Alcohol, or, for that matter, drugs or other stimulants, can help us to escape everyday reality, but not the reality of Armageddon!
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 1, 1973 p. 81
A few days later I attended a house party. Unbelievably, here I came upon another copy of The Golden Age! Eagerly I grasped it! For the remainder of the evening I was oblivious to the merrymaking of the other guests and was absorbed in reading and rereading the article on the subject “Armageddon.” The importance of proclaiming the good news in the short remaining time was emphasized. How was I to get started in this all-important work? There was no one to instruct me. I was greatly disturbed. Many times I prayed with tears that Jehovah would open up the way for me to get into his service before Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 15, 1973 p. 170
I wondered if I would ever see my mother and father again this side of Armageddon. However, there was no thought of escape.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 15, 1973 p. 173
Leaving Canada in 1948 for Gilead and then for a foreign assignment, I never thought of seeing home before Armageddon. Ten years passed, and in 1958 Jehovah, through his organization, lovingly arranged for me to attend the “Divine Will” International Assembly at New York’s Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 15, 1973 p. 174
Since becoming self-reliant and losing faith in the High Priest’s sacrifice and trusting no more in its covering of sins is to leave the city of refuge, thus exposing ourselves to destruction at Armageddon, we do well to heed the warning of the apostle Paul when he said: “That is why it is necessary for us to pay more than the usual attention to the things heard by us, that we may never drift away.” (Heb. 2:1)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. May 15, 1973 p. 310
Those survivors of the “great tribulation” with hopes of earthly life, however, are not freed from the city of refuge when God’s enemies have been destroyed at Armageddon and retribution has been meted out for the blood of those innocently slain throughout the generations of mankind.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. May 15, 1973 p. 311
If we do this, then when the storm of Armageddon finally passes, the rumble of its thunder fades away, and the earth stops shaking under the impact of divine fury expressed against the nations, we will come out from wherever Jehovah God has seen fit to preserve us and we will rejoice in the morning of a new day, the dawn of his new order.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 15, 1973 p. 363
Should we think that the awesomeness of the “great tribulation” and its Armageddon war will somehow work in us some corrective transformation as to our hearts?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 15, 1973 p. 365
Soon will come Armageddon, followed by the thousand-year judgment day in which God will “judge the inhabited earth in righteousness” by the one appointed and guaranteed, the Son of man.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1973 p. 438
We learn what the kingdom of God really is, about the “great crowd” who serve Jehovah in the “last days,” about the impending destruction of “Babylon the Great” just before the rest of this worldly “system of things” goes down at “Armageddon.”
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 1, 1973 p. 528
ALL the nations of mankind are fast approaching that stage in the hostile relations between God and men that is called Har–Magedon or Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1973 p. 745
According to this brief description, the war of Har–Magedon (or Armageddon) means a confrontation between hostile men and God the Almighty. Since the end of World War II in the year 1945, prominent men and editorial writers have taken the name Armageddon into their vocabulary and made a modern-day application of it. Said one editorial writer in the newspaper The Spectator of Canada, under date of December 8, 1971, and under the heading “United Nations and War,” these words: “Although the leaders of nations are fully aware that situations such as the Middle East impasse and the India-Pakistan war could quickly involve the nuclear powers, some would rather risk Armageddon than concede any authority to an international body, even one representing most of mankind.” (Paragraph five)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1973 p. 745
Secular publication: Shortly thereafter, under date of January 1, 1972, in the newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer, the editorial writer entitled his article “We Welcome a New Year with Armageddon Still at Bay,” and closed the article with this paragraph: “But, last midnight, it could be said that mankind made it through another 365 calendar leaves without obliterating itself, and the nation endured another twelvemonth without bloody revolution. And if in 1972 Armageddon can once again be staved off, it will again be worth the time.”
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1973 p. 745
In those editorial statements we note that Armageddon is viewed as merely a war between humans on earth. The writers failed to take the Bible view that Armageddon will be a war between humans on earth and God the Almighty the Creator of man and earth.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1973 p. 745
2, 3. Who have taken the term Armageddon into their vocabulary, and how is it being applied publicly?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1973 p. 245