207
THE K I N G ' S BUS I NESS
June, 1937
Personalities versus Principles
By JAMES R. G RAH AM , Jr. Richmond, Virginia
W E LIVE in a flabby and su perficial age. The visible church which should be the vehicle of God’s' testimony on earth has committed two evils. It has turned aside from Him who is 'the fountain of living waters and has hewed itself out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. It has departed from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and it has changed the truth of God into a lie and worships and serves the creature more than the Creator.
immediately upon the fact that “ many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many” (vs. 11, 12). A b a n d o n m e n t of D iv in e P r inc iple s In the last half century, Protestantism has changed al most completely in its view of the person and work of Christ, and the change has not been for the better, but has been brought about by a horde of false prophets who have “ privily” brought in “ damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.” Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, and Judas betrayed his Lord with a kiss. Satan has entered into the leaders of Protestantism and has caused them to introduce wolves into the fold of Christ, all the while proclaiming aloud their loyalty to Him and to His W ord. Personalities used to be tested by principles, but now principles are tested by personalities. The writings and utterances of individuals claiming to be ambassadors of Christ were judged in former days by their adherence to the revealed oracles of God aside from, and exclusive of, all other considerations. A word here or a phrase there that was off-color would be detected immediately. That was before the jazz age and was in a day when even the laity had a sufficient knowledge of the Scriptures to be competent judges. Educational paganism, begun in the colleges and continued in the theological seminaries, has so undermined the bases of authority that the clergy have descended from proclaiming supernatural and eternal veri ties to tampering with materialistic and temporal toys. The result has been large-scale world-conformity, spiritual coldness and death in the pew. Any discerning or discrim inating knowledge of the Scriptures on the part of the laity seems in danger of perishing from the earth. Men who have been lauded as the modern interpreters of Christianity by clergy and laity of all denominations run all over the face of the earth citing “Jesus” (never the Lord Jesus Christ) as the originator of all sorts of social schemes, world reform, class warfare, and even Marxian Communism. Sometimes, to be sure, these false teachers turn aside to make statements about Christ which are (for them) surprisingly orthodox in phraseology, yet which are entirely meaningless because they cut squarely athwart the main premise of their argument (if the tradi tional meaning is assigned to the w o rd s ); and everything good that is said is completely vitiated by numerous state ments to the direct contrary. Some or all of these teachers, the ecclesiastical leaders of practically all the denominations of Protestantism have accredited and indorsed, even heaping upon them the most extravagant praise. But in the writings of 'these teachers it can not be ascertained that they believe on the Only Begotten Son of G od ; the indications are indeed to the contrary. Instead of Christ’s being the Creator, by whom and for whom all things were made and in whom all things consist, they teach that He is “ the summit of evolution,” a creature of a materialistic and mechanistic process. One of these men declared himself obsessed with the idea of the “ kingdom of God on earth.” W e note 'however, that he is obsessed with the idea that the King’s [Continued on page 212]
Mr. Graham
A certain king of old heard the reading of the W ord of God and rent his clothes. This act was the precursor of revival and blessing. The son of the very same king heard the W ord of God and with his penknife he carved it up and threw it in the fire. This act was the immediate precursor of divine judgment (cf. 2 Ki. 23 and Jer. .36). Ignorance of God’s W ord is not necessarily an irremedi able condition, provided that leaders of God’s people will metaphorically rend their garments when they hear that W ord. But let them show their contempt of it by spurn ing all parts of it that cannot be perverted to purposes of humanistic ear-scratching, and judgment lurks in the immediate offing, and will begin at the house of God. A re G od ’ s P eople R e stra in ing E v il ? The people of God are the salt of the earth. The season ing power of a sprinkling of salt in a large caldron of food is prodigiously great— far out of proportion to the place that it occupies in bulk. So it has been throughout the ages, that believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit (always an infinitesimal minority) have been a potent deterrent to the forces of evil, even in a world whose course is di rected by the prince of the power of the air. If, however, the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? Apostates are those who have had at least mental appre hension of the truth, but have given it up and have turned aside unto fables. Nineveh in this respect was different from other ancient powers. The city having repented at the preaching of Jonah, a later generation had turned away from this knowledge, and unconditional judgment was pronounced against them (see the Book of Nahum). The measure and extent of evil in the world is always in inverse ratio to the high or low spiritual condition of the people who have been constituted as God’s testimony. In substantiation of this, let it be noted that when the Saviour was listing the signs of His coming in Matthew 24, His statement that “ inquity shall abound” follows [ Mr. Graham is a missionary of the Presbyterian Church in the United States
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker