VIEW FROM THE TOWER.
It would appear that all are more quick to apprehend, and less likely to soon forget the outward visible evidences and manifestations that we are in the day of the Lord, than the no less sure, and even more important transactions not so apparent to the natural mind. For instance, many seem to realize and to be deeply impressed with the yearly accumulating evidences that we are in "the time of trouble" foretold as one of the prominent features of the day of the Lord's presence; and they see that it has gathered force, and will with every successive wave as it approaches the great climax of "trouble, such as never was since there was a nation." But many seem to see less clearly, and to more quickly forget another phase of the trouble of this day, which in many respects much more deeply concerns the saints. And though we have repeatedly called attention to it before, it is expedient for you that we again put you in remembrance of these deeply important matters.
We refer to the trouble upon the Church--the testing, the shaking, the melting and disintegrating fiery trial, which is to test every professed child of God--the battle between truth and error, between light and darkness, which is the Church's share in the "battle of the great day of God Almighty,"--a fire, in which the wood, hay and stubble of error shall be entirely consumed; and from which there shall remain only the gold, silver, and precious stones of truth--a battle in which not only error shall fall forever before the truth, but in which all controlled by error and lacking the armor of truth, shall fall.
We do not say that those who will fall shall be utterly and forever cast down; thank God for the good hope that so many of them as shall fall into the ditch because of the blinding errors of the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4), though they shall thus be proved unworthy of a place among the overcomers who receive the grand prize, shall nevertheless ultimately be recovered from the snare of the adversary, and caused to see clearly--being brought to an accurate knowledge of the truth and freed from the blindings of false teachings.
Their falling will not be accidental but according to a definitely arranged plan. The trials will come in such manner as will serve to test and prove the faithful and wholly consecrated. God has provided in his Word an armament full and complete for all the truly consecrated; and those who are such will take heed; and if they take heed they "shall never fall," but receive an abundant entrance into the kingdom.--2 Pet. 1:3-11.
Aside from Paul's statement of the fiery trials of this day in which every man's faith-structure will be tried by fire (1 Cor. 3:13), and his other statement that we shall need the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand in this evil day (Eph. 6:13), we have Peter's statement that the judgment or trial of this day shall begin first with the house of God and extend to all others; in this he also intimates that only the saints will stand the test, while all others will fall. Aside from these our Lord's words also show that we must watch, and that the deceptions of this day will be sufficient to deceive if it were possible the very elect. Furthermore we have the symbolic representations of this trouble, etc., in a very striking picture in the Psalms. The ninety-first psalm describes in figures of speech, both the nominal and the real Church during this day of trouble. The arrows of sarcasm will pierce some, and the pestilence of infidelity and darkness will waylay others; and the destructive and subversive teachings of "science falsely so-called," claiming to be at its very zenith, its noontide of light and glory, will sap the strength of others, and cause them to waste away, so that those who shall be able to stand, will be as one to a thousand who will fall.--See verses 5-7.
The cause of the protection of those who do not fall is stated:--They make the Most High their habitation; they live in God; they abide under the shadow of the Almighty; their trust is in Him and not in self, nor in the arm of flesh. Verses 1,2,9,14.
The means God will use for helping and keeping this class from falling is clearly stated. The Lord will provide assistance through his messengers or servants, and by these the FEET or last members of the body of Christ shall be helped and kept from falling; for they shall sustain, strengthen and uphold them by the word of truth. In this way God will provide help for every true member of the body, providing them with the whole armor of God, that they may be able to stand, and having done all, to stand: as it is written, His truth shall be the shield and buckler of all such, and he shall give a message to his messengers concerning or relating to them.-- Verses 11,12,4.
Many who can see the world's time of trouble as already begun, fail to see that this trouble and trial upon the Church has not only begun, but is much farther advanced than the labor troubles.
So far as the nominal Church in general is concerned, though we can see the trouble and testing coming upon it, yet we see that the vast majority of its membership is as yet too soundly asleep to stumble. They must get awake before they can stumble over anything. And while they are getting awake gradually and beginning to think and reason, the various agencies for their stumbling and fall are fast shaping themselves. The stumbling stone, strange to say, is Christ Jesus. He shall be not only a sacred hiding place for some (Psa. 32:7-9; 119:114), but also for a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to both the houses of Israel.--Isa. 8:14.
