WAR AND PROPHECY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24399, 10 September 1940, Page 8

WAR AND PROPHECY

ADDRESS BY MR YOLLAND An address on "The Present World Conflict in the Light of Prophecy" was delivered in the Concert Chamber last night by Mr H. Yolland, dean of the New Zealand Bible Training Institute. Mr Yolland said that the present struggle' was largely a conflict between two opposing ideals of world government, the democratic and the totalitarian. The State was made for man, not man for the State. Totalitarianism reversed this and made man the slave of the State, deprived him of his individuality, and stood between his conscience and his God. In particular, totalitarianism was a most evident fulfilment of the prophecies found in Revelation xxii and xxiii. There indeed was the Anti-Christ, or an Anti-Christian Trinity of evil, the dragon, the seven-headed beast from the sea,, and his satellite, the beast out of the earth. Scripture was explicit as to the dragon, which was Satan. The two beasts were his instruments

' The characteristic marks so clearly and concisely given in Scripture were nowhere more evident than in Hitler and the German State which he controls, Mr Yolland said. The characteristics of the dragon were identical with those of the beast—namely, antagonism to good, falsity, cruelty and subtlety. It was further stated in' Revelation xiii that the beast was like a leopard, with the feet of a bear and the,, mouth of a lion. Here were clearly figured swiftness of action, the crushing;power of the blow, and devouring rapacity. Every figure used had had its fulfilment in Hitler's campaign against civilisation. The war would not end through man's efforts in universal goodness and justice, nor would Christianity be eclipsed entirely The Scriptures contained the apparently contradictory statement that the beast prevailed, yet was overcome. That showed that Christianity was to be faced yet more and more with a hostile world dominated by antiChristian things, but that the truth for which Christianity witnessed would be maintained in spite of those conditions. Would England and the Empire go down before this dread assault? the lecturer asked. He did not think so. The citadel of liberty and justice was manned by leaders who were increasingly realising not only their dependence upon God, but also the sacredness of their sacred cause.