LOVE NOT THE WORLD by Alonzo T. Jones

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 19, 1901

LOVE NOT THE WORLD.

By Alonzo T. Jones

It has been discovered that among Seventh-day Adventist parents there is a deplorable and dangerous love of the world; and this thing is true in such measure as to call for a statement of the case in an article in the REVIEW.

This love of the world is of such a degree that it is deplorable as to the parents themselves, who indulge it; and of such a degree that it is dangerous to their own children, from the fact that out of sheer love of the world these parents deliberately devise and plan ways and means to put their children in the way of the world, to be trained in the love of the world, and to be kept in that way. By many this may be considered too strong a statement; but it is not: it is the sober truth.

This discovery has not been made, in the sense that it has been beforehand thought of and searched for. Not at all; it has been forced upon the attention of those who have to do with the general work of the cause of God; it has been forced upon our attention by the activity of the parents themselves in planning and executing for their children these world-loving designs. And it is thus forced upon our attention in such a way and to such an extent that in behalf of the children themselves we are compelled thus publicly to plead with the parents not to mislead and destroy their own children by their world-loving devices and plans.

There is one thing certain, which is that the threefold message—the Third Angel’s Message—is the only means that God has in these last days of truly separating His people from the world. That message is, first, “the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” It is, secondly, the announcement of the fall of Babylon, and the call, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” It is, thirdly, the warning against the worship of the Beast and his Image; and, fourthly, it is the announcement of the completed work of the gospel in bringing believers to perfection, where it is said of them by the Lord himself, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” And the next thing is the coming of the Lord to take to himself these whom the Third Angel’s Message shall have made fully ready to meet Him “in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

It is, therefore, certain that the truth of the Third Angel’s Message is the only means that God has in these days to separate anybody truly and completely from the world. If they shall not be completely separated from the world by the truth of this message, that thing will never be done at all. And if any one who professes the truth of that message is not in heart and mind completely separated from the world, then he is simply perverting the message itself, and is trifling with his eternal destiny.

The Third Angel’s Message is therefore the greatest thing that is in the world, or that can ever be in the world; and the privileges and opportunities afforded by the work of the Third Angel’s Message are the greatest that can ever come to the life of any young man or young woman in this world; and if parents who profess the truth of the Third Angel’s Message, really believed the truth of that message, they would know of a certainty that the greatest thing that they can possibly do for their children is to have them thoroughly imbued with the spirit and life of the Third Angel’s Message; and they would not count as too great any possible investment of means, of personal effort, or of personal consecration and devotion, to keep their children from the world, and under the influences of, and in connection with, the facilities of that gracious message.

The education, whether medical or other, that is given in the schools of the Third Angel’s Message is the best in the world. Now that is the sober truth; though all those to whom this article is especially addressed will probably snicker at it. And this is precisely wherein their love of the world asserts itself: they think that the way of the world is better than is the way of the Third Angel’s Message. They think that the schools of the world, both medical and other, which separate from God, and especially set aside the work of God, are better for their children than are the schools of the Third Angel’s Message, where God is all in all, and where the word of God is the foundation and inspiration of every line of study. They would rather have their children in schools of the world, where they acquire what the Bible repeatedly calls ignorance, and what is plainly ignorance, than to have them in schools of the Third Angel’s Message, where they acquire only knowledge.

And why is this?—Oh! it is solely because of the “honor,” the “standing,” the “dignity,” that, in the eyes of the world, attaches to such a worldly course. We know that this is so, because these parents themselves say so. This present season professed Seventh-day Adventist parents have turned away, or allowed to be turned away, their sons and daughters from schools of the Third Angel’s Message, to fashionable, aristocratic, worldly schools, because of the fashionable, aristocratic, worldly “standing” that those children will have by going through those schools: this, after those sons and daughters had of their own accord sent in their names for entrance to schools of the Third Angel’s Message.

And in the case of the medical college it is even worse; for there, after the children had actually entered the American Medical Missionary College, parents sought to turn them to other medical schools, solely because of the higher worldly standing that it would give them. And yet among these other medical colleges, and among leading medical men, it is well known that the course of instruction and training the students get in the American Medical Missionary College is as good as any that can be had in the United States, while for the work of the Third Angel’s Message it is the best that there is in the world.

What is it, then, but sheer love for the world that will lead parents who profess the truth of the Third Angel’s Message to wish to turn their children away from the instrumentalities of the Third Angel’s Message, to institutions that are only of the world? And especially what is it but sheer love of the world that will lead them to do this when the best of these institutions themselves recognize that the education and training given in the American Medical Missionary College is equal to that given in their own?

There is yet another notable way in which this love of the world on the part of the parents is manifested to the positive danger of their own children; that is, in the lust for speculation,—investing their money in mining, in oil lands, or in whatever other scheme may be presented by any ready talker who may gain their attention.

