King's Business - 1921-09

T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S

872

cities, Millennial Dawnists, th e follow­ ers of Russell, are still advocating these false doctrines. • The larg est halls are taken, such as th e A lbert Hall, London, attend ed by thousands of people. Why is. th is p articu lar theory so attractiv e? W hat is it th a t draws people? Pos­ sibly one of th e causes of the success of Russellism in America and th roughou t G reat B ritain is in large measure due to th e fact th a t th e m ajo rity of Chris­ tians in our churches are absolutely ig­ no ran t of the prophetic element in Scripture. Had m inisters and clergy generally devoted b u t a m oderate por­ tion of the.ir tim e and effort to unfold­ ing God’s plan for the Redemption of th e world th roughou t the different ages, such false apostles as Russell would have-found very little response to th eir theories. But alas! when th e proph­ ecies of Daniel and th e eschatological portions of St. P au l’s w ritings, and th e Book of Revelation, and th e apocalyptic prophecies of our Lord are seldom heard in th e pulpit from one year’s end to another, it is inevitable th a t when a re­ markable personality such as “P asto r” Russell appears, w ith his business-like gifts and abilities, and produces charts and forecasts w ith regard to fu tu re events, atten tion , and finally assent, is given to h is theories. The late w ar has proved th a t many of our men a t th e F ron t, especially those in the lands of Palestine, Egypt and Mesopotamia, have been stirred to read th è prophetic Scrip­ tures. B u t th e re is a general lam ent th a t th e clergy do no t tre a t of these subjects, and consequently they go to teachers and books th a t profess to be able exponents of 1 th e prophetic Scriptures— alas! to th e ir sp iritual h arm .” Many instances could be related of th e dang eis and sp iritual ship-wreck resu lting from th e clergy no t giving to th e ir congregations teaching along the lines of dispensational and prophetical tru th ; b u t surely it is unnecessary. The

of coming judgm ents; df th e prophecies about things to come were explained; If God’s plans for the world and for His Church were set forth, so far as reveal­ ed, th e pews would tell a different tale. Moreover, should not people be warned of w hat is coming? Are th e shepherds not ordered to tell men to flee from the w rath to come? But how can they, if they know nothing about these things? Time is sho rt dispensationally as well as individually. Are God’s watchmen to be described now as they were' in Isaiah ’s tim e in these b itter words: “ His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot b ark ; sleeping, lying down, lov­ ing to slum ber” ? (Isa. 56;10.) But th e evil of ignoring Scriptures which refer to ddspensatiohal and pro­ phetic tru th has a positive as well as a negative side. T h at is, ignorance lets in heresies, which teach lies, along w ith p a rt of th e tru th . This is tru e of most heresies, b u t especially so of one of th e most pestilential. The one I now spe­ cially refer to claims atten tion by pre­ tending to expound prophecy; and so gains a foothold to exploit its many soul destroying heresies. I refer to Millen­ nial Dawnism, th e production of “ Pas­ to r” Russell. B u t w hat is tru e of th a t cult in relation to th e preaching of a complete Gospel is tru e of th e whole of S atan ’s crop. The “Churchm an,” one of England’s best, religious monthlies, is publishing a series of articles entitled “Some L at­ te r Day Heresies.” • The w riter, the Rev. E. L. Langston, M. A., who speaks for a considerable section of th e Angli­ can Church in England, discusses th is Russell cult. His conclusions are so much in line w ith th e views I have sought to express th a t they are h ere re­ produced as follows: “Sufficient has been w ritten to indi­ cate th e a-wful and baneful dangers of th is modern heresy th a t is now being advocated in our country. In our large

Made with FlippingBook HTML5