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Good News Ahead!

ALL of us are saddened whenever we receive bad news of a personal nature. On the other hand, we rejoice when good news arrives—tidings of joy for ourselves or our loved ones. But when bad news affects others and not us, there is often an element of curiosity; some even enjoy learning about the misfortune of others. This may partly explain why bad news sells so well!

During the early part of World War II, there was a graphic example of the morbid interest in calamity that some people have. A 10,000-ton pocket battleship, the Graf Spee, was the pride of the German fleet in 1939. For weeks this battleship had been causing havoc among Allied merchant ships in the South Atlantic and Indian oceans. Finally, three British cruisers tracked down and attacked the Graf Spee, causing loss of life and forcing the ship to limp into the Uruguayan harbor of Montevideo for repairs. The Uruguayan government ordered the battleship back to sea immediately, otherwise it would be interned. So a fierce rather one-sided battle seemed imminent.

Hearing of this, a party of wealthy businessmen in the United States chartered a plane, at a cost of about $2,500 a head, to fly to Uruguay to witness the gory battle. To their disappointment, the battle never did take place. Adolf Hitler gave orders for the Graf Spee to be scuttled. Thousands of spectators who thronged the waterfront expecting to witness the spectacle of a fierce sea battle, saw and heard instead a deafening explosion that sent the Graf Spee to the bottom, scuttled by her own crew. The captain committed suicide with a gunshot to his head.

Despite a somewhat gruesome streak in some people, most would agree that they prefer good news to bad news. Do you not feel that way? Why, then, does history record so much bad news and so little good news? Can the situation ever be reversed?

Causes of All Bad News

The Bible tells of the time when only good news was the order of the day. Bad news was something unknown, unheard of. When Jehovah God completed his creative works, planet Earth was ready for man and beast to enjoy. The Genesis account tells us: “God saw everything he had made and, look! it was very good.”—Genesis 1:31.

The absence of bad news did not last too long after man’s creation. Before any offspring was born to Adam and Eve, the bad news of rebellion against God and his orderly universal arrangement of good was reported. A high-ranking spirit son became a traitor to his trusted position and succeeded in moving the first human couple to join him in his rebellious, traitorous course.—Genesis 3:1-6.

The abundance of bad news witnessed by mankind had its beginning at that time. It is little wonder that intrigue, deception, lies, untruths, and half-truths have featured so prominently in the bad news that has flooded the world ever since. Jesus Christ put the blame squarely on Satan the Devil as the originator of bad news, telling religious leaders of His day: “You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie.”—John 8:44.

As the human population increased in number, bad news increased along with it. Of course, this does not mean that there were no times of joy and happiness, for there were many things in life that were causes for joy. Yet, the clouds of trouble and sadness have been evident down through every generation of mankind until now.

There is another underlying cause for this sad state of affairs. That is our inherited leaning toward wrongdoing and calamity. Jehovah himself puts his finger on this unavoidable cause for bad news by saying: “The inclination of the heart of man is bad from his youth up.”—Genesis 8:21.

Why the Escalation of Bad News?

There is, however, a reason why bad news has escalated in this 20th century. This reason is spelled out clearly in the Bible, which foretold that mankind in the 20th century would enter a unique period of time known as “the last days” or “the time of the end.” (2 Timothy 3:1; Daniel 12:4) Bible prophecy and Biblical chronology identify this “end period,” which began in 1914. For detailed Scriptural proof of this, please see chapter 11 of the book Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.

The last days were to begin with an event that would automatically cause bad news on earth to escalate. What was that? It was the casting down from heaven of Satan the Devil and his demon hosts. You may read this vivid description of the unavoidable increase of bad news at Revelation 12:9, 12: “Down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. . . . ‘Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.’”

So in whatever time yet remains until the last days come to their conclusion, we can expect bad news to continue and even to increase in its amount and intensity.

It Will Not Always Be So

Happily for earth’s inhabitants, the miserable state of affairs producing today’s epidemic of bad news will not always exist. In fact, we can say with confidence that the days of continual bad news are numbered. The situation is not hopeless, despite what may appear to be the case. The end of all bad news is close at hand and will come without fail in God’s due time.

We can be sure of this because the last days are prophesied to climax or conclude with God’s destruction and removal of all causes of bad news. He will remove the wicked human fomenters of strife who refuse to change and turn from their wrongful course. This climaxes in the war of the great day of God the Almighty, commonly known as the battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 16:16) Immediately after that, Satan the Devil and his hordes of demon forces will be put out of action. Revelation 20:1-3 describes the binding of Satan, the originator of all bad news: “I saw an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he hurled him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, that he might not mislead the nations anymore.”

Following these dramatic events, a time of unprecedented good news will come for the earth and its inhabitants. These inhabitants will include the millions who have survived the final war of Armageddon and the billions who will be resurrected from their sleep of death in the graves. This best-of-all good news is described in the last book of the Bible: “The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”—Revelation 21:3, 4.

Can you imagine that happy time? Indeed a glorious future where bad news no longer exists. Yes, all bad news will have ended and will not be heard again. Good news will then reign supreme, and it will abound for all eternity.