Earlier text: GOD THE JUDGEIts Final Deception
By W. A. Colcord
THE second coming of Christ is the event toward which all prophecy points, the event toward which all events tend. The advent of man into the world was the signal for disaster, the ruin of the race through sin. Christ, the second Adam, has undertaken to repair the ruin and redeem the race. To atone for sin, He came into the world as man, in the likeness of sinful flesh, to bear sin in His own body on the tree. The cross was the climax and culminating point in His first advent. But this surely was not the end of Christ’s work for the restoration of the race. His first advent was not the conclusion and consummation of the plan of redemption. His work would be incomplete were He not to come again and restore all things. A second coming is an essential to the completion of the work undertaken and begun in the first. This, therefore, is the great focal point presented in the Scriptures, the object toward which the eye of every true believer naturally turns, the event for which he fondly looks and waits. It is the consummation of the Christian’s hope. At this time the righteous dead are raised, and the saints enter upon their future and final reward. This is the hope of the church, the glorious hope of the faithful of all ages. As has been already shown, Spiritism, at first, was strongly anti-christian and infidelic. It denied the existence of God, the divinity, incarnation and atonement of Christ, and the inspiration of the Bible. It thus adapted itself to that large class of people known as infidels or unbelievers. But later, chameleon-like, it began to take on a different aspect. It began to be religious, to profess faith in God, Christ, and the Bible—in a way! This was to adapt itself to the religious world. When Satan fails to persuade all to remain in open unbelief, he transforms himself into an angel of light, and professes to believe the truth himself. But he does it only to deceive. While professing to believe the truth, he perverts the truth, so that men receive error as truth, and thus he accomplishes his purpose, only in another way; for the truth perverted is a more deceptive and dangerous thing, and a far more difficult thing to deal with, than open unbelief. At first Spiritism denied the personal second coming of Christ. It declared that itself was that coming! But later this teaching gave place to that of a personal coming. Christ had actually appeared in person, and had been seen, by certain individuals, in the cabinet of the Spiritistic medium, at a private seance!—the very thing Christ warned against, and said not to believe, that He had come “in the secret chamber.” But while this delusion might deceive some, those who have read the Bible at all carefully know well that this by no means meets the nature of the event so plainly described in the Scriptures. To more nearly meet the requirements of the case, therefore, something more striking and more public must occur. It has been impossible for Satan to create universal unbelief in the doctrine of Christ’s second coming. It has been impossible also for him to deceive all into believing that Christ has come in the “cabinet-box,” or secret chamber. The Scriptures describe the second coming of Christ as a great and glorious event, visible to the eyes of all; and the world-wide proclamation of His coming by those who are preparing to meet Him, brings these Scripture-descriptions prominently before the people. They are therefore not so easily deceived. Satan has not only been compelled to5acknowledge that Christ will come again, but before that event actually takes place, so general will have become the idea and expectation of His coming, that, in order to deceive the whole world, he will be compelled to imitate that coming just as nearly as it is possible for him to do so. This is the natural and the only event in which his work of deception can logically terminate. At his instigation, many false christs and false prophets will arise; some have already appeared. These will profess to be Christ, and will show great signs and wonders. But as the final and almost overmastering deception, Satan will himself personate Christ. He, the great antichrist, will appear in the assumed person of Christ. This great deception has been so well described by another that we subjoin the description here:— As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. (Rev. 1:13-15.) The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air, “Christ has come! ‘Christ has come!’” The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands, and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. Like the Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the multitudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to these sorceries, saying, This is “the great ‘power of God.’”—Great Controversy, p. 624. Those who read the account of the alleged appearance of Christ at the private seance, given in our last article, will be struck with the numerous similarities between that and the description here given. The reason for this is apparent. Both are descriptions of the working of the same arch-deceiver upon the same point; that of the second coming of Christ, one given by spiritists themselves, the other by a devoted Christian to whom God has given special light. One was a Satanic delusion before a select few, tho marvelous and striking in its every detail; the other will be the same thing, only on a larger and more magnificent scale. But what a dastardly and cowardly thing will this be for Satan to do. He who in heaven sought to dethrone Christ, and on earth inspired wicked men to nail Him to the cross, pretending that he himself is Christ! What an acknowledgment that his efforts to overthrow Christ have proved a failure! What a testimony to the triumphs of the cross. But this will be the greatest delusion and deception of all. This will be the master-stroke of Spiritism. And how may we know that this being, when he appears, is not the very Christ? How may we be fortified against this great and final deception? The Scriptures our only safeguard will be the subject of our next and concluding article of this series. THOUGHT AND ACTION.
