What May We Expect in the Light of Divine Revelation?
By C. S. LONGACRE
Editor of "Liberty Magazine"
WHEN we look at the annals of human history, covering a period of nearly six thousand years, we are led to exclaim with the ancient patriarch, "Lo, God is here, and we knew it not!" To the casual observer of current events, it often appears as if fate and fortune were alike subject to the will and prowess of man. But the student of history who surveys the whole field of time soon discovers a master mind and hand which "ruleth in the kingdom of men," and "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."
THE UNFOLDING OF THE SCROLL OF PROPHECY
The birth and growth of nations, the rise and fall of empires, the shaping of events in human history, covering centuries and millennia, to fix fully their destinies, are but the unfolding of the divine scroll of prophecy. There is one great, portentous, overshadowing event in the finale of the drama of human history toward which all things are moving. An all-wise and merciful God is silently, patiently working out the destiny of a world "according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him." Eph. 1:9, 10.
The welfare and destiny of the human race has been a problem of the deepest concern in the mind of God since sin entered and fastened its blighting miasma upon this mundane sphere. It was the original design of God that His richest and choicest blessings should always accrue to every creature of His creation. God made man a free moral agent, to choose that which was for his best good, with power to shun and resist any temptation toward evil.
But the greatest enemy of God deceived man, and induced him to sell and deliver to his satanic majesty his birthright and inheritance of a free will which was graciously bestowed upon him by God; and so the human race through Adam became the bondmen of Satan and his agencies, and the plan of God concerning the welfare of man was frustrated for a time.
But the sacred Volume makes known to us the manifold "wisdom and prudence" of God, and "the mystery of His will," "which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him." Eph. 1:8, 9; 3:9-12.
Even though man voluntarily surrendered all that God had so graciously given to him, and subsequently fell a victim to the power of sin and the dominion of Satan, God condescended to make man the object of His mercy, and to answer affirmatively the taunting challenge of Satan, "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered." Isa. 49:24, 25.
THE BATTLE FOR FREEDOM
Christ came into the world to set all men free again. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36.
The battle for freedom has been the longest and hardest battle ever fought. The gift of liberty, delivered to us by our forefathers, is the most costly heritage they have left behind. Freedom's cause has been baptized again and again in the precious blood of its loyal sons and daughters. This world's history has been written principally with the sharp point of the tyrant's cruel sword of oppression, dipped not in ink, but in the red, warm blood of his victims.
Nearly every page of history is stained with the blood of martyrs. Not until the dawn of the nineteenth century was the hand of the oppressor stayed. When the old Liberty Bell in Independence Hall sent forth from its vibrant lips the joyful words of the great Emancipator of the human race — the words of the Author of a universal freedom uttered 3,268 years before to Moses on Mount Sinai, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" — then, and not till then, were the equality of man and his inalienable rights fully recognized in human councils.
PERSECUTION TO ARISE AGAIN
Many flatter themselves that persecution will never lift its venomous head again in free America. But divine revelation, which has portrayed in advance, in the sacred Volume, the history of every great nation of the past, has also lifted the curtain on the future history of the American republic, and in Rev. 13:11-18 we see the lamblike nation changed into a persecuting power.
According to God's prophetic word, the church and the state are to unite in all nations just before the end of all things, and engage in a mighty conflict with God's loyal people. The Bible shows us clearly that we are living in the last days. Consequently we should be able to see some signs of the passing of overtures between religious organizations and civil authorities. Are there any attempts made to effect a union of church and state in the United States?
This government is the only one, in the history of all the past, that was founded upon the principles of a complete separation of church and state. It was unlike all other nations in this respect. But the Bible says this nation was to "make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived." Rev. 13:14, R. V. This text proves that this nation was without a union of church and state; but later it was to "make an image to the beast," which means a union of church and state — because that is what the beast was.
Therefore whenever the American government repudiates the principles of a total divorcement of church and state, it of necessity will constitute a sign of the fulfilment of prophecy, and another landmark indicating that we are nearing the end of time.792
In our next article, we shall show how great religious organizations have combined for the express purpose of uniting the church and the state in America, and that even at the present time, where these religious organizations dominate in politics, we have religious liberty in name only, but not in practise.
