Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 39. (9/25/1907)

Signs of the Times

Sep 25, 1907

Pacific Press Publishing Company · MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA · Sep 25, 1907

Concerning the Church

AND He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.

Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief Corner-stone; in whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.—Eph. 1:22,23; 2:20-22; 5:25-27.

For in Him [Christ] were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created thru Him, and unto Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the First-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fulness dwell. —Col. 1:16-20.

With Our Inquirers

By Editor

"If ye will inquire, inquire ye."

[All questions to this department will be answered which to the editors will seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. The same question can not be answered repeatedly in the same volume. The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. It is well always to enclose a stamp for reply.]

2229.—Bible Versions.

Why do you not quote from the accepted version? Many people do not have the American Standard and think you are misquoting Scripture. E. M.

The SIGNS OF THE TIMES carries this note constantly on its last page: Our authority is the Bible, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. When the Common ("King James," or "Authorized") Version, or the American Standard Revised Version is used, quotations will not be designated in reference. Any Bible quotation in this paper, therefore, differing from the Common Version, unless otherwise indicated will be almost invariably from the American Standard edition of the Revised Bible, copyright 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons. When the quotations differ from the Common Version, and no other reference is given, the reader may know that it is from the Revised Version. We quote from the American Standard Revision because it is the very best translation there is in existence. It is made from the best Greek and Hebrew copies and by scholars who have studied upon the meanings of the exact words many years longer than did those who translated the Common Version. The Bible is God's Letter to His children. That Letter comes to a large mass who are in the world in a language they do not understand. They desire to know what He says, they wish to be able to read the Father's Letter to them, and therefore they get it translated into the language which they speak. The child of a loving father would want to be sure of his father's words, therefore he would not be content with merely one translation of those words, he would want more than one; he would get some other scholar or scholars to render it into his own tongue. And that is what they have with the different translations of the Bible. The scholarship of the men in the matter of the translation will usually guard against theological errors. That man makes mistakes sometimes is doubtless true, but the translators have endeavored faithfully, earnestly, studiously, to give the words of the original. We can not take the space in this department to give the many reasons why the American Standard Revised Version is better. This we may do in an article in the future, but we can assure our readers that almost invariably they are getting the thought of the words of the language in which the Lord gave His Book to us better thru the American Standard Revised Version than they are in the Common Version. The agreement of the two, however, shows that we can depend upon the Bible.

2230.—The Witch of Endor.

Will you kindly explain 1 Sam. 28:14, 15? A. M.

Please explain thru your paper the story of the witch of Endor and Saul. 1 Samuel 28. In the 12th verse we read that the woman was frightened when she saw Samuel; why should she be frightened when she saw Samuel when she professed to bring him from the dead? How did Samuel's appearance enable her to recognize Saul and his deception to her? E. M. R.

It is necessary to keep in mind several things in order better to understand this scripture. (1) God forbade any communication with those that had familiar spirits or with wizards or witches. Lev. 19:31; 20:6. Not only that, but He had given command that witches should be destroyed, because their very presence among His children would be the means of eternally destroying many; and in harmony with this Saul himself "had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land." 1 Sam. 28:3. 2. The Lord refused to answer Saul in any way. "And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." Saul's disobedience to God had cut himself off from further instruction. This of itself shows that when the Lord leaves His regular manner of communicating with His children He would certainly not stoop to use an emissary of the devil to answer them. 3. When God refused to hear Saul, then Saul went to one that had a familiar spirit, or a demon. Verses 7 and 8. 4. It is the purpose of the great deceiver to satisfy the desire of the souls who seek him by deception. Saul asked for Samuel. It was the devil's purpose to simulate Samuel, and so when the woman called the familiar spirit, "an old man," appearing as Samuel did before he died, came before her. 5. The first thing the familiar spirit did was to warn the woman and tell her that Saul was deceiving her. 6. The king did not see Samuel at all, but "perceived"—concluded—that it was Samuel from the description which the woman gave. 7. It is utterly inconceivable, even according to the erroneous theories of the immortality of the soul, that this was Samuel, for, according to those theories, Samuel's soul would have been in Paradise, and yet this one who appeared to the woman is represented as coming up out of the earth, here at Endor, when Samuel was buried in Ramah. Then, too, if Samuel were called back from his abode with the Lord, would he still be an old man, bowed and decrepit? The whole account is utterly inconsistent with the idea that it was Samuel. The devil deceived the woman who was looking for something of that kind by sending the thing for which she was looking. 8. This familiar spirit tells Saul that in the battle which was soon to take place with the Philistines he would be slain. "To-morrow," he declares, "shalt thou and thy sons be with me." Verse 19. But there seems very good evidence to believe that it was not until the day after that Saul was slain. 9. Another and very conclusive reason which shows that the spirit was not Samuel, but was a deceiver, is that the Lord brought judgment upon Saul for the very reason that he sought after the evil spirit. 1 Chron. 10:13, 14. Note that it was because Saul asked counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it, and inquired not of the Lord; therefore He slew him. Satan comes in the guise of the spirit of the dead. When it is a well-known fact that men can so simulate and imitate men as to deceive effectually, how much more reasonable it is that Satan can imitate those who are gone.

