Signs of the Times, Vol. 57, No. 35. (9/9/1930)

Signs of the Times

Sep 9, 1930

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California, U. S. A. · Sep 9, 1930

A Human Record with a Divine Watermark

By John Edward Fulton

That incontestably reveals a Supreme Mind at the controls of human destiny, and solves innumerable questions that daily tax the minds of scientists and philosophers.

John Edward Fulton

MEN are delving into the mysteries of electricity and a thousand wonderful things in nature long unknown to man, and these things are yielding up their secrets to him. It is right that these things should be known and be a blessing to man in a material way. But God is willing to make known to us great spiritual knowledge, more important than anything we can learn about nature and her marvels; and such knowledge is vital. The Bible is the source of this important knowledge. It is the Inspired Book that God has sent to teach us His ways, and time and space would fail us to list all the many important truths we should know that God's word reveals; but a few great facts may be noted.

We should be acquainted with God. He is revealed in this Book as the First Cause, the Creator. (Genesis 1:1.) “Acquaint now thyself with Him [God],” says Job, “thereby good shall come unto thee.” Job 22:21. The great truth that God is, and that He is the Creator, is the first great revealed truth of the Bible. This is the most important primal fact to essential knowledge. It is a fundamental truth. It states the first cause, and is the explanation to a great series of important original facts which, if unobserved or not known, causes man to miss the way. Without God we cannot account for the universe about us, nor can we explain those spiritual longings in the heart. Without God the material world about us is an enigma; and setting aside the Bible, we are adrift upon a sea of uncertainty without chart or compass.

Accepting the Bible as God's revelation, however, we find that He is revealed as the First Cause, and all is plain. Creation accounts for the earth and man in Eden upon it. The entrance of sin, according to the story of Genesis 3, accounts for another great fact,—the fall of man. As the result of sin—the wages of sin—came death, another great fact unaccountable except on the basis of the knowledge of sin and death revealed in God's word. If the story of the fall were not found in the Bible, in order to explain just what we see in the world, we would be compelled to insert the thought of such a tragic story.

The fact of the Deluge as told in the Bible throws a flood of light on many questions that arise about conditions in the earth,—the great rocky mountain ranges, the buried forests, the beds of coal, the stores of oil, the internal fires, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Some godly and distinguished scientific men tell us that just such a catastrophe as the Flood is not possible but that such a historical event is strongly indicated, not only on the basis of the Bible record and the widespread traditions among both primitive and educated nations, but also because this terrible upheaval that buried great ancient forests, birds, animals, and men, is now made plain in the archeological

discoveries that corroborate the Bible narrative. There is a wonderful correspondence of facts as set forth in the Bible.

Again we say, the Bible contains in those early chapters the A B C of knowledge. Not to accept that part leaves us without the fundamental facts of such knowledge as God would impart to us. ‘The first leaf of the Mosaic record,’ says Jean Paul, ‘has more weight than all the folios of men of science and philosophers.’ Without this simple record, which bears the watermark of the Divine, we are left to vague, dreamy, and fantastic theories that have led men into various speculations of both the heathen and the civilized peoples,—some into the fields of fate and chance, others to the modern evolutionary teachings,—all of which sound a discordant note to that solitary and heavenly voice of Scripture which, in the stillness of that early morning of time, speaks in simple language to our hearts of a mighty God who made all things, and One full of mercy who has sent us a Saviour and to whom we can lift our eyes and direct our prayers and know we are His children. All this we may know and should learn. In the Scriptures we have a letter from God, well suited to our needs. It informs us of the great creative acts of God, and directs us along the way from the Eden lost by sin to the Eden regained by a divine Saviour.

In connection with the story of sin's entrance, there is an early foregleam of the incarnation in the story of the ‘seed of the woman’ that bruises the “serpent's head;” and this is one of the greatest Bible facts, and a truth essential for all to know. The gospel of Jesus made known in this first promise of a Saviour was further made known in type and the fuller development of the gospel story in both Old and New Testament teaching. This is essential knowledge. ‘This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.’ John 17:3.

Has CIVILIZATION Reached CHAOS or COSMOS?

By Gerald H. Minchin

GERALD H. MINCHIN

Bernard Shaw says: “I am ready to admit that after contemplating the world and human nature for nearly sixty years, I see no way out of the world’s misery but the way which would have been found by Christ’s will if He had undertaken the work of a practical statesman.”

