The Prophetic Significance of Pope John's Appeal (cont.) Man’s wrongdoing was punished by divinely-ordered confusion. And how great that disunity has been ever since! Men have not stopped mistrusting and hating one another. World confusion is God’s judgment upon man’s heart of unbelief. History proves that no civilization has survived without God. The United Nations opened their first session without God lest Russia’s atheistic repre sentatives might become offended. There has been con fusion in the United Nations ever since. God cannot respect man’s efforts when He is ignored. The effort of the “ One Worlders” to integrate the races seems to be but one more sign that we are nearing the end of the age. The laws that men make and enforce; religious, social, industrial, political, or otherwise, can only produce a modem Babel with Antichrist as its head. The beginning of man’s doing will end in a Babel (con fusion) every time. Instead of ecumenicalism, man will alienate himself from his fellowmen, and conflict will result. Sinful man lacks the wisdom, knowledge, moral fabric, and spiritual power to control a world government or a world church. He needs God and God’s Word to guide him, and whenever he works independently of God confusion is bound to follow. CONFUSION W IL L CONTINUE UNT IL CHRIST RETURNS The confusion which began at Babel continues till this day and will continue till Christ comes again. When man’s way runs counter to God’s way, God will see to it that man’s way does not succeed. All I have read in his tory about attempts to bring a world church into being reveals the pride and prejudice of man and his fear of being swallowed up by his fellowmen. God is not pleased with such motives nor can He bless man’s effort. There is a day coming when there will be one world and one church. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagina tion of their evil heart (Jeremiah 3:17). When Christ Himself comes back to Jerusalem, the nations will be delivered from their own ways. Then the earth will know the only ecumenicalism that will work. It cannot work in a monarchy, a democracy, nor under a human dictatorship. When the Theocracy is established in the world again, then the ecumenical church will function successfuly. Abraham looked for the one c’ity, but it was the city “which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). We may look for one government to bless the world, but that form of government must have Jesus Christ as its head. It is described in the Bible as follows, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth (Philippians 2:9-11). We can be thankful that there will be no ecumenical church until Christ comes, for then the chances for main taining freedom will be greater, and by virtue of the separation and diversity there will be greater opportunity for a witness to the truth of the Gospel. WHEN W IL L MAN'S ECUM EN ICAL CHURCH APPEAR? No study of prophetic events to take place on the earth would be complete without the future religious picture. Man is naturally a religious being, and in this he differs
from the lower forms of animal life. Man is tri-partite in nature, and that is why he is a worshipper in contrast to the animals that are not. The Scriptures do predict an ecumenical church in the last days, and even if they were silent on the subject, a coming world-wide religion is inevitable at the end of the age. Turn in your Bible to Revelation, chapter thirteen. This gruesome scene depicts a dark and terrible condition in the earth after the true Church has been taken out of the world to be with Christ. The conditions described in this chapter occur under the rule of the Antichrist. Two “beasts” are here presented; the beast out of the sea (vss. 1-10), and the beast out of the earth (vss. 11-18). Actu ally they are men, but called “ beasts” because of the cruelty and viciousness of their beastlike reign. These two men represent two movements. First, there is the world federation of nations for political reasons, and second, the world federation of churches for religious reasons. It is the Pope’s ecumenical church that will occupy our attention here. Upon examining verses 4, 8, 12 and 15, it will be observed that the main activity is “ worship.” The next item of importance is the one who is to be wor shipped. He is the “ dragon” (vs. 4). This is the key to an understanding of man’s ecumenical church. The “ dragon” is identified in the preceding chapter as “ that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). Satan’s ambition always has been to control the wor ship of man. When he tempted our Lord he said, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me (Matthew 4:9). The Antichrist will be Satan’s masterpiece of deception, so that through him Satan becomes the object of worship and thereby accomplishes his goal. In man’s ecumenical church, inspired by Satan, there is no freedom of the conscience nor exercise of the human will. Worship, if it can be called worship, will be enforced (Revelation 13:12), and all who refuse to participate will do so under the penalty of death (Revelation 13:15). Those who wil lingly join this ecumenical movement will do so out of fear, recognizing the military strength of the government which will be closely tied in with the church (Revelation 13:4). Also, the members of this ecumenical church will be those whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). HISTORY SUPPORTS PROPHECY No doubt, there are many who question the possibility of the ecumenical church just described. Let us go back in history to the year 606 B.C. Turn in your Bible to Daniel, chapter three. Here is a historical record of the man-made ecumenical church under the rule of Nebu chadnezzar, king of Babylon. After he completed the erection of the great image, all government officials were summoned to its dedication (3:1-3). Then a messenger was sent to all the “ people, nations, and languages” tell ing them to prepare for the service of worship, and at the time appointed by the king, everyone was to bow down and worship the image (3 :4 ,5 ). Now it is signifi cant and interesting to observe the punishment meted out to anyone who refused to become a member of Nebuchadnezzar’s ecumenical church — And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace (3:6). Now go back over the story and read carefully verses 1-7. Everything about this church and its order of wor ship was designed to appeal to the sensual part of man.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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