THE FOLLY OF FEDERATION BETWEEN THE CHURCH
AND THE WORLD
By
R. E. NEIGHBOUR
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[Page
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PREFACE
The
purpose of this little book is not to oppose the world in its efforts for
better things, nor to decry the fact that the world needs better things.
The contention of the book is that the Church, scripturally,
cannot federate with the world in its efforts for Civic Righteousness, Social
Regeneration, and World Betterment. The world is not interested in better
things based upon the cross. The Church cannot be interested in better things
that eliminate the cross.
The burden of the messages of the hour, - messages of
Statesman and Philanthropist, Novelist and Sociologist, Moralist and Economist,
Preacher and Politician, - the burden is: The
Relation and Obligation of the Church to Social Conditions. The burden
of the message of this booklet is the same. It seeks not to interpret the Word
of God by the Twentieth Century Conditions; but seeks to find the Mind of God
in the Word of God, without any forced interpretations whatsoever.
[Page 3]
Its conclusions are presented under
seven separate propositions. If the reader will candidly and carefully follow
us, in the same spirit in which the booklet is written, we believe he will find
Gods attitude for him toward the subjects under treatment; and in finding
this, he will be enabled to answer with ease the questions
which are dominant in the thought of the twentieth century. Such
questions as:
1.
Is the Church built to inaugurate a new social order?
2.
Is the Church sent to prescribe policies for the solving of social unrest?
3.
Is the Church commanded to enter the realm of ethical relationships?
4.
Is the Church commissioned to equalize wealth and wages?
5.
Is the Church taught to pursue a collective conception of the Gospel?
6. Is the Church
following the call of God when she heeds the call of the twentieth century to a
new vision, new
message and new methods?
7. Is the Church
meeting the needs of the age? If not, why not?
With these preliminary words, it alone remains necessary,
before entering upon the book itself, to define our use of the words, Church and world. The word Church,
Gr., Ecclesia, [out-calling] is used in the New Testament in three ways.
1. It is used of a local assembly of called out ones.
2. It is used, collectively, of all professed believers, members
of the visible assemblies.
3. It is used, inclusively, to designate all and only the truly
regenerate, from the day of Pentecost to the end of the Church age, who, by one
Spirit are baptized into one body.
This book acknowledges an apostasy in the visible Church, and
calls upon the true Church to return to her risen Lord and Master. This booklet
presents a call to the true Church because it presents a call to all the
regenerate, who are in Christ Jesus.
The word world,
Gr., Kosmos, as used in this book,
is that scriptural use of the word, which represents the whole body of
unbelievers, who walk according to the prince of the power of the air. The
world-system that is selfish and sinful to the core; guided by greed, and
fettered by force, but to a great part aspiring to polish, refinement and
civilization; glorying in achievement, enterprise and chivalry; manifesting a
spirit which is, outwardly, reverential, pious and religious.
This world-system with its greed and gold, with its pomp and
pride, with its refinement and religion lies in the lap of the wicked one, From this world
God is calling out a people for His name. This people
composes His true Church and they cannot federate with the world, from
which they are called, in its efforts for civic- righteousness, social
regeneration and world-betterment.
* *
*
COMMENDATORY FOREWORD
DR. R. A. TORREY,
DEAN, BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES
I have carefully read the manuscript of the book by Rev. R. E.
Neighbour, on the subject The Folly of Federation. I heartily agree with
the doctrine of the booklet. The message is one that is greatly needed. If the
Church is to accomplish the work that God has called her to do, she must
understand Gods plan and Gods method, and must conform to that.
It is not Gods plan in this present dispensation to save
society but to save individuals and to call out from
the world a people for His name. It is not Gods method for the
Church to federate with the world but to be separate from the world and to
refuse all unholy alliances. The Church has been
largely shorn of power by the alliances into which she has entered with
unbelievers.*
[* Particularly,
with unbelievers which He has placed in positions of power and authority.]
* *
*
INTRODUCTION BY DR. I. M.
HALDEMAN.
The Lord has led the author to write The
Folly of Federation. The times call for it. Every Church member should
have a copy of it. I endorse every statement. I agree with every word. Every
minister should read it and preach the truth that inspires it.
I say I endorse it. I may well say so; for many years I have been preaching, teaching, writing and
publishing it. There never was a time when it more needed to be emphasized, circulated and
sustained, than now. The Church is being led captive.
Christian ministers, caught by a false Gospel, are preaching a natural
righteousness. The Devil tried to seduce the Son of God by offering Him the
kingdoms of this world. He overcame the temptation and answered every assault
with thus it is written.
The Church has fallen into the trap laid for the Master. The
vision of a world conquered for Christ, while Christ is away, has blinded her
eyes. Her ministers have forgotten a thus it is written; [Page 7] and, following at the tempters
heels, are turning away from salvation
of the individual to salvation of society, in the vain hope that when
society shall have been saved, the individual will be delivered.
Forgetting that God has placed the seal of death and utter
rejection on the natural man, and that they who are in the flesh cannot please God, Christian
ministers are discussing eugenics, or, the making of a morally better race by
generation instead of regeneration.
Forgetting that in incarnation God did not unite the old
humanity to Himself, but created a new and distinct
humanity (and that Incarnation is itself a repudiation of the old humanity)
Christian ministers are talking of evolution.
Forgetting that the Son of God has said there will be wars and
rumours of wars and multiplied lawlessnesses, till He
return as the Prince of Peace with a rod of iron to compel peace, Christian
ministers are lulling themselves and their hearers with the idle and
Scriptureless talk about disarmament and brotherly love.
Forgetting the Lord has declared the
end of this age will be as in the days of Noah and Lot (days of sin and open
iniquity) to be swept by the flood and fire and downpour of a merciless
judgment, in which all the pride of flesh, the culture of man, and his vain self
exaltation, will go down in the overwhelming ruin and dust of destruction. Christian ministers are talking about
the betterment of the world, and congratulating themselves on the near approach
of the purple and the gold of millennial days.
There never was a time when this sacramental word, righteousness, was so bandied about; but, on
examination, it will [Page 8] be seen to be a righteousness without blood; it is the righteousness of Cain come to town again. Cain come to town with his bloodless offering and the fruit and
flowers out of an accursed earth - an earth accursed of God. It is the
righteousness of the Devil (and the righteousness of the Devil is more to be
feared than the wickedness of the Devil.)
In this hour he would be glad to shut up every saloon and
every open door to iniquity, provided thereby, he could lead men away from the
cross and the crimson of
The Church is being led to-day to take the place of a factor
in the civilization of the world, when the very name, Church, (ecclesia) signifies those who have
been called out and separated from the world. In entering
into such a partnership, she is forgetting that the world has been crucified
unto her, and that she has been crucified to the world. The Church is being led to believe that the natural man can be made
better and, finally, approved of God; when it is written: The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness
unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
[Page 9]
Our Lord and His apostles give us fair warning concerning the attitude and operation of the Devil in the
closing hours of this age. They have warned us that Satan will come,
not with hoofs and horns, but as an angel of light, with his ministers of
righteousness, and that his supreme work, his most appalling and successful
work, will be to counterfeit the Church of Christ and the Gospel of Christ.
What our Lord specifically warns us against is, a counterfeit Christ and a
counterfeit Christianity, deceiving, if it were possible, the very elect. You
have done well that you so keenly expose this false righteousness, and warn the
Church to turn from its unholy alliance with him, who is never so malignant as
when he talks of sweetness and light, and the evolution of man in
righteousness.
Fraternally yours,
L. M. HALDEMAN
March 30, 1914
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FIRST: THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD CANNOT JOIN HANDS
IN EFFORTS FOR
CIVIC RIGHTEOUSNESS, SOCIAL REGENERATION AND WORLD
BETTERMENT BECAUSE
THEIR STANDARDS OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS AND OF RIGHT LIVING
ARE DISTINCT AND OPPOSITE.
The
Church holds to a righteousness by faith, made
possible only through the blood of the cross, and to a right living made possible only through the indwelling of the [Holy] Spirit.
The righteousness the Church proclaims is an imputed
righteousness. He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. This righteousness is not of our own making, it is not
after the law, but it is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God,
by faith. The
right living the Church proclaims is an imparted holiness. It is a life dependent on the [Holy] Spirit of God who dwells within the - [obedient*(Acts 5:
32;
1 John 3: 24, R.V.).] - believer. For the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy and peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. If - [a conditional
Divine promise] - ye walk in the Spirit ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.
[* See also (1) And the Spirit
of the Lord departed from Saul,
and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him:
(1 Kings 16: 14).
