At the Lodge Door by W. R. Young

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 29, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 41.

At the Lodge Door.

By W. R. Young

RAP, rap, rap.

Door-keeper.—"Who is there?"

Ans.—"I am the lover of all mankind, the great benefactor of the human race, who died that they might live, and I seek admission to your lodge that your members may receive the benefits I bring."

D. K.—"What is your name?"

Ans.—"My name is Jesus Christ."

D. K.—"You will wait until your request is communicated to our presiding officer, and his answer returned."

Jesus.—"I am willing to wait so long as there is hope of my being admitted."

AFTER A PAUSE.

D. K.—"Our answer to your request is this: There are many of us who do not believe you are what you claim to be; but we all believe in God, and put our trust in him, and we are seeking to inculcate the great principles of virtue and morality, for which we have the greatest respect. If, therefore, you are willing to come in upon this basis, you can talk as much as you please about faith in God and our duty to our neighbors, but you must be silent about your peculiar doctrines. We do not want to hear anything about the cross, or about the notion that you suffered death to atone for the sins of mankind, or that you alone can bring to man everlasting life."

Jesus.—"But if I consent to be silent on these themes, how can I fulfill my great mission as the Saviour of sinners? 'No man cometh unto the Father, but by me;' and God will not accept your homage except you render it through me, for it is his will that all men shall honor the Son even as they honor the Father. And though he offers to men the unspeakable blessing of eternal life, it is only in and through me; for 'I [alone] am the way, the truth, and the life.'"

D. K.—"Well, as a lodge, we entirely ignore these claims of yours; and if you should advance them in our meetings, you would only produce discord; there are proper places and times for you to speak on these themes."

Jesus.—"I ask not to interfere with any other business that is right, or to monopolize the speaking, but only that I may have the privilege of using suitable opportunities to invite men to partake of the benefits of my salvation."

D. K.—"You will not be permitted to talk at all on these subjects in our lodge; and unless you consent to be silent, I must refuse you admission."

Jesus.—"To refuse to admit me as your Saviour is to refuse to admit me at all, for where my salvation is ignored, I cannot come; but I must warn you that by rejecting me you are rejecting Him that sent me, for I am the salvation which God has provided for you. Your professed reverence for God, whilst turning from the Son of God, is an insult to the Most High, even as was the offering of fruit and flowers presented by Cain. God hath declared that 'without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins,' and I alone am the 'Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.'"

The Saviour turns sadly away from the lodge door; and as he does so, one who professes to be a follower of his comes up, but instead of following his Master, he obtains admittance upon the terms which Christ himself would not consent to. He agrees to let the cross of Christ sink out of sight, and enters into a covenant of brotherhood upon the basis of a belief in a god who is not "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," and therefore not the true God at all, any more than is the god the Mohammedan worships. The god of the lodges is said to be the God of the Bible, but it is a false claim. The god of the lodges is a counterfeit of the true God. There is a surface resemblance, as there is between the counterfeit and the genuine coin, but it does not go below the surface. The god of the lodges requires no shedding of blood, no atonement for sin, has provided no Saviour for sinners, and no Holy Spirit to transform the moral nature; but the devotees of this false god claim that their god requires nothing from his worshipers but what every one can provide for himself; or that his righteousness consists of nothing more than conformity to certain right rules of conduct.

True follower of Christ, follow him as he turns away from the lodge door! Go nowhere that Christ does not lead you; enter into fellowship with no company where Christ is not received. Let the refusal to admit your Master be the bar to your own entry. Be not deceived by a talk about fellowship with God. There is no fellowship with God apart from Christ. Only those have fellowship with God who can say: "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."—Elder W. R. Young, in Bible Banner.