<< Back

Chosen no: H1-655 ,   from: 0 Year.

Change lang

"If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of This world hath blinded the mends of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4

We do not charge our forefathers with evil intent in the making of the creeds. We cheerfully admit that every creed contains an element of Divine Truth. Our contention is that Satan, the great Adversary of God, substituted the creeds for the Bible; and into the creeds, through human weakness, he injected a sufficiency of nonsense and "doctrines of devils" to render them unhealthful for the saints, and absolutely poisonous to others.

The truthfulness of our text is manifest on every hand. The word Gospel signifies the good Message, it was the Message of the angels at the birth of Jesus: "Behold, we bring you (the Gospel) good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people!" This Gospel of joy and blessing, of Divine Love and Mercy toward our race, is completely hidden from the world. Even matured Christians discern but little of it, because the creeds of human tradition have so misrepresented God and His purposes as to make of them bad tidings-not good tidings.

HATH BLINDED THEIR MINDS

St. Paul, as well as the other Apostles, foretold the falling away of the Church from "the faith once delivered to the saints"; and he particularly pointed out that this would be the result of giving heed to "seducing spirits" and "doctrines of demons"-the fallen angels. (1 Timothy 4:1; Jude 6) In a thousand ways, through mediums, planchettes, visions and dreams, etc., these fallen, seducing spirits have intruded their demon doctrines upon the Church of Christ. And the whole purport of their evil work seems to be to deceive mankind in respect to God's real purposes toward them, and His real character.

How wonderfully successful Satan and his fallen angels, the demons, have been! While persuading men that they were far off, stoking fires for humanity's future torture, they have really been hobnobbing with ecclesiastics and assisting in misrepresentation of the Bible-especially its parables and symbolic statements. To such an extent is this true that the glory of God manifested in Jesus for human salvation is completely confused and unintelligible to the world. Unbelievers can reason, and do reason. Those who reside in civilized lands instructed along the lines of the creeds, inquire, Why did God make us sinners, with depraved appetites and sentence us to eternal torment, and then send Jesus to be the Savior of merely such as become saints, believers in certain doctrines which they themselves call mysterious? Intelligent heathens similarly ask, Why should God make such a plan as the missionaries relate? Why should He condemn us all to eternal torment and then make provision for only the few who hear of Jesus, and believe the mysteries and monstrous inconsistencies of some of the creeds?

Do not the facts today, after eighteen centuries of creed-blinded Christianity, corroborate the Apostle's statement that the "god of this world," Satan, "hash blinded the minds of them that believe not?" Otherwise surely the glorious Gospel of Christ, now becoming more and more clear to Bible students, would long ago have shone into many hearts, carrying joy and peace through reconciliation with God.

The statement of our text, "If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost," does not mean that they are lost because they cannot see the Gospel. The Bible distinctly tells us that all of Adam's race are lost through disobedience. The Apostle evidently means that the masses of the lost world cannot see the Gospel light. It is hidden from them. Only the comparatively few see it, and they only as they are guided by the Holy Spirit and their eyes of understanding open.

We may well thank God that the time in which Satan will be thus privileged to put darkness for light to deceive the world is limited. The Bible prophesies that soon Christ will take His great power. His first work will be the binding of Satan that he may no longer deceive men. And then the Redeemer will begin His great work of blessing mankind, in the thousand years of His appointed reign.

WHAT PRISON STATISTICS SHOW

In all modern prisons statistics are kept which show the religious instruction received by the prisoners earlier in life. In almost every instance the prisoners guilty of the most serious offenses were from infancy trained to think of the Almighty as the great Enemy of His creatures, who foreknew and fore-arranged for the eternal torture of all but a handful. Did these creeds better those who confessed them? Did they inspire in the parents of these criminals heart-devotion to God? Nay, in almost every case where the false, horrible creed-idol was worshipped fear prevailed instead of love, bedlam instead of holiness. Is not this the case even today in the majority of homes of so-called Christendom?

FOOLISH FEARS, VAIN IMAGINATIONS

Little have we realized the foolishness of such reasoning. The influence of the creeds of the Dark Ages has been the very reverse of what has been expected of them. Man naturally has a reverence for God. This may be seen in the shape of his head by those who can read phrenologically. It is seen also in the fact that in heathen lands worship is practiced. The true knowledge of God would incline men to come to Him. The highest qualities of their being would find expression in worship, praise, adoration. With the enlightenment of the Bible man would indeed learn that all are sinners, that all come short of that glorious perfection which God originally created and which alone He can approve. Guided by Bible instruction, these would realize that "the wages of sin is death" not eternal torment. Romans 3:10-12; 6:23

The desire for life everlasting persists in every creature; and man's attitude would have been to approach his Creator to ascertain if it would not be possible for him to return to relationship with God and to regain the gift of life everlasting. Then would have come the answer that no fallen creature is able to recover himself, but that God has provided through Jesus' death a recovery.

A SAVIOR ABLE TO SAVE

As the repentant one would strive to live up to the Divine standard and find it impossible because of inherited imperfections, he would be drawn to the merciful Father in Heaven, to learn how to attain to the condition which his heart coveted. Then he would hear the answer through the Scriptures that while God has provided for the world in general a thousand years of Restitution, yet He is willing now to receive q few choice characters, on special terms. These must have their Master's spirit, a love for righteousness and a hatred for iniquity, a loyalty to God, ready to lay down life and every other thing in His service.

Such would be inducted by faith into the elect Church, would be begotten of the Holy Spirit, to be trained by trials, difficulties, testings and polishings, and eventually, if faithful, be accorded a change of nature from earthly to Heavenly, participation with Christ in His great work of blessing and restoring humanity during His thousand-year Reign.