(2) Cf. And Saul knew that this was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the earth, and did obeisance to him. (15) And Samuel said, Why hast thou troubled me, that I should come up? - {i.e., from amongst the holy dead in Sheol = Gk. Hades (Luke 16: 23. cf. Acts
2: 31-34, R.V.} - And Saul said, I am greatly distressed, and
the Philistines war against me, and God has departed from me, and no longer
hearkens to me either by hand of prophets or
by dreams: and now I have called thee to tell be
what I shall do. (16) And Samuel said, Why asketh
thou me, whereas
the Lord has departed from thee, and taken
part with thy neighbour. (17)
And the Lord hath done to thee, as the Lord spoke by me;
and the Lord will
rend the kingdom out of thy hand, and will
give it to thy neighbour David, because thou didst not hearken to the voice of the Lord,
and didst not execute his fierce anger upon Amalec,
therefore the Lord has done this thing to thee this day. (1 Kings 28: 14b-17, Septuagint trans.).]
[Page 11]
The world holds to a righteousness that is of its own making.
It knows no cross. It glories in naught but its own attainments. Like Cain, it
seeks approach unto God upon its own merits, and without any daysman. It repudiates its need of a sacrifice. It is
satisfied with its own goodness. The world believes that in
itself lies the secret of its betterment. Its
saviour is itself. it can live right if it is properly environed. It
sees its past failure, it acknowledges its present corruption, but, it is certain that apart from any other help, it can
lift itself to planes of right living and to paths of peace.
The world enters with heart and hand into any standard of
righteousness that eliminates the cross. It is willing enough to wear a robe of
righteousness woven by itself. This divergent standard of
righteousness forever forbids the Church from entering into
any confederacy with the world in the quest for right morals.
The Church must stand aloof from a righteousness that is nothing more than filthy rags in the sight of God.
The cry of the Church is to the individual, the call of the
world is to the community. The cry of the Church is regeneration, the call of
the world is reformation. The world demands no repentance, no personal faith, no following of
Jesus. The Church demands a confession of sin, a forsaking of sins - [i.e. the need of genuine repentance (Luke 13: 3, 5; cf. Acts
11: 18)] - and a personal acceptance of Jesus Christ.
Any system of righteousness that is professedly possible
without
[Page 12]
The Socialist who preaches that
mankind struggling up from the mud has found that it itself possesses the
shining star stuff, that it does not need to be divine by proxy any longer.
The Socialist
who boldly proclaims that man is his own saviour, is an ardent devotee of civic
righteousness and social regeneration. The philanthropist,
- [and we all are now aware several] - who may not know God in the forgiveness of sin, but who in seeking the
uplift of the race, makes broad his phylacteries and enlarges the borders of his garments - the philanthropist may not believe
in Christ, but he is a believer in civic righteousness and social regeneration.
The politician is fast learning that he, too, must mount the water wagon or quit the business; and, while he may
or may not be corrupt in practice, he stands ready, when it meets his needs to
join any confederacy for civic righteousness and social regeneration. The
higher critic, slurring the precious blood and snubbing the integrity of the
World, will laud the god that is within you,
while he ardently advocates the confederacy and presses the cause of civic
righteousness and social regeneration.
The infidel, denying the Son of God and denouncing the Word of
God is quickly a follower and a defender of civic righteousness and social
regeneration. The novelist who bases his fiction upon the idealism of his own
brain, conceding no cross and confessing no saviour, saturating his story with
the deism of man, voices the call to civic righteousness and social
regeneration.
The ministers of Satan are in the conflict. They are only too willing to become preachers of righteousness - of a righteousness which not only
repudiates the cross on the one hand, but minimizes its need on the other. They
strongly espouse every effort of man to establish a civic righteousness and a
social regeneration.
Satan heads the whole movement. He is active behind the
scenes. He is an enthusiast for better things.
He is transformed into an angel of light. With satisfied smile, he welcomes
preacher or politician, saint or sinner into a confederacy for a better world.
He welcomes pulpit and press as helpers towards making earthly cities more
attractive. He is interested in the goodness of the city and the state. He is
interested in any goodness, based upon the prowess of man, which proves but a
plan to cloud the efficacy of
The
In all candour, then, how can a minister of Christ or how can
the
[Page 14]
Thus an impassable chasm lies between the
church and the world in the pursuit of better things. It cannot reach the righteousness she preaches because it
defames her gospel. It cannot stand with her, because it despises her. She
cannot stand with it, because it holds a righteousness that makes the cross of
non-effect. Its righteousness does not cleanse the fountain, it does not change
the nature; therefore, it must be forever hopelessly ineffective and
inadequate. Its righteousness is neither possible with man, nor acceptable with
God. There is no efficacy in covering, with self-washed robes, a heart polluted
with sin.
Its righteousness is folly, for who can change the leopards
spots but God? How can those accustomed to do evil learn to do good? As easily
can the Ethiopian change his skin as can the city change its spots. Its
righteousness is neither sufficient nor efficient - it is always deficient.
Civic righteousness may hold the out-cropping of sin in check for a season;
civic righteousness may help a citizenship to better things for a season; but never, never can it bring lasting improvement. It fades as a
summer day.
The Spirit of God alone can work a work that needs not to be repented of - a work that will outlast the ravages of
time. The Spirit of God alone regenerates, cleanses the fountain, changes the
nature and removes the desires for walking in the flesh. The Spirit of God alone convicts the
sinner of sin, points the sinner to the cross and preaches a righteousness of
God by faith. The Church must co-operate with the [Holy] Spirit. She cannot co-operate with the world
- [now, and in the
near future, not suffer the loss of the
promised inheritance during her Lords Millennial reign! (Gal. 5: 21; Eph. 5: 5, 6; Rev. 2: 25; 3: 21; 20: 4-6.)]
She can be a party to no reform measure that is built upon humanism and
which eliminates the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. She can have no
fellowship in a civic or social regime that is [Page 15] distinctively a man
glorifying device, dependent upon the sagacity, the leadership and the
work of man. She can federate with no effort which has for its ideal the
regeneration of communities. She is shut up to the
scriptural method of one by one. Her work is personal with every world-dweller. A personal repentance, a
personal faith and a personal Saviour.
Let the children of God stand aloof from civic righteousness
leagues. Their appeal is to a better way than the way of the cross. They are a
device of the world for better things. They stand for the best that man can do
to help himself, but no matter how they appeal, they side-track the cross as
they say to the work of their own hands, ye are our gods, oh, people.
Let the children of God have no part in a work
which only veneers sin, changes its appearance, covers its imperfections,
but leaves untouched sins reign in the heart. Let the children of God preach
but one righteousness: that of the cross! Let them proclaim but one gospel:
that of the Son of God! Let them never preach a gospel that is emasculated!
Civic righteousness will make its herald popular, but Jesus
preached, - Except your* righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and
the Pharisees ye shall all likewise
perish. Social
regeneration will give its hero many laurels, but Jesus said, Ye must be born again. World betterment will bring its
devotees the praises of men, but Jesus said, He that climbeth up some other way the same
is a thief and a robber.
The Church cannot and the true Church will not federate with the world in a
civic and social propaganda, because its standard of righteousness is distinct
from and opposite to that of the world.
[* NOTE: This sermon was
addressed by our Lord Jesus primarily to His disciples!
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain:
and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him: and he opened his mouth and
taught them. (Matt. 5: 1, R.V.)]
* *
*
[Page 16]
SECOND: THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD CANNOT JOIN HANDS IN EFFORTS FOR
CIVIC RIGHTEOUSNESS, SOCIAL REGENERATION AND WORLD
BETTERMENT BECAUSE
THERE IS NO BIBLICAL
SANCTION FOR SUCH FEDERATION
EITHER
IN THE LIVES OR IN THE TEACHINGS
OF
JESUS AND THE APOSTLES.
Jesus
never practised and never taught any system of world-betterment.
He never advocated any measures of reform. He
never sought to influence kings and emperors on behalf of better government. He never launched and never gave
sanction for the launching of any kind of society for social
uplift. Jesus did teach a new birth. He did advocate an individual
regeneration. He did seek to influence rulers and rabbis to leave all and
follow Him. He did launch the Church for the preaching of personal and
individual redemption; and to call men to a life
separate from a world of sinners. However, a righteousness consisting merely in
outward deeds was obnoxious to the Master. He condemned the Pharisees because
they were religious to be seen of men; He depreciated their gifts of mint and
anise and cummin, because they [Page 17] had omitted true inward righteousness
and judgment and faith. Jesus told these long-praying religionists that
they worshipped Him in vain, while their heart was far from Him; He told them
that they were like white sepulchres that were indeed beautiful without, but
within were full of dead mens bones and of all uncleanness;
He told them to cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the
platter that the outside thereof might become clean also. Such words, spoken by our Lord, as with
breaking heart. He beheld the outward formalities and inward corruption of His
own people, should cause anyone, who to-day is giving his time to whiting
sepulchres and cleansing the outside of platters, a solemn pause. Christ is not a power working from without, inward; but He
is a Person working from within, outward.