WE STAND between two worlds,—one dead, the other hardly born; and our fate is chaos for a generation.” Thus declares Will Durant in his book, “The Mansions of Philosophy,” with perhaps more truth than he realized; and nowhere is this chaos more evident than in the general cultural standards accepted by the vast majority of people. It must be allowed as an axiom of spiritual life that a religion that is not productive of high cultural standards is lacking in some very fundamental feature. A shallow religious experience is very readily reflected in the cultural and aesthetic interests of man.

Much as we would like to believe otherwise, the fact remains that Christian refinement and elevation of thought and conduct in this day are practically unsought by the masses. Let those who are happily sheltered from the crudities of life suffer no delusions in this respect. We have heard much, particularly from a certain group of swivel-chair preachers, about this being an intensely religious age. Close contact with the masses does not bear out such a conclusion. In fact, we no longer wonder about the Saviour’s question as to whether He would find faith on the earth at His return. Cultural superiority is not at a premium, and the so-called highbrow is a lonely person, shunned by the crowd.

ATTACK ON NERVES

A great restlessness has gripped every phase of man’s thought and activity, with a consequent utter confusion of values. Security is now a word to conjure with; but it is only a word. Ideas have not kept pace with material advancement. Mass production, both spiritual and industrial, is the order of the day, but the resulting leisure simply means more dances, more movies, more games, and more newspapers. In addition, it seems as if almost all modern paths of interest and effort converge on the very citadel of man’s physical and intellectual being,—the nerve system. Sex magazines and novels, the automobile, the great city, high-pressure business and industry, economic uncertainty, and movies fit only for morons, all contrive to waste his nervous energies. Neither is a jazz-saturated brain capable of functioning smoothly enough for modern demands or of withstanding any sustained effort. Good music is an appeal to the head through the heart; jazz is an appeal direct to the nerves. What can we expect in the way of religious leadership from the millions of laborers and business men and women and society parasites who seek relief from a drab existence in a giddy whirl of jazz, bridge parties, cocktails, and prize fights? Nothing.

With the advent of the radio, it was hoped that we should escape the disgusting banalities of the movies, but it was only a partial escape. True it is, that it is possible, generally, after much dial turning, to tune in on something that will not offend the intelligence or taste; but one wonders whether the average radio program is a fair indication of the mental acuteness of the American public. We hope not.

The world-famous electrical wizard, Thomas A. Edison, congratulating Arthur O. Williams, Jr., of Rhode Island, who won the Thomas A. Edison scholarship for 1930 with a general average of 91.1 and a rating of 92.7 in the technical subjects.

What, indeed, can be said for a generation that pays two million dollars to watch two men batter each other into masses of bloody flesh; that worships a movie star while at the same time it buries a college president with scarcely a comment; that revels in wild west and risqué society movies; that makes a salacious novel a best seller; that kills twenty millions of its best in the most brutal of wars? The Master gave utterance to much of what might be said when He told the disciples that “as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:37.

We do not wish to appear unduly pessimistic, but the fact is that it is impossible for a man to retain his honesty and self-respect under present world conditions without being somewhat critical. We are in good company in sensing the necessity of a reformation. President Hoover, in his Inaugural Address, said: “We are confronted with a national crisis of the first degree. We are suffering, not from an ephemeral crime wave, but from a subsidence of our foundations.” And it is no mere coincidence that the confession magazines, Freudian psychology, the breakdown of the family, and the lowered cultural standards have simultaneously poured their vile floods upon us. They are interrelated with the great problem of crime and sin in general, and they need the same remedy,—a judgment and the coming of the Lord Jesus.

Moreover, we are not unaware of the tremendous advances that have been made during the last few decades in material and humanitarian affairs; but here, again, values are confused. Does a man’s worth consist in the things that he has? And is a civilization to be measured by the amount of gasoline it can consume, or even by the number of hospitals it has built? Shall we continue to be tricked into believing that we are religious, by professional pep-mongers who are forever dinning into our ears that we

have a national income of ninety billion dollars and that we have attained the highest standard of living ever known to man? What does that have to do with religion or refinement? Four hundred million dollars was spent in American beauty parlors in 1928. What does that have to do with the beauty of the heart? For purposes of government—Federal, state, and local—the United States spends eleven billion dollars annually, and of the three billions allotted to the Federal government, four fifths go to warfare, past and future. What of it? How much of that vast sum leads to the growth of the Christian virtues in the nation? Yes, and $500,000,000 is spent annually by the churches, but what of that? The Son of man had not where to lay His head. And let us not forget that while half a billion goes into the churches, one billion goes for candy and two billions into the theaters.