By Walter B. Vassar
It is in the inter-play of thought and action that we have the philosophy of all human living, and back of all conduct lies that which makes it to be. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” and the Bible, the greatest book of morals, furnishes a motto for every book of ethics ever to be issued. Every grade of human conscience able to grasp it must give it assent. The marvel is that it is not a more frequent text for the preacher. It would be no loss to any of us to be startled by the question: What kind of man am I, and why am I thus? Every thought ministers to the work of life. We need to see that every holy thought is as holy in the work it has to do, as the prayer we make and with which we associate the conception of holiness and God. This is an old principle—as old as the God who gave it. We need every day to make a fresh application. The men who discover new principles are the rare men. The most of us are left with the work of putting the old principles in operation. We need to see, too, that when thought passes into action, it becomes fused into personality. This is what makes conduct so serious a matter. All is gone beyond our control. It is at this point that fellow-men give us credit for our good, and hold us responsible for the wrong. It is in the inter-play of thought and action that we are called upon to do our closest thinking. To say of a bad act that the man performing it is not so bad as his deed, is never a good use of our charity. The thinking and the performing man is one and the same man in the process of living. “Think all you speak; but speak not all you think:
Thoughts are your own; your words are so no more.
Where wisdom steers, wind can not make you sink:
Lips never err, when she does keep the door.” [The following is from the Alamosa (Colo.) Independent Journal of several months ago; it is from an article by Judge C. C. Holbrook, of the 12th judicial district of Colorado in reply to a critic. We omit the first part as not of interest here.] It is true that the statutes [of Colorado] essay to attach sacredness to the “first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.” However, the State constitution provides that “no person shall be denied any civil or political right, privilege, or capacity on account of ‘his opinions concerning religion;” and the statute protects any man who observes the seventh-day Sabbath from being required to do jury duty on that day, leaving the judge to protect himself, which he is presumed to be able to do. But you have so far lost yourself in the intricacies of fundamental and statutory laws in your preferment of the man-made Sabbath, as to entirely overlook the existence of another and higher law, the law of God, which declares that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord ‘thy God,’ that “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,” and thus made it and called it His “holy day,” and then, having made it holy by His blessing and sanctification, commanded us to keep it holy. If God had not made the seventh day holy, we could not keep it holy, for it goes without saying that that which is not holy can not be kept holy. It is not recorded that God ever imparted holiness to any day of the week but the seventh, and He never required any but His servants to keep His holy day. Those who do not serve Him may observe any day or no day. The first day of the week—“the venerable day of the Sun”—is so far from being God’s holy day as to have been the rival of God’s Sabbath in all idolatrous nations almost ever since sun-worship, in which it had its origin, began. And even in Israel there were, at one time, only “seven thousand” who had “not bowed the knee to Baal,” which was the Phoenician and Israelitish name for the sun-god. God’s Sabbath, tho despised and dishonored in Christian lands, is more popular and is kept holy by a greater number of people to-day, than it was even in Israel in the days of Elijah. Its supporters in the world have been comparatively few in all ages. The Sabbath was instituted, and the only day of the week which could possibly represent the purpose for which God says He gave the Sabbath, was selected, blessed, and sanctified as such before sin had entered into the world, and while man was pure and upright in the sight of God. This God-made and God-blessed Sabbath is to remain and be kept by God’s people a “perpetual sign,” a memorial forever, not only in the present world, but in “the earth made new,” from which sickness and sorrow, pain and death will be forever banished, and into which the