Jesus knew the uselessness of reform. He lived in a day when
society was corrupt, but He did not suggest a socialistic propaganda. He moved
amid intemperance, immorality and vice, but He did not head any temperance
societies; He walked in the midst of civil degeneracy, but He did not
inaugurate a civic righteousness league. Jesus could have started a hundred
reform movements, but He did not. He could have formed a thousand organizations,
but He did not. He could have suggested (for He was a true prophet) that His
Church should start such reforms and such organizations, - [denominations
and sects] - but He did not.
Let not our critic suppose that we
hold that Jesus was? calloused to the suffering and sin which surrounded Him. Let not our
critic even suggest that we would picture our Lord as sitting with folded hands
and unconcerned mien amid the poverty and suffering of His day. He was grieved
because of moral conditions. His heart was crushed at
the oppression of the poor, and the [Page 18] immoralities of the wicked and the tyranny of the
rulers, but He knew what we should know: that the cankerous sore of the body politic could never be healed by any
reform remedy - [or re-elections].
Jesus knew that the stream could not rise above its source.
Jesus knew that the rottenness of civic and social life could
not be bettered by a moral sentiment
campaign. How quickly, however, would Jesus stoop by the side of the poor
wounded Jew as He bound up his wounds and poured in oil and wine, and set him
on His beast, and took him to the inn, and paid for his keep. Yes, Jesus was
ever ready to help the needy, to lift up the fallen and to speak a word of
cheer - [and encouragement] - to the broken-hearted.
Yet, He did not spend His time organizing societies to search the cause and suggest the cure for the
conditions that made possible the wreckage of human lives, and the groans of
human hearts. Jesus knew that the cause of corrupt conditions was sin; He knew
the cure was
Jesus knew that man could not keep the law, because he was
weak through the flesh. These civic righteousness
zealots of our day have quite a different idea as to the fallen condition of
man. They would have us think that man is not so bad - that man really fell
upward and not downward, that man is ever getting better.
They would have us think that a people
whose heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, that a race whose mind is
enmity against God, that a world whose body is full of wounds, bruises and
putrefying sores, can be cleansed by obedience to the law, can be lifted up to
God by leagues, man devised and man energized, and can be made righteous by
social ideals and idealisms.
Jesus, with an eye that scrutinized every detail, had known man
for at least four thousand years. He had known that man under conscience
apostatized, until at the flood the very imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. He had known how the race from Noah on through the days of Abraham and
Moses, under authority and under promise, and under law, always swept on toward
greater and greater sin.
Jesus knew that unregenerate men under
grace would press on and on in their evil ways until their sinfulness would climax Noahian
days. Why then should Jesus start in motion civic reforms when He knew the
hearts of men? Why then should the Church fellowship civic reforms when we are
plainly told that in the world there is none that understandeth, no not one; there is none that
seeketh after God, they are all gone out of the
way, they are together become unprofitable,
there is none that doeth good, no not one.
Why should the Church rush in where Jesus would not tread? Why
should she go where she is not sent? Why should she
seek to improve a world lost in sin, a world her Lord never sought to improve?
It is talking wildly to say that Jesus did not care about social conditions,
because He never started any of these recent socialistic movements. He did.
[Page 20]
He cared enough to go to the cross. He cared enough through
His substitutionary work to sustain the Law and to pay the debt of sin. He
cared enough to open a door to a salvation that saves here and hereafter, to every man who
will believe.
It is unjust to say that the apostles were not interested in
the betterment of men, because they too stood apart from anything that can be likened to the twentieth century campaigns for better
morals. They were interested. They were interested enough to preach and plead.
They were interested enough to the laying down of their lives, but they knew
that sin dwelt in the heart, they knew that nothing they could do, other than
that they did do, could avail anything.
It is unfair to say that the believer who to-day refuses to be
confederate in a work of reformation is therefore unconcerned at the wreckage
of sin. He is concerned. He is concerned in much patience and in afflictions,
in necessities and in distresses; in stripes and in imprisonments; in labours
and in watchings, by long-suffering and by kindness; by the Holy Ghost and by
love unfeigned. He is concerned, and is ready, at any and all costs, to preach
Christ the only hope of sinners. He cares most for his fellow-men
who cries repent! He is interested most in the souls of men who preaches Jesus.
He is concerned most in the welfare of the sinner, who calls Come out from among them and be ye separate.
Jesus did not say that The Son of Man has come to inculcate better morals among
those who are down and out. Jesus did not press the whiting of
sepulchres nor the keeping clean of the outside of platters. Jesus did not urge
the corrupt tree to bear good fruit. Jesus did not press the fact that the
enforcement of law will end all vice and drive all sin from the land. Jesus did
not insist that [Page 21] he who removeth
temptations from a sinners way will save a soul from death.
Peter did not believe that we were
redeemed by corruptible things such as civic righteousness leagues and moral
uplift societies. Jude never dreamed of giving glory unto the
marvellous out-workings of moonshine reforms for the reaching of the masses,
and of praising the cleaning of the city sewers
as a preservative against sinning. Paul did not say to the Corinthians:
I am determined to know nothing among you but civic
righteousness. Paul did not write unto the Romans:
I am not ashamed of my gospel of social regeneration,
for it is the power of man unto the uplift of the masses. Paul did not
write unto the Galatians how Christ gave himself in
behalf of altruism, that He might make better this present evil world.
Neither did Paul write to the Church at
Nor did he write to Titus, his true child: By works of righteousness which we have done,
and by the cultivation of our civic consciousness and by the renewal of our
social spirit has he saved us. Nor did he write to Philemon, his dearly
beloved, and fellow-labourer: I thank my God, hearing
of thy strong stand for [Page 22] social regeneration. Paul did write, however, to his
beloved Philemon: I thank my God... hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord
Jesus and toward all the saints. Paul did write unto Titus, his child:
Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to His mercy He saved us, by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
Paul did write unto Timothy: Endure hardness as a good soldier
of Jesus Christ. He did
write him that No man that warreth entangleth himself with the
affairs of this life that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Paul clearly wrote the Church at
Colosse: If ye then be risen
with Christ seek those things which are
above.
Paul clearly wrote to the Church at
Paul did write to the Galatians: He gave Himself for our sins
that He might deliver us from this
present evil world.
Paul did write unto the Romans that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is
the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Paul did say to the Corinthians
that he was determined
to know nothing among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Jude did say, Now unto the only wise God our Saviour be glory and
majesty, and Now unto Him who is able to
keep you from failing.
Peter did believe and knew That we were redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. James did insist
that He
that converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul [Page 23] from death. John did press the fact that The blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanseth from all sin. Jesus did urge: Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit; neither can a bitter fountain
bring forth sweet water.
Jesus did press the need of cleaning first the inside of the
cup and the platter. He knew that the unregenerate heart could not please God,
and He knew that a community of unregenerate hearts could not please God. Jesus
did say: The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that
which was lost.
Let us never cut God out of our ministry. The Bible opens with
In the
beginning God, and
closes with Come, Lord Jesus. He who
would enter the work of world-betterment apart from Him, can do nothing, and he
who would enter such a work in any other way than His way must enter apart from
Him. You are not in the work in Jesus name unless you are in
the work in Jesus way.
He who knows the Word of God knows that morality and moral
righteousness [alone], is not the door of the millennium. He knows that the ballot is not the stepping-stone to the day when righteousness and
peace shall kiss. He knows that men have not sinned because their environment
is bad but because their heart is bad. He knows that to change a mans dwelling
will not change his heart. The child of God following the conduct and the
teaching of Christ and the apostles, will never shift the burden of his
testimony to any other standard than that of the cross.
* *
*
[Page 24]
THIRD: THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD CANNOT JOIN HANDS IN EFFORTS FOR
CIVIC RIGHTEOUSNESS, SOCIAL REGENERATION AND WORLD
BETTERMENT BECAUSE THE
IS TO CALL OUT OF THE WORLD A
PEOPLE
FOR CHRISTS NAME.
The
people of God are a peculiar people, a separate people, a
people for Christs own possession. They were given to Christ out of the world,
and were to be hated by the world, and though in the world were not of the
world. Therefore, with what foresight of pending dangers did Jesus pray: I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil one.
