BUSINESS
May, 1934
174
T H E K I N G ' S
S ï j Ô
C a m 1so u f l a g e d 8 v i l By P. W. £HILPOTT Toronto, OnFario, Canada
The degenerate, the drunkard, the outcast —not one of them thinks he is right; they know they are wrong. But one of the greatest tragedies of the present hour is the fact that literally thousands of earnest, sincere persons are deceived as to their relation to God. They think they are right, but they are sadly deluded, and this in spite of the numerous warnings in the Scripture against religious deception. Jesus declared that many false teachers would arise and would deceive many. And just before He pictured several striking contrasts, He stated that many in that day would say: “Lord, Lord, have we not
[The address, “Camouflaged Evil” was first delivered in the Church of the Open Door, Los Angeles, during an evangelistic campaign conducted by Dr. P. W. Philpott, with Arthur W. McKee as song leader, March 18 to April 1. Since his resignation as pastor of the Church of the Open Door, two years.ago, Dr. Philpott has been devoting his full time to evangelism, with the gracious blessing of the Lord attend ing his ministry. It has pleased the Lord to speak through His servant to the salvation of many souls .— E ditor .] “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; hut the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12).
P. W. P hilpott
A t the very beginning of human history, we see a line. It runs right up through time and into eternity. It is a line of demarcation. It divides the human race into two classes. In the New Testament these two groups are desig nated as “the children of the wicked one” and “the children of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:38). Paul speaks of them as “the natural man” and “he that is spiritual,” and again as “by nature .the children of wrath” and “children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” The line begins at the household of Adam; on one side we have Cain, and on the other, Abel.!' Cain represented the man of the earth, the worldly, the godless. John tells us he was “of the evil one.” He had no adequate sense of sin, and he felt no need of atone ment—the remission of sins through the shedding of blood. On the other hand, we see Abel, realizing himself a sinner and recognizing also his need of a Saviour. He came to God through the blood of the lamb and was accepted be cause of his offering. All men are numbered in one of these two classes. Either we are going in the way of Cain, or we are in the fellowship with Abel, through faith in Jesus Christ. “In Adam” or “in Christ” is the way Paul states the contrast in his first Epistle to the Corinthians. There are just two classes. You may subdivide them into many sections, but in the final issue, there are just the two classes before God, as different as day is from night and as life is from death. Jesus enforced this solemn truth at, the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, in a series of striking contrasts— two ways, two trees, two foundations—-the broad way that leads to destruction, and the narrow road that leads to life; the good tree producing good fruit, the corrupt tree bring ing forth evil fru it; the house on the rock foundation, that stood the test, and the house on the sand, that collapsed when the storm came. In the face of this plain scriptural teaching, it surely becomes us to locate ourselves, to ask ourselves a few pointed questions: ¡To which class do I belong ? Am I a follower of Cain, or of Abel ? There is no neutral or middle ground; I am in the suc cession of one or the other. To hold any other view is to be the victim of the most deadly delusion^ j-p t f - nH T he D anger of R eligious D eception “There is a way which seemeth right,” declares our tex t It is not the moral mistake that the Scripture implies.
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils ?and in thy name done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7 :22, 23). These people were sincere and they were zealous, but they Were wrong. Some folks seem to think that if people are only sincere in their religious belief, they must be all right, no matter what they believe. It would be difficult to find any be lievers more sincere than the four hundred false prophets in the days of Elijah. So sure were they that they were right, that they leaped upon their altar, crying to Baal to hear them, cutting themselves with knives in their frenzy. They were sincere, they were enthusiastic, but they were sincerely wrong. Indeed, I sometimes think that the devotees of false religious cults shame those who have the real truth, for they are generally working night and day to influence others. “There is a way which seemeth right.” Yet a thing that is wrong cannot be made right by simply thinking it is right. A popular way of getting rid of unpleasant truths in our time is to say, “Oh, I don’t believe that,” or, “I don’t accept it.” But that rejection does not alter the fact. Truth is truth, whether you believe it or not. “If we belieye not,” says Paul, “yet he abideth faithful” (2 Tim. 2:13). The heavens and the earth may pass away, but the Word of God abideth forever; it cannot pass away; it is truth. Believing error never makes it right. If tomorrow I should go down to one of the stores in the city, purchase a few dollars’ worth of goods, and tender a ten-dollar bill in payment, the clerk that serves me may take the bill to the cashier, with my goods to be wrapped. But in a few moments he may return, his face red, and say, “I beg your pardon, sir, but we cannot accept this bill.” Rather indignantly, I ask him, “Why?” In embarrassment, he answers, “The bill is counter feit.” I say, “That cannot be; I accepted that bill, and I believe it is good.” “Well,” he says,, “you may have accepted it, and you may believe it is good, and it is a good counterfeit—but.it is not the real thing!” Do you see, friends? A thing that is wrong is never made right by my believing it.
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