ing she is rich, increased with goods and has need o f nothing, when in the sight of God she is wretch ed, miserable, poor, blind and naked (Rev. 3:17). The longer we live and if our Lord tarries, the more will increase the denial o f doctrine, erosion of ethics, and rise o f religion—the characteristics of apostasy throughout the church age. Finally, will come the age denoted as “ the apostasy,” led by the chief o f all human apostates, the Antichrist himself. But where is today’s apostasy headed? What is Satan’s real goal and purpose? He is marching toward the time when the whole world will rebel against God, with a vast persecution o f God’s peo ple. The Antichrist will change times and laws to suit himself, make war with Israel, blaspheme God. This world-wide dictator will destroy all that has a semblance of God to usurp all worship for him self. The height of his apostasy is when he exalts himself “ above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (II Thess. 2:4). To do this, he will cause the sacrifices in Israel to cease and destroy the apostate church, at that time an ecumenical and world influential or ganization, that he alone might be worshipped. His blasphemy against God and his pride for himself will be so great that he will require all to worship him on the penalty of death. It is no wonder that such an event will signal the end of this entire age (Matt. 24:15). Although God is patient and longsuffering to ward sinners, His wrath will not be stayed for ever. After apostasy has run its full course, our Lord will destroy it and its leader with the bright ness of His coming. It is then that the man o f sin will be cast into the lake of fire, Satan bound and later to meet the same doom, and Christ will reign upon this earth with a rod of iron. No longer will the world be held by the lie of Satan but will know the one who said, “ I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). To seize his future goals, Satan is using the same strategies he has used throughout the entire church age, those he is using today. What then can we, who are called upon to resist Satan, learn for our spiritual warfare with him? One striking meth od of Satan is his remarkable use o f deception. For instance, he does not come up to you, saying, “ I want you to join the First Church o f Satan,” but instead works through the Sunday school, the church, the young people’s programs, even visita tion. His major source of attack is the Person and work of Jesus Christ for he repudiates God’s way of salvation by grace through the shed blood of Christ. He, therefore, must offer a system o f hu man effort and merit, thereby denying the suf ficiency o f Christ’s death. He offers his own mes sage to the world, that of good works, social re form, the betterment of man for himself. To all
by Edgar C. «lames
THE PATH OF
B u il t a t a c o s t o f $400,000 and slated to min ister to as many as 10,000 people, a new church opened in Kansas City in November, 1968. What makes St. Mark’s unique, however, is not its building or program, but rather the fact that this is the world’s first ecumenical church. The Episco pal, United Presbyterian, United Church o f Christ, and Roman Catholic churches now have a visible Protestant-Catholic joint venture in this the heart o f America. Such an event is an unbelievable milestone in the rapid rise of religion in the last decade throughout this country and the world. The mod em ecumenical movement began in America with Dr. G. Bromley Oxnam, noted liberal Methodist bishop. He is credited with preparing the original blueprints for the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches for the pur pose that a united church eventually would result from them. Now it appears established far sooner than anyone dared imagine. With the ecumenical movement, devoid o f blood- bought redemption and infested with doctrinal compromise, making such relentless gains, many are wondering if the stage is not now set for the culmination of apostasy. If it is, then how can we be vibrant Christians, communicating our faith in such times as these? There is no question that we are living in the Laodicean age. Now it is that Christendom is say
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NOVEM BER, 1969
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