Modern Skepticism Changing Front
By J. H. Parsons
Befogged by a Christianity Which Is Not Christianity—The Situation an Anomalous One—Did the Prophets Have a View of Existing Conditions?
MANY people, in reading the Bible, believe that the prophets were merely talented men, who wrote about their own times, to people now dead. They do not realize that each and every one of those prophets was inspired by the living God, to give a living message, which must bear fruit as long as time shall last. Truth, to use the words of inspiration, "is living, and active" (Heb. 4: 12, A.R.V.), and can not be confined to any one people, day, or age. It is eternal, and will ever accomplish the same work, when the like circumstances arise to call it into action. EVENTS THAT ARE FULFILLING PROPHECY
Some who have studied the long lines of prophecy that are woven through the narrative of the Bible, pointing down to the great climax of all history, the second coming of Christ, find a corresponding fulfilment in the rapidly gathering events that are recorded from day to day by the press. STORM-CENTER OF HUNGRY QUESTIONING
The January issue of the Ladies' Home Journal says:
"An age of doubt has been followed by an age of questioning. . . . The Bible is to-day literally the storm-center of hungry questioning." EXTREME RESTLESSNESS AND A SPIRITUAL WAVE
A contemporary issue of the Literary Digest quotes Winston Churchill, the novelist-preacher, thus:
"The extreme restlessness everywhere to be seen, he thinks, is the characteristic sign of the rise of a great spiritual wave in history. . . . We want a religion. Perhaps we are waiting for a new one. . . . We are unable to say, with the conviction of our fathers, 'This is the absolute truth.' For one thing, it may seem to us that the science and the agnostic critics of the age just past have riddled that religion."
These are simple statements of fact, for this generation has departed from the old-time faith, and is drifting in a rudderless ship on the open sea of skepticism. THESE EVENTS AND THE PROPHECY
Prophecy has foretold these conditions; and of "science falsely so called," which has undermined the faith of many, Peter says:
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." Of the fact that people have lost faith in God's word, yet are hungry for religion, inspiration says:
"It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against Mount Zion. . . . And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I can not; for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned."
"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." Isa. 29: 8-14. A PROUD AND WONDERFUL GENERATION
Yet there probably has never been a generation that has felt more proud of its position in the world's history than the present generation. It has practically all the knowledge of past generations at its command, and is making use of knowledge both new and old to such an extent that the daily life is a constant panorama of wonderful inventions, until it can be said: "All things are full of labor; man can not utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." Eccl. 1: 8. In the last days, according to the prophet Isaiah, when many people will be preaching peace, "Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end to their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made." Isa. 2: 2-8. Another prophet, speaking of the last days, says: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." Amos 8: 11. THEIR VERY BLINDNESS FULFILS PROPHECY
The blindness of the Protestant churches to the trend of prophecy would surely be passing strange but for the fact that their very attitude is in itself a direct fulfilment of more than one prophecy; for "while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." See Matt. 25: 1-13.
Christ's message to the last church on earth is: "Because 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: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." Rev. 3: 17, 18.