AFTERTHOUGHT

JOHN WELLS

`NATIONALIZATION—IS it a sign of the imminent return of Our Lord Jesus Christ? Brig.-Gen. F. D. Frost, CBE, mc.' The pamphlet, printed at the Wickcliffe Press, 104 Hendon Lane, London N3, was sent to me by a corre- spondent in Birmingham on the grounds that, although I might not agree with •it, I could at least 'compare as events rapidly unfold.' Beneath the title there is a simple outline map of the Mediterranean, marked as The Great Sea, and the countries round it. Across this a rather shifty-looking bear is padding out of Persia on three shaggy paws, with the right forepaw raised to detain an upright lion with one foot on Malta and one on Gibraltar who is walk- ing off towards the Atlantic, turning to look at the illustrator with an expression of haughty outrage.

The text underneath makes a rapid review of all human aspiration, and then asks whether nationalisation will bring about 'this very happy state of affairs. "Where did Nationaliza- tion'—the 'z' seems to breathe a whisper of fascist complicity—'originate? In Egypt. About 1707 BC Joseph, a Hebrew captive, inter- preted a dream to Pharaoh, King-of. Egypt, in which was foreseen a seven year famine, fol- lowing seven years of plenty. Joseph advised Pharaoh to build granaries and store the grain during the years of plenty. Pharaoh rewarded Joseph by making him Prime Minister, and gave him a new name, Zaphnath-Paaneah, which meant revealer of secrets. When the famine came the Egyptians bought their grain from Joseph, and when their money was ex- hausted, they paid for it with their own cattle, and finally sold- themselves as slaves to the Government. No one could buy anything with- out the authority of Zaphnath-Paaneah. How long this continued after the famine ceased is not recorded. (Genesis 41: 45-57, 47: 13-25).'

'Where is Nationalization leading?' the Brigadier then asks in big black print. 'It would appear that Socialists are being directed by some irresistible force to control ultimately all industry, and in due course the Press and Education. Then all freedom will have gone. If the origin of Nationalization is shown in the first book of the Bible, where is its final destiny foretold? The last book of the Bible . . . There we find a description of a world Dictatorship under a Satanic personality called the Beast, who will be given supernatural power to perform miracles.' It seems unlikely, on the internal evidence, that this refers to our own Prime Minister. But that is not what the Brigadier is suggesting. He foresees the uni- versal control of supplies by the beastly dicta- tor. 'And that is what the present Socialist Party, in its ignorance, is preparing this nation for, and this will fulfil the prophetic vision of the Apostle John (Revelation 13).'

There is then a good deal of gnashing of

teeth by the Brigadier about the loss of our Empire, founded on the study of the Word of God in the English translation, and the con-

sequent descent of gross darkness. Young people cannot remember the freedom we had before the war, and have grown accustomed to being compelled to take part in strikes whether they want them or not. (Isaiah. 66: 4, Thess. 2: 11-12.) All this is preparing the way for the

world's greatest political genius, arising from the ten-nation confederacy of the Western

Alliance, who will be strong enough to make the Kremlin agree to some kind of peace. 'He will also force the Arab and the Jew to come to terms, and may be able to check the world's

appalling race in armaments. He will be hailed as the saviour of the world but will persecute

the saints of God until the Lord Jesus Christ comes from.Heaven to judge the nations, and to set up His Millennial Kingdom on this earth for -1000 years. (Daniel 7: 21, Rev. 13: 7, Rev. 20: 4).'

The exposition of prophecy then concludes, for those of you who are beginning to grow sceptical, with an astonishing specific indica- tion as to the final solution of the Middle Eastern crisis. 'In the 38th and 39th chapter of Ezekiel, we read of Gog (which is a Tartar term for Prince), the ruler of Rosh (Russia), Meshek (Moscow), and Tubal (Tobolsk), dominating Gomer (Prussia) and Togarmah (Turkestan) and Persia, and then making an invasion of Palestine, where the Jews think they are dwelling in safety. In that invasion all Russia's allies will fight against her, and against each other, but God will intervene on behalf of Israel, and it will take seven months to bury the dead.'

Now the only thing that is fundamentally in- credible--about all this is the uncanny grip that prophecy still has on our relatively sophis- ticated minds. Reading Revelation, or Nostra- damus, or Lord Luck, or even the political predictions of those paid to pick through the entrails in the Sunday papers, we are much more prepared to see the possibilities than the

impossibilities. The prophets in the past have

hung the order of the Great Dictator with absolute certainty round the neck of Adolf

Hitler, and later round that of John F. Ken- nedy. The fact that mortal men perish, and that no discernible pattern is recognisable

other than the ever-accelerating growth of humanity, of human fury and frustration in an overcrowded environment, can never worry

the students of prophecy. Like soldiers lost in a tropical swamp of always increasing horror, they reassure themselves by reference to an idealised map of their home in London, recog- nising a clump of twisted roots as Piccadilly Circus, and naming some nauseous bog for their own peace of mind after Hyde Park Corner. The landscape changes, the names re- main the same.

Like the Brigadier, the majority of prophets are staunch conservatives. Perhaps because they ransack a nostalgically imagined perfection in the past to complete their vision of bliss in the future, perhaps because they base their predic- tions in other cases on the immutable patterns of the stars or the ancient diagrams of magic, the final state they all foresee is a restoration after the revolution. The city may be destroyed, the earth may be consumed with fire, we may have temporary difficulties with our marriage partner, but in the end there will be bliss ever- lasting inviolable to change or to chance. There is little comfort for believers in permanent revolution. 'But perhaps comfort will come • as events rapidly unfold.