November 1931
491
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acterize the end of the age. It is evident that we are in the midst of it, and our problem is how to warn the faith ful, and how to reach the multitudes who are compelled to listen to such heresies with very little knowledge of the Word with which to combat them. M arks of th e F alse T eachers Notice, first of all, the marks of these false teachers. They are described in the Word as deceivers (1 John 2:18-25; 2 John 7), as perverters of the gospel (Gal. 1:7), as those “who separate themselves, sensual, hav ing not the Spirit” (Jude 19), as “false prophets, which come . . . in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are raven ing wolves” (Matt. 7 :15). They deny the truth; they at tack the truth; they pervert the truth; they counterfeit the truth; and they produce divisions which lead to every form of evil. Their chief heresy centers in their objection to the person and utterances of our Lord, They accept some of His teaching, of course; but they deny much of it. They endeavor to bring Him into the world through the channels of illegitimacy, while the Scriptures proclaim Him to be “God manifest in the flesh.” When they dis pense with the virgin birth, they overlook the fact that, if Jesus Christ had not been born of a virgin, we would be without a Saviour, and our faith in Him as 'God would be without foundation. M ethods of th e F alse T eachers These false teachers come in the name of scholarship, rather than in the name of the Lord. They magnify the schools of wisdom, but they minimize the revelation of God. They talk eloquently of “the babe of Bethlehem,” “the carpenter of Nazareth,” “the great teacher,” but not of the redeeming Christ of Calvary. “When they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through' the lusts of the flesh” (2 Pet. 2:18). Their pet phrase, which is almost sacramental with them, is: “The scholars are
they talk of the coming kingdom of God, and in connection with it, the word they, most frequently use is the word “world”-—world policies, world religion, world move ments, world power, world peace, world unity, world brotherhood! Their whole business is of the world, void of the cross of Christ and the Spirit of God. We declare that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is God-breathed : “All scripture is given by inspira tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2,Tim. 3 :16) . The false teachers say that the Bible “contains” the Word of God, suggesting that there are some things in the Book which ought not to be there, and some things left out which should be there. Their interference is that they would like to supply them from the emanations of their own brain. We pause to remind them and their followers of the solemn warning in the last chapter of Revelation : “If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:19). We know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the unique sense in which no mortal is or could become. Be lievers receive power from Him “to become the sons of God” ; but He always was, and is, and will be the Son of God, pre-existent, having a supernatural birth, living a supernatural life, dying a supernatural death, experiencing a supernatural resurrection, and promising to return in a supernatural manner. Modern thinkers declare that Jesus Christ is a Son’of God in the sense in which all men are, only to a greater degree ; that He had a natural birth, with Joseph and Mary as His parents ; and that He lived a nat ural life and died a natural death. And there some would leave Him still buried in the Syrian grave. We preach “Christ and him crucified,” and, we reiterate the Word of God, that His death was expiatory, that He died, “the just
agreed.” But when investiga tion is made, we discover that the scholars are not agreed.” They make their idle boasts, while the true believer rests with confidence in the Word of God (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18-31). Modern scholars exalt hu man reason above divine revela tion and inspiration, and their sole authority is found in what their minds contrive and which becomes responsible for the great falling away and the de parture from the faith. The Sav iour said that this would be one of the outstanding signs of the end of the age; and it is largely responsible for the rest of them: wars, conflicts, pestilences, fam ines, persecutions, distress, and unrest. T h e T enets of th e F alse T eachers While we proclaim a per sonal, visible return of Christ,
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” ; that He “bare our sins in his own body on the tree” ; that His death was an atonement for sin; that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” But modernists declare that the death of Jesus was only exem plary, and that He died as a martyr to .His convictions and as an example of devotion to truth and service. Such state ments take the heart out of thè gospel of redeeming love. We believe man to be a spe cial creation of God, made in God’s own image, and not a blood relation of the brute cre ation. The false teachers accept the unbiblical philosophies that declare man to be the product of evolution, coming up through the inherent forces of nature. We believe that man is a lost sin ner, and that only through Christ can he be saved, by the s e c o n d birth,, but they be [Continued on page 499]
The King is Coming Soon B y M argaret B arber S ph er e ’ s a whisper from the glory of the It} coming of the Lord! Oh, the joy my heart is tasting as I rest upon His Word! And what peace amid earth’s tumult doth this precious truth afford— "Hold fast! I ’m coming soon!” In the glory of His promise I am living day by day, And the light of heaven is dawning on earth’s dreary, desert way, While I wait that sweetest whisper, "Up, My child, and come away ”-—■ The King is coming soon! There’s glory on the mountains and a glory on the sea, And the valleys now are glowing, and the des ert way can be Just a pilgrimage to glory since He whispered it to me— "Hold fast! I ’m coming soon!” —Prophetic News.
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