A DECISION MUST BE MADE

These cultural aberrations we have mentioned are but the outward evidences of inward confusion. Every age has had its calamity howlers, who, without clear vision of the eternal purposes of God, have periodically proclaimed the failure of the church and the wickedness of their generation. We disclaim any sympathy with such. But here is a situation unprecedented in the history of mankind, and accumulated experience proves inadequate to solve the problems that have insinuated themselves into every phase of human activity. Turn where he will, man is confronted by vital issues that must be clarified if peace is to ensue.

The time is ripe for a clear-cut decision to be made by the church and all earnest Christian people. “I am ready to admit,” says Bernard Shaw, “that after contemplating the world and human nature for nearly sixty years, I see no way out of the world’s misery but the way which would have been found by Christ’s will if He had undertaken the work of a practical statesman.” For once, the cynic is right, for he is but paraphrasing Scripture. There is only one remedy for perversity, vice, stupidity, suffering, uncertainty, selfishness, and death. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” “And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” 1 Peter 5:6, 4.

And thus the plotting and the counter-plotting go on. Europe seems to be the same old Europe, always paying for the last war and getting ready for the next. And in such fashion will the world go on until that happy day when the Prince of Peace shall be revealed in the clouds of heaven. The idealists will talk of peace and the realists will prepare for war until He comes with power and for all will end war by ending those who make war. Our hearts long for the peace the coming King will bring. Let us hasten His coming by fulfilling the gospel commission.

A New War in 1935

(Continued from page 16)

both Italy and Germany will be strong comparatively; and they expect to make the most of their opportunity.

A British professor at the Williamstown Institute of Politics declared a few weeks ago that Europe is heading toward a new war in 1935, or at least somewhere between 1935 and 1940. We are told by that astute European observer, Frank Simonds, that this is common talk all over Europe to-day, and that several of the nations are actually looking forward to that period as a time of acute military crisis. Simonds sums up the reasons therefor as these:

It is thought that France will be the weakest in the years 1935 to 1940, and Italy and Germany may then try to assert what they consider their rights. Due to a low birth rate and to the ravages of the World War, the young men coming to military age in France in 1935 will be less than 100,000. This means France's reserves will be meager compared with both Germany's and Italy's. The year 1935 is also the year when all supervision over the Rhineland given France by the treaty makers at Versailles shall end, and many expect Germany then to assert herself in that region.

But Italy, not Germany, is the real danger facing France now. Mussolini and his government are exceedingly jealous of the power of France in southern and southeastern Europe.

Mussolini wants to be the commanding influence in that part of the Continent, and several other of his ambitious objectives depend upon his prestige there. Mussolini has repeatedly told Italy he is planning for an air force by 1935 that will darken the sky of the enemy's territory when it passes over, and that he wants a standing army of five million men by that year. It is an open secret that he will demand a greater place in the sun for Italy both in the Balkans and in colonial expansion around the southern shores of the Mediterranean when he feels he is strong enough on land, sea, and air to back up his demand with force.

It is likewise surmised that if Italy engages France in a war Germany may seize the opportunity to wrest from Poland, an ally of France, the detached portion of upper Silesia amputated from the German republic by the Polish corridor.

In other words, at the time when France is weakest in military strength, (Continued on page 8)

The Constitution of the Kingdom of God

By Francis Johnson

NAME

The established government is known as The Kingdom of the Grace of God and His Righteousness. (Matthew 6:33.)

OBJECT

The purpose of this kingdom is to restore fallen man to the image of his Creator, and to partake of His divine nature, which possession will grant entrance into the eternal city of God. This is the true objective of this kingdom. (Colossians 3:10; 2 Peter 1:4; Revelation 22:14.)

MEMBERSHIP

Membership is composed of the Godhead and mortal man. The Creator is the supreme ruler, the Father of all mankind, and His dominion extends over heaven and earth. He is associated in power with His Son, Jesus, whom He resurrected from the dead, thus making salvation possible. The Third Person of the Godhead is the Holy Ghost, who is instrumental in advancing the purposes of this kingdom. Mortal man becomes a part of this kingdom when delivered from the powers of darkness and when he firmly believes in Jesus Christ as his Saviour. (Psalm 135:6; Isaiah 66:1; Colossians 1:13-15; John 14:26.)

