THE DAY OF YAHWEH

By

Bertrand L. Comparet

The prophet Joel left a message written for our day. This was a warning which, if we had heeded it, would have kept us out of the troubles we now face both from within our nation and from outside. Like all the men of his century, he was familiar with war and trouble. War was almost the normal condition of the kingdoms of that day. Then conquerors did not help their defeated victims back to prosperity, as we have done. If the losers were not exterminated, they were either enslaved or put under heavy tribute taxes, after first being looted by the conqueror. Therefore, it took a startling vision to arouse Joel to the excitement he displays in this short book. It is not like anything seen or heard before.

Joel begins, "The word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Peethuel: Hear this ye elders, and give ear all the inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation." There had been nothing like it in the past, neither was it for the near future. This prophecy was to be preserved for many generations. Joel's prophecy deals with the day of Yahweh, something which hasn't come yet. All the signs of both prophecy and current history prove to be just a short time ahead of us today.

The day does not come without long preparation. It is the result of a very extensive cause and it develops gradually over many years. Joel speaks of the signs of that development and how it ripens into the final conflict of the age. We cannot get the complete picture by reading just the book of Joel, the Bible was not written this way. Many men have written whole volumes on only one book of the Bible, but never have they given us a true and accurate picture. The writings of each prophet must be confirmed and amplified by further details given by other prophets. This mutual corroboration is the only proof of the genuineness of each one. Several other prophets have written of the great and dreadful day of Yahweh, we will see how they amplify Joel's prophecy.

The day of Yahweh erupts into the greatest world war ever known. This war has its beginnings in the long period of the unseen war of evil against good. By this conflict, we are being broken down and softened up for the final attack. Yahweh has blessed us with great strength, because we are His people, the enemy does not dare to attack us until that strength has been wasted.

The attack really begins from within, by infiltration, corruption and treachery. Mere numbers will not make a nation strong enough to conquer the world, or to defend it. Its real strength depends upon the economic resources, which can supply the army with modern weapons. The numbers of our soldiers were not enough to tip the scales in either world war. We won because we could overwhelm the enemy with an enormous flood of weapons and munitions. The way to defeat us would seem to be to break down our economic strength.

Lenin said, "We will make the United States spend itself into bankruptcy". Stalin and Kruschev have said many times that they would make our strength collapse from internal troubles. For a whole generation, our government has been infiltrated and infested with men who are Marxists. They are completely devoted to the ideal of totally destroying our whole economic and political system so the can replace it with socialism.

These men who are communists, in everything but name, always call themselves liberals. This was also foretold in the Bible. Isaiah 32:5 encourages us to wait for a time when, as he said, "The vile person shall no longer be called liberal."

Joel 1:4 compares the work of these men to a plague of insects saying, "That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the cankerworm left hath the caterpillar eaten." We know that he was not speaking of a succession of real insect plagues, for the locusts leave nothing edible for other insects to eat. It is symbolic of something, which impoverishes us.

Do other prophets give us further clues? Yes!! Haggai 1:6 shows that we produce much, but have little for ourselves. "Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but you have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes."

We earn the wages, but can't keep them. We produce the food, yet many are hungry. Where does our production go? That is what Joel is talking about. We know that Yahweh is bringing upon us the innumerable masses of Russia and Asia as the natural, inevitable punishment for our misdeeds. In Ezekiel 38:16, speaking of Russia's coming attack upon us, Yahweh says of them, "I will bring thee against My land, that the heathen may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes."

In Joel 2:25 Yahweh again speaks of "the locust, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you." Since we already know that these insects are used here only as a symbol, this identifies them as being part of Russia's general communist apparatus.

We produce more of everything good than any other country in the world, yet we are getting less and less of it. Our wages go into a bag with holes, because the pro communist liberals, in our government, are bleeding off more and more of our earnings to distribute among our enemies, so our enemies may be made strong. Remember how the liberals always give more to so called neutralist nations and those, which openly side with Russia, than they give to our few friends?

Remember how they always insist that our aid must be given with no strings attached. There is no requirement that those who receive our bounty shall not help our enemies. All this is part of the Red plan to make the United States spend herself into bankruptcy, as Lenin said. It is to soften us up for the kill.

