RESOLUTION
(Adopted by the International Bible Students Association in Convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, Sunday, September 10, 1922)
THE International Bible Students in convention assembled deem it a duty and privilege to send this message to the nations of earth. As a body of Christians consecrated to obey and follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. we are opposed to engaging in war, revolution, anarchy, or violence in any form; and we are opposed to fraud and deception being practised upon the people by the misrepresentation of the Word of God or otherwise. We earnestly desire peace, prosperity and the blessing of the people with life, liberty and happiness; and we hold that the only means by which this can be accomplished is by and through the reign of Christ.
In the light of the Word of God, and particularly of fulfilled prophecy, we submit the following as a true statement of the facts relating to present conditions:
1. That the rulers of earth have frequently boasted that the World War was fought to make the world safe for democracy, which claim has proven to be a delusion and a snare;
2. That the international conferences at Paris, Washington, Genoa and The Hague, participated in by the financiers and statesmen and approved by the denominational clergy of the world, held for the purpose, as announced, of establishing peace on earth, have failed to bring forth the desired result;
3. That all of the nations of earth are now in distress and perplexity, as the Lord foretold they would be at this time, and that the entire social and political structure is threatened with complete dissolution; and the leading statesmen and rulers of the earth being aware of this fact and of their inability to establish peace and prosperity are frantically calling upon the denominational churches to save the world from disaster;
4. That it is the desire of all the nations and peoples of earth that they might dwell in peace and enjoy life, liberty and happiness;
5. That the people are being misled by those who are attempting to bring about this desire through international conferences and agreements in the form of the League of Nations and like compacts.
We therefore call upon the nations of earth, their rulers and leaders, and upon all the clergymen of all the denominational churches of earth, their followers and allies, big business and big politicians, to bring forth their proof in justification of the position taken by them that they can establish peace and prosperity on earth and bring happiness to the people; and their failing in this, we call upon them to give ear to the testimony that we offer as witnesses for the Lord, and then let them say whether or not our testimony is true.
Relying upon the Word of God and his providential dealings with mankind through Christ Jesus, we as his witnesses hold and testify as follows, to-wit
1. That the World War came in 1914 and was followed by great famines, pestilences and revolutions in various parts of the earth exactly as foretold by the Lord;
2. That 1914 marked the legal ending of the old world and there Christ the rightful King took unto himself his power as king;
3. That the Lord Jesus Christ is now present, invisible to man, and proceeding with the work of establishing his kingdom, for which kingdom he taught his followers to pray;
4. That Satan, long the god of this world, has deceived the statesmen, financiers and the clergy, by inducing them to believe that by international agreement or other combined efforts they can bring the desire of all nations;
5. That all of the world's present organization constitutes the visible part of Satan's empire or organization, and that Satan's empire must now fall before the forward march of the King of glory;
6. That all international conferences and all agreements or treaties resulting therefrom, including the League of Nations compact and all like compacts, must fail, because God has decreed it thus;
7. That all efforts of the denominational church organizations, their clergy, their leaders and their allies, to save and reestablish the order of things in the earth and to bring peace and prosperity must of necessity fail, because they do not constitute any part of the kingdom of Messiah;
8. That on the contrary, during the World War the clergy of these various church denominations were disloyal to the Lord Jesus Christ in this, that they wrongfully united with big business and big politicians to further the World War; they preached men into the trenches and falsely and blasphemously told them that their death upon the battlefield would be counted as a part of the vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ:
9. That they further repudiated the Lord and his kingdom and showed their disloyalty by voluntarily uniting themselves with Satan's organization and boldly announcing to the world that the League of Nations is the political expression of God's kingdom on earth, which announcement so made by them was in utter disregard of the words of Jesus and the apostles.
10. We further hold and testify that this Is the day of God's vengeance against Satan's empire visible and invisible;
11. That the reestablishment of the old world or order is an impossibility; that the time is here for the establishment of the kingdom of God through Christ Jesus; and that all the powers and organizations that do not willingly submit to the righteous reign of the Lord will be destroyed;
12. That if the politicians would faithfully represent the people, and big business would cease exploiting the people, and the clergy would tell the people the truth concerning God's arrangement and the people would cease from strife, the kingdom of Messiah would be established by him without further trouble or distress; but failing thus to do, greater trouble must shortly follow;
13. That for this reason there is now Impending and about to fall upon the nations of earth, according to the words of Christ Jesus, a great time of "tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" [again], and it is this impending trouble that the rulers and mighty men of earth see coming.
But we hold and declare that Messiah's kingdom is the complete panacea for all the ills of humankind and will bring peace on earth and good will to men. the desire of all nations; that those who yield themselves willingly to his righteous reign now begun will be blessed with lasting peace, life, liberty and endless happiness.
Therefore we bring to the peoples of earth God's message of good tidings contained in the Bible, his Word of truth, and we publish to them his message of peace and everlasting salvation, to wit, that the King of glory, the Deliverer of man, is invisibly present and has begun his reign; that the old world, under the control of Satan has ended and is being rapidly broken in pieces, to make way for the everlastiug kingdom of righteousness now being set up, and that millions of people now living on earth, if obedient to the laws of that righteous kingdom, will continue to live and never die; and we call upon all nations, peoples, kindreds and tongues who love righteousness and hate iniquity to recognize and freely acknowledge that Jehovah is the only true God and that his beloved Son Christ Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Bangalore