Pure religion necessitates a life kept spotless from the
world. The believer is to 1ove not the world neither the things that are in the world. With the believer the world has no
place. The Church must keep white the robes of her separation. Her citizenship
is not of this world, her treasures are not of this world. Her calling is
heavenly, her blessings are heavenly. Her wisdom cometh down from above, and
her affections should be set on things above. Her [Page 25] hope is laid up in heaven and her
city comes down from heaven. She is to follow the things of God and not the
things of the world. She is to mind the things of the Spirit and not the things
of the flesh. She is to seek the things of Christ and not the things of
herself.
The Church is to look not at the things seen but at the things
unseen. Not the old things but the new things are to be manifest in her life.
Not the things that are to be shaken but the things that cannot be shaken are
her stay. In all this, there is no mutual ground, no place for fellowship
between the Church and the world. The help of the Church is her God. Woe unto
her when she goes down into the world for help. The world has nothing in
Christ, and, therefore, it cannot have anything in the Church. Just as surely
the Church can have nothing in the world.
Her joy is, Blessed are
ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company,
and reproach you,
and cast out
your name as evil, for the Son of Mans sake. How have the centuries - [of multitudes of so-called Bible
teachers] - changed the Bible conception of our attitude toward
the world and the world toward us!
In New Testament days it was, 1ove not the world, now it is, fellowship the world; then it was, be not conformed to this
world, now it is, close ranks - [obey, and compromise] with the world; then it was, be [Page 26] subject unto the higher powers, now it is let the higher powers be
subject to you.
In New Testament days it was, whosoever
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of
God, now it is, If the powers resist the
Church, we will put them out of their authority. Then it was, render to all their dues; tribute
to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom;
fear to whom fear; honour
to whom honour, - now it is let the powers
sit up and take notice for we will have our influence felt, and we must receive
due fear and honour. The Church may pray and make supplication
for kings,
and all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and honesty; but the Church may not enter the realm of the political, and rule those in
authority.
Would the Church, for one moment, allow the world to dictate
her doctrines or direct her policies? No! Forever, No!!
We must obey
God rather than men.
Then, with all candour, I ask, if the world cannot dictate to the Church, under
what right can the Church dictate to the world? The believer can pray for
rulers and be subject to ordinances, but he cannot place an unregenerate world
under the government of a regenerate Church.
The Church is formed of the
regenerate. They are Sons of God. They possess a new Spirit, a new life created in righteousness and true
holiness. The world is formed of the unregenerate. They are children of wrath, dominated by the flesh and ruled by
Satan. They are sensual, having not the Spirit, possessing only the old nature, which
is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts.
Therefore, the regenerate cannot enforce upon the unregenerate
their ideals of living, while they leave the [Page 27] unregenerate without the new heart and without the Holy Spirit. To live
the life of the Bible one must possess the Christ of the Bible. The mission of
the Church toward the unsaved is to call out of the nations a people for His
name. It is to turn people from darkness unto light, and from the powers of
Satan unto God.
The mission of the Church toward the saved is to call saints to a separation unto God, to live soberly, righteously
and godly in this present age, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing* of the
Great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
[* See also 2 Cor. 4: 4, R.V.
(margin):
in
whom the god of this age hath blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, that they should not
see the light of the gospel of the
glory of Christ, should not dawn upon them.
Again, (from verse 4 in Greek interlinear)
in whom the god of
this age blinded the minds of the unbelieving ones, in order that they
might not see clearly the effulgence of the glad tidings of the GLORY of the
ANOINTED one, who is an image of the God.]
The mission of the Church
is not to make this a better world in which to house sinners,
but to call sinners to a better world;
not to improve social conditions here,
but to call the people - [i.e., both saved and
unsaved] - out of present corrupt social conditions. After twenty centuries of church activities the world
still trembles under the curse of sin. Social conditions in the great city
centres are becoming more and more a vexing problem; vice and crime still grow
with increasing bounds; sorrow and suffering multiply.
Poverty and disease still pursue the helpless masses with
their fruitage of wasted bodies, blasted minds and broken hearts. Luxurious
living still follows the wealthy classes, as with their gold and silver
cankered, they oppress the poor, turn a deaf ear to
the cry of the needy and nourish their hearts as in a day of slaughter. The Church has failed to pierce the shadows. Light has shone
into the darkness but the darkness has comprehended it not.
Face the facts: After twenty centuries of church activities -
activities made potent by vast expenditures of blood and brain, by untold
energies of multitudes of men, and multiplied machinery - still world
conditions grow increasingly from bad to worse. Pulpit [Page 28] and pew lost their bearings. They saw the winds and the waves boisterous and were
afraid. They took their eyes from the Lord. They heard neath
rumbling criticism and complaints a new calf
- a call with a possible and plausible chance to redeem themselves. The call
was to a new message and to a new method. The message was a righteousness obtained
apart from the blood of the cross; the
method was co-operation, confederacy
with the world.
The bewildered Church listened to the audible seducer. She
forgot that her mission is not to socialize the world, but to call out of the
world a people for His name. She acknowledged a defeat that was in no sense
hers. The gospel has never failed, man has failed. The gospel was never
humanitarian. The inspired Scripture never promised the Church a Christianized
citizenship in this age. They did forewarn her, in words sure and strong, that
a failing away
would come,* that evil men and impostors
would wax worse and worse, that iniquity
would abound.
[*
That is, Christian apostasy - a disbelief and disobedience to Christs teachings.]
Had the Church remembered this, the slurs of her critics had
not confounded her. The call to confederacy had not won her. The Church should
have remembered that she had but a three-fold message to lost men; a message first of salvation, then of sanctification, and then
of glorification. This message all sums up in Christ. It is linked around
the cross, the throne and Olivet. It is Jesus crucified, Christ seated at the
Fathers right hand, and the Lord coming in the clouds of heaven. It is Jesus
Christ the Lord, Prophet, Priest and King.
The message of the Church is distinct, the method is
distinct. The message turns man from self as a saviour, to Christ who alone
can save. The method is based upon an inward and not an outward work. Salvation
as the Church teaches it, is deliverance from the [Page
29] disease of sin.
It deals with the root of the trouble. Christianity regenerates and then
renews. Christianity does not primarily concern itself with the outward conduct
of the race, but with the inward condition of the individual. It does not
vainly endeavour to cleanse the stream, it deals with the fountain. It does not
profess to produce a better environment, it gives power to live above
environment.
In all this, Christianity is distinct from a civic
righteousness, a social regeneration, or a world betterment that deals with
moral conditions from without. Christianity must stand apart from any effort which vainly imagines that better tenements make
better men; that better environment makes better girls; that man, under any crossless and Christless method, can grow into a
Christ-likeness.
The girl of the mansion may be as corrupt in heart as the girl of the factory floor. Sin beautifully decked and
draped is still heinous sin. The man of the store-front
may be as villainous as the man of the slum. Sin, artistically veneered and
varnished, is still heinous sin.
Humanism, as a religion, seeks, step by step,
to raise man, through his own genius, unto Christlikeness. Christianity, at
regeneration, through the indwelling of Christ, at once places within a man all
the possibilities of Christlikeness, and thus makes the ultimate and
unattainable goal of all humanism its starting point.
Let the novelist, socialist, and socialized churchman defame
the Church, and decry its right to exist, because it has failed to meet and
change social conditions, - the man of God knows that social conditions
are fast heading up in their final cataclysm of immoralities like unto the days
of Noah and of Lot.
[Page 30]
The man of God knows that the [apostate and evil] age lying between the Cross and Olivet, the Crucifixion and the Coming again will
be days of increasing folly and sin. The man of God knows that humanitarianism
with its profuse expressions of love and sympathy cannot substitute the work of
the cross. That its expenditures are waste as long as sin reigns in the heart.
Back to the story of the cross! Tell the fallen of the Christ. Preach
the Christ who
died, yea, rather who is risen again.
Back to the story of the ascended
Christ! Tell the
believing one, struggling against the world about him, the flesh within him,
and the devil above him, that Jesus lives. Tell him there is One who will walk
at his side and hold his hand. Tell him that Christ will lead him in the train
of His triumph.
Back to the story of the coming King! Tell those who grope in darkness that
a brighter day is coming. That Jesus comes! That Satan will
be chained! That the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet will be cast into the
Tell those who look for Him to be faithful amid the
oppressions and strife of this age!
Tell them to have long patience, for, He who cometh will come,
and will not tarry!
Tell them He will come, and with Him will come His reward to the watching ones!
Away with the doctrine of mans
humanity to man.
It is man, sin-blinded and demon-driven, who has wrought the havoc around us.