Joel 1:5-6 tells that this is the preparation for the final military attack, so he tries to awaken our leaders. "Awake ye drunkards and weep; for a nation is come up upon My land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion."

There is no reply; those who are not corrupt are sound asleep. Who should have given the alarm first? The priests and ministers, for this is all prophesied in the Bible, and they should know it. They should warn the people of the impending punishment for our abandonment of Yahweh's laws. They should be leading the people back to repentance, seeking Yahweh's pardon before the disaster strikes.

In Joel 1:13-14 he urges the leaders, "Gird yourselves and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sack cloth, ye ministers of Yahweh: sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of Yahweh your God, and cry unto Yahweh." There is no answer. All that our ministers can suggest today is that we cry unto Russia and make the devil's peace with them on the devil's own terms.

Joel sees the inevitable disaster. It is no use to turn to man, but only to Yahweh. "Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Oh Yahweh, to thee will I cry!"

To those of us who study Yahweh's word, the present world situation is so clear, because He foretold it all 2,500 or more years ago. The entire picture is there for all to see, if they will only believe Yahweh. However, they prefer to believe the politicians and the left wing commentators. Yahweh has this to say in Jeremiah 9:3 about them. "They bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil and they know not Me, saith Yahweh."

Other prophets confirm this. Isaiah 56:10-12 records, "His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough, and they are shepherds, which cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his gain. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant." We have turned against all who gave warning. How many have been terrified into silence? As Amos 5:10, 13 told us 2,700 years ago, "They hate him who reproves in the gate, and loathe him who speaks the truth. Therefore, he who is prudent will be silent at that time: for it will be an evil time."

Joel 2:1 cries his earnest warning. "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Yahweh cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Nahum 2:1 confirms this. "He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munitions, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily."

Since we will not reform and avoid the need for war, then prepare at once. Russia, which has shattered many nations, stands before us. We must stockpile munitions, increase our fortifications and watch every way the attack may start. Yahweh's warnings always fall on deaf ears, this time also. As Yahshua is reported as saying, to the Pharisees of His day in Matthew 16:3, "O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"  In Luke 21:35 Yahshua also prophesied of the coming day of Yahweh. "As a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth."

Joel 3:9-11 now announces the coming of the war. "Proclaim ye this among the nations; 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. Assemble yourselves and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves round about." Joel 2:2 states, "A great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations." We know that this is the attack by the Asiatic hordes led by Russia, spoken of in Ezekiel 38 and 39, "A great company and a mighty army.

Joel 2:38 pictures the use of terrible new weapons and a total war of complete devastation. "A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them." They move with terrible swiftness, for they have a modern mechanized cavalry of tanks and troop carriers.

Both Russia, in World War II and China in the Korean War, showed a total disregard of the slaughter of their own men, forcing them to attack straight ahead. This was in spite of artillery barrages, regardless of losses, to overwhelm their enemy under the tide of a human sea and mine fields. Joel 2:3-8 also prophesied these tactics. "As horsemen, so shall they run. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his way, and they shall not break ranks: neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path."

Isaiah 5:26-30 also foretold the coming of this nation that hath the teeth of a lion. Isaiah tells us, "And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and behold, they shall come with speed, swiftly. None shall be weary nor stumble among them; None shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe and none shall deliver it. And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if none shall look into the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof."

The communist hordes do plunder the conquered lands of everything of value, from pens to factory machinery. "They leave only a day of clouds and thick darkness. The earth shall quake before them; the heaven shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining." This terrible picture is painted in Joel 2:2, 10.

Meanwhile, what of the enemies within our own ranks, the liberals in our government who betray us at every opportunity? They have not repented, they cannot! Jeremiah 13:23 says, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." Isaiah 26:10 pictures them thus. "Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of Yahweh."

They are still traitors. Joel 2:9 says, "They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall climb upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the window like a thief."

So the picture develops. Our preparation for defense lags, both because our leaders will not give the warning to arouse the nation to full activity and because liberals within our ranks still sabotage every effort to oppose the gathering might of Asiatic communism. Meanwhile the enemy masses against us all the hordes of the heathen, getting ready for the military attack.

