A CHRISTIAN'S TRIBULATION

It has become a popular matter to become a member of some church system or to join the Interchurch World Movement; and the man or woman who contributes the greatest amount of money is the one who receives the greatest honor.

On the contrary, it has never been popular to be a true Christian, a true follower of Jesus; and this is due to the fact that the divine program is: "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God". (Acts 14:22) Jesus said: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me". (Matthew 16:24) Jesus consecrated himself fully to do the Father's will. His footstep followers must do likewise. Jesus suffered indignities and persecution at the hands of the religionists of his time. His followers must have a similar experience. "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." (1 Peter 2:21) Jesus said: "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple to be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they cal them of his household?" (Matthew 10:24, 25) Again he said

to his followers: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saving, they will keep yours also." (John 15:18-20) Suffering ignominy and persecution at the hands of the nominal religionists and the forces that they can bring to bear, is the course clearly marked out for the true follower of Christ Jesus. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:16, 17) "It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him."—2 Timothy 2:11, 12.

The divine arrangement makes it a condition precedent to entering into glory that the true Christian should be perfected through suffering. The church is but a small number, comparatively speaking; and the church, together with Christ Jesus, the head, is called to the high and exalted position in heaven, constituting the seed of Abraham according to the promise, pictured by the stars mentioned in the promise. Hence, because of this exaltation, God permits them to

be put through a period of trying circumstances and sufferings in order that they might be afforded the opportunity of proving their faithful, loyal devotion to him. "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many Sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren."—Hebrews 2:10,11.

True to the divine arrangement, the church has been put through a course of suffering. The head and the body members have been unjustly accused of crime time and again. St. Paul tells us, as likewise does the Master, that Satan is the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4) Again we read that the whole world lieth in the wicked one. (1 John 5:19) The governments of earth, therefore, have been under the dominion of Satan, and the seed of Satan is and has been the instrumentality he has used for the purpose of persecution. In the days of the Master the scribes, Pharisees, and doctors of the law, who claimed to sit in Moses' seat and represent Jehovah, were the ones who led the persecution against the Master. Jesus plainly told these that they were a part of the seed of the serpent, the devil. It would be most reasonable, therefore, to expect that Satan would inject into the minds of his instruments the thought of charging the followers of Jesus with the crime of

sedition against his (Satan's) empire. The nominal religionists of his day charged Jesus with the crime of sedition and caused him to be executed on that charge. St. Stephen, the first martyr to the cause of true Christianity following the Master, was stoned to death after being unjustly convicted upon perjured testimony on the charge of sedition. St. Paul, because of his faithfulness to the Lord, was confined in prison for four years under a similar charge and was otherwise ill-treated. St. John the Revelator, under a similar charge, was banished to the isle of Patmos and required to don a prisoner's garb and beat rock. The history of the world shows that the true followers of Jesus have met with opposition and persecution upon all hands and at all times.

As an illustration of this fact: the church nominal of England became a part of the political power and those who refused to conform to the state-church were persecuted. A short distance from London stands a building erected to the memory of men who were burned upon that spot because of their faithfulness to the truth and who refused to conform to man-made theories of religion. John Bunyan, a humble follower of Jesus, refused to be a conformist to man-made theories and he was tried and convicted and placed in prison. A clergyman then was delegated to wait upon him and tell Bunyan words to this effect: You are going to be kept in prison for three months. If at the end of

that time you recant and conform yourself to the church-state you will be released; otherwise you will be put to death. And Bunyan calmly replied: "You might as well put me to death now; I will never conform". He was kept in prison for twelve years and while there wrote Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, which has been a great comfort and help to Christians who have trod the narrow way from then until now.

Speaking of the evidences concerning the end of the world, Jesus furthermore said: "Then shall they deliver you [meaning his followers] up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake".-Matthew 24:9.

It is often true that advantage is taken of conditions of war and strife to vent some ill-feeling upon others. When the great world war began, in Germany certain Christians, known as Bible Students, who asked to be exempted from combatant military service because of their devotion and faithfulness to the Lord and because of his command to them that they should not kill, were ill-treated, placed in the front ranks of battle, and were amongst the first to fall. In Austria, the very stronghold of one of the great ecclesiastical systems, a number of these same Bible Students were killed and others imprisoned during the period of the war. In Canada many were haled into court and summarily tried without being given an opportunity to offer a defense, and were fined or imprisoned,

the charge being that they had in their possession Bibles with certain comments, hymn books which they had used for years in the worship of God, and other literature in harmony with the Scriptures. To the astonishment of many people in the United States there was a wide persecution of conscientious followers of the Master in this land. No Christian permits himself to become embittered because of this unjust treatment, but he recognizes it as a fulfillment of the divine prophecy and one of the evidences given by the Lord to those who yield submissively to the divine arrangement, to assure them that they belong to him. The inspired Apostle wrote: "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified."—l Peter 4:12-14.

Jesus and the members of his body thus developed through trial and tribulation according to the divine arrangement will constitute the seed of Abraham, through which seed God will ultimately extend blessings to all the families of the earth. The Apostle Paul with prophetic vision looking down through the corridors of the age, marking the suffering of mankind and the

development of the Christ class, the seed, exclaimed: "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God".-Romans 8:19,22.

KINGDOM COMING IN

The wars, famine, pestilence, distress of nations, etc., upon the earth are but the forerunners of the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. The Lord through his prophet said: "I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come." (Haggai 2:7) And while this great shaking is in progress and monarchs are losing their crowns, aristocratic and autocratic thrones are tumbling to the earth, the words of the prophet ring out clearly in the ears of the followers of Jesus: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever". —Daniel 2:44.

Ehijah was a type of the followers of Christ Jesus; and the Lord used him to picture the events transpiring in the end of the world, as we have heretofore mentioned. (See pages 19-22) In fulfillment of the antitype, the Elijah class knew that the war was coming and one of them the Lord's faithful servant, Pastor Russell, for forty years pointed out from the prophecies that

it would come in 1914. The Lord is not in the war, meaning that the Lord's kingdom is not yet in hill sway. Then follows the earthquake, symbolic of revolution, which has already swept some of the countries. Then shall follow the anarchy—destructive troubles. Anarchy means a disregard of all law, certain classes assuming to exercise power and authority where it is not granted, causing indescribable suffering and sorrow. In this the Lord is not, but it is another means of clearing away the ground preparatory to establishing the kingdom. Then Elijah heard the still small voice. This still small voice is a message from the Lord. The voice is used to symbolize a message or messenger. The Lord has long ago put the message in his Word the Bible for the benefit of those who should live in this hour of stress. The multitudes of earth are clamoring everywhere. They are confused; they are distressed. They are in sorrow, in tears of bitterness. They are almost at their wits' end. But if they could be heard to express their hearts' sincere desire now, without a doubt there would come up from every quarter of the earth this request: Give us a government of righteousness with a wise ruler who will administer the laws in behalf of all; give us peace and not war; give us plenty and not profiteers; give us liberty and not license; give us life and not suffering and death. Back from the past comes the sweet small voice of the Lord saying that this request shall be fulfilled: "For unto us a

child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom. to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. —Isaiah 9:6,7.