REQUISITE FOR MEMBERSHIP

The invitation is open to whoever feels his unworthiness and urgent need of living a better life. He must first experience repentance and seek forgiveness of sin by confessing to the Father in heaven, which necessarily is associated with conversion and the renouncing of the world. This means accepting and following the character of Christ as the only pattern of life. Regeneration, or new birth, then re-creates a new heart and spirit in the former nature, a transformation that is recognized as admittance or adoption as a member into this kingdom. (Revelation 22:17; Acts 2:37, 38; Ezekiel 36:26; Ephesians 4:24; John 3:3.)

TITLES OF MEMBERS

The Creator is King of kings and Lord of lords, Jehovah and Father of all mankind. Jesus, His Son, is to be recognized as the Prince of Peace and the Prince of life, also as the Captain of salvation. The Holy Ghost is called the Witness and Comforter of the church of God. The lay membership of this church are to be men of God and sons of God who are epistles of Christ. (Isaiah 44:6; 9:6; Acts 3:15; Hebrews 2:10; 10:15; John 14:26; 1 Timothy 6:11; John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 3:3.)

FRANCIS JOHNSON

WORK OF THE OFFICERS

The many promises that the Lord of heaven makes to His people He faithfully fulfills. Those who seek His forgiveness, He abundantly pardons and cleanses from all unrighteousness. (Hebrews 6:17, 18; 1 John 1:9.)

Christ made a voluntary sacrifice while on earth to save fallen mankind from the penalty of sin. In behalf of those who accept Him as a personal Saviour, He officiates as Mediator, before the throne of God. There He effects reconciliation between the heavenly Father and Christ’s followers, by virtue of having paid the penalty of their sins by His death. He is also Shepherd of His flock, while tenderly manifesting His love to them. (John 10:18; 1 Timothy 2:5; Ephesians 2:13-18; Hebrews 13:20; John 14:21.)

The Holy Spirit personally strives with sinners unto repentance, reproving of sin, teaching truth, wisdom, and the way unto life everlasting. (John 16:7, 8, 13.)

DUTIES OF MEMBERS

Love is to characterize every motive in life,—love manifested in reverence to the Father as Creator, love shown in adoration of Christ as the Redeemer, and love exercised in brotherly affection to fellow men. This love will find pleasure in obeying God’s law and precepts and in seeking to conform to the beautiful standard of Christ’s character. The word of truth will be studied diligently to know more fully the principles of truth; to learn to be prudent, pure in heart, undefiled, and zealous unto all good works. The members are to pray without ceasing; and, above all, to preach the gospel message with boldness and great power. (Deuteronomy 11:1; 1 Peter 1:8; 1 John 4:7; Romans 8:29; Psalm 119:9, 113, 173; 1 Peter 2:2, 3; Titus 2:14; 3:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Mark 16:15.)

MEETINGS

Where two or three are gathered together in His name, there the Lord will be in their midst. When alone, prayer in secret to the Father will be rewarded openly. All members are to know that the Lord is never too distant or too occupied to hear or answer the petitions of His people. The first great meeting of this kingdom shall be called when the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and the elect of earth shall be gathered in the clouds to meet their God. This meeting shall continue forever, when the redeemed shall ever be with the Lord. (Matthew 18:20; 6:6; Isaiah 59:1; Jeremiah 23:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:17.)

With God

To talk with God no breath is lost; Talk on! To walk with God no strength is lost; Walk on! To toil with God no time is lost; Toil on! Little is much, if God is in it; Man's busiest day's not worth God's minute. Much is little everywhere, If God the business does not share. So work with God—then nothing's lost; Who works with Him does best and most. —Old English Verse.

Is the GATEWAY to the FUTURE

By Varner J. Johns

Fringed with Crape?

It is unless the rainbow of promise that colors the present storm clouds darkening the skies of the social, the economical, and the moral world is detected through eyes of faith.

VARNER J. JOHNS

The tragic sight of the burial of some of the 157 ill-fated miners who were killed when an explosion occurred in the shaft of the Winzeslaus Mine in which they were working, at Hausdorf-on-the-Neurode, Germany.