[Page 31]
Away with the deification of human
sympathy and love. Let the cross reach down and save those who will
hear, and then a sympathy and love will be born, and shed abroad in the heart
by the Holy Ghost, that will reach down and preach the cross to another man.
Away with the idea that Christianity is
summed up in humanitarianism. Christianity is summed up in Christ, it
centres in the cross. Let the Church preach the separating
story of the cross; let the Cross call sinners out of the world with
its many systems of self-culture, - out of the world that despises and rejects
the Son of God, and into a new life, and new light, and a new love.
* *
*
[Page 32]
FOURTH: THE CHURCH CANNOT JOIN HANDS WITH THE
WORLD IN EFFORTS FOR
CIVIC RIGHTEOUSNESS, SOCIAL REGENERATION AND WORLD
BETTERMENT, BECAUSE THE WORK IS NOT OF GOD,
AND IS DESTINED TO CERTAIN FAILURE.
1. It is not of God. To enter the worldwide
movements of this day, pressing forward better civic and moral conditions in a
world utterly given over to sin, in a Christ-rejecting and Satan-dominated
world, - is absolute folly. The Baptist World Alliance of
1911, composed of men representing the great leaders of the Baptist
denomination at home and abroad, passed resolutions which hailed with joy the
fact that the World Alliance was giving such a large place to the social aspect
of the gospel; that there was a growing conviction that the Church should
dominate life in all its relations, and that a
committee should be appointed to secure such concerted action, as shall destroy
such evils, and make the impact of Christendom upon the nations of the earth
more helpful.
[Page 33]
But these words are hollow sounds! Clouds without water! Jesus is not marching toward His
coronation. His coronation is not a march. His
kingdom is not progressive. This
world is not getting better. It is not preparing to receive the King. When Jesus comes the world will be stricken with heart-failure.
The world will be
judged. In that day the kings
of the earth and the mighty captains will call to the mountains, and to the rocks to fall upon them, and hide them from Him who sitteth upon the
throne, for the great day of His
wrath will have come.
The world is growing away from God, and not moving toward God.
It is utter folly, it is madness, to enter a
confederacy with the ungodly to better this world, when Jesus forewarns His
Church of the utter failure of such an attempt. Men are calling the Church to
social service and to a program of social reform. Their voice is legion. They comprise many of our great preachers, our great seminary men and our denominational leaders.
Let them call in vain!
Back, my brethren, back to the old paths. Let us preach Christ as the Saviour of sinners [and of the world]. Let us cling to personal regeneration, let us not proclaim a socialized
heathenism. Let us tell sinners to hasten away to Jesus.
If men who are active in moral reform and social propaganda
could only have the curtain drawn back, they would see that they
are not, as they often suppose, supported by Jesus Name. If the veil were removed, and their eyes opened they would behold
Satan, with principalities and powers, with the world-rulers of this darkness,
with hosts of wicked spirits in the air, energizing men to produce better things.
Why are many of Gods children blinded? Why have they become
entangled in Satans net?
Do Gods men not know that no man warring for God entangleth himself with the affairs of this life?
Do Gods men not know that Paul said, with weeping, that those
who mind earthly things are enemies to the Cross of
Christ?
Do Gods men not know that we are chosen in Him to be holy and
without blame: that in Him God wrought mightily when He
quickened us, and raised us up, and made us to sit in heavenly places.
It is Christ who was made sin for us and not our fighting [Page
35] liquor that makes
us the
righteousness of God in Him. It is Christ who bore our sins in His own body
on the tree, and not our own self-effort that leads us to live unto righteousness.
It is Christ who gave Himself for our sins that He might
deliver us from this present evil world; not, that we
might, apart from Him, make this a present righteous world. Any righteousness
that omits
Satan is a counterfeiter. Would that men
were not ignorant of Satans devices. If God has churches, so has Satan
The Synagogue
of Satan. If God has
preachers, so has Satan The Ministers of Satan. If God is interested in righteousness, so is Satan a minister of righteousness. The wheat and the tares grow
together. With Satans churches and Satans ministers
we must reckon. He is not a weakling. His followers are not weaklings. He heads
strong regiments. The kings of the earth and the rich men, and the chief captains and the
mighty men, are numbered in his cohorts.
With God it is different: Ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not
many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things... the weak things... the base
things... the things that are not... that no flesh should glory before God. Satan has gathered his forces aerial
and earthly, in deadly combat against the Cross.
They hate it because there Satan and the world were judged.
They hate it, because there the debt of sin was paid.
They hate it, because there the righteousness of God was made possible.
[Page 36]
It is the Cross that is the crowning
glory of the Son of God.
It is the Lamb who was slain that is worthy and that is worshipped.
It is the blood-washed, white-robed
ones who have a
right to enter in through the gates into the city.
We insist again, any righteousness that omits
The scope of its sweep is its ear-mark.
Gods church was ever to remain a suffering minority. And yet, thousands and tens
of thousands of Gods children are enlisted. They are enthusiastic, - they are pouring out their wealth, and lending their strength in the mighty
conflict for State, National and
World-wide prohibition. They have entered the battle in the name of Christ and His Church. They see a better day. They believe that by the ballot - [i.e., by supporting their political leaders] - they will soon drive vice and
the saloon from the land.
What if the curtain were lifted and
they should see behind the scenes, their leader - Satan! What if, Satan has
transformed himself into an angel of light! What if his ministers are
transformed into ministers of righteousness. What if
Satan with deadly enmity to the Cross and hatred to the Church has inaugurated
movements, mighty, conquering and luring, that have loosed the Church from her
moorings and set her adrift. That Satan is interested in character-building,
civilization and education, who can doubt. That Satan is pressing every energy to conserve
and to cultivate [Page 37] character, who can doubt. Man, energized by Satan, has always sought to eliminate the effect of
the curse. He has build cities and invented means since the days of Cain to
alleviate his sufferings. Man, energized by Satan, has
always, through the arm of his own
strength, sought to lift himself above himself.
It is time for the people who do know their God to draw the
line. What if Gods men and Gods Church have joined hands
with the enemy of the cross! What if Satan, deftly, deceitfully and
deliberately, has laid the plans and should now lead the forces of this mighty
day of man, in a righteousness of mans own
making. What if Satan, the God of this world has fashioned the tares of his own planting, so like the wheat of Gods
planting, that many, even of Gods own, have failed to discern the fatal
omission of the cross in these mighty movements of our day, - movements for
civic righteousness, social regeneration and moral world-betterment.
2. It is destined to failure. Civic
righteousness, social regeneration and general world-betterment propaganda are
all destined to ignoble failure. The Cross has not
failed, Mans righteousness will surely fail. The curse of God is upon it. May
it not be, after all, that mans own heart of sin, depraved because he hast cast off God, has led him on to his awful reaches of
immoralities?
May it not be, after all, that Satan is vying with God, and
has planned his strategy against God and is seeking, apart from the cross, to
lift a race to a standard of self-achieved righteousness? Beyond doubt, Satan
fathers many cults and many religions which sway the
world with their power. Beyond doubt, these cults and religions
which dominate heathendom and undermine Christendom, hold high ideals of
morality and self-culture.
[Page 38]
For instance, Satan has fathered Christian Science, even
though Mrs. Eddy mothered It; and Satan has fathered and fostered many
religions, wherein are taught ideals of righteousness and self-control that
manifest marvellous vision. The one thing omitted in all of these religions, is
Be not deceived! All of Satans colossal enterprises,
religious and semi-religious, in behalf of mans betterment are doomed to
failure. The cross is Gods only remedy and mans only hope. Man may seek to
perfect morals but the Spirit says: Evil men and seducers shall
wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Stand aloof from morals destined to
fail! Man may proclaim that better days are here, but the Spirit says: perilous times shall come. Pursue not the phantom of brighter times! They will vanish
as idle dreams! Man may preach the coming of an early day when the doctrines of
the Church shall prevail, but the Spirit cries: The time will come when they will not endure the Sound Doctrine.
Man may preach, publish and proclaim that sin and shame, vice
and villainy, liquor and lewdness, will all yield to the conquering forces of
the twentieth century reform movements, but the Spirit says: As in the days of Noah, As in the
days of Lot, So shall the days of the coming
of the Son of Man be. Child of God, stand aloof, pursue not - have no
part in a righteousness originated by [Page 39] Satan and enforced by laws conceived
and formulated by the unregenerate.