2231.—The Dam and Its Young; Care of Birds.

Why are the commands found in Lev. 22:28 and Deut. 22:6 given? There may be reasons which we do not understand; reasons which God Himself gives, for some of His laws are certainly sufficient to show that all His laws are just and right, and whenever we know what the reason is, it is always a practical one. We certainly can believe the same concerning these commandments. Evidently it was that cruelty might not be developed in the minds of His people. Wholesale slaughter always rouses more of the cruelty and heartlessness in man than does the individual killing.

2232.—Living and Dead. Eccl. 9:5.

Please explain Eccl. 9:5. A. M.

The text reads: "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." We do not know how the text can be made any plainer than it is. It simply declares that the living know that the end of all mortals is death; and the second statement is that the dead do not know anything, that there is no more reward for them here, and that as a general thing they are forgotten by those who live. This is emphasized in the next verse, "Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." That certainly shows very clearly that they do not come back and communicate with the living, as spiritualists claim. 1 Cor. 15:29 has been answered frequently in the paper and we can not repeat it now.

2233.—Riding to Church.

As I am not able to walk five or six miles to church, is it wrong or does it break the Sabbath to ride on the cars to the church? J. J. R.

Personally we do not so consider it. We are taking a public conveyance with the running of which we have nothing to do, and it seems to us it would be no more breaking the Sabbath than to hitch up a horse for the purpose of driving to the place of worship. Certainly the apostle Paul and God's servants of old took sea voyages, a part of which must have been sailed on the Sabbath. If the ride is taken for the pleasure of the ride, that is one thing, but if taken for the service and worship of God, it is, it seems to us, proper.

2234.—Living Prophets.

Is it possible that there is any true prophet living in the true church of Christ?

It certainly is. If it is true, as has been referred to, that "God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets," they certainly ought to be in His church to-day. Not only that, but we are assured in various passages of scripture that the church which is looking forward and waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, will come behind in no gift. 1 Cor. 1:7. She will possess the Spirit of prophecy. Rev. 12:17; 19:10.

2235. Ruling with a Rod of Iron.

What does it mean where it says that the Lord will rule with a rod of iron? J. P.

The passage is found in Ps. 2:9, "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Also in Rev. 12:5, "Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron." See also Rev. 2:27; 19:15, and elsewhere. The prophecy refers to the work of judgment, not to the eternal rule of Christ. In the scales of infinite Justice the nations will be weighed, and the ruling with the rod of iron will be the destruction at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this will be but the fruits of their own sowing.

2236.—Calling of the Ministry.

How should the ministry be called to preach in the church of Christ? W. E. R.

In just whatever way it pleases God thru His Spirit to call. Sometimes He calls an individual thru another; sometimes by His own invisible agency He calls the individual. He has His own way, adapted to the needs and temperament of the individual. Should you ask the experience of a great many devoted, earnest, faithful ministers of God, you would find that they would differ greatly in the way in which the Lord called them to preach His Gospel.

2237.—Question on Marriage.

Is it right for a man to marry who does not want to rear a family of children, or even one? S.

Normally, no. And yet there might be circumstances to justify such a step. There are those who have loved women that were utterly unable to bear children, and have married them to give them a home. Such cases are unusual. It is therefore impossible for us to say what is right or wrong. That must be left with those who marry. It lies between them and God. Yet the normal condition and results of true marriage is the rearing of offspring. A home without children is much more likely to be a self-centered, selfish home. Nothing so develops true, strong character in man and woman as the right rearing and training of children.

What Is the Church?

By Abdiel

"And gave Him [Christ] to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." "Ye all . . . built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief Corner-stone, in whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit." "Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph. 1: 22, 23; 2: 19-22; 5: 25-27.

Of wonderful importance must that institution be of which Inspiration could use such words as the above. "The Church of God," "the Church of Jesus Christ," what is it? where found? How may we partake of its benefits and blessings?

The word, as occurring in the New Testament, comes from the Greek word, ekklesia (pronounced ek-klay-see'a). It means the "called out," regularly, legitimately, called out. It is not a mere assembly (sullogus), coming together promiscuously, but a regularly summoned assembly, company, people. As it is the Church of God or of Christ, that Church is composed of those who respond to the regular call of God.

