HOWL, YE-SHEPHERDS

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 26, 1915

“HOWL, YE-SHEPHERDS”

ONE of the most solemn warnings to be found in the Bible is addressed to the shepherds of the Lord’s flock. It says: “Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture. And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the Lord. He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of His fierce anger.” Jer. 25: 34-38.

It would seem hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that such a warning as this could not apply to true shepherds. It must apply to false ones. And yet while these shepherds are false, they manifest every confidence that they are doing the work of the Lord; for the Master has said concerning them: “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt. 7: 21-23.

The true shepherd teaches God’s word, and he could not teach that Word unless he believed it. But it is one of the most conspicuous facts in the religious world to-day that the religious teachers as a class have largely discredited the Bible. A leading New York attorney recently said that but a small fraction of the ministers under forty years of age believed in the miracles of the Bible. But when you throw out the miracles of the Bible, you have to throw out Christ and everything that goes with His work.

Doctors of divinity are using very much the same language, not only in their pulpits, but in their writings, as was used by Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and the other great infidels of the world. These men who are discarding the Bible and yet are claiming to be pastors of the flock of God are misleading the world. They are seeking to teach that the world is growing better, and that we are going to have a time of universal peace.

Churchmen, especially since this war has broken out in Europe, are becoming more vehement in their assertions of the doctrine of universal peace. Every Christian certainly desires peace, and all should work for it; but a man who believes the Bible, knows that a condition of peace will never be reached in this world until after the second coming of Christ.

The people of this world right at the last, when they realize to the full the deception into which they have been drawn, will turn with awful fury upon these false shepherds who have led them astray, so contrary to the plain teaching of the word of God; and in the language of this scripture from Jeremiah, these shepherds will howl and cry because the day of their slaughter is come. They had no right to claim to be teachers of the word of God while teaching such misrepresentations of that divine Book. The “voice of the cry” of these shepherds, and the “howling of the principal of the flock,” will be heard when the Lord Himself shall set His hand to the spoiling of their pasture.