A society built on instant gratification is what we have in America today, reports one newspaper analyst. Pursuing instant gratification is a tricky, dangerous business. And, of course, it never works. It has two other liabilities. The first is that it is very costly. If you want something, it pays to wait a while, pray a while, think it through. If you must have it now, you’ll pay through the nose.

Instant gratification is also very boring. One of the most fulfilling emotions of life is anticipation. If there is no time, no years, months, or days between desire and fulfillment, then we will die of boredom—which is the worst way to go. “IF YOU CAN INDUCE a community to doubt the genuineness and authenticity of the Scriptures; to question the reality and obligations of religion; to hesitate undeciding, whether there be any such thing as virtue or vice; whether there be an eternal state of retribution beyond the grave; or whether there exists any such being as God, you have broken down the barriers of moral virtue and hoisted the flood gates of immorality and crime.” This timeless and very insightful bit of social commentary comes to us from, believe it or not, an edition of the renowned McGuffey’s Reader of the nineteenth century.

The tide of our times will continue to break upon society with such intensity, that the people of the world will call for a human savior. This powerful global leader is known as the Antichrist.

We have received hypothetical speculations that the Antichrist will emerge from any one of a number of places on the globe: The United States, Israel, elsewhere in the Middle East, or even the Far East. But, the Prophet Daniel, writing over 500 years before Christ, prophesied of this coming Antichrist: “the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are determined” (Daniel 9:26).

Daniel then goes on to say how this prince will make a seven-year covenant with Israel and break it in the midst of that period. But notice, the prophet makes a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem and its sanctuary, a prophecy that was fulfilled in 70 A.D. Daniel says that the same people who did these things shall produce “the prince that shall come.” Who destroyed the city and the sanctuary? Rome did—the people of the Roman Empire, the dominant world power at the time of Christ and thereafter. Although the vast Roman Empire encompassed most of the Middle East and North Africa, its powerful center was Europe, that portion around its very heart. Write for your copy of “Searching For The Antichrist.”

The call for a formal european government It is with the greatest of interest that we watch as efforts are made to unify the fragmented continent of Europe today. For over forty years now, one small step has been followed by another in an attempt to turn Europe into a power base for political and economic hegemony on the world scene. We have seen, for example, the easing and virtual dropping of trade and tariff restrictions between European countries; the introduction of the Euro, an all-European currency; and the formation of a European parliament and European court. We have even seen the call for a 100,000-member European rapid-response military force. It is quite a dramatic change in history to consider that just over fifty years ago, many of the nations of Europe were fighting against each other, but now, they are willing to fight alongside each other in such a unified defense force.

Disheartening news concerning the extremely negative effects that gambling is having upon our country has come to our attention. In some locales near casinos, churches are actually finding it “necessary to include a 'no-casino-visiting' clause in their leadership conduct covenants.” Some have even lost elders, deacons, and Sunday School teachers to this dreadful addiction. One person from the Northwest corner of Mississippi—an area heavily infested with casinos—is reported to have said that “the casinos have sucked the spiritual life out of the community and have been the downfall of many a Christian.”