Out of what is the Church called?—Out of the world of sin and misery and wo and darkness has God called His people. 1 Peter 2: 9. He has chosen them out of the world. John 15: 19. He has called them out from fellowship with unbelievers, with the iniquitous, with the unrighteous, the lawless, the idolators. 2 Cor. 6: 14-18. He calls His Church out of Babylon, and from all her iniquity and the judgments which await her. Rev. 18: 1-4. God does not, however, call His people to live hermits or not to mingle with the world, but to a separation from the principles of the world to the holy, the pure, the righteous, principles of truth, in order that they might show forth the praises of Him who called them. 1 Peter 2: 9.

The means by which God calls His Church are variously set forth in His word. God calls "by His grace" (Gal. 1: 15); calls by "the Gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20: 24; 2 Tim. 1: 9; 2 Thess. 2: 14); by His word, by His Spirit. God calls to repentance and faith, the ever-true characteristic of the Gospel. Mark 1: 15; Acts 20: 24. Those who respond to these calls constitute the true Church of God.

There are times in the history of the world when God's call is not clear and distinct, because His human ministers have proved recreant. At such times His Church becomes broken into fragments or scattered among various organizations and associations. And this God has denominated Babylon. But whenever there has been a crisis in God's work in the world, at the beginning of every great epoch, when the Church has seemed to be utterly lost and broken, then God's call has come distinct and clear, and the line of demarcation between His true Church and all pseudo-organizations has been drawn clear and plain. Such was Moses' call, "Who is on the Lord's side?" Such was God's call thru Elijah, "If Jehovah be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him." Such was the call of John the Baptist, "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; . . . bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." It was the call of Jesus, "Repent ye, and believe the Gospel;" "Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God." Such was the call of Pentecost, "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ." "Repent ye therefore, and be converted."

The early church wandered away from God, became broken and scattered and confused. "Babylon"—confusion—is she called by Inspiration. In the Reformation, God made an effort to call His Church out of Babylon, that she might again be one. But stalwart and strong as were the Reformers, the creed power of the reformed churches continued a "reformed" Babylon, and muffled, modified, and perverted the clear call of God.

These characteristics of the Church have been foretold in prophecy, and when we see the church meeting those very predictions, we may know it to be God's Church still, "scattered and peeled" tho she may be.

The character and career of the false church is likewise foretold in the Book of God, clearly, step by step, all the way, wandering in the world, united with the world, depending upon the power of the world, yet always claiming to be the true Church. By the fruits, by the likeness to the word of God, may we know each and both. Both are witnesses to His truth; the one to His truth exemplified in life, the other to error as predicted in the "more sure word of prophecy."

The test of the remnant Church is set forth in another article in this issue. It may be said, however, in passing, that the evidence of the true Church is not in "outward show," not in pomp and display, not in signs and wonders; but in her likeness to the word and the power of that word in the life.

The Church, False and True, since Christ

By J. A. L. Derby

We turn to our libraries for a history of the Church; we find only histories of denominations. The history of the true Church has never been written by man. Its records are in heaven.

Altho there have been times when God chose a certain people to preserve His truth, to represent His character, and to proclaim His salvation, yet there have been long periods when no such organization or people could be pointed to. The Israelitish nation was at one time the visible Church. Its mission definitely ended when Christ organized the Gospel Church.

But where is the Church of Jesus Christ to-day? and where has it been during the ages since His ascension? If worldly prestige and power constitute the mark of the true Church, then probably the Roman Catholic Church comes nearest to it. If apostolic succession be the seal of genuineness, then we shall have to decide not so much whether the founders of the Greek and Anglican Churches were regularly ordained, as whether they had as good authority to anathematize and exclude from salvation the Latin Church as it had to excommunicate and exclude them. If we decide that their rights in this respect were equal, but that consisted in having no right at all to do anything of the sort, then whether the true Church is coextensive with any physical organization or not will not bother us.

Can God Save Him?

The question resolves itself practically into the simple one whether God can or will save a man not visibly connected with some society called a church. That He can do such a thing, perhaps no one will deny. Whether He will, we shall not be able so easily to get all to acknowledge, especially our friends of the Roman persuasion.

But this point is easily determined by any one disposed to be reasonable. There is a general principle laid down by Paul, in 2 Cor. 8:12, which, tho there used as illustrated by our giving of our means to charity, yet covers the whole case. "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." This is true of all our service to God. We are saved, in the visible Church or out of it, by our faithfulness to the light we have. Tho men are responsible for what they might know of the plan of salvation but will not, still they are not responsible for what they have never had a chance to know.

The thief on the cross became a member of the true Church. If a man honestly seeking the truth believes any denomination to be God's Church, he must unite with it. The person willing to live up to all the truth he can get, to accept in Jesus Christ the power to do this, is a Christian. This is the clew which helps us to trace the Church of Christ thru the ages. But we can know only its character; the individual names are found only in the book of life.

