theory, that is, that Isaiah did not write the entire prophecy ascribed to him but, instead, the two men wrote the book. Again, they claimed that their writings were brought together by some unknown compiler and certainly Isaiah was not inspired. These skeptics also taught that Daniel was not written at the time during which Daniel lived but, instead, was written by some unknown author after the events recorded in Daniel had actually occurred. So they were merely prophetic figures of speech. O f course this would deny the inspiration of the Book of Daniel, because actually the prophecies are so remarkable and their fulfillments so accu rate that Daniel must have been supernaturally inspired. These critics also eliminated the Gospel according to John, and claimed that it was written between 200-300 A .D ., thus giving sufficient time for the various "myths” concerning the deity of Jesus Christ to become firmly established in the imaginations of His followers. They also concocted rather poorly veiled excuses for denying Pauline authorship of some of his epistles, as well as Petrine author ship of II Peter. The modernists of that generation, in large measure, have passed from the scene and today we have a new breed. They do not call themselves modernists but instead have tried to attach his torically significant terms to themselves in order to avoid the stigma of being called modernists. They use the title "neo-ortho- dox,” a term originating about twenty-five years ago. As in the previous generation, some of these men crept into otherwise ortho dox seminaries and began their task of teaching liberalism to the oncoming pulpiteers, so today men have crept into otherwise orthodox theological seminaries and are proclaiming this nefarious system of unbelief. There is nothing new whatever in this "new” orthodoxy; it is simply a rehash of that which was started long ago and which, incidentally, was quite thoroughly answered and repudiated by conservative theologians of the last generation. It is not necessary for a theologian to run the whole gamut of unbelief as taught by the destructive critics to be a destructive critic himself. All he need do is to pick up one of these points of denial and begin to proclaim it. He teaches others also and they, in turn, enlarge upon it and add to it one or two other points of unbelief until, once again, we have the whole system of anti- Christianity flourishing in places where once God’s Word was thoroughly believed and systematically taught. The tragic trend today is the fact that these neo-orthdox defectors are so cordially welcomed by so many church leaders who themselves claim to believe the Bible to be the Word of God with all o f its attendant doctrinal teachings. Here is actually how unbelief creeps in — a little here and a little there, until the Word of God is quite com pletely discredited and it is too late to do anything about it. This is the way schools or organizations or denominations are lost to the cause of Christ. May the Lord help us to be alert to these dangers, both real and potential, in order that we may steadfastly maintain and boldly proclaim the pure truths found in God’s inspired Word.
TO P R O V ID E FO R R E T I R E M E N T - A N D TH E M I S S I O N F I E L D
■ I F Y O U W O U L D LIK E T BE S U R E O F Y O U R C O N T IN U IN G W IT N E S S ON T H M I S S I O N F I E L D . . . IF Y O U ARE A L SO IN T E R E S T E D S E C U R IT Y A N D PEACE O M IN D . . . c o n s i d e r the a dv a tage s o f W o r l d V i s i o n ’s G I A N N U I T Y P L A N .
They include: • A fixed income for life for YOU • A fixed income for life for your survivor (if you choose survivor benefits). • The satisfaction of knowing your money is invested in the Lord's work, yet returns to you usually more than the current rate of inter est, and provides freedom from investment worries. • Gives substantial savings on income tax, estate tax, probate costs, bond ing and executor's fees. A N D your money can earn up to 8 % interest A N N U IT A N T S A R E M IS S IO N A R IE S W IT H A W O R L D V IS IO N DEPT. KB ] ] Please send a free copy of World Vision’s GIFT AN N U IT Y PLAN. name________ ___ ___________________ address_______ —____________________ city.. .................................................. state---------------------------------zip code____ occupation___________________ _______ date of birth________________________ _ M A IL T O : Stew a rd sh ip Dept. W O R L D V IS I O N , In c ., 919 W. Huntington Drive, Monrovia, Calif, or W O R L D V IS IO N O F C A N A D A , Box 181-K, Toronto 12, Ont.
MARCH, 1966
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