GOD’S PLAN VS. HUMAN THEORIES.
By B. E. Fisk
THE plan of salvation, as set forth in the Scriptures, forms such a complete system of truth that a change in any particular destroys the entire harmony of the arrangement. Hence, when men attempt to improve on this plan by substituting something more according to their ideas they find themselves face to face with difficulties which require other changes until the original design is nearly lost sight of. For example: The orthodox world generally accepts the Bible doctrine of the literal, personal return of our Lord to this earth, and at the same time teaches that at death believers enter the joys of heaven. Thoughtful people everywhere realize that something is wrong with this theology. Surely, if the righteous dead, or a great portion of them, have been in heaven hundreds or thousands of years, there would be no need that Christ should come to take them to the mansions spoken of in John 14:2, 3. So to produce harmony there is an effort made to prove that all the promises relating to the second advent are to be regarded spiritually, and intended to teach the extension of Christian principles in the world, the upbuilding of Christ’s kingdom in the hearts of men, and that the long-cherished hope of a personal return is a delusion. A series of articles in a Baptist denominational paper teaches this doctrine, the writer stating his purpose to aid Christian thought in this direction. Long ago the Spirit revealed to Peter that such doctrines would be taught and then pointed to as a sign of the last days. 2 Peter 3:3, 4. A careful study of this chapter shows that Peter attributes this belief to ignorance of God’s great plan for redeeming a sin-stricken world, and says in verse 10: “But the day of the Lord will come.” Let us base our faith on the inspired Word rather than on theories of men.