unrepentant sinner can never enter. Quite a while after the death of the apostles, when there had been many accessions to the church from pagan ranks, who still believed in “the venerable day of the sun,” the rival of God’s Sabbath began to gain popularity in the Christian church; but it was not until A. D. 364, when the pagans of Rome had been flocking into the Christian church by the thousands, that the sun-worshipers became sufficiently strong in the church to substitute their “day of the sun” for God’s “holy day.” It was then, as history records, that many, on their way to the Christian church, would stop at the temple of Apollo and worship and then proceed to the church. From A. D. 323 to 364, the church had recognized the sacredness of the Sunday as well as that of the Sabbath, and during that period had made a pretense of keeping both days, and the dropping of the Sabbath in A. D. 364 enabled the pagan accessions to the church to go through the forms of worshiping both God and the sun on the same day. But the church in Western Europe, Northern Africa, England, and Scotland refused to substitute the Sunday for the Sabbath; and it took many hundreds of years to get them all to change. Some were forced to change at the point of the sword, while others were induced by fraud and deception to drop God’s holy day and accept instead the “day of the sun,” as for instance the fraudulent roll referred to in my former letter, containing a new commandment, and alleged to have fallen from heaven upon Saint Simeon’s altar at Jerusalem about A. D. 1201, by which the church in England was induced to drop the Sabbath in that year, and the church in Scotland was led away from the Sabbath by the same fraud in A. D. 1203, which historical facts you admit. “MARRYING AND GIVING IN MARRIAGE.”
Our Lord declares that “as were the days of ‘Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of ‘man. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not until the ‘flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the ‘coming of the Son of man.” Matt. 24:37-39. The thought is not that eating, drinking, and marrying are wrong of themselves, but that the people were and will be so absorbed in such things that the great things of eternity are unnoticed. The great day of God approaches unthought of. The solemn portals of eternity open as tho unannounced. That is the way judgment came to the antediluvians; that is the way the last of the last days is coming upon the people of this generation. The much marrying is one sign of many. There are many more marriages in proportion to the people who get married. The marriages increase with the divorces. Divorces formerly were rare. Men and women married to stay married till death did them part. How many there are who marry for fancy or passion, till fancy fades, and passion wearies till awakened by a new face and form. Then follows divorce and remarriage, which is oftentimes a licensed system of concubinage. Religious organizations pass severe censure upon the loose practise, and call for more stringent legislation, which follows; but the divorce courts grind on with a generally augmented grist. For instance, in this perhaps more than average good county of Alameda it is said that one-third of the marriages prove failures; “that there are five ‘departments of the Superior Court grinding out divorces six days in the week; that an average of eight ‘divorce cases are filed every week; that in the month ‘of July there were one hundred and five marriage ‘licenses issued and over thirty suits for divorce filed; ‘that in the month of August there were one hundred ‘and nine marriage licenses issued and twenty nine ‘divorce suits filed.” These statements are appalling. The greater number of people who are divorced are divorced for the sole reason that one or both desire another partner for a time. The divorce mills run that there may be more marriages—in kind. The very foundation of society—the home—is becoming broken up, and the sacred marriage bond is becoming of less value in the minds of people generally. Society is becoming filled with burned-out lives and calloused hearts, lives in which the needs of abnormal fancy and passion have smothered to death faithfulness and principle. The only way to remedy the evil is for each man and woman, each husband and wife, each father and mother, each minister of the Gospel, to prove true to God. The great mad world will go on, even as did the antediluvian world, till it is sadly too late for those who have no time for thoughts of God and duty. THE “SURE WORD OF PROPHECY.”
By G.
