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Bringing home the harvest
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the western world began to
see glimpses of the "demon" they were taught to fear
for so many decades. The phenomenal buildup of military might
in the west, during the Cold War, was predicated on the
assumption that the Soviet Union was dangerously close to
overtaking the United States in military superiority. There is
no doubt that the U.S.S.R. was a formidable opponent,
but the records are now clear that their military
industrial complex was far inferior to that of the west.
Did Western leaders mislead the people? Time will tell.
As images of the once forbidden territory began to emerge,
a feeling of disbelief began to replace the fear that had
filled the hearts of so many for so long. It was as though
the entire region was covered with dust, decades-old -- an
entire civilization crumbling into ruin.
A log cabin in Siberia
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The rusting hulk of a burned out bus
sits on the side of a road in Siberia
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The nuclear threat still exists, and poses a problem of a
different kind, but the economic threat never really existed.
Nikita Kruschev stood before the United Nations in the
early 1960s. He firmly believed in the superiority of Communism
from an economic standpoint. In this regard he removed his
shoe and began to pound the lectern, proclaiming to the West:
"We will bury you!" How ironic that Communism was
buried under the weight of its own failures.
Kruschev, and others, did not foresee the role that selfishness
would play. Fallen human beings are selfish -- this was the
undoing of Communism. Capitalism prospers now because it is
based on selfishness.
Having visited many former communist countries, and having
studied the writings of experts on the subject, it seems
obvious that the single most significant factor in the failure
of this experiment was decreased productivity brought on by
the lack of incentive. In most rural areas of Russia and
Eastern Europe, life is much as it was a hundred years ago.
Farmers still perform most of their work by hand, or with the
use of animal power. Even in the cities, the industrial base
is half a century behind the west. We are not advocating
capitalism, or any other "ism", but merely point
out these things to draw a lesson.
A group of children peer through the
gate of their school in Moldova
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Harvesting sunflowers by hand
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Was the failure of Communism and Socialism foretold in
the Bible? The Bible teaches certain general lessons about the
concept of Communism and Socialism. There are also prophecies
which apply to their rise and fall. All these verses taken
together contain ample information for the astute Bible student
to foresee the failure of these ideologies as inevitable, and
also to understand something concerning the time in which such a
failure might occur.
Someone may protest, "that is easy enough to say, since we
are now looking back on the events that followed 1989."
"Predictions" concerning the past can be made by
anyone. However, Bible Students foresaw these things decades
before they happened, and documented their case before
the entire world.
In 1896, the fourth in a series of books entitled "Studies in
the Scriptures", foretold the rise and fall of Communism and
Socialism, long before there was a single country on the face
of the earth that was governed by those principles. Published
in all the major languages of earth, and distributed worldwide,
this book has had a significant impact on the Christian world.
The Battle of
Armageddon is truly an invaluable tool for the serious
student of prophecy. The entire text of this book is available
on this website. We recommend it highly. Following is a
brief quotation pertinent to the subject aforementioned:
"Some features of Communism we could commend,
but as a whole it is quite impracticable. Such an
arrangement would probably do very well for heaven,
where all are perfect, pure and good, and where love reigns;
but a moment's reflection should prove to any man of judgment
and experience that in the present condition of men's
hearts such a scheme is thoroughly impracticable. The
tendency would be to make drones of all. We would soon
have a competition as to who could do the least and the
worst work; and society would soon lapse into barbarism
and immorality..."
Elsewhere in this scholarly work, the author presents the
thought that a great time of trouble would erupt in 1914,
and that a social revolution would sweep across the world
soon after. He died before the great socialist revolution
of 1919 began the fulfilment of his prophetic expectations.
Studies in the Scriptures is still published today,
and the entire contents are available on this website:
Harvest Truth DataBase
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