There are, then, two churches—the nominal and the real. These have never been wholly coextensive; not all persons whose names have at any one time been on the roll of a church on earth have been inscribed in the books of heaven. Nor can man decide (this side of the great day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed) whether any particular individual is of the true Israel of God or not.

Must Depend upon Conviction.

But there is another sense in which we may use the term "the true Church." We may by it refer to the denomination, sect, or particular religious society, to which it can be shown God has especially committed the duty and privilege of being the preservers, bearers, and exponents of His truth. Unless it can be determined which one this is, by a person looking for the true Church, he can only unite with the one with which he has the greatest sympathy. He will find many denominations very much alike; if none of these seem truly to represent God's chosen people, he can with perfect safety to his soul endeavor to be the true Church himself. This was exactly what Luther did; this was what Wesley did; this, we believe, is what others have done and rightly.

But we have the mournful records of those that have feared of displeasing God less by withdrawing from the visible church, and even opposing it, than by remaining in it. When this has been done by a people earnestly praying God for His guidance, and seeking His word for truth, our sympathy must be with them, however mistaken or crude in their opinions they may have been. On the other hand, whenever we find the ostensible church opening its doors for the influx of pride, worldliness, oppression, or cruelty, it must receive our reprehension, no matter on how many doctrinal points it may be orthodox.

Now, if we turn to the prophecies concerning the true catholic Church, we shall be compelled with sorrow to admit that they disclose a people scattered and peeled, torn and persecuted, hated, abused, despised, unpopular, small in numbers—a "little flock," a "remnant." And the saddest aspect of it is that the nominal church, or churches, have done more to make bitter the lot of the elect than have all other instrumentalities combined.

The Prophecies Concerning the Church.

How this was to come about, in part, was foretold by the apostle Paul. In his second letter to the Thessalonians he records a dire course which the "apostolic" church was to take. There he states that iniquity, by its mysterious working in the church, would bring about a fearful apostasy; not an open apostasy from the truth, but a subtle apostasy in the name of truth. "Only he who now letteth [restraineth, hindereth] will let [hinder], until he be taken out of the way." 2 Thess. 2:7.

It was a tradition current in the early Church, and now we know concordant with prophecy and history, that objectively the restraining power was Paganism reenforced by the Roman Empire. When this should fall, they believed the antichrist would arise, in accordance with the further words of Paul in this chapter: "Except there come a falling away, . . . and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." Verses 3, 4. This was to be in the nominal church, for "he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

Writes Cyprian in the third century: "We are now in the end and consummation of the world; the fatal time of antichrist is at hand." Tertullian likewise: "Who is he that letteth? Who but the Roman Empire? the breaking up and dispersion of which among ten kings shall bring on antichrist." To these we may add Lactantius, in the fourth century: "This, the predicted antichrist, shall come when the time of the Roman Empire shall be fulfilled."

How It Was Accomplished.

How this was accomplished, let the papal Allocation of 1866 answer: "By a singular arrangement of divine Providence, as we have said on a former occasion, it happened that the Roman Empire having fallen and being divided into many kingdoms and divers States, the Roman pontiff in the midst of such great variety of kingdoms, and in the actual state of human society, was invested with civil authority."

How long this antichristian power, masking with the guise of the sanctuary, was to continue, is shown by the 8th verse: "Then shall that wicked [one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming"—the second advent of Jesus Christ.

Thus we have an outline of the false church since Christ. The antichrist is not an individual, it is an institution; for it was to exist from the time of the fall of Rome till the return of the Son of Man. No person has lived that long.

But how has this apostate church proved itself to be anti-Christ, against Christ? By openly repudiating Christian doctrine and principle?—Not at all. Listen: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." It follows that not only what kindness we show to any, especially to those humbly seeking to be loyal to Jesus Christ, but what indignities we subject them to are reckoned by the Lover and Judge of men as done to Himself. What has antichrist been doing for ages?—Torturing men into being re-

ligious! Has he disclaimed religion?—Never. He is the greatest zealot for religion. He wants men to be religious. He is determined that men shall be religious. He will force them to be religious. Abomination unspeakable!

But have people been so unwilling to be religious? Were the Waldenses, the Albigenses, the Hussites, the Wyclifites godless people? On the contrary, they were mostly sincerely pious. But they felt it necessary in the light God gave them from His word to protest against the horrible iniquities which the false church practised in the name of Christianity.

Thus the once true Church became Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. . . . And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints."

Thus we have the antithesis between the false church and the true. Any church that persecutes is to that extent a false church. And the contest is not over, as many ignorant of the Bible truth imagine. The last great conflict lies just before us. If ever there was a time when it was necessary for men to know where the true Church may be found, it is now. Not to know this will soon mean eternal loss. And we may know. God grant we shall.

Continue reading: The Test of the Church