A tourist from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, staying with his daughter at the Ritz Continental Hotel, was also awakened from a sound sleep. He explains:

“My first thought was of anger—someone was trying to turn my bed over! My next thought, it’s Armageddon.

Awake!  May 8, 1976 p. 4

“Time” magazine of August 4, 1975, reported on one such plan: “Waiting for Armageddon is, in a curious way, one of the morbidly titillating preoccupations of our time. . . . A group of California land developers has founded something called the Scott Meadows Club—712 acres of fertile Sierra wilderness in Northern California’s Siskiyou County, all set aside as a secret retreat, once civilization as we know it has disintegrated.”

Awake! June 22, 1976 p. 6

What will follow in fulfillment of the ancient prophetic drama The Watchtower under date of April 1, 1945, pages 108, 109, explains:

. . . Then Jehovah’s witnesses, sheltered within his Theocratic organization, will be under siege and will seem threatened with destruction by the overwhelming hosts of the antitypical Assyrian, Satan the Devil. Yet be not anxious of such a future: Jehovah will fight the battle for his remnant and their companions. He will perform his “strange act” at Armageddon, as he did thousands of years ago in the land of Judah, ‘for his own sake and for the sake of his beloved King.’ Doubtless by that same Son of God who served as the angel to slay 185,000 of Sennacherib’s hosts and send him reeling back to his own violent death, namely, by his reigning King-Son, Christ Jesus, will Jehovah God go forth to battle and will wreak destruction upon the wicked challenger’s world-organization. Like Sennacherib, Satan the Devil will see his visible organization on earth utterly laid low in death. Next he will see his invisible organization of demons dissolved in destruction, and will finally himself be wiped out violently. No demon power will be able to save him.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  January 15, 1976 p. 54

But these prominent people are just imperfect human creatures who will die at Armageddon, if they do not change their course and conform to the standards of Jehovah.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  February 15, 1976 p. 115

In one short hour, I learned that God’s name is Jehovah (Ps. 83:18); that this time period we are living in is spoken of in the Bible as the “last days” (2 Tim. 3:1-5); that Armageddon is the war of God Almighty against the wicked system, and is very near (Rev. 16:14-16); and how we, as a family unit, would be able to live on earth forever, happily united in peace and security, enjoying perfect conditions under Jehovah God’s kingdom with his Son Jesus Christ as King.—Ps. 37:9-11, 29; Rev. 11:15, 17; 21:3, 4.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  March 15, 1976 p. 170

But the Bible shows that this “king of the north” will be brought to an end along with all other political powers at God’s war of Armageddon.—Dan. 11:36–12:1; Rev. 16:14-16.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  August 1, 1976 p. 459

I continued to have a strong desire to survive the battle of Armageddon into God’s new order.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  September 15, 1976 p. 555

Sometimes I express the thought that it is a bit hard to be alive at this age. I always desired to live through Armageddon, but at my age it may not be possible. So I look forward to coming back to life in the resurrection at a time when all my joys will be realized and the present unhappy conditions will not be remembered nor come to mind.—Rev. 21:3, 4.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  September 15, 1976 p. 555

Section heading: “Getting Ready for Armageddon”

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  October 1, 1976 p. 583

The journal “National Geographic” for July 1976 quotes Buckminster Fuller, the inventor of the geodesic dome, as saying: “For the past 20 years, we have had the nations of the earth getting ready for Armageddon, taking the highest capabilities of man and focusing them on waste.”

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  October 1, 1976 p. 583

Doubtless many fear that unless people of all nations can “get on together” in such ways, Armageddon is inevitable.

Many persons think of Armageddon as a great, final conflict on a purely human level. However, the Bible states: “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. And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon [or, “Armageddon”].”—Rev. 16:14, 16.

The nations are indeed “getting ready for Armageddon,” though they do not realize that fact. In Scripture it is identified as God’s war. Soon the Biblical Armageddon will rid this globe of the wicked who are “ruining the earth” and will open the way for lovers of righteousness to live here in peace, really ‘getting on together.’—Rev. 11:18.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  October 1, 1976 p. 583

In The New English Bible the verses read:

“Then I saw coming from the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the false prophet, three foul spirits like frogs. These spirits were devils, with power to work miracles. They were sent out to muster all the kings of the world for the great day of battle of God the sovereign Lord. . . . So they assembled the kings at the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.”

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  November 1, 1976 p. 658

But with humanity in general, it is another matter. Their future is made clear in the Bible. It shows that within this very generation the whole human race will face God’s war of Armageddon, in which the wicked will be destroyed. (Matt. 24:34; Rev. 16:14-16)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.  November 15, 1976 p. 696

‘At last, long hours beyond the expected time, I did meet up with him. As I rounded a point in a lonely part of the road, there I saw Bob playing a record for the benefit of a tall policeman who towered above him. The recording had reached the point where Brother Rutherford was lining up all those on the Devil’s side at Armageddon. “On the Devil’s side,” boomed out the powerful voice, “at Armageddon will be the armies and the navies of all the nations, the police power, the police power, the police power . . . ”—the record kept repeating at that one spot! Bob was red as a beet, and, fearing the worst, I was wondering if I should run, when suddenly, seeing the humor of the situation, the officer laughed out loud. In fact, he became one of our good friends thereafter.’

1976 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  1975. p. 60

Publication title: Brothers P. J. de Jager and William Dawson, billed as the lecturer and the colporteur respectively, handled 70 lectures during the year, according to a report dated August 31, 1923. This was an average of almost six per month, and the total attendance had been 9,376. A number of subjects were used in addition to the famous “Millions Now Living Will Never Die,” including such striking titles as “The Resurrection Soon,” “The New World Begun” and “All Nations Marching to Armageddon.” Using the addresses that were turned in at each lecture, they made 2,483 house calls and placed thousands of pieces of literature.

1976 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  1975. p. 90

These men then sent in a report to the District Commissioner complaining that someone with a Gramophone was going around the villages telling the people that Armageddon is here and that all Europeans are going to be destroyed. This, of course, was done deliberately to arouse the anxiety and the animosity of the white officials, but investigations by the authorities proved the report to be false and so the matter was closed.

1976 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  1975. p. 151, 152

Public talk: Following the New World Society Assembly held at Yankee Stadium in 1953, nine assemblies were arranged for South Africa—one European national assembly and eight African and Colored district assemblies. At these, the brothers enjoyed the same program, as the key talks given at New York were also presented in South Africa. For the first time lapel badges were introduced here, and this has since been a regular feature of all district and national assemblies of Jehovah’s witnesses in South Africa. These badges make it easier to get acquainted and they promote a happy, friendly atmosphere among the brothers. Those nine assemblies were all well attended, with a grand total of 11,000 at the public talk “After Armageddon—God’s New World,” and 634 were immersed.

1976 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  1975. p. 190