The Provision for a Spiritual Panic

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 25, 1908

The Provision for a Spiritual Panic

IN the midst of a season of apparently unparalleled prosperity, without any warning, there came last October in the financial world a panic the results of which are still seen and felt. Such an effect did this experience have upon the public mind, that there was great pressure upon Congress to pass some kind of legislation which would, if possible, prevent the recurrence of such a disaster.

There was a cause for this financial panic. The oft-repeated exposures in the papers and magazines of the methods employed by “the captains of industry” in handling the people’s money entrusted to them, had developed an increasing lack of confidence in moneyed institutions; and the first breath of suspicion against the soundness of a bank or a trust company was sufficient to start a “run.” The distrust spread like a prairie fire, and it was impossible to satisfy the demand of the depositors for their money. For days and nights the money kings trembled on their thrones, and only by the most strenuous and combined efforts were they able to restore the semblance of confidence. A large share of the transactions in the financial world are based upon mutual confidence; and when this confidence has been destroyed by reckless speculation or by the machinations of enemies, there is a disturbance in commercial relations which is quite likely to grow into a panic. The only preventive of such troubles is to retain confidence intact. The only cure for them, when they occur, is to restore the lost confidence.

A shrewd observer of present conditions has suggested the probability of a spiritual panic. This interpreter of the situation finds four reasons for predicting spiritual disaster:—

1. Loss of faith in the full and perfect inspiration of the Word of God;

2. Loss of confidence in the divine claims of the weekly rest day;

3. Loss of confidence in the church as a divine institution;

4. Loss of confidence in the authority and deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

From editorial comment upon these reasons in the Missionary Review of the World, we take the following pertinent statements:—

These are grave signals, and they certainly exist.

These conditions demand not only candid recognition but combined resistance.

Silence and inaction sometimes become a sin and a crime.

We must not allow so-called “leaders” to speak perverse things unchallenged, or conduct ruinous movements unresisted. It is worse than foolish to wait for the panic to burst into violence, before acting.

Let men who believe dare to speak.

We do not remember that we have seen a clearer analysis of present spiritual conditions in so few words. There is a general loss of faith in the things fundamental to the gospel of Christ; and the foundation being thus undermined, a collapse of the whole structure is rendered possible. Not that the gospel will fail; not that truth will perish from the earth; but these pretentious organizations which have supplanted the true church—the body of Christ—having substituted human philosophy for revealed truth, and having rejected both the sword of the Spirit and the Spirit himself, are utterly unprepared for the crisis in the great controversy. “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird.”

The third angel’s message is the divine provision for this impending spiritual panic; and in order that it may be true to its appointed mission it must meet the fourfold lack of confidence in the essentials of the gospel by contending for “the faith once delivered to the saints” in these four particulars:—

1. The inspiration and authority of the Holy Scriptures as the infallible Word of the living God.

2. The restoration of the true Sabbath of the Lord, the sign of the working power of God’s Word to produce righteousness through faith in Christ.

3. The church as the body of Christ, created and upheld by the power of the same Word of God.

4. The deity of Christ, the Son of God as well as the Son of man, and his place and work as our great High Priest,—the incarnate Word.

The demand for such a message as this grows more and more apparent. Not only is it necessary to preach ‘the everlasting gospel’ in the heathen lands, but ‘unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people,’ as the apostasy from the truth has become world-wide.

We appeal to the teachers of this message, in the name of the Lord God of Israel and for the sake of the gospel of his salvation, to be true to their high calling, and to show themselves men of opportunity. No mere formal argument to prove a doctrine will meet the demands of the situation. We are in that time of loss of faith which Jesus indicated would immediately precede his return to this earth; many are confused by the ‘lo here’s!’ and ‘lo there’s!’ the standard of truth needs to be lifted high, and the original gospel should be taught with an authority which will inspire confidence in the hearts of those who are still looking for the consolation of Israel.

‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word.’

Great is the privilege, and great is the responsibility, of the present hour.