The True and the Counterfeit Gospel
The subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for June 13—“A Message Against the Beast and His Image”—is an important one, and is worthy of earnest study. It will certainly be impossible to proclaim such a message effectively without an intelligent understanding not only of those truths which lie at the foundation of this second advent movement; but also of the special application of those truths in order that they shall constitute the third angel’s message. The good news of salvation is developed from one vital principle. This is set forth in the definition of the gospel: “It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith, as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.” The perversion of this truth appears in many forms; but nowhere else is the perversion so fully worked out, and so completely systematized, as in the teachings of the papacy. It will not be difficult to understand the reason for this if we remember that the “mystery of iniquity” is a counterfeit gospel, originated by the enemy of truth as a most effective means of satisfying the minds of those who desire to save themselves by their own works. This involves a complete reversal of the way of life as set forth in the Scriptures. According to the revelation therein made, faith in Christ is the thing essential to salvation. The reply of the apostle Paul to the inquiry of the Philippian jailer contains the whole gospel in few words: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” To believe on the Christ set forth in the Scriptures according to the meaning of the Scriptures is to accept the divine plan for the world by giving to the eternal Son of God his true place as the representative of the Father in the control and direction of all things both in heaven and in earth. Opposed to this divine plan is the ambition of the enemy of God to put himself in the place of the Son, and to bring as many as possible into subjection unto himself. This unlawful ambition has found its most complete expression in the organization and the workings of the papacy. In the symbolic prophecy we find the dragon giving to the beast from the sea “his power, and his throne, and great authority.” We learn that the dragon is “the old serpent, he that is called the devil and Satan,” who revealed himself openly in his effort to overthrow Christianity by using the pagan Roman empire as his agent. When this effort to shut away Christianity from the world had failed, the same end was sought by so perverting the truths of Christianity that while the familiar names and formularies of the gospel were retained, the philosophy of paganism would be substituted for the essential truths of Christianity. The limits of this article will not permit us to follow the historical development of the papacy, and we can only summarize the leading perversions of truth found in this organization as follows: chiefest of all is the claim that the pope is vicegerent of Christ, the visible head of the church. Next comes the doctrine that tradition is a more clear and more safe guide in religion than the Scriptures, and that the Bible alone is not an infallible guide, nor a sufficient rule of faith and practise. From these two fountainheads of error flows a broad, deep stream of false doctrine, which, taken as a whole, constitutes the counterfeit gospel of Christ. The rise and working of this wonderful system of error has been clearly foretold in the prophecies; and the preaching of “the everlasting gospel” in preparation for the second coming of Christ, is designed to expose all these perversions of truth by presenting in bold contrast with them the way of salvation revealed in the Scriptures. As the essential and fundamental truth of the gospel is that Christ, our high priest, “is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him,” the counterfeit gospel must expressly deny this teaching and present another way of access unto God. The extent to which this had been done is shown by the following extract: “Popery has a god of its own—him, even whom the canon law calls the ‘Lord our God.’ It has a saviour of its own—the church, to wit. It has a sacrifice of its own—the mass. It has a mediator of its own—the priesthood. It has a sanctifier of its own—the sacrament. It has a justification of its own—that even of infused righteousness. It has a pardon of its own—the pardon of the confessional. And it has in the heavens4an infallible, all-prevailing advocate unknown to the gospel—the ‘Mother of God.’ It thus represents to the world a spiritual and saving apparatus for the salvation of men; and yet it neither sanctifies nor saves any one. It looks like a church; it professes to have all that a church ought to have; and yet it is not a church. It is a grand deception—‘the all-deceivableness of unrighteousness.’ Such is the beast after whom the whole world wondered, and whom all that dwell upon the earth shall worship, except those whose names have been written in the book of life. In direct contrast to this whole system of error is the third angel’s message, the final proclamation of “the everlasting gospel,” which is to expose all perversions of the truth, and to restore the pure teaching of the apostolic church. This message is to give to Christ, the eternal Son, his rightful place as the head of the church, present with his people on earth through his representative the Holy Spirit. This will be the natural and logical result of assigning to him his place as one with the Father, through whom alone the Father revealed himself in the original creation, and through whom, therefore, he reveals himself in redemption, which is the recreation of the soul in the image of God. And as the original Sabbath of the fourth commandment was the sign of the God who thus revealed himself in creation, so in the restoration of the true gospel the same Sabbath will be presented as the sign of re-creation, the sign of sanctification, the sign of righteousness by faith; and instead of faith in the creed of the church and a salvation through works commanded by the church, the message of the true gospel presents faith in the power of Christ to save, and the works of faith as revealed in obedience to the commandments of God, not as the price of salvation but as the fruit of salvation. There is nothing which has contributed more to the building up of this system of false teaching than the suppression of the truth relating to Christ as our great high priest, and as revealed in the heavenly sanctuary, and substituting therefor that principal service of the Roman Catholic Church designated as the mass. In this service the earthly temple takes the place of the heavenly temple; the earthly priest takes the place of the heavenly; the earthly altar is substituted for the heavenly altar; the earthly sacrifice is presented in place of the heavenly sacrifice; and as a result, forgiveness of sin is based upon the service of the church, rather than upon the ministry of righteousness by the great Head of the church. In restoring the truth of the gospel, that which has been suppressed by the papacy must be set forth with clearness and fulness, and this can be done only by presenting the atoning sacrifice, and the present ministry, of our Great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. This enables us to understand the significance of that light concerning the sanctuary and its services which was the explanation of the great disappointment in 1844, and the molding power which gave shape to the present system of truth. It is clear, therefore, that the message against the beast and his image will present to the world anew “the everlasting gospel” as set forth through the sanctuary and its services, and that it will be the message of righteousness by faith, in which Christ will be given his true place as the head of the church, the original Sabbath will be restored as a sign of righteousness, and obedience to the commandments of God will be inculcated as the evidence of salvation by faith. It is high time that this message should be given with a loud voice to all the world.