THE word of prophecy is sure because it is the word of One who knows the future just as well as He knows the past or the present. Prophecy is inspired by the Spirit of Christ, and He says, “We speak that we do know.” Many have been the efforts of men and devils to annul the word of prophecy, but they have always failed. A notable instance was the effort of Joseph’s brethren to obliterate his dreams which indicated that they were to be subservient to him. They even contemplated his death, but modified this suggestion by selling him into Egyptian servitude, which they thought would serve the same purpose. For more than twenty years they supposed that Joseph’s prophetic dreams were frustrated, but at last the time came for the Spirit of prophecy to be vindicated. And so must it ever be; men may lightly esteem, may ignore, may neglect, may rail against and bitterly oppose the reproofs and instruction coming through this medium, but the day will surely come when the purpose of Him who thus speaks to men will be fulfilled, and His foreknowledge will be established beyond dispute. Such a time came to Joseph’s brethren, and it came in a way to greatly humiliate them by laying bare the wickedness of their hearts and the heinousness of their purpose. The stress of famine drove them to Egypt to buy food, and the providence of God had placed at the disposal of Joseph all the purchasable food of the country. And the king had vested Joseph with so much power and dignity of position that even the Egyptians had to bow the knee to him. Therefore persons of ordinary mien, coming as strangers from a foreign country, could not approach him in any other attitude than that of the most humble recognition of his authority. When yet a boy, his dream had been that he and his brethren were binding sheaves in the field; that his sheaf arose and stood upright, and their sheaves also stood round about and made obeisance to his sheaf. Now, as they came into his presence, they “bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.” This, however, was not all of their humiliation. Joseph recognized them, altho they did not recognize him, and he wished to learn in some way whether there had been any change in their characters, and whether he could depend upon their word. So he charged them with being spies, and put them in prison. Of course they supposed that they would be put to death, and besides their protestations of innocence to Joseph through an interpreter, they talked freely in their own language to one another, all of which conversation Joseph understood. After three days he released all but Simeon, and sent them home with a supply of corn. He also told them that they must not come again unless they brought their younger brother, of whom they had told him. Simeon, the most guilty in their sin toward Joseph, was kept as a hostage until Benjamin should come. In course of time the large family of Jacob in Canaan had again nearly exhausted their supply of food, and Jacob requested his sons to go again to Egypt. However, he strenuously objected to Benjamin’s going with them. He said, “Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin.” (Even Jacob himself, who at first laid stress upon Joseph’s dreams as of prophetic import, afterward regarded them as fruitless, supposing Joseph to be dead.) Judah reminded his father of what they had told him when they came back from their former journey. He said, “The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.” As his sons positively refused to go without Benjamin, Jacob reluctantly yielded, and they went down to Egypt a second time. According to the oriental custom of deference to rulers, Jacob sent a present of such things as grew sparingly even in time of drought,—“a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds.” Judah became surety for Benjamin’s return, and Jacob gave them this parting blessing: “God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin.” Arriving in Egypt, and Joseph having seen that Benjamin was with them, he directed his steward to take them to his house and prepare dinner for them and him. Before dinner time, they got ready their present for Joseph, and when he came they brought it to him, and again “bowed themselves to him to the earth.” Then Joseph asked them about their father, if he was well and yet alive. They answered that he was in good health, and, the third time, “they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance.” Looking upon Benjamin, Joseph asked, “Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me?” Being assured that it was, he said, “God be gracious unto thee, my son.” Joseph “did yearn upon his brother; and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.” After dinner Joseph commanded his steward to fill the