The cross has not failed. It will not fail,
it cannot fail. It saves all who believe and it will guide
them through the wreckage of this sin-cursed age, to the ages to come, where
God will show the exceeding riches of His grace in Christ Jesus. How dark will be the day of tribulation, when Gods wrath falls
upon this Christ-rejecting, cross-despising world. The Church by her
preaching will be able to save out of the nations a people for Christ. These will be raptured. Then will the destiny of mans
righteousness be seen, - as it heads up in the Anti-Christ, whom Jesus shall
destroy with the brightness of His coming.
* *
*
[Page 49]
FIFTH: THE CHURCH CANNOT JOIN HANDS WITH THE WORLD IN EFFORTS FOR
CIVIC RIGHTEOUSNESS, SOCIAL REGENERATION AND WORLD
BETTERMENT BECAUSE THE
CHURCH IS SUFFERING
UNSPEAKABLY BY WORLD
ALLIANCES.
1. The mere fact
that the churches have become so zealous for social reforms and improved moral
conditions, has so muddied the Bible doctrine of salvation by grace, through
faith and not of works, that a vast host of the ministry is beginning to preach
reformation for regeneration; while a world
of sinners are beginning to believe that they are their own saviour. It is more and more an impossible
thing to hold a genuine Holy Ghost revival where real conviction for sin, with
repentance and faith in Jesus is manifest.
It is easy to get men and women by scores to promise better
living. They all want it. Better morals fill the air. People want to be better.
It is easy to pull on the martial spirit in men. Quit yourselves like men! Have
grit to face the issues! Purpose a new start! To such an appeal
there is a ready response. There are scores of preachers [Page
41] who denounce sin,
preach world-righteousness and call for men to exert their manhood, and shun
the primrose way. These men get a following.
Such men may preach much of the cross, - they may preach salvation by Jesus;
but they do not make the cross supreme and final.
They enter full swing into the cleaning up of both the life
and the city. Thus they swerve from the faith once
delivered unto the saints. They seek to better
The inevitable result is backsliding. If you demur and urge
that all civic and social reforms demand prayer, I insist that reformers may
pray and may do personal soul-winning work, but reform does not demand these.
Men can be, and nine out of ten are, the most ardent supporters of reform, who
never pray and who profess no personal Saviour.
2. The Church has
suffered untold injury by world alliances because, in letting down the bars of her
non-conformity to enter world battles, the world has, in the spirit of
reciprocity, crossed over the lowered bars and entered the church. As the
Church becomes involved in things not antagonistic to world ideals, the world
drops her antagonism to the Church. The Church can never enter a world propaganda and proclaim Jesus the Saviour of
sinners, neither will the world enter the Church and applaud Jesus as the
Saviour of sinners. The world hates the way of the cross.
The Church is welcomed by the world to press world ideals of
civic, social and moral uplift, - and the world is delighted to enter a
socialized church. The churches of the twentieth century are demanding smooth things of their clergy, they pander to the
rich and are ruled by the worldly. Their chief assets
are rhetoric and oratory from the pulpit, secular music and fantastic display
from the choir, culture and refinement from the pew. Preachers are becoming
professional, demanding a price. The old-time doctrines of ruin and redemption,
of grace and of glory, are giving way; while that
which pleases self, and protects self-interest is coming to the front.
[Page 42]
It is not because the Church is heart-broken over sin and its
carnage, that she has turned her attention to civic and social reform. Reform
deals chiefly with the outcasts of society. Reform deals with better conditions
down here, and is wrought more in behalf of the
reformer, than in behalf of the reformed. Reform measures give first thought to
the safety, the comfort and the protection of the reformers, the better
classes. It is not because the vicious are lost and hell-bound, not because
they suffer in their sin, that haunts of vice are closed, but because those
haunts are a menace to the peace, and pleasure, and safety of the community.
If the Church in her social service is truly seeking to save
the lost and to clean sin out of hearts and lives, why does she close her eyes
to the ever-increasing worldliness and polite sinning of the rich, while she
presses the law on the vice-bound poor? Why does she endeavour to shut up the
brothel while she winks at the dance? Why does she array herself against the
house of shame, while she fellowships the man who owns the brothel building?
Why does she press the law on the gambler, while she winks at societys card
tables? Why does she seek to legally close the saloon,
while she [Page 43] permits wine drinking among her very own? The truth is, the
Church has shown herself willing to enter a
righteousness campaign that does not affect the worldliness and sinfulness of mammon in the Church.
If the Church is honestly concerned at the awful debris of
sin, let her know that the sins of the vulgar are no more damning than the sins
of the elite. Let her be concerned not because of the present little while of suffering that sin brings, but
rather let her be concerned at the eternal burnings awaiting all the
unregenerate. We know that all have sinned, and the Church must not deal with
one class of sinners. We know that the wages of sin is death, that the wicked shall be turned
into hell, and
the Church must preach a gospel that will do more than make things better here.
We know that the only way to save a soul from death, and to
make a life happier and better down here, is through the cross. Oh,
The gospel Paul preached turned men from their idols to serve
the living God and to wait for His Son from heaven. Any Gospel that does not do this is
no Gospel at all. The worlds Gospel of right living does not turn men from
their idols, because it leaves their hearts corrupt; it does not lead them to
serve the living God, because it is based on the prowess of man, it does not
await the Son from Heaven, because it is centred on better things down here.
[Page 44]
3. This co-operation, this federation
with the world, has fanned to a flame the doctrine of the universal Fatherhood
of God and brotherhood of man. This pernicious poison
is permeating the land. Federation favours fatherhood and brotherhood
pleads federation.
The Bible tells us that only the family of faith are children of the One Father. Of
course, if God is the Father of all, in every clime adored, then the new birth is annihilated, then all that is needed is to conserve the
character of our children, and reform the adult degenerate. Then our duty is to
eliminate the doctrine that the sinner is dead in trespasses and sins, while we
preach that the divine spark is in every
life, and must only be fanned. But you who have not been swept away by the apostasy know
that a fresh start is not forgiveness; that educating the mind will not change
the heart, that civilizing the race will not Christianize the individual.
We plead once more with believers, with preachers, and with
churches to come out from federation in movements for social uplift.
Civilization, with all its vaunted progress, with its culture and its cults,
with its education and its medication, with its righteousness and its reforms,
is fast rushing on to its overthrow. Judgment has been
pronounced and judgment will soon be executed.
Stop wasting your precious money, and more precious time,
trying to clean up a wicked, unregenerate world. Twenty centuries have not
found a hamlet, nor town nor city, cleansed. The
so-called Christian cities of this earth are cesspools of corruption.
Come, come, fellow-workers and join us in preaching the cross,
the throne and the coming again [to rule]; while we call to men to come out of
the world and follow Jesus. Let us reprove the unfruitful works of darkness, let us give testimony against the
sins of a Christ-rejecting world, but let us give them no false balm for their
healing. The best we can do is to save out of the nations a people for His Name. A people who will join us in our
pilgrimage toward a better country, and toward a city whose
builder and maker is God.
* *
*
[Page 46]
SIXTH: THE CHURCH CANNOT JOIN HANDS WITH THE WORLD IN EFFORTS
FOR CIVIC RIGHTEOUSNESS, SOCIAL REGENERATION AND WORLD
BETTERMENT, BECAUSE CONFEDERATION IS CONDEMNED BY
THE WORD OF GOD, AND IS AN EVIDENT PREPARATION
FOR THE COMING OF
ANTI-CHRIST.
This age is pre-eminently an age of colossal collusions and
combinations, of all-controlling alliances and amalgamations, of far-reaching
federations and confederations. It is an age of unions and unionism. The get together spirit is everywhere. The air is full
of it. The current of public thought is fascinated by
it.
Capital has consummated combines which, backed by the power
and prestige of money, prescribe policies, captivate commerce, and guide
governments. Labour has federated, until, with her millions of men, bound under one purpose, she has said in her heart: Nothing will be restrained from me that I have imagined to
do. Nations have become confederate with nations. International
alliances are to-day arrayed, group against group, until the very world
trembles at the far-reaching scope, and the fearful carnage, [Page
47] that the next great war will bring. Against all these confederacies
the Word of God stands with clear condemnation. The first great confederacy was
that of
The Church has caught the spirit of the age. She has confederated
in organizations that are far-reaching and marvellous in power. If these
confederations were wholly within her own bounds, it
might not become a matter for this treatise. But they
overleap the walls of the Church.
The Church stands prominent in the confederacy for world-wide disarmament, and universal peace. She is in
partnership in this with earths great diplomats and statesmen,
with kings and emperors, princes and presidents. Herein the Church is offering
an affront to Christ. He not only called the Church (ecclesia) out of the
world, but He prophesied war and Armageddon, until He, the Prince of Peace
should come.
