GOD'S DESCRIPTION OF OUR GENERATION.
By Anna Agee
"BLOW ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Joel 2:1. To-day God gives this command to his messengers, for in his prophetic word he shows that we are standing upon the very borders of eternity. From this command being given we would naturally infer that God's professed followers are not ready for the great day just before them; for if they are ready, there is no need for an alarm to be sounded in his "holy mountain," or church. Turning to 2 Tim. 3:1-5, the Lord, in a vivid word picture, shows the condition of his professed people in the "last days"—the time in which we are now living: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." Think you such are the ones to whom he will say at his coming, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"? But while Christendom is in this fallen condition, she does not know it, she is deceived concerning herself. In the message God sends to the church in the last or Laodicean period of her earthly history, he says: "Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: . . . Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Rev. 3:14-17. Instead of seeing how low she is fallen, "the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills" (Isa. 2:2) in her own eyes; but the Holy Spirit prophecies further: "and all nations shall flow unto it." In the eyes of a righteous God, her standard is so low that, instead of having an elevating influence, her trend is downward. Many will be deceived in regard to their true condition until the very day of Christ's coming, and will hear, instead of the welcome words, "Well done," the, "Depart from me, ye that work iniquity." We inquire, Why became, why remained, they thus deceived? We have God's answer in 2 Tim. 4:3, 4 and 2 Thess. 2:11, 12: "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." "And for this cause [because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved] God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." The Saviour says of the word, "Thy word is truth." John 17:17. And in Ps. 119:142, 151 we read: "Thy law is the truth," "All thy commandments are truth." So that from which they turn aside is God's word, his law, his commandments, yea, even662Christ the Truth. John 14:6. Because they do not love or obey him, God allows them to have their own way, believing the fables or lies to which they have turned. He only says, "Choose ye;" he forces none to obey. Turning to Isa. 30:8-11 (margin) we find that the Lord tells us in plain words just what it is from which the people turn in the last days:— "Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the latter day. That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord; which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophecy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophecy deceits; get you out of the way [the law of the Lord, Ps. 119:1-3], turn aside out of the path [God's commandments, Ps. 119:35], cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us." While the people of this time do not in words say, "Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us," they do say so in their violation of his word and law. "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." Titus 1:16. "O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps [margin, "breaches"], neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them; and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken? Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God. . . . Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar; say unto them which daubed it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall; there shall be an overflowing shower, and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it." The "great hailstones" evidently refer to the last of the seven last plagues of Revelation 16. The "untempered mortar" we find, in Eze. 22:24-28, to be "Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken":— "Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation [the day of the Lord's coming]. . . . Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. . . . And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken." In tender tones the Good Shepherd is calling his wandering sheep to-day. Will you not turn, listen to his pleadings, place your hand in his, and let him lead you in the path of his commandments? They are the entrance to the city of God. Rev. 22:14. But, oh, too many will not heed, but will close their ears to the pitiful words of his entreaty, only to find at last that Jesus knew best, and it was because of his infinite love that he pointed out their sins and gave them warnings!