteousness and hates the world’s abominations? Then heed the warning regarding the wicked system that God will destroy: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4, NW) Take the right course now and receive Jehovah’s protection through the time of trouble that earth faces.
There is nothing impossible about God’s abolishing the wicked conditions earth now faces. He has done it before. During the flood of Noah’s day the global, total flood piled up for forty days and did not sink into basins until an entire year had passed. Truly a catastrophe worse than countless H-bombs, this was a destruction that wiped out both the population and civilization then in existence! Destruction came upon those who refused to change their wrong attitude toward God or who had paid no attention to the warning God had given. Noah, a preacher of righteousness, had faithfully proclaimed the warning, but the people did not listen. They did not think God would destroy their system. And Jesus said of our day: “Moreover, just as it occurred in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of man: they were eating, they were drinking, men were marrying, women were being given in marriage, until that day when Noah entered into the ark, and the flood arrived and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26, 27, NW) However, eight human souls who served Jehovah were spared. Thus God can and will destroy a condemned world, though individuals who take the right course can survive.
WHAT CAUSED THE PRESENT CRISIS?
In order to understand the present crisis, you must understand the reason for it. And by understanding it you will be able to make the right decision. The reason that the greatest crisis has come now is because now is the time for settling the greatest of all issues. This is an issue that was raised by Satan’s rebellion nearly 6,000 years ago. Today many people scoff at the idea that Satan even exists, let alone that his rebellion caused earth’s troubles.
But their scoffing is proved ridiculous by the Bible’s clear statements on the matter. It shows that the one who became the Devil was originally an exalted spirit creature, but that nearly 6,000 years ago he challenged the sovereignty of the great Creator, Jehovah. He charged that under stress no men would keep integrity to their Creator. Later, regarding the faithful man Job he said: “Put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will renounce thee to thy face.”—Job 1:11, AS.
Yes, Satan thinks he can turn all men from God. A great portion of the earth has followed him—so much, in fact, that 1 John 5:19 (NW) says: “The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.”
Satan’s doom, and that of his wicked organization, is sealed. But, as an individual, yours is not. You can decide whether you will, as Satan said you would, reject keeping integrity to Jehovah God; or whether you will, as many faithful men all down through the centuries have done, meet your crisis successfully, proving Satan’s challenge false and showing that even under opposition you will serve Jehovah.—Rev. 20:1-3.
WHY SO VITAL NOW?
The reason that your decision is so vital today, however, is because the time has come for the final settling of this issue. In fact, the first steps in its settling have already occurred. As Revelation 12:7-12 (NW) foretold, Satan has been hurled down to earth, and there is “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.” It is during the lifetime of our present generation that this has happened! It is since the year 1914 that unusual and unexplained difficulties, such as Jesus described in Matthew 24, have come upon the earth as a direct result of Satan’s anger.
Thus, Satan’s time is short. The destruction of his entire wicked system at Armageddon is near. The fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows it, the count of time shows it, and true Christians are definite about it! The facts concerning this are being preached world-wide to all nations, so that none can say he did not hear it. Will you investigate this message? Will you be wiser than those who lived in Noah’s day and made the wrong decision in their time of crisis, and than those who lived in Jesus’ day, who paid no attention to the warning that he gave? Will you see why so many people have intelligently made the wise decision today, having put aside the corrupt ways of Satan’s old world, and are holding firmly to the righteous ways of Jehovah’s new world?
Jehovah has made a loving provision that enables you to do this. He provided his own Son as a ransom to pay back what Adam, through his disobedience, lost for the human race. Paul explained: “For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23, NW) Yes, Jesus provided the perfect life such as Adam lost when he rebelled against God. Thus, “just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] many were constituted sinners, likewise also through the obedience of the one person [Christ] many will be constituted righteous.”—Rom. 5:19, NW.
But remember that this ransom is not forced upon you. It makes it possible for you to receive God’s protection at the battle of Armageddon, but as Adam had to show obedience if he would receive God’s blessing, so you must be obedient to the one who makes the ransom possible, Jehovah God, and to the ransomer, Christ Jesus.
YOUR COURSE DETERMINES YOUR DESTINY
You must decide whether you will take advantage of the ransom that has been provided or whether you will ignore it. Jesus likened those who would benefit from it to sheep, and those who would not benefit from it to goats. You can be like a goat, being stubborn, refusing to be led by the great Shepherd, wanting your own way instead of God’s. Or like sheep you can be meek and teachable, receiving the benefit of Christ’s ransom and everlasting life.—Matt. 25:31-34, NW.
How can you qualify as a sheeplike one? First, you must gain knowledge of Jehovah and Christ Jesus, becoming familiar with God’s Word, learning what he promises for his servants and what he expects of them. It is easy to see why this knowledge is so vital. How could you have confidence in God’s promises without even knowing what they are? How could you take the course he commands without knowing what it is? How could you have confidence in his kingdom without knowing what it will do? And how could you know Him if you do not even know what he has said? Thus, in prayer to his Father, Jesus said: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”—John 17:3, NW.
After gaining that knowledge, you must put it into practice both by right conduct, which is vital for Christians, and through telling it to others, which is equally important in showing your appreciation for this vital message. Paul told Timothy that a slave of the Lord must be “qualified to teach.” A slave of God must love God enough that he will obey the instructions to tell others the good things he has learned, and he must love his fellow man enough to let him know what God has said about the crisis men now face. Really zealous activity in this service is the course of more than a half-million gospel preachers who have met their crisis successfully today. Will it be your course?—2 Tim. 2:24, NW.
To help you decide, let us summarize what has been considered here. First, we have seen that each individual faces a crisis today, a crisis that involves vital factors of health, freedom and life. When this time of crisis ends the present system of things will be destroyed, but some men will survive. The crisis was brought on long ago by Satan’s original rebellion, and its special severity now is due to the fact that the final settling of the issue that that rebellion raised is at hand. The right course is to accept Christ’s ransom, to take in knowledge of Jehovah God and Christ Jesus, to practice right conduct and to participate in the preaching.
Why should you take this course? Because now is the time when all mankind must go one way or the other. And by making the right decision you can have the unspeakable privileges of sharing in the vindication of Jehovah’s name, of aiding others to get life and of attaining real happiness now and forever in Jehovah’s new world. But now is the time! The decision must be made now!
When it is firmly made, your crisis will be passed, you will have chosen the right course. Then you will begin to understand the full meaning of Psalm 145:16 that says in praise to God: “Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” By examining God’s Word, trusting in his promises and obeying his instructions you can then hold firmly to that wise and blessed decision. Will you, with His help, do so?