Building the Wall of Apostasy
By T. E. Bowen
Thought to Stand above Moses — Men Claiming to Reverse the Teaching of God and Christ — The Untempered Mortar — Fate of the Arrogant Builders NEARLY every prophet whose writings compose the Old Testament Scriptures, gives evidence that there were portrayed before him, in holy vision, scenes down here at the "time of the end." All speak of the great and terrible day of the Lord. Nahum describes the flaming chariots raging through the land, in the day of His "preparation," coursing with lightning speed and "flaming torches," their winding path of iron over rivers, through mountains, jostling and raging in the streets. He saw our ponderous trains, but scarcely knew how to describe them. APOSTASY UNDER SYMBOL OF A WALL
Ezekiel describes an apostasy developing, down at the end, with such wide-spread proportions that he gives quite a little space to it in his scroll. He uses the simile of a wall — a very fit illustration when we come to see that the prophet is describing a movement involving the law of God. God's law is to His obedient people like a great protecting wall about a city — very common in Ezekiel's time. He saw a great company of shepherds down at the end. He speaks of these hired ministers under the term "prophets," as they are supposed to be speaking to the people for God. This is his message to them: "Thus saith the Lord God; Wo unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord [plainly referring to the time of the end, just before the coming of Christ]. 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. And Mine hand shall be upon the prophets [false shepherds] that see vanity, and that divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God." Eze. 13: 3-9. NOT PREPARED FOR THE BATTLE
This scripture depicts an apostasy from God. By false teaching, people are not prepared to "stand in the battle in the day of the Lord." But the real cause of this falsity follows: "One built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar: say unto them which daub 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." Verses 10, 11. This is an important scripture. It reveals that which we see before our very eyes today, a condition world-wide in its extent. "One built up a wall." The papacy replaced, in the great wall of God's law, the fourth commandment, which enjoins the keeping of the seventh day, with a false patch of a wall enforcing the first-day sabbath rest. Without one word of authority, the Roman Catholic Church instituted this false sabbath. She claims it as the mark of her authority for changing other precepts of Christ. Here is one statement of theirs making this plain: "By the authority of the [Roman] Catholic Church, the weekly day of rest from servile work was transferred from Saturday to the first day of the week precisely to commemorate the resurrection. Moses instituted the Sabbath; the higher authority of the Catholic Church instituted the 'Lord's day.' Or we may put it this way: God gave through Moses on Mount Sinai the command for the weekly observance of the Sabbath, or seventh day, to commemorate the divine cessation of the work of creation; while the same divine Legislator gave through His church, rock-founded on the Mount Calvary, the command for the weekly observance in future of the Sunday or first day in commemoration not alone of the first day of creation, but of the 'day of days' — Easter day. This important change in the literal observance of one of the commandments in the Decalogue is not recorded in the Holy Scripture. 'The Bible alone' theory of Protestantism apart from the living authority of the [Roman] Catholic Church, is quite incapable of justifying the universal Christian observance of Sunday." — (Roman) Catholic Record, a paper published in Canada. WORKERS WITH UNTEMPERED MORTAR
While "one" built up the false wall, "lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar." "Others" implies more than one. Notice Ezekiel's surprise. "Lo" is an expression of surprise and wonder. "Why should they do it?" no doubt he thought. Nearly every Protestant denomination in the world is engaged in daubing with untempered mortar this Roman Catholic, man-made wall. What better illustration could the prophet have used than "untempered mortar" — stuff that will not hold together? One uses one argument, another another, to bolster up this unscriptural device of the Sunday-sabbath by which Christ and His Father are robbed every week of the glory and honor and praise due the Creator. Not one word of authority from God in His holy word can be found for this transfer of days, as the Roman Catholic Church freely boasts. You have no greater authority for Sunday sacredness than for the claim that no marriage is legal unless performed by a Roman Catholic priest, or for infant sprinkling, or the observance of the mass. All stand on the one and selfsame foundation — the man-made authority of the papal church. WHAT BECOMES OF THE APOSTASY
But this wall — what becomes of it? Here is what God has predicted concerning it: "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in My fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in Mine anger, and great hailstones in My fury to consume it. So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord." "Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?" Christ's indignation against this skilfully planned system of iniquity, by Satan himself working through an apostate church, will come in the seven last plagues, just prior to Christ's second appearing in power and great glory, attended by all the holy angels. It is at that time that great hailstones, and a horrible tempest, are to come upon the inhabitants of earth who have defied God by disregarding His law. It is the wrath of the Lamb. That terrible storm no mind can fully comprehend, no pen picture. Only those who are covered by the Almighty shall abide through it. The scenes of this day of the Lord are described by the prophet John, in Revelation 16, not in symbols or figurative language, but in literal expressions, easy to understand. Reader, turn to that chapter, and picture as you can what it will mean to you to escape these awful plagues. JUDGMENTS THAT BREAK FORTH
A glimpse of God's judgments is given us in these words: "And there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. . . . And great Babylon [the builder of this wall Ezekiel is talking about] came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." Rev. 16: 18-21. Viewing this same visitation from God, another prophet wrote: "Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." "Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Isa. 13: 6; 2: 10, 11. CONDEMNED BY DESPISED LAW
It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those who have trampled upon God's holy requirements. The Lord gave them His law; they might have compared their characters with it, and learned their defects while there was yet opportunity for repentance and reform; but in order to secure the favor of the world, they set aside its precepts and taught others to transgress. They have endeavored to compel God's people to profane His Sabbath. Now they are condemned by that law which they have despised. With awful distinctness they see that they are without excuse. They chose whom they would serve and worship. 'Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.' "The enemies of God's law, from the ministers down to the least among them, have a new conception of truth and duty. Too late324they see that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the seal of the living God. Too late they see the true nature of their spurious sabbath, and the sandy foundation upon which they have been building. They find that they have been fighting against God. Religious teachers have led souls to perdition while professing to guide them to the gates of Paradise. Not until the day of final accounts will it be known how great is the responsibility of men in holy office, and how terrible are the results of their unfaithfulness. Only in eternity can we rightly estimate the loss of a single soul. Fearful will be the doom of him to whom God shall say, 'Depart, thou wicked servant.'" There is opportunity now, reader, to take your stand with God, and come out from all this apostasy. Get away from this unholy wall. It will soon fall, and great will be the fall of it. While hoary with age, that does not make the Sunday sabbath holy. Christ Jesus created the world, and gave to men the Sabbath. The Son of God spoke it from Sinai, kept it Himself while with us, and died on Calvary to rock-found the whole law of God, including the seventh-day Sabbath. Not one jot or tittle of that law did He change. And as it stood when He died, so must it remain to all generations. "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished." Matt. 5: 17, 18. Reader, which will you believe and obey, Christ Jesus, or the "one" who built the wall?