The Church has joined partnership with the world in many
efforts for social regeneration. Prominent, in her great councils, conventions
and assemblies, are resolutions commending all sorts
of moral uplift societies. Her pulpits are the centre of the arena where the
battle is being fought. They are open to the opponents
of the liquor traffic, and to the heralds of practically any new movement for
any phase of economic, social, or moral betterment.
[Page 48]
And all this seems on the face most
commendatory; yet, when amid, the rush we stop to think, we know that with
exceptions the pulpit has lost the old-time fire with which she formerly
preached the gospel of the cross. She has lost the vision of the old-time
doctrines of grace. Therefore, we fear that if the pulpit did not turn her
attention toward the numerous reform propositions of the day, she would seemingly
have little left for her to do.
Men argue that the Church cannot afford to stand aloof from
every effort for human improvement. Why not? The
Church stands aloof from Christian Science, yet Christian Science possesses a
beautiful system of moral ethics. To be sure, Christian Science denies the
cross, and other vital, biblical truths. So do all these men-movements for
social betterment. You plead that the Church must lend a hand in every good
work, and every moral uplift. We reply,
that the religions of heathenism possess a system of moral betterment and human
improvement. Confucianism, in
The reader knows, as well as the writer knows,
that the very essence of heathen religions is summed up in one word: self-culture. Confucianism says: Renew yourself. Renew yourself
again - you need a daily renewal. We know, also, that these efforts for
civic righteousness are summed up in one word: self-culture. It also says: Renew yourself. Renew yourself again - you need
a daily renewal. It is all right for the Church to deplore the liquor
traffic, to deplore the traffic in impurity, even as Jesus deplored the
out-workings of sin; but, it is all wrong to pass
resolutions to encourage a cure by legislation. The cure for the drunkard and
for the saloon is the same - it is the
[Page 49]
The fact is, and the fact must be faced: this allegiance, this
federating with the world in humanitarian efforts to save or to safeguard
mankind, is but a confession that the Gospel is insufficient, in that it can
neither cure the sinner, nor conserve the saint. Again
we urge: Confederacy not only leaves out the Blessed Son of God, but stands
against the Son of God, and we add, it prepares for the coming of the
Anti-Christ. Jesus said, I am come in My Fathers name and ye received Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will
receive.
The Anti-Christ is to sum up all that men adore. He will not
only head nations but he will head divine worship. He will federate the State
and the Church, he will unite politics and religions.
That he will attempt to inaugurate a reign of peace without the Prince of
Peace, and to bring in a millennium without the Christ, is quite as certain. He
will make league with the Jew, he will cause men to worship himself, he will
consummate the most colossal combines ever known on earth, until no man can either buy or sell save he that hath the mark of
the beast.
Confederations are stepping stones to that day when the whole world will wonder
after the beast, when the kings of the earth and
the rulers thereof will take council together against the Lord and against His
anointed, saying, let us break their
bands asunder, and cast their cords away from us. In that day, He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh, and the Lord shall have them
in derision. In that
day, He shall
speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. In that day Jesus shall come, and He shall break them with a
rod of iron and dash them in pieces as a potters vessel. The Lord shall strike through kings in the
day of His wrath.
* *
*
[Page 51]
SEVENTH: THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD CANNOT JOIN HANDS IN EFFORTS FOR
CIVIC RIGHTEOUSNESS, SOCIAL REGENERATION, AND WORLD BETTERMENT,
BECAUSE THE HEADS OF
THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD
ARE DISTINCT AND OPPOSITE.
Christ is the head of the Church. This the Word of God
proclaims: We are to grow up into the Head, even
Christ. Satan is
the head of the world. The Word of God proclaims: the prince of this world
cometh and hath nothing in Me. The God of
this world. The whole world lieth in the lap of the Wicked One.
Assuredly, the heads of the Church and the world are distinct
and opposite. Assuredly, therefore, the subjects cannot be friendly and
co-operative. Enmity between the heads promises enmity between the subjects. If they have called the
Master of the House, Beelzebub, how much more will
they call them of His own household.
If they have hated me, they
will also hate you. There is no use to cavil. Believers are promised,
In
the world ye shall have tribulation. If any man live godly he shall suffer persecution. It is given unto you to suffer.
[Page 52]
When the Church, therefore confederates with the world in any
project, she is uniting with the enemy of Christ, and with her own enemy. Such
confederation breaks down the barriers of separation, and makes the Church, Laodicean, a world-pleasing Church. Such
confederation appeases the antagonism of the world, removes the reproach of Christ, and makes suffering with Christ impossible. With confederation
consummated, the church becomes Gods enemy, for whoso maketh himself a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. Only one word applies to the churches who
have entered world-alliances: Ye adulterers and adulteresses!
Gods clarion call to His Church is: Come ye out
from among them and be ye separate, for what
concord hath Christ with Belial and what part hath he that believeth with an
unbeliever, and what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness, and what
communion hath light with darkness? Neither Satan nor the world, over which he is god, will enter
a work that is really Gods. We insist: Satan and his
world are enmity against God and His Church.
Will Satan or his world co-operate in any service the Church
is rendering her living Head? If the world ever applauds and praises your
service, if the world stands ready to lend a helping hand, look for some
sinister purpose, for God has said: The world hateth you. The Church has fallen from favour and
fellowship with Christ when the world cordially federates with her in any
service. The world seeks only to draw the Church from her first love.
The world is under the leadership and power of Satan. There is
no doubt here. World-dwellers are born in sin. They are born among a people
dominated of the Evil One. They themselves are children of disobedience, Walking according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power
of the air.
[Page 53]
World governments are usurped by the
devil. Our government may be of the people, and by
the people, and for the people, but it is under the dominion of Satan. The cry, Vox Populi, Vox Dei might
well read, Vox populi, Vox
diaboll. Do not eliminate Satan and the
powers satanic from your belief. Nothing could please the enemy more. Our great
battle remains not against flesh and blood but against
principalities, against the powers, against the
world-rulers of this darkness, against the
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (R.V.) From the days of Cain, earth
kingdoms have been dominated by Satan.
In Old Testament days God had a
special prince over
When Jesus was on the mountain, the Devil showed Him all the
kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them. He said to Jesus, All of these will I give
thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. It is useless to say that the devil lied. The Lord did not
deny his claim, nor did he deny his power to make good his pledge. He did
refuse to parley with the tempter, and spurned a partnership scheme. It is when the believer grasps the enmity between the heads of the
Church and of the world, that he realizes the real
danger of federation.
[Page 54]
Commercially, socially, ethically, and to a great
extent, religiously the world is under the power of the Devil. The
world, therefore, will never prove an ally of the Church, in any righteousness
that will be acceptable to the great Head of the Church,
the believer is not a misanthrope. He is not a heartless demagogue. His Master
wept at the grave of Lazarus and with heart broken and crushed, He wept over
the beloved city. Sin and sorrow everywhere touched His heartstrings. Surely He hath borne our
sicknesses and carried our pains. He knows, He cares.
The believer, if he bears the spirit of the Master, is crushed with the wreckage of sin. He is ready to stoop by
the wounded Jew, and to bind up wounds. He is ready to speak peace and comfort.
The believer is ready to feed the starving, to care for the dying, and to help
the fallen, while he preaches Christ as the only hope of the lost one. There
are some things, however, the believer cannot do, that the Church cannot abide.
They cannot enter into confederation with the world in
pressing this work of sympathy and love. Jesus, and the cross, must not be minimized in their service.
The world calls to the Church and says:
You should have your voices heard and your influences
felt in every matter affecting the welfare of our towns, our cities and our countries.
There is no Jesus here, and no cross. Our voices and our influence is to be felt! Felt where? Felt how? Would the world have us felt as personal
soul-winners, pointing men to Christ the only hope of the lost? No, We are to be felt in making towns better. We are to be felt in the promoting of morals.
We are, according to the world, to work for two millenniums: one which it would help us bring, and another which the
Second Coming of Jesus will bring. And how would the
world call us to her [Page 55] aid? By influencing legislatures, by
the ballot, by the enforcement of law. Will the churches and preachers
heed this call? Shall they work for a righteousness
apart from the cross, and apart from repentance and faith? Are we to turn
heralds of reformation and not of regeneration?
The world insists: When the Church
speaks with one voice, it can end any evil. God says this cannot be done. God says that iniquity
will abound, and that evil men and seducers will
wax worse and worse. Can we end any evil? If we can drive sin out of
our city, then we can drive sin out of any town and city - in fact we can drive it out of the earth.
But God has told us to call out a people for His
name. And
how does the world insist? A united Church is
invincible. This sounds well. But the truth is
that the Church is invincible to do only His
will and not her own will, and was never called to do the worlds will. The
Word of God never promises that the Church shall conquer the world. The Church invincible!