men’s sacks, and put his silver cup in the mouth of Benjamin’s sack, and send them home. As soon as the morning was light, they started on their journey, but had just reached the outskirts of the city when they were overtaken by Joseph’s steward, who charged them with stealing his master’s cup. Of course they pleaded innocence, and cited their former honest dealings with the steward. So confident were they, that they declared, “With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen.” So the steward said, “Let it be according unto your words;” and the search of the sacks was begun. Beginning with the eldest, every sack was searched down to that of the youngest, when lo! the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack! Here was the saddest condition which they could have imagined—even all that Jacob had feared, when he said, “Me have ye bereft of my children.” Here were all of his sons, except the one supposed to be dead, by their own agreement given over to bondage. “And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground.” Four times now had they made obeisance in fulfilment of his dream. Judah made humble acknowledgment in behalf of the company, and confessed that they were all servants of the Egyptian ruler. But Joseph said, “God forbid that I should do so; but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.” This did not relieve the feelings of the brothers. Perhaps all of them would have preferred slavery to going home without Benjamin. It was so with Judah at least, who was the spokesman. He made a most touching appeal in behalf of his father, and reminded Joseph that it was his own demand that compelled his father to send down the son in whom his very life was “bound up.” To appreciate this appeal one must read it as given in the record, Gen. 44:18–34. This appeal was enough for Joseph. He could bear no more. He saw that his brothers had greatly changed in spirit since they had sold him into Egypt, and he longed to embrace them. So he sent away all of his servants, leaving none but himself and his brethren in the house. Then with an overflowing heart and many tears, he told his brethren that he was Joseph their brother. After giving them assurances that he would not in any way retaliate upon them for the evil they had thought to do him, they7had a long familiar talk together. Then he sent them home well laden with food, and a message to his father to come and dwell with him in the land of Egypt, for there were yet to be five years of famine. When Jacob arrived in Egypt, then was fulfilled Joseph’s other dream, that the sun, moon, and eleven stars made obeisance to him. Did not the Spirit of prophecy foresee all this detail?—It surely did, and Joseph so understood it. He said to his brethren, “God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” Inasmuch as so much of the prophetic word points to our own day, men of to-day should praise God that we have this “sure word,” “whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19. G. THE Son of God came to this earth once. He took upon Himself humanity. He lived here, died here, rose here; and from earth He ascended to His Father, leaving behind the message, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself.” John 14:1-3. The heavenly messengers declared: “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11. He ascended bodily, visibly, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Thus is He coming again. “Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him.” Rev. 1:7. Men did not believe in His first coming; and when He came, they were unprepared and rejected Him. They preferred Cæsar to Christ. If men do not believe in His second coming, they will be unprepared for Him, and will reject Him for some king of their own choosing, and be left to perish with their king. There is much said in the Scriptures concerning His first coming; there is much more said concerning His second coming. The first coming has confirmed the second. The strength of confirmation in every succeeding event of prominence in a prophetic series as compared with others in the series, is in the ratio of the square of its number in the series. The second coming of Christ is foretold by the same evidence that predicted the first coming. We have not only the fulfilled predictions concerning the first advent, but we have the multiplied evidences concerning the second. If men were without excuse who rejected Him at His first coming, what shall be said of those who refuse to believe, or who ignore, His second coming. “There is a King of glory,
Ere long on earth to rise,
Sung in prophetic story,
Descending from the skies.
The Babe of Bethlehem, ’tis He:
It is the Man of Calvary.
Not crowned with thorns and gore,
But crowned with glory now!