Dark, impenetrable, unknown—is this the message that must be written over the gateway to the future? or is the path of to-morrow a lighted way, radiant with prophetic sunshine? For the man whose confidence is in the Bible, the answer is not difficult. Jesus is coming! The rainbow of promise colors the storm clouds. The hope of salvation brightens the dark picture of crime and corruption, injustice and oppression—a world filled with selfishness, torn with dissension, cursed with hypocrisy, and tottering in perplexity.

Multiplied thousands believe in the nearness of Christ’s coming. They realize that the world’s only salvation from utter ruin is in the coming of the Redeemer. But more important by far than the fact of His coming is the response in your heart and mine to the call for preparation. “Are you ready for the Bridegroom when He comes?” is the heart-searching question that echoes round the world.

The call of the Christ in this tragic hour of fearful apostasy is a call to completeness in consecration. In days of old the multitudes listened to the sweetest story ever told. They heard the wonderful words of life from the lips of Jesus. They witnessed the wonderful works performed by Jesus. And yet, as His words burned into their hearts and touched the hidden doors of selfishness and love of the world, they turned from Him and rejected His message. In anguish of soul Jesus turned to the twelve. “Will ye also go away?” He exclaimed, and His heart of love was broken.

WHY REJECTED BY WISE MEN?

Sometimes people say to me, “Brother Johns, if the Adventist message is true, if the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, if the Ten Commandments are the divine rule of righteousness, why do not the doctors of divinity, the great men of religion, accept it?” And then I have to turn to the words

of Paul and read, “Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” The way is too straight and the gate is too narrow for the masses of men to find it. Their eyes are blinded and their hearts are hardened, because they are unwilling to take the way of the cross. But, thank God, from every nation, kindred, tribe, and people, thousands upon thousands have heard the call to consecration, the call to commandment keeping, and are walking in the way that leads to the city of God.

The last message of mercy is now being proclaimed to a dying world. It is a reformatory message. It is a back-to-the-Bible message. It is a message that prepares a people to stand in the presence of Christ at His coming. It is a message against the Christless Christianity and the deep-seated apostasy of our time. It is a message that exalts every Bible truth as fundamental. And it is a message of salvation. In the last two verses of the Old Testament a prophecy was written of the very message that is now being carried into all the world. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5, 6.

This prophecy met a partial fulfillment in the days of John the Baptist. “In the spirit and power of Elias.” John came and sounded forth the call to repentance. “Make straight the way of the Lord,” was the burden of his cry. Under his burning message of reproof, the hypocrisy of the Pharisee was unmasked, the iniquity of King Herod was laid bare, the sins of the multitudes were exposed. With meaningless forms and pious platitudes, the doctors of divinity had darkened the way of truth. John the Baptist stripped from Pharisaical shoulders the cloak of hypocrisy and removed from the neck of groaning humanity the yoke of oppressive religion.

A TYPICAL WORK

The work that was done by John the Baptist in little Judea is typical of a world-wide call to repentance of heart, a world-wide challenge to straightness of religious teaching, just before “the great and the terrible day of the Lord.” In these days of gilded sin, corruption of heart, and widespread apostasy, the Elijah message is encircling the world with a ringing challenge to “make straight the way of the Lord” and “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

On the heights of Mt. Carmel in ancient Israel stood a rugged prophet of the Lord. Alone amid a hostile throng of apostate priests and false prophets stood Elijah the Tishbite—alone, but for the host of unseen angels who always stand by the side of the man of faith. Four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of the grove, protégés of wicked King Ahab and vile Queen Jezebel, were there to challenge the supremacy of the God of heaven.

Elijah was in the decided minority on that memorable day. The old prophet of the Lord thought that he alone, throughout the realm, had not bowed the knee to Baal. But God showed him that there were yet seven thousand whose hearts were true. The Lord knows the loyal in heart, and loves them. He knows what it means for them to stand alone for truth and righteousness when all about them men are bowing low to error and unrighteousness. His people are always in the minority with men, but if the Lord of hosts is with them, if Jesus is on their side, if the angels that “do His commandments” are for them, it matters little if the world is arrayed against them.

It meant something to be true in those days of apostasy. It meant something to be a Christian even when Jesus walked among

men. To be cast out of the synagogue was to be cut off from friends and loved ones, to be cut off from the inheritance, to be cut off from employment. The Christian in those days was an outcast from society and without a friend in the world but Jesus. No wonder Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. No wonder the parents of the blind man would not acknowledge Jesus. No wonder that Paul, the intellectual giant, was imprisoned, beaten, stoned, and killed for his faith in Christ.

