A NOTE OF WARNING by J. S. Wightman

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Nov 29, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 48.

A NOTE OF WARNING.

By J. S. Wightman

(J. S. Wightman, in New York Indicator.)

'SOME shall depart from the faith.' The Spirit has spoken expressly on this subject, that in these last days 'some shall depart from the faith.' Not from the countless isms of an age steeped in iniquity, but from 'the faith once delivered to the saints' and the everlasting gospel of the kingdom; and they shall give heed 'to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.'

Wonderful metamorphosis! From truth to error, from Christianity to Spiritualism, from God to a lost and degenerate company of demons. What a picture for the remnant church to contemplate! And yet we must contemplate it, as we shall see some of those who have once rejoiced in the truth depart from the precious faith, 'turn away their ears from the truth' unto fables, and embrace the doctrines of devils. For the Scriptures can not be broken. It was all foreseen.

Very early the great apostasy developed in the Christian Church; as early, indeed, as the life-work of Paul, when such men as Diotrephes loved to have the pre-eminence (3 John 9, 10), and essayed to expel the genuine brethren from the church, and make way for the 'mystery of iniquity.' Soon came the mystical and misleading doctrines of those writers whom we call the 'early fathers;' and finally, through the love of the pre-eminence, there arose the five metropolitans of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Rome. The See of Rome gains the favor of the emperors, and the Papacy fully develops under the guiding hand of Justinian and his famous decree appointing the Bishop of Rome the 'head over all the churches and the corrector of heretics.' They loved the pre-eminence. And this unholy love, this unchristian aspiration to rule the souls of men, the love of pre-eminence, paved the way for the acceptance of the multitudinous doctrines of Babylon.

Let the history of the past be a sufficient warning to us of these last days, these perilous times, that we may humble ourselves, not loving the pre-eminence; for the proud and all that do wickedly shall perish. 'Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.' In these times of subtle deceptions and fearful delusions, careful examination of ourselves is absolutely necessary, for not to be in the faith now, means special temptations to accept the 'doctrines of demons.' Rev. 3:10; 12:12.