Not crowned with thorns to-day,
Not mocked and led away,
But crowned with everlasting glory now.” The Word of God versus the Word of Men. We have been asked to explain Micah 4:4. Our questioner seems to think that the prophet therein predicts that there will come a time of peace in this world, in which weapons of war will be transmuted into agricultural instruments, and the whole world will be at peace. The prophecy in Micah 4:1–6 is almost word for word the same as that given in Isa. 2:1–5. Following is the prophecy in Micah:— “1. But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow unto it. “2. And many nations shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. “3. And He shall judge between many peoples, and shall reprove strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. “4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. “5. For all the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”—Revised Version. 1. This is to occur in “the latter days.” The term, of itself alone, does not necessarily refer to the last days of the Christian age; but the connection in Isaiah clearly shows that this is the case. Both Isaiah and Micah looked forward to the very end. And all the prophecies of God’s Word indicate that these days “are the latter days.” 2. “Mountain” is used as a symbol of worship, and all it implies. The Lord’s house anciently was built on Mt. Moriah, high and lifted up, with strong, secure foundations. Babylon is represented as a destroying volcano. Jer. 51:25. Amid all the false worship and doctrines of earth, Christianity would be the most exalted, so that its excellence would be acknowledged by all the peoples. They would flow to it; that is, they would nominally accept it; for, as shown by the context, and elsewhere, it will be largely in a nominal way. How true this is to-day. Notwithstanding its perversions and wounds received in the house of its friends, Christianity’s divine excellence in wisdom and purity has been acknowledged; Christ has been lifted up, and has drawn men of every nation. Those nations in which Christianity has been left free to do its greatest works are the first and most honored nations to-day, tho they take to themselves the glory of Christ’s effulgence and wisdom reflected from them. Peoples have flowed unto it, and will. Many, in the aggregate, have accepted and will accept, in heart and life, Christ Jesus; many will see only the superficial, and will be content with mere profession; many others will yield feigned obedience for a time, because it seems to be popular and prosperous, even as many at first followed Christ Jesus, but finally became offended at searching, testing truth. John 6:60–66. 3. Because of this general acknowledgment of Christianity, many will conclude that the world will be converted. “Many nations shall go and say,” And what these nations say is given in verses 2 to 5, inclusive. They say:— a. Let us go up to the mountain of the house of the Lord; let us honor Christianity; let us become Christian, and be taught of God; we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. This is what the nations say; but the Word of God knows no such national religion till the righteous nation enters in, every one of whom is a child of God. And how literally men are fulfilling this to-day. A large class among the Protestant sects are declaring that the Jews will return to old Jerusalem, the civil polity, the priesthood, the sacrifices, will be restored, and great blessings will come to the race through the return of the Jews. And thus Christ’s sacrifice for “the whole world” and “once for all,” is made of none effect. Again, the great Roman Church is planning great things for Jerusalem. Rome will not always be her seat. Jerusalem to the Papacy is greater than Rome. The see of the King is greater than that of the prince. Christ is more than His apostle. What greater masterstroke could be effected than another crusade, in a different form, in which the nations are involved, in which finance and diplomacy will bear a part, and which will all result in placing the see of the so-called vicar of Christ in Jerusalem. Then would it indeed be said: “The ‘law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord ‘from Jerusalem.” b. They, the nations, say: “He [the Lord] shall judge among many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off;” and obedient to His vicar, men will transmute death-dealing weapons into instruments of peace; that there shall be no more war; neither shall it ever be taught any more. All this is said. It was said at the Chicago World’s Exposition. It was said at the time of the The Hague Peace Congress. Prophet and apostle declare that men should cry, Peace and safety. But the actual fact of peace and safety is not here, as we will show later on. c. Furthermore, the nations say that every man shall have his own estate; that the large land-owners and capitalists will in some way divide with the masses, so “they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree; and none [war-armed hosts, pitiless taxgatherers, rent collectors, or merciless creditors] shall make them afraid.” And these prophets of the nations say, “The mouth of the Lord of hosts hath ‘spoken it.’” In the language of another prophet, they say, “The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not ‘sent them; and they have made others to hope that ‘they would confirm the word. . . . Because, ‘even because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a ‘wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered ‘mortar.’” But the Lord declares that the wall will fall, and destruction will come upon those who trusted in it. See Eze. 13:4–23. d. The nations who say all this will not be zealous for righteousness and truth, for true peace can come only by righteousness (Isa. 32:17), and sanctification only by truth (John 17:17); but the nations will say, “All the peoples will walk every one in the name of ‘his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our ‘God forever and ever.” We shall have a grand good time, a free fellowship of Christianity with paganism, truth with error, light with darkness, life with death. That is what has already been seen in our congresses of religion. Read in the light of it such scriptures as 2 Cor. 6:14–18. 