Title Page: From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 1, 2

Section Heading: From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 3

Hence, the place of Har–Magedon, or Armageddon, is not a local battlefield, as was Kurukshetra. For this reason the name Armageddon takes on a figurative meaning, denoting not a literal place but the realm wherein human politicians collectively collide with the holy interests of God, whose name is Jehovah.—Psalm 83:18, Holy Bible.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 6

Armageddon will be fought for the cause of truth and justice. An ancient pre-Christian song of God assures us of this by saying of God’s chief warrior: “In your splendor go on to success; ride in the cause of truth and humility and righteousness, and your right hand will instruct you in fear-inspiring things.” (Psalm 45:4) As in the war of Kurukshetra, there will be wholesale slaughter. Of the “battlefield” after the war of Armageddon the Bible says:

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 6, 7

The survivors of Armageddon’s war will be righteous persons, adjudged by our Creator as worthy to preserve our human race alive.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 7

Clearly, then, Armageddon will be a fight, not merely among men, not a mere “world war,” but a war in which God’s invisible armies take part.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 8

Section heading: THE TIME FOR ARMAGEDDON

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 9

When is God’s war of Armageddon to occur?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 9

Rather, it is the irreversible acceleration toward the collapse of the present human order that is the overriding reason for God to trigger the outbreak of his Armageddon war!

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 10, 11

More importantly, such conditions are rampant in our time and mark these as the “last days” of the present wicked system of things. They are the sign of the nearness of Armageddon.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 12

How does one know Armageddon will be fought within our own lifetime, so that one can survive, if worthy?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 12

In other words, that 1914 generation of people, now ‘dwindling in ranks,’ who saw the beginning of these distressing conditions, will still be alive when God’s war of Armageddon strikes. The duration of the “last days” is therefore limited to within the one human generation that was alive back in 1914. That generation of eyewitnesses is getting along in years now—in their 70’s and 80’s. Hence, the outbreak of Armageddon is getting dangerously near. Many lovers of righteousness throughout the world are now preparing for the outbreak of God’s unavoidable act of war.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 15

Is it possible to predict the exact year when Armageddon will occur? No.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 15

Section heading: HISTORICAL PREVIEW OF ARMAGEDDON

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 16

History provides us with a preview of what to expect at Armageddon. This foreglimpse of God’s approaching war was the great Deluge of Noah’s Age.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 16

Of this historical preview of Armageddon, the Bible says: “For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 17

So the circumstances relating to the end of our world order at Armageddon will be similar to those associated with the ancient Deluge. They will be: (1) The planet Earth and its animal life will survive; (2) the significance of our times is missed by most people through preoccupation with the normal processes of life; (3) the majority of mankind take no note of the divine warning of Armageddon; (4) hence the majority of mankind will be destroyed at Armageddon; and (5) only a small minority of mankind will find favour with God and survive the “war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 16:14)

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 18, 19

Plainly, Armageddon is Jehovah’s war. Hence the survivors of Armageddon will be those who meekly inform themselves of Jehovah and his righteousness.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival. 1983.  p. 19, 20

Jehovah, the God of heaven and earth, is the One who will also bring an end to this wicked yuga by means of the great war of Armageddon. All of those who truly know Jehovah God and who are devotedly involved with Jehovah’s Name and extraordinary Personality will survive Armageddon into the cleansed earth afterward.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 23

This is why the warning message of Armageddon’s war, and the good news of possible survival, is being preached earth wide by Jehovah’s Witnesses today. Hence, as a part of the sign of Armageddon’s imminence, a worldwide preaching work was foretold to occur immediately prior to the end of this yuga.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 24

Section heading: AFTER ARMAGEDDON—WHAT?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 25

The survivors of Armageddon, as the founding members of a new human order, will be people of unbreakable devotion to righteousness. Armageddon will have cleansed the earth of all unrighteousness, and mankind will have a fresh start.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 25

These are the blessings in store for those who survive the rapidly approaching war of Armageddon.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 28

But are these promises of a post-Armageddon world trustworthy? How can we be certain that Armageddon is not a myth? Because the ancient deluge was not a myth. Man is no myth.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 28

Jehovah alone has the wisdom, the power and the will required to bring Armageddon’s war and to create a new system of things.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 29

It is our prayer that you will do so and will be among the happy survivors of the “war of the great day of God the Almighty”—Armageddon.—Zephaniah 2:3; Revelation 16:14, 16.

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 31

8. What is Armageddon, and how extensive will it be?

9, 10. Why is Armageddon necessary, and who will be destroyed?

11. Who will survive the war of Armageddon?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983. 

17. What conditions make up the sign that Armageddon is near?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983. 

21. For how long will these “last days” continue, and why must the war of Armageddon be dangerously near?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival. 1983. 

