Talbot_Expositi_1937-WM.pdf

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

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Therefore, it is clear that we are to interpret the passage symbolically. But the spiritual plague does not strike down every man. Only those who "have not the seal of God in their forehead" are to be stung by their damnable bludgeons. The "sealed company" are to escape. Every child of God is sealed by the Holy Spirit, and it is the office of the Holy Spirit to lead those who accept the Lord Jesus Christ into the whole truth. You will 'never find any man or woman who has been really re­ generated by the Spirit of God who will accept any doctrine that denies the deity of the Son of God or the necessity of the atonement. In ignorance of what a system teaches, he may join such a movement: but when he learns the real thing for which any cult stands, he will sever all connection with it. He cannot do otherwise, if he is born again. I recall a family I once had in my congregation who had been ostracized by their relatives because they would not take up Christian Science. The brother of the wife understood Christian Science thoroughly, having studied under Mrs. Eddy herself. He understood what it taught concerning God, concerning Christ, and concerning the blood atonement; and yet, knowing the tmth, he accepted Christian Science, deny­ ing the other things. His sister came to me one day and asked me to go with her to visit another sister, who was under the brother's influence. That sister was dying of tuberculosis; and as we walked into her room, I saw before me a thin, emaciated form, lying upon a bed. On the stand by her side lay a Bible. In her hand she held a copy of "Science and Health," which she was reading. As we came in, she looked up and said, "This," holding up Mrs. Eddy's book, "is the thing that helps me." I sat down beside the bed and talked to her. I asked her if she thought she would go to heaven if she died. She said she would. Then I asked her what her conception of heaven was, and what made her entrance there possible. As she talked, I saw that ·she believed the same things I do. I asked her if she would accept anything that denied the Lord Jesus Christ as God's eternal Son who shed His blood for guilty sinners. She said, "Why no!"

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