4. But God also says something. He gives His opinion. His own divine commentary concerning what the nations say. Because they thus speak, God’s prophet declares: “For Thou hast forsaken ‘Thy people the house of Jacob, because they be ‘filled with customs from the east, and are sooth- ‘sayers like the Philistines [see Deut. 18:14], and ‘they strike hands with the children of strangers.’ . . . Their land also is full of idols; they worship ‘the work of their own hands, that which their own ‘fingers have made.’” Read the whole of the second and third chapters of Isaiah, and note the character which these false prophets and nations possess in the light of Heaven. Again: God has said that His people in the last days should be a “little flock,” “a few,” a “remnant” oppressed of the nations; and therefore we read at the very time the nations are saying that peace and fellowship among all are coming. “In ‘that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that ‘halteth, and I will gather her that is driven away, ‘and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her ‘that halteth a remnant, and her that was cast far off ‘a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them ‘in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever.’” Micah 4:6, 7. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your ‘Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32. 5. The Lord has also something to say concerning the latter days about war. Read again what the nations say, and then read what the Lord says in Joel 3:9–14:— “Proclaim ye this among the nations: prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord! Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” Thus the nations and people are speaking their soothing cry of peace. Thus has the Lord spoken,—a true warning of the time to come. Which will we believe? God has said much more than this; but is not this sufficient? He has told us of the prophesying of the false prophets, and they have prophesied falsely, as He declared. He foretold us the true condition of the world; and we see the facts as divine foresight predicted. Which will we believe? “For ‘when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden ‘destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a ‘woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ‘ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day ‘should overtake you as a thief.” May God help us to be so grounded in His Word that we may not be soothed to fatal slumber by the siren song of a false peace. NOTE.—We wish those who ask questions to take particular notice: (1) Only such questions will be answered here as we believe to be of general interest and information. (2) We can not undertake to explain from four to a dozen scriptures, as in one sentence we are often requested to do. (3) Do not ask to “explain” a certain text or passage. State clearly the point in question. (4) Give full name and address, not for publication unless desired, but as evidence of good faith, and to give us the privilege of replying by letter if deemed best. (5) Unsigned communications of any kind find the quickest way to the waste-basket. (6) It is always well to inclose stamp. (7) “Foolish and unlearned questions avoid,” also those that minister to mere curiosity. (8) Study the Scriptures yourselves. Who or what are the beasts of Rev. 4:6-8? Are they a part of the redeemed, as seems to be taught in Rev. 5:8-10? W. H. B. “Beast” is a bad translation. “Living creature,” or “Living one” is better. Read Rev. 5:9, 10, as in the Revised Version: “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth.” It is the “men” and “they” and “them,” instead of “us” and “we.” Taking this in connection with Ezekiel I, it seems clear to us that these creatures are symbols of God’s sure, successful, and mighty working among His people and the nations of the earth. However confusing the wheels within wheels may appear to man, all movements of earth are working out ultimately Jehovah’s great purpose. See article, “The Most High Ruleth,” on page 6, SIGNS of August 28, for fuller explanation. Liquor Traffic’s Political Influence
The power of the liquor traffic in politics, and therefore the growing corruption in public affairs, is accounted for in such items as the following from the Union Signal:— Nearly one-third of the more than $11,000,000 of Chicago’s yearly revenue is derived from saloon licenses. Other facts and figures presented by the Chicago Tribune show the size, and consequently the political influence, of the rum business. There are 6,371 saloons in the city, and it is estimated that they sell 1,700,000 barrels of beer in a year, and, of course, large quantities of liquors. It is assumed that the saloons, big and little, take in an average of $25 a day. Virtually all of them keep open on Sunday, and for a year of 365 days, this means $58,135,375 a year as the bar bill of Chicago.