In Joel 3:11, he realizes that our human and material resources are not enough to stand against this massing of all the powers of evil against us. Only by Yahweh's help will we be able to defeat them, so he implores Yahweh's aid. "Assemble yourselves and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Yahweh." Yahweh's reply is swift. Isaiah 3:12 warns, "Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Yahweh's judgment: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about."

Other prophets support this. Yahweh told in Isaiah 54:15,17, "Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh and their righteousness is of Me, saith Yahweh."

It takes more than just Joel's personal prayer to accomplish this. We, as a nation, must return to Yahweh and seek His help. Joel 2:15-18 warns us, "Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders. Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people O Yahweh, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Then will Yahweh be jealous for His land and pity His people."

Isaiah 13:3-11 confirms this. "I have commanded My sanctified ones, I have also called My mighty ones for Mine anger, even them that rejoice in My highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdom of nations gathered together: Yahweh mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even Yahweh and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for the day of Yahweh is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Behold, the day of Yahweh cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and I will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible."

Isaiah speaks of the weapons of Yahweh's indignation. We saw these in detail in Ezekiel 38 & 39, which clearly refers to the same war. They tell how Yahweh destroys the innumerable hordes of Asiatic communism with His weapons. Yahweh does it with earthquakes and volcanic upheavals, storms and floods, pestilence, panic and mutiny among the Red troop which fight each other in their madness to escape the horrors that come upon them. They are completely destroyed.

This is much more than just a war between nations, however great. It is the day of Yahweh, which is the climax, the judgment of the age. Joel 3:12-14 is confirmed in the book of Revelation, given 900 years later. Yahweh tells him, "Let the heathen be awakened, and come to the valley of Yahweh's judgment: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of Yahweh is near in the valley of decision."

Now we are on familiar ground. Remember Revelation 14:14-20, "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat upon the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap; for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat upon the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to Him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the winepress of the wrath of Yahweh. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress even to the horse's bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."

By our apostasy from the laws of Yahweh, by allowing those who are the sworn enemies of our Redeemer Yahshua, to immigrate, infiltrate our businesses and professions, our government, even our churches we have let evil triumph. We see every effort to rally the nations against evil frustrated. We see communism set up submarine bases and rocket launching pads just 90 miles off our eastern coast. They will next establish footholds in South America. We see our own government's power to defend us sabotaged from within, by the fellow travelers who serve Russia's purposes.

We see our own diplomacy serving Russia's ends better than ours, always handing Russia an unearned victory, which Russia lacks the power to get for herself. These generations have seen the power of these infiltrators in our financial institutions and in our government, build up Russia from a starving chaos. Russia was ready to collapse of its own weakness and our government, under the influence of these alien Jews, helped build Russia to the monster, which today threatens the entire world with slavery or death.

We have seen them take China away from a friendly government, by depriving it of the weapons to defend itself, and hand it over to our deadly enemies as a power potentially even greater than Russia. We present to the world a contemptible picture of confusion, vacillation and cowardice in all our international relations. By all human standards, we are far gone in the process of collapse and destruction. However, Yahweh is not limited to human standards. Hosea 4:6 gives both the trouble and the cure. "My people are destroyed by lack of knowledge: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." However, Yahweh still provides the solution, for in Hosea 13:9-10 He promises, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help. I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities".

Yahweh promises us deliverance telling in Joel 2:20, "But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things."

After Yahweh restores His way in the nation He will even give us back the prosperity, which the liberals among us squandered among our enemies. In Joel 2:25 He says, "I will restore to you the years which the locust hath eaten."

So we see the entire picture. It is now too late to avoid the world-shaking catastrophe, which threatens us. It will begin as our enemies have planned it. However, Yahweh has never let our enemies destroy us, nor do more than punish us to bring us to our senses. He will not let us down this time. War such as the world has never seen, will break out in the near future. Yahweh will turn it into the day of Yahweh, the Day of Judgment for the heathen and the wicked nations. Yahweh will preserve those who trust in Him.

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