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August 1932
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
C 0 le s en i-d )a v c d u iflln e n l o/PROPHECY . . . B y L ouis S. B auman
Believing a Lie n e o f t h e m o s t startling forecasts in all the realm of prophecy faces us in that most significant chapter dealing with the coming heyday o f “ the man of sin”—2 Thessa- lonians 2. We read: “ And for this cause God shall send them strong delu sion [a working of error, R. V .], that they should believe a lie: That they might all be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (vs. 11, 12). Strange to say, it is not unbelief, but faith, that charac terizes the hellish hosts who are to “ prosper till the indig nation be accomplished” (Dan. 11:36). Praise God, this prosperity will be brief (Isa. 26:20; Matt. 24:22). Yes, faith, though it is to be faith in “ a lie,” will inspire the lawless forces which will pour as a devastating flood over the face of the whole earth, as the gongs shall toll the last hours of our weary age. And exactly this— faith in “ a lie,” a gigantic “ lie”—-is inspiring countless millions of the world’s youth to rally beneath the red banners. They rally with a fervor such as has hardly been known since the Christian martyrs of pagan Rome believed—and died! It is because they believe something, not because they do not believe, that these millions of communistic youth train their heaviest artillery upon the altars of the Christian church and the Christian home. O f course it is “ a lie”— a hallucination unparalleled in history, “ a superhuman energy o f delusion,” as the apostle describes it—which causes vast masses of humanity to believe that they better the world of men, or even advance their own selfish inter ests economically, by the destruction o f private property; and socially, by the destruction o f the family; and polit ically, by the destruction of liberty; and morally, by the
destruction of virtue; and spiritually, by the annihilation of God. But Communists believe just that, with a fanatical devotion, with an ecstasy o f enthusiasm, with “a superhu man energy of delusion” such as the world has not seen since the Arabian torrent rolled over Europe to within an inch of the. imperial power of Caesar’s throne. Salvation came only when, on that memorable day o f October 3, 732, at Poitiers, from dawn to dusk, Charles Martel (the Ham mer) literally hammered and chopped the Moslem hosts into bits with his terrible German battle-axes. And now present world realities force the conviction that frenzied atheistic hosts are about to sweep a “man o f sin” (v. 3) to the throne of world dominion. Energized by the “ delusion” of “ a lie,” we see nothing ahead to stop the onward march except the Stone (Dan. 2 :44, 45) that, thank God, shall hammer to bits and crush to dust these hosts of hell at the coming meet at Armageddon. Certain ly, it is not within the power of the divided, cold, worldly, smug, snug, self-complacent, Spirit-forsaken, comatose, and moribund organizations we still d e n omi na t e “ churches,” to stay these last-day, fiery, Satanically ener gized, ready-to-do-or-die hordes of iniquity. There is still a mighty restraining force— “ the church”— against which “ the gates o f hell shall not prevail” ; but in the inscrutable purpose of Omnipotence, that force is to be “ taken out of the way,” while the spineless, sapless, apostate organiza tions commonly called “ churches” will perish before the advance of the energized “ lie.” And they will be buried in the grave they have dug for themselves—modernism. Doubt is the devouring disease, eating away the vitals of the churches. But keep it clearly in mind that these communistic youth in Russia and elsewhere are not doubt- [Continued on page 361]
(ff^ r ld e o f ( f lir t s i
A /fID S T the darkness, storm, and sorrow, One bright gleam 1 see; Well I \now the blessed morrow Christ will come for me. Oh, the blessed joy of meeting, All the desert past! Oh, the wondrous words of greeting H e shall speak at ^ast-
H e and 1 together entering Those fair courts above; H e and l together sharing All the Father’s love. H e and l, in that bright glory, One deep joy shall share — Mine, to be forever with H im ; His, that I am there.
—P. G.
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