They will even draw their money out of the work of the Third Angel’s Message to put into these wild, speculative schemes, where not one in ten of them ever again sees a cent of it. And then, when they find that their money is gone to the winds, they pour upon the ready talker all the blame for their losing their money! as though he had picked their pocket, or had held them up and robbed them; whereas all that he did was to pour out pleasing talk (which they knew to be his business), and their love of money was so strong that they could not control themselves sufficiently to keep their money, but freely handed it over.

This is not, by any means, to say that the ready talker is altogether innocent: but it is, by all means, to say that as certainly as a person loves God more than he loves money and the worldly honor and standing that money gives, all the ready talkers on earth can never get him to invest a single cent in any speculative scheme. What but the love of money and of the world can it be that will lead a person who professes the truth of the Third Angel’s Message to withhold or to draw out from the work of that message his money to invest in any speculative scheme of mines or oil lands or any other? Invested in the work of the Third Angel’s Message, which he professes to love, his money could do only good forever and ever. But instead of that, he withdraws or withholds from that good work his money, to put it into a speculative scheme to make more money. Then it is as plain as A B C that not the love of God, but the love of money, has the strongest hold on him.

A few years ago one of our brethren was approached by a mine promoter to get him to invest. Several of his brethren had already invested, and the persuasion was made the stronger by reason of this. He listened awhile to the ready talker, and then quietly said: “My brother, I would rather have the witness of the Spirit of God in my heart than to have all the gold in this world.” And that ready talker had not another word to say to him. And let all the Seventh-day Adventists in the world say, Amen.

It is written: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” That is the simple statement of an everlasting truth: “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” It does not say that the love of the Father cannot or can never be in him: it states the simple truth that if he love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. He can abandon and repudiate the love of the world, and have the love of the Father in him; but so long as he loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The two things cannot be in the same place at the same time; they are antagonistic relationships. He may belong to the church, go to meeting on the Sabbath and do no work on the Sabbath; but if he loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him: his profession of the religion of the Father is a fraud.

Again, it is written: “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” Note, it is not of enmity with God; it is enmity; it is the thing itself, the very essence. “Whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God.” And what good is the enemy of God in the Church, or doing no work on the Sabbath? Far better would it be for both the Church and mankind in general if he would appear in his true colors and character, as that which he truly is—the enemy of God.

No; Christianity and the world are to one another foreign States; and not only that, but are foreign States that are everlastingly at war, with neither truce nor protocol, nor any other arrangements ever contemplated that can imply even cessation of active hostilities, much less peace. “Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore

the world hateth you.” John 15:19. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:14, 16. “I have overcome [I have conquered] the world.” “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation.” John 16:33.

Why is it that there is this perpetual, uncompromising antagonism between Christianity and the world? Why is it that Christianity and the world are such exclusive opposites that if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him? Why is it that the friendship of the world is enmity with God, so that whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God? There is abundant reason for it all. There is nothing in it nor about it that is in any sense arbitrary on the part of God.

The truth is that this world is subjected by usurpation to “the prince of this world;” and it is an idolatrous subjection; because “the prince of this world” is “the god of this world.” Accordingly, the way of the world, the course of the world, is “according to the prince of the power of the air,” and that prince is “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” “You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Eph. 2:1, 2.

The spirit that works in the children of disobedience is the spirit of Satan. This spirit is the prince of the power of the air. Then the prince of the power of the air is Satan. To walk according to the course of this world is to walk according to the prince of the power of the air, who is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience, who is Satan. Therefore, to walk according to the course of this world is to walk according to the course of Satan. To love the way of the world is to love the way of Satan. To love the world is to love the prince of this world: it is to love the god of this world, who is Satan.

This is shown in yet another word: In 1 John 5:19, R. V., it is written: “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one.” Other translations render it, “Lieth in the wicked one.” The thought is that the world lieth in the wicked one, as a child lies in the arms and bosom of its mother. Think of that; and then think of a person loving that order of things, in view of the blessed invitation of the Lord to all to come to Him, and the precious promise that “He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.”

This is how it is that if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him: the love of the Father is not in the person who loves Satan. This is how it is that the friendship of the world is enmity with God: it is friendship with Satan, and friendship with Satan cannot be anything else than enmity with God. This is how it is that whosoever will be the friend of the world, is the enemy of God: to be the friend of the world is to be the friend of Satan. And how can anybody be the friend of Satan without being the enemy of God? This is how it is that the Lord Jesus in the world, who is God with us, could say in the fullness of truth, “The prince of this world . . . hath nothing in me.” And so will every one gladly say, who is of Christ.

Parents, please do not, by any kind of example or influence, teach your children to love the world or to choose the way of the world; it is the way of Satan, the enemy of God, and leads straight to destruction.

ALONZO T. JONES.