ERRORS EFFECT THE OPPOSITE

Our wily foe, Satan, well knew all this, and has worked in opposition to it. By hiding from men the true Gospel light, he has driven them in dread away from their best Friend-Almighty God. From infancy they hoped to escape eternal torture, but as the weaknesses of their fallen nature yielded to the temptations on every hand, they prayed forgiveness. As sins multiplied, doubts and fears gained control, and in dread of God and in fear of the unjust and unmerciful arrangements of the future taught them from infancy, they plunged headlong into sin, striving to forget God. Some were led to one excess, some to anothergambling, drunkenness, frivolity, pleasure seeking.

One merchant told us of his own experience. He said, "My good Methodist wife told me I would surely go to hell. I replied, 'Mary, I know it, I know itl And when I get there, there will be one sinner who will deserve something.' I held the ordinary view-that all except the saintly were sure to spend eternity in torture. That seemed to me most unjust-that the Almighty had taken advantage of His power to create us under unfavorable conditions, with the foreknowledge that we should spend eternity in torment. I concluded that one person at least should deserve some of it."

A lady of wealth and refinement told us that secretly she had always feared the future, believing implicitly the teachings of the creeds. She said, "I went into society deliberately, with a view to drowning my thoughts on religious subjects." She did not feel drawn to the God presented in the creeds. She merely granted Him His Power and sought to forget Him; yet all the while, as she herself said, she was unhappy. Her soul found no rest.

Both of these people have since found the true God-have come to know Him in His true character, as presented to us in the Bible, when rightly understood. They are both happy, both zealous, seeking to lay down their lives in His service, and taking pleasure in everything which, in His providence, they are permitted to experience, knowing that "all things are working together for good to those who love God, the called according to His purpose."

"MORNING DAWNS, ARISE, ARISE!"

Thank God, the morning of Immanuel's Day is dawning! It is bringing light upon every subject. The chains of error and superstition, statecraft and priestcraft, are breaking. True, some may thus be led to extremes and, mistaken, revolt against all religions and all authority and all laws of God and man. That is but a natural mistake. The pendulum swings naturally to an opposite extreme and requires some little time to steady itself upon a true center.

The proper thought for us all is the one which the Bible gives, namely, that our delusions and bandages, our superstitions and errors, although by men, were not of men. Satan has been our great Adversary. He it is against whom we are to feel the special indignation. Like ourselves, others of humanity were blinded. Illustrations of this blindness were frequent during the Dark Ages. Men and women, misunderstanding the character and the Plan of God, were just as sincere as ourselves when they sought to copy what they supposed to be the Creator's methods by torturing each other, burning one another at the stake, etc.

These mistakes were not made wholly by one denomination, even as the errors which led to these mistakes were not held merely by one denomination. Presbyterians were persecuted and in turn persecuted others; so did Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, etc. Mistakes so common in the past are not to be blamed either against denominations or against individuals. In harmony with our text, we should charge them up to "the god of this world"-Satan. Instead of feeling anger and hatred and charging others with having kept us in ignorance and superstition, let us rather rejoice together and give thanks to God that our chains at last are breaking. Let us remember Saul of Tarsus as an illustration of how a good man, misled of the Adversary, became a persecutor of the Church of Christ. As he was freely forgiven of God, and showed himself a loyal servant of the King of kings, so let us regard others of our day as equally loyal, and let us trust that they will become equally faithful as they come under the influence of the great light from Heaven, now shining.

PUT AWAY, THEREFORE, ALL THESE

St. Paul urges us, as children of the light, to walk in the light. Jesus bids us to let our light so shine before others that we may thus glorify the Father in Heaven. St. Peter says that we should show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. The light that is now shining upon the pathway of God's faithful people is not a new light. It is the same light which Jesus and the Apostles held forth and rejoiced in. For the time being, it has been lost, buried under the rubbish and superstition and error of eighteen centuries. Now, in God's providence, these obstructions are being seen. We are coming out from under their influence into the sunlight, the true light, which shall yet lighten every man, as God's Word has promised.

The question with each and all of us who now perceive the source of the darkness in which we have been and the source of the light into which we have come is, What shall we render unto the Lord for all His benefits? How shall we best show to our gracious Lord our appreciation of His gracious character, of His true Plan of Salvation? The Scriptures assure us that we can best show our love and loyalty by improving the opportunities which the Lord affords us for witnessing for Him and His Truth, which represents Him.

Our time, our talents, our privileges, our opportunities, are limited. At very most we can do but little. How earnest we should be to demonstrate to the Lord our love and appreciation! How faithful we should be to others in carrying them the light, even as we ourselves appreciate the channels which God used in bringing the blessings to us! How wise we should be, realizing that our opponent is Satan himself and not being ignorant of his devices! We are not to show forth our own praises, for we have nothing praiseworthy. What have we that we have not received? We did not make the Divine Plan. We merely learned of it by the grace of God. In telling it to others, therefore, this fact should be remembered, that it is not ours, but His. As we compare the Divine Plan of Salvation presented in the Bible with all the different plans of salvation represented in the various creeds of Christendom, we see how wonderfully different it is from them all.

In the light of our day all are ashamed of the things set forth by the great and the wise of centuries ago. We might indeed have reason to be proud if we had manufactured the Divine Plan of the Ages, if it were our conception. But no, it is of the Father and by the Son and we are merely privileged to be ministers or servants of the Father, of the Son and of the Truth-honored servants, truly, but servants still.

And evidently, when the Master shall say to the faithful ones, "Well done, good and faithful servants," He will add, "I will make you rulers over many things, because ye have been faithful over a few things." More and more we realize that our talents, our opportunities of the present time, are few and small. Only of God's grace may they become worthy of anything, and only by His blessing may they be powerful to the pulling down of the strongholds of error and to the building up of His people in the Most Holy Faith.

H1 - 655