Views From The Watch Tower

February 15, 1915

C. T. Russell, Editor

A series of articles reprinted from the

Bible Students magazine The Watch Tower

(not to be confused with the

contemporary publication of similar name)

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This article is a product of its time, with its information and assumptions, and should be read with this in mind. This is an extract of a longer piece and is reproduced with no alterations to the text, except that spelling, punctuation and formatting have been adjusted to conform to our present style. Scripture references are to the King James (Authorised) Version.

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The Kingdom Of God Set Up

[. . . .] Because certain important things are to be accomplished, we see that God is permitting what to others might seem to be purely human devilishness. For a wise purpose he permits this reign of lawlessness, this condition which evokes universal odium. Our thought is that we should look for still further evidences day by day that the Gentile Times have ended, and that God’s kingdom has begun its work. We are expecting to see multiplied proofs of the kingdom power, though the world will not recognize it as such until it is manifested in the flaming fire of anarchy, which is still further along [away, Ed]. The present step is the war of the nations. The next step will be Socialism an attempted Socialism among the people. Then the third step, anarchy, will gradually come on. When this symbolic fire shall prevail, then the world will realise what we are trying to tell them now; namely, that God’s kingdom is taking control, and that these various demonstrations are evidences that our Lord is taking his great power. But the many will not begin to see until the flaming fire is revealed. When we endeavour to tell them now they will not receive it, but they will be thoroughly convinced when they see the destructive fire of anarchy.

It was merely during the interval between the destruction of the kingdom of Israel and the setting up of the kingdom of the heavens that the opportunity was given to these Gentile kingdoms to see what they could do toward establishing a righteous government on earth. Now the time has come for God’s kingdom to displace them; but they will not willingly resign their crowns and sceptres; they are in defiance. Therefore force is required to destroy them. Their 2,520 years* of rule are in the past, and they must now submit to a complete overthrow. We are expecting that the work of their crushing will steadily continue until its full accomplishment. ‘A short work will the Lord make upon the earth’, is the Scriptural declaration (Rom. 9: 28).

At the sounding of the seventh trumpet Messiah was to take unto himself his great power and reign. That trumpet is now sounding! ‘And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come’ (Rev. 11: 18). Surely the nations are angry now! They act as if they were bereft of common sense. We see readily enough that the spirit of selfishness has prevailed there right along; but that some hindrance or fear heretofore held them back. But finally, when the Lord’s ‘due time’ has come to permit it, they broke through their restraint. The Lord has at this particular time especially to do with the affairs of the nations. And this war was allowed to occur at about the end of the Times of the Gentiles, at the appropriate time when they are to be dashed to pieces with the iron rod of the iron rule (Psa. 2: 6-12). It is our judgement that we shall see more of this iron rule and its breaking influence, not only upon the nations, but upon society at large. Now in this great day of the Lord everything that can be shaken is to be shaken to pieces and shaken out, to the intent that nothing unrighteous or unworthy shall remain. God himself is doing the shaking.

Financial Shakings

For our own part we are looking for great shaking in financial matters. There has never before been a war that has shaken the world as this war has done. This effect is largely because of money conditions. The only thing that is current is gold. Silver was demonetized forty years ago [by the Fourth Coinage Act or Mint Act of 1873, Ed]. The results of this we are just feeling now. At the present time stocks, bonds and all other kinds of securities are largely built on confidence. As soon as confidence begins to shake, all these securities decline in value. With such a lack of confidence among the people, we can readily see that there is good ground for the bankers to have a great deal of trepidation ‘men’s hearts failing them for fear’ (Luke 21: 25, 26).

Since the beginning of the war there have been bonds and stocks sold as low as thirty per cent. less than those of last July. But the Exchanges did not recognize these sales. Why? They wish to keep the prices up. The banks have their vaults filled with stocks and bonds. If the Government Inspectors should come in to take stock, they would count the stock up at the price of the last sale; and the Government officer’s duty would be to say, ‘You must make this right before you enter into business tomorrow morning’. They would reply that they have any amount of securities. But the answer would be, ‘We do not want securities; we want gold’. There is not enough gold in the world to pay the debts. These debts are put into gold bonds. The interest on all the debts is represented by gold bonds. But everybody is going to say, ‘I do not want bonds or stocks; I want gold’.

The business people of today who are feeling the strain most are the wealthy. They have the stocks and bonds, but they have not the gold, the money. If you demanded gold at the banks in exchange for something else, they might give it to you, but unwillingly. Gold notes are the same as the gold, because the Treasury must, according to law, have that gold on hand to exchange for them when presented.

This matter is causing trouble, not only in the United States, but down in South America and Central America. They would like to buy goods. And the question comes, ‘Have you the money? Have you the gold?’ ‘No, we have no gold. Sell to us in the same way you have sold heretofore’. ‘No, no, we cannot do that; something has stopped. We do not know what is the matter’. The wheels have stopped, and the people who have their fingers in the way are getting them pinched. There is not enough money; and the very people who destroyed silver money forty years ago are the ones who are now getting pinched.

The Time For Judgement Is Ripe

We believe that the Times of the Gentiles ended just on time, as shown in Volume II of Studies in the Scriptures. The hand of justice is now doing the breaking the nations shall be broken as ‘a potter’s vessel’. The whole cataclysm of trouble may be upon the world during the next ten months or it may be longer deferred. We believe that the time for the setting up of the kingdom was on September 21, 1914. At that time, when it was due for our Lord to take up his great power and reign, the nations were already angry. They were at war over a month in advance of the time, because so angry.

The due time for the ‘wrath’ was September 21. We are expecting to see this wrath still more manifest. The nations have been in just this same unloving spirit one toward another for a number of years, but apparently they have been under some forcible restraint. We believe that God’s time had not yet come. We wondered, and many people wondered, how their anger could be restrained much longer; much has been written about it in the newspapers.

When the Balkan war came, it was because the nations were angry; and it very nearly led to this conflagration.

Austria tried to precipitate the trouble at that time, but the German Kaiser held back.

Now the restraining hand has been removed. The time is ripe. [. . . .]

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* 2,520: Arrived at by multiplying a ‘symbolic’ year (time) of 360 days x 7, beginning at 606-607 B.C., and assumed to be meant by Dan. 4: 16 — ‘let seven times pass over him’.

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