23. What historical event provides a preview of Armageddon?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983. 

26. (a) How does the Bible describe earth’s conditions prior to the Flood? (b) What circumstances are similar, with regard both to history’s great Deluge and to God’s war of Armageddon?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983. 

27. Of what should we be informed to survive the war of Armageddon?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983. 

36. (a) Who only will be saved during the war of Armageddon? (b) How will they be informed?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983. 

52. By doing what now may you be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s Armageddon war?

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983. 

Armageddon will be a global war, wiping the earth clean

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 6

Survivors of Armageddon judged worthy by our Creator to keep the human race alive

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 8

Sign of Armageddon’s war appears since 1914

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 13

The Biblical Deluge—preview of Armageddon

From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—and Your Survival.  1983.  p. 19

Publication title:  New Publications Available:

Aid to Bible Understanding (Volume 1, A-Bi)—Dutch

Choosing the Best Way of Life—Thai

Happiness—How to Find It—Afrikaans, Tagalog

You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth—Greek, Italian

Enjoy Life on Earth Forever!—Efik, Igbo, Kikongo, Kikuyu, Lifou, Lingala, Mono-kutuba, Niuean, Samoan, Silozi, Yoruba

Are We Nearing Armageddon? (Kingdom News No. 31)—Chinese, English, French, Italian, Korean, Spanish

Our Kingdom Ministry.  January 1983 p. 7

Publication title: ? The Society has produced three new booklets in English for the special purpose of helping people of certain religious backgrounds. The booklet The Time for True Submission to God (sm) is designed to help Muslims to understand the truth. In Search of a Father (sc) has been written for people indoctrinated in the Buddhism of southeast Asia. And, From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—And Your Survival (ku) has been prepared to help persons of Hindu background. Congregations that have English-speaking persons with these backgrounds in their territory may wish to order a small supply of these booklets. As these become available in other languages, announcement will be made.

Our Kingdom Ministry.  March 1983 p. 3

Publication title:? Use tract Are We Nearing Armageddon? (Kingdom News No. 31), with its illustrations of a paradise earth on page 2 and the magazines on page 3, as a stepping-stone to introducing the subscription offer.—United States.

Our Kingdom Ministry.  April 1983 p. 6

Publication title:? New Publications Available:

Aid to Bible Understanding (Volume 14, Ec-El)—Italian

Happiness—How to Find It—Indonesian, Swahili

Enjoy Life on Earth Forever!—Wallisian

Are We Nearing Armageddon? (Kingdom News No. 31)—Portuguese

Our Kingdom Ministry.  May 1983 p. 7

Publication title:? The Society now has available the following three booklets in grade-two English Braille: In Search of a Father, From Kurukshetra to Armageddon—And Your Survival, and The Time for True Submission to God. These one-volume booklets may be obtained on a loan basis and returned, or they may be purchased and kept permanently. If purchased, a remittance of $1.00 each should accompany all orders. Send orders for Braille items to the Society’s BRAILLE DESK; they are not included on regular congregation literature orders. Braille publications should not be stocked by the congregation.

Our Kingdom Ministry.  June 1983 p. 3

Strangely, I tried to convince them that Judaism was the best religion, even though I had rejected it. Then the man started telling what the Witnesses believe. In 15 minutes he went from Adam to Armageddon. I was overwhelmed! That’s it! That’s the truth!

Awake! March 22, 1983 p. 21

In Britain the BBC screened A Guide to Armageddon, showing the damage a single megaton bomb exploded over St. Paul’s would do to London.

Awake! August 22, 1983 p. 4, 5

Says historian Hans Herzfeld: “The condition bordering on ecstatic excitement with which the peoples of Europe, spoiled by a long period of peace, entered the ‘Armageddon’ of World War I is only too easily passed off today as incomprehensible, both in substance and psychologically.

Awake! September 22, 1983 p. 20

So many people today are saying, “I want to grow up, not blow up.” This is because they believe that the threatened nuclear holocaust is the same as Armageddon.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 2

No Nuclear Armageddon!  4

Armageddon Clears the Way for a New Start!  8

Prepare Now to Survive Armageddon  10

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 2

A word often used to describe such a nuclear holocaust, particularly in English-speaking countries, is one borrowed from the Bible. It is “Armageddon.” For example, in 1961 former U.S. President Eisenhower said that the growing nuclear threat put Chicago “but thirty minutes from Armageddon.” And of the early 1970’s, Henry Kissinger, former U.S. secretary of state, wrote: “No previous generation of statesmen has had to conduct policy in so unknown an environment at the border line of Armageddon.”

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 3

Is an “Armageddon” nuclear war inevitable? Are our young people doomed to blow up before they grow up?