This has the sound of the heroic! it
appeals! It stirs the blood! It is a clarion call to the fighter! It breathes
the martial spirit! It promises ultimate success, certain victory!
How does all this agree with: In the last days, perilous
times will come. How does it agree with: Evil men and seducers shall
wax worse and worse. How
does it agree with: That day shall not come except there
be a falling away first.
How does it agree with: In the last days men shall be ... without
natural affection ... without self-control ...
no lovers of good ...
for of these are they that lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.
[Page 56]
Yes, the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea, when we have a returned Christ as King, and
a restored
The world entices us away from the Cross,
while it cries, There are laws enough to drive out
crime and liquor, will you Christians not rally and help enforce the laws.
The method of the world is clear enough: Laws! So,
after all, the cross is not their method.
Drive them out? Out of what? Drive them where? O vain
world! How can you drive crime and liquor out by laws? The Church knows
that these things are rooted and grounded in the hearts of evil men. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, theft, false witnesses, blasphemies. Will law drive them out of the heart? And
if the law cannot drive them out of the heart, how can it drive them out of the
town? O foolish world! You cannot have a clean town
with unregenerate men and women composing the large majority of its
citizenship.
O wicked world! Be assured that the true Church that knows her
God and His Word, is aware of your strategies.
The true Church knows that your liege lord is her greatest
adversary.
The true Church will not become
confederate with the world.
[Page 57]
The true Church knows that
the righteousness
which is of God is opposite and distinct to the righteousness of the
world, and, therefore, she can have no fellowship with the world in
moral reforms and social campaigns which eliminate the gospel of the cross. If we,
or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel, - let him be accursed.
The true Church knows that God has called the believer out of
the world, and will not for a moment allow the barriers which forever separate
her and the world to be broken down while she joins hands with it in an effort
for a world-betterment.
The true Church knows that her mission
is not to make this a better world, but to preach individual salvation [by Gods grace] from the penalty of sin through
the crucified [Christ]; salvation from the power
of sin through the [Holy Spirits indwelling and] risen Christ; and salvation [of
the soul
at resurrection], from the presence of sin through [and at] the Coming of Christ.*
[That is, (1) an eternal salvation (by grace
through faith in Christ) past; (2) a salvation present
(after repentance and obedience to Christ) by the Holy
Spirits personal indwelling and power; and (3) a salvation future
ready to be revealed in the last time - the salvation of souls (1
Peter 1: 5, 9, R.V.), when Christ will return to reward His good and faithful servants.]
The true Church knows that her mission is not to keep the
world from going to the devil, because the world, even now, is lying in the lap
of the devil, and is rapidly preparing to receive the Anti-Christ.
The true Church knows that the novelist who hob-nobs with Satan, the Churchs adversary, and cries that
Christ is down and out, has
utterly misjudged the work of Christ and His Church. Jesus still is able to
save the sinner, any sinner, every sinner, who will believe, and Jesus is able
to keep him safe in His life; - but Jesus, never, either by example or precept,
taught His Church to enter the realm of social-regeneration.
The true Church knows that this is an age of Humanism, - that the [Page
58] world has
decided that it is its own Saviour, - that the [Page 57] world is seeking to put down sin and bring in righteousness without any
repentance, without any faith, and without any obedience to the Christ.
The true Church knows that the energy and money expended in
the work of world reformation can at best but result in a transient and passing
reform, which sin in the heart will soon overthrow, - that if one evil, as that
of drink is put down, the evil in the heart will only
develop in some other way.
The true Church knows that an old-time revival of Holy Ghost [revival and] religion, which brings men to God,
and puts a new spirit in them, is
the only hope of sinners. The true Church knows that reformation is not
regeneration.
The true Church knows that it is unnecessary to put down the
places of sin, (which God says cannot be put down), in
order to keep the drunkard just saved from backsliding - she knows that Jesus
will save the drunkard to the uttermost.
The true Church knows that it is not necessary to put down the
places of sin, (which God says cannot be put down), in order to protect the
boys [and girls] from an immoral life, - she knows that
what is needed is salvation, the family altar at home, the teaching of the
Word, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
The true Church knows that full many churches, active in
cleaning up the city, have a God-given command, and a
manifest need of cleaning up within their own courts. That the
Church may well demand of her own a life separate from worldliness, - drinking,
dancing, card-playing, theatre-going, which she has no right to demand of those
who are living in sin, and not under her authority.
Beware, oh, ye who [are regenerate, and] have become confederate with the
world, lest in that day you should say Lord! Lord have we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast out demons? And
in Thy name have done many wonderful works, and the Lord shall say unto you, I never knew
you, depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.
* * *
* * *
*
A TASTE OF WHAT IS TO COME
What
If the last year was only a Taste of what is to come?
One
of the ways the global cabal is attempting to implement the Great Reset and the
Fourth Industrial Revolution is by putting global supply chains at risk to
bring the economy to its knees. I warned about this looming threat in my
article What the Future Portends: 10 Predictions for 2021 and Beyond.
The
narrative being sold to the public goes like this. The new wave of COVID-19 infections caused by various
Greek-letter variants, more disruptions due to natural disasters (attributed to
climate change), and Cyber-attacks targeting key industries are causing worker
shortages and the inability for ships and other major transport systems to
reach their destinations.
This
shortage of workers and goods such as food
and computer chips plays right into globalist stooges hands. As prices
skyrocket, the economy will further deteriorate and panic will rule the day.
People desperate for basic necessities will turn to looting and violence which
will give governments a new excuse to lockdown and subdue their populations.
The
true narrative points to global forces using these unfolding calamities as the
perfect convergence of manufactured problem -
reaction - solution scenarios. The existential
crisis are deliberately put in motion to
move the world towards global governance based on UN (Agenda 30) Sustainable
Development goals, a new blockchain
based financial system, and
China-like surveillance state.
Pandemics, climate
change, cyber terror, and manufactured supply shortages are
Trojan horses used to remove individual rights, destroy nations and governments, and push people into a new technocratic society.
All
these events allow governments to implement emergency
measures while consolidating more power. As these scenarios play out, control
mechanisms such as biometric surveillance, smart technology, social credit,
Universal Basic Income, mandatory vaccination, and digital ID/wallet systems
are steadily materializing.
A
new article in the Insurance Journal provides details to the changes rapidly
taking place as the global supply chain is threatened. The article states:
Events
have conspired to drive global supply chains towards breaking point,
threatening the fragile flow of raw materials, parts and consumer goods,
according to companies, economists and shipping specialists.
The
Delta variant of the coronavirus has devastated parts of
Meanwhile,
deadly floods in economic giants China and Germany have further ruptured global
supply lines that had yet to recover from the first wave of the pandemic,
compromising trillions of dollars of economic activity that rely on them.
Manufacturing
industries are reeling.
Automakers,
for example, are again being forced to stop production because of disruptions
caused by Covid-19 outbreaks. Toyota
Motor Corp. said this week it had to halt operations at plants in
Buckling
supply chains are hitting the
The
A
cyber attack hit South African container ports in
If
all that were not enough, in Britain the official Health app has told hundreds
of thousands of workers to isolate following contact with someone with COVID-19
- leading to supermarkets warning of short supply and some petrol stations
closing.
Richard
Walker, managing director of supermarket group Iceland Foods, turned to Twitter
to urge people not to panic buy.
We need to be able to supply stores, stock shelves and
deliver food, he wrote.
Another
recent article to include a whole range of products like lumber and other
building materials, tools, foodstuffs, seeds, furniture, cleaning supplies,
aluminium cans, pools and pool equipment, chemicals, bicycles, camping gear,
household appliances and replacement parts of all kinds.
In
many cases supply chains have been simultaneously squeezed on both ends -
supply and demand.
The
empty store shelves that dotted the landscape at the beginning of last years
pandemic is only a taste of what is to come. Manufactured famine would be the
perfect way to introduce complete control of the food supply.
The
ultimate goal is to eliminate meat-eating and to increase consumption of GMO
crops and synthetic food as only a few major corporations would control the entire
worlds supply. This is why Bill Gates is now the largest landowner in the
Recently,
there have already been major cyber attacks
by mysterious hacker groups on a major
In
March, a container ship blocked both lanes of the
These
events along with a cyber pandemic could
easily trigger a worldwide crisis. World Economic Forum frontman and globalist Klaus Schwab has warned of an event
that could make the coronavirus pandemic seem
like a small disturbance.
Will
these simulations go live in the near future?
Originally
published at Activist Post - reposted with permission.
July
30, 2021