Union of Forces | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 14, 1892

Union of Forces.

If there is any one thing for which this age is characteristic, it is that of organization. People everywhere are getting tied up in some society or association till it is difficult to find a person who does not belong to some one or more organizations. This is to be expected on the part of the world. The evil thing about the matter is that the church of Christ is organizing with the world, on account of which moral and religious distinctions are lost sight of, and worldly policy dominates. Or the various churches are uniting together in some extra church organization for political purposes. An example of this is seen in the American Sabbath Union, an organization which has been a curse to the religious world since its inauguration, for it is seeking to compel the observance of religious institutions by civil power. In other words, it places the civil power in the place of Christ, whom she professes to obey, and to whom she ought to look for all power. The church has by this organization been brought into politics, and her power for evil will be felt more and more in the near future. It was remarked by the San Jose Evening News not long since:—

The people of the Los Angeles churches—the preachers and their flocks—have had in these Mills meetings a quick and significant education. They now see the tremendous power of mobilization, of consolidated and united action. They know what they can accomplish by "pulling together" and, per contra, they now more than ever appreciate the weakness and inefficiency of separate and isolated campaigns against his majesty the devil, whether those campaigns be waged for religious or political ends. The moral is obvious.

And this "tremendous power of mobilization" will be used more and more for religio-political ends. Since the image to the Papacy was formed in embryo by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Trinity Church decision, the power of the church has been used with effect upon weak-kneed congressmen in the closing of the World's Fair on Sunday. "The moral is obvious," but the outcome of it all will be most immoral, even blasphemous fornication with the powers of earth.