"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles ["the nations," R.V.]: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.... Let the heathen be wakened.... Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision [or "cutting off"]: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Joel 3: 9-14. [Illustration: READY FOR THE CONFLICT "For the day of the Lord is near." Joel 3: 14. PHOTO FROM UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y.] Another prophecy forewarns of the "peace and safety" cry that is to be heard as the end draws near. We are told that many people in the last days will be saying that swords are to be beaten into plowshares, and that the nations will cease from war (Isa. 2:3, 4); but the actual conditions are repeatedly described in prophecy as warlike and perilous. Thus the revelator saw the closing days: "The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldst give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth." Rev. 11: 18. [Illustration: A FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Matt. 24: 42.] What we see then among the nations proclaims the approaching end. 2. Signs in the Social World A New Testament prophecy of the latter days says: "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." 2 Tim. 3: 1-4. The "perilous times" have come, when, as never before, the world is pleasure mad. "Unrestrained passion for pleasure," said M. Comte, editor of the French _Relevement Social_, writing just before the European war, is bringing a terrible train of evils into modern society. Along with it he put "the hunt for money without regard for means," adding: "This is the theme which manufacturers, business men, men in the public administration, continually harp on with ever the same conviction and ever the same wealth of proof. "The note is ever the same, and the conclusion identical: _Nous sommes perdus!_ [We are lost!]"--_Quoted in Record of Christian Work, July, 1914._