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 4

Section heading: No Nuclear Armageddon!

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 4

Interestingly, Francis Cardinal Spellman at the beginning of the 1960’s called “for prayers to spare the world from ‘thermonuclear Armageddon.’”

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 4

The word “Armageddon” appears only once in the Bible, although many other scriptures speak of it in other terms. Do these scriptures show Armageddon possibly to be a nuclear holocaust, which, it is hoped, can be avoided? Is Armageddon a war man can start?

Awake!  December 22, 1983 p. 4

ARMAGEDDON IS GOD’S WAR

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 4

The Bible says: “Expressions inspired by demons . . . go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty . . . to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon [or, Armageddon].”—Revelation 16:14, 16.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 4

Section heading: ARMAGEDDON IS TO BE A RIGHTEOUS WAR

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 5

Section heading: AT ARMAGEDDON ALL NATIONS WILL BE ALLIES

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 5

Section heading: AT ARMAGEDDON ONLY THE WICKED WILL BE DESTROYED

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 5

Section heading: ARMAGEDDON SURVIVAL IS ASSURED FOR SOME

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 6

Section heading: ARMAGEDDON WILL NOT RUIN THE EARTH

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 6

What do we learn from the above scriptures? We learn that God’s war at Armageddon will be quite different from what a man-made nuclear holocaust would be. Armageddon is not designed to destroy the earth. It is designed to destroy those who are threatening to ruin the earth. To speak of a possible nuclear holocaust as being Armageddon, therefore, is a misapplication of the term.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 6

A nuclear holocaust would not rid man of the Devil and his demons. Armageddon will open the way for Christ Jesus, at the direction of his Father, to do this.—See Revelation 20:1-3.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 7

Now you may wonder of what benefit it is to be relieved of the fear of nuclear holocaust only to be faced with the new fear of “sudden destruction” at Armageddon? Let our next article explain.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 7

ARMAGEDDON WILL BE

—God’s war

—A righteous war

—A war to destroy only the wicked

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 7

Section heading: Armageddon Clears the Way for a New Start!

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 8

WHEREAS a nuclear holocaust would clearly be a cause for fear, the war of Armageddon does not have to be.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 8

Just as people respond to the threat of a nuclear holocaust in various ways, so it is with Armageddon.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 8

Armageddon Cannot Be Prevented

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 8

Since Armageddon means “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” no one can prevent it. (Revelation 16:14)

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 8

Included among “fighters actually against God” today are religious clergymen who deny the real Armageddon message of the Bible. They lead people to believe that Armageddon is a man-made nuclear holocaust that political negotiations and peace movements can prevent

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 8

Jonathan Schell points this out in his book The Fate of the Earth, writing: “A closely related, and more serious, perversion of religion is the suggestion, made by some Christian fundamentalists, that the nuclear holocaust we threaten to unleash is the Armageddon threatened by God in the Bible.”

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 8

The clergy that thus confuse the two are overlooking the far greater danger of Armageddon. By becoming involved in movements to prevent a “thermonuclear Armageddon,” as they mistakenly call it, they are actually fighting to preserve a wicked system of things that God has purposed, with good reason, to destroy. Their attempt to prevent Armageddon is ill-advised and futile.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 8

Why should they want to pray for the world to be spared an Armageddon that God considers necessary?

Awake! December 22, 1983 pp. 8-9

Section heading: Do Not Ignore Armageddon

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 9

Equally dangerous is any attempt to ignore the Bible’s message about Armageddon.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 9

It will be the same with those today who ignore the Bible’s warning about Armageddon.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 9

Those few, comparatively speaking, who seek to follow God’s instructions for surviving Armageddon do not view that war as a cause for fear.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 9

Section heading: Prepare Now to Survive Armageddon

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 10

But preparations for surviving Armageddon, a conflict

—that is sure to come,

—that offers you opportunity for survival if you act promptly and

—that you should want to survive because it holds promise of a better life afterward.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 10

Since Armageddon is the time and place for God’s action against his opposers, he is the one to determine the requirements for survival.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 10

Their survival preparations are clearly not the kind that will ensure protection at Armageddon. For example, they purchased membership in a secret mountain hideaway for $12,500 plus annual dues of $300. Jehovah, however, puts no price tag on Armageddon survival, nor does he charge rent for being concealed “in the secret place of his tent.”

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 11

Section heading: Blessings of Armageddon Survival

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 11

The battle of Armageddon will clear the way for the restoration of righteous conditions on the earth.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 11

If you would enjoy living in such a world, we encourage you to learn more about the requirements for Armageddon survival.

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 11

What a blessing to survive Armageddon!

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 11

Armageddon—Nuclear Holocaust?

Awake! December 22, 1983 p. 31