“Oh, how cowardly!” we exclaim, as we read the story of Pilate’s indecision before the frenzied mob. Pilate knew that Jesus was the Son of God. He couldn’t condemn Him and he wouldn’t accept Him, and he thought to shift responsibility for His death by washing his hands before the Jews. Sometimes the character of Governor Pilate is painted in dark colors by a doctor of divinity who knows deep down in his heart that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord his God, but who knows that he will be cast out of the synagogue, that he will lose his position and his popularity if he accepts it. Tens of thousands who minister in the name of religion would have stood with the scribes and the Pharisees and with Governor Pilate had they lived in the days of Jesus. They build monuments to the name of Jesus and then knowingly and willingly reject the Sabbath that was established by Jesus, kept by Jesus, and commanded by Jesus in His Sacred Word. For popularity’s sake, for convenience’ sake, they reject one of the Lord’s commandments and follow the majority in exalting a spurious rest day of heathen origin.

“If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him,” was the challenge that echoed across the hill of Carmel. And the echo has been ringing on down through the ages. In the days of Elijah, apostasy manifested itself in the worship of the sun god. In these days the mark of universal apostasy in religion is the sun-day of pagan origin and papal adoption. Sunday is a counterfeit sabbath. It never has been and never will be the Sabbath of the Bible. It always has been and always will be the mark of apostasy. And the challenge that rings out to the ends of the earth in the Elijah message of our day is a challenge to the keeping of the commandments of God. “If the Lord be God, follow Him,” observe His precepts, hallow His Sabbath; “but if Baal,” the sun god, is god, then exalt the sun-day, the “wild solar holiday” of the ancients, and trample upon the Sabbath of the Lord.

THE ONLY ROYAL HIGHWAY

The path of God’s commandments is the only highway that leads into the city of God. There will be a people standing in this world when Jesus comes who will be keeping “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” The words that I have just read are from the fourteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, and follow the words of the last warning message to the race of men. The warning against apostasy develops a people whose faith is in the Bible and the Christ of the Bible, and whose lives are in conformity with God’s Ten-Commandment standard of righteousness.

Are you looking for the true faith of the last days? Are you seeking the way of truth and righteousness? Are you listening for the voice that rings true to the Bible? If you hear a man preaching about the commandments, exalting them even as God exalted them, and keeping them through faith in the Lord Jesus, you may have the assurance that he is giving the Elijah message for today. But if you hear a minister tearing down the Ten Commandments and rejecting the Sabbath of the Lord, you may know that he is numbered with the prophets of Baal and not with the people of God, though he speaks with silver tongue in declaring his allegiance to God.

COMMANDMENTS STILL HOLD

“The Ten Commandments have been done away with,” people sometimes tell me; and when I witness the crime and corruption, the atrocious murders, the unbridled lust, the wholesale thievery in the world, I see the appalling results of such a God-dishonoring doctrine. If the nailing of the Ten Commandments to the cross will excuse one man for breaking the Sabbath of the Lord, then the same excuse will make a righteous man out of a murderer or a thief. There is no difference in the sight of Heaven between the breaking of the fourth commandment and the breaking of the first or the fifth commandment. All were given by an infinite

God. All were ordained by Him and proclaimed by Him. Face to face with wicked Ahab, the prophet Elijah voiced the cause of the dreadful calamity that had befallen Israel. “Ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord,” was the charge of Heaven against the apostasy of men. And here is the key to the appalling wickedness that threatens our modern world with the curse. When teachers of religion tear away from the Word of Truth the Ten Words that were proclaimed upon Mt. Sinai, when they trample underfoot the divine precepts, it is not to be wondered at that the floodgates of iniquity are opened wide and that the world is deluged with degradation.

“How long halt ye between two opinions?”—Elijah is speaking to apostate Israel and to us—how long halt ye between the Sabbath of the Lord and the Sunday of tradition? How long halt ye between the Christ of the Bible and the gods of selfishness and sinful pleasure? How long halt ye between the way of the cross, the path of God’s commandments, and the intricate bypaths that lead to destruction? Must the years of time roll on into eternity before you renounce error and accept the truth? Must the door of mercy be closed and the gates to eternity be opened before you decide to tread the pathway that leads to the gates of the city of God?

Continue reading: THE GATES OF HELL