The two houses of Israel here referred to are evidently the fleshly and the spiritual houses. The nominal fleshly house stumbled at the first advent, and nominal spiritual Israel is to similarly stumble during the second advent--a remnant only in either case stands the test, while the great mass stumble. (Matt. 15:14; Rom. 9:27; 11:5.) The prophetic statement cannot refer to the ten and two tribes as two houses of Israel; for really that was a split in the one house or family of Israel. Furthermore, in the trial in which the stumbling occurred, the Master addressed himself to the lost sheep of the house (not houses) of Israel. The ten tribes which split off (2 Chron. 10:16,17) have since been called the lost tribes, and if they are referred to in the prophecy as another separate house of Israel from those who stumbled, the question would be, When will that ten-tribe house stumble? It must be still future if they are the other "house." But no; all Israel was represented by the one house which stumbled at the first advent (2 Chron. 11:13-17), and the other house is evidently the Gospel Church nominal,--Christendom --whose fall, under the figure of Babylon, is so graphically portrayed in our Lord's revelations of the future, from which also God's people are called to come out, that they fall not but may be enabled to stand.--Rev. 18:4.
A careful examination will show, too, that the two houses stumbled and fell over the same rock, for similar reasons, though at different times. Jesus testified that the Jewish house fell partly because they had substituted human traditions and were following human leaders and parties instead of God and his Word. And so it is now: the Word of God is made void, robbed of its real force and power by human creeds and traditions. Hence the people are easily ensnared and deceived, whereas they should be in knowledge men, thoroughly furnished, and able to teach God's plan, instead of being babes, unskillful in the Word, liable to be carried about by every windy doctrine. The thousands who shall fall for every one able to stand in this evil day, is not out of proportion to the large number of unskillful babes, compared to the few who have grown up into him in all things, which is the only head over all, Christ. Heb. 5:12-14.
Fleshly Israel stumbled over the CROSS of Christ, and it seems astounding to think that the second Israel is to stumble over the same. When one remembers how the cross has for centuries been the symbol of all that is holy and good, that its very shape has become sacred, that it has been lifted before the people upon church spires, worn upon the person, and pictured by artists and poets, it does seem astonishing and almost incredible that the great nominal Church should ever stumble over the cross. Nevertheless such is to be the case.
The Apostle Paul declares the cross of Christ to be the great stumbling block of all classes. To the Jew, schooled under the Law to attempt to do his best to serve God, the cross of Christ became a stumbling block, because they could not realize that that which they had for centuries been trying to accomplish for themselves, by an attempted keeping of the law, should now be handed to them as a free gift. Proud of their own supposed holiness, attainments, and ability, in the matter of keeping God's law, and thus justifying themselves before God, they overlooked the fact that their yearly cleansing was by the typical blood of beasts, on a typical Day of Atonement. And seeing no necessity for a sacrifice for their sins, they were offended by the bare suggestion that they needed a sin-offering to make them acceptable with God, and hence they stumbled over the cross. "Israel which followed after righteousness [justification] attained not...because they sought it not through faith, but as attainable through works of the law. For they struck against the stumbling stone--as it is written." --Rom. 9:31-33.
The Apostle says again, "The Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom." The Jews, claiming to be God's children, would have walked by sight if God had forced the matter upon their attention in a manner not requiring faith; and the Greeks, the learned of the world, would have become followers of Christ, had the plan of salvation been more consistent with their worldly wisdom. But, continues Paul, "we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a STUMBLINGBLOCK, and unto the Greeks foolishness." For the preaching of the CROSS is to the perishing world foolishness; but to us being saved, IT is the power of God. --1 Cor. 1:22-24,17,18. Compare Gal. 5:1-11.
The church, up to the present time, while it has held and advanced many errors for over eighteen centuries, has held firmly to the doctrine of redemption through the precious blood of Christ. Yet they have held to it blindly, and generally without even an attempt to understand the philosophy of the wondrous plan. The doctrine being advanced by the clergy and also plainly stated in the Scriptures, and the mass of the church being accustomed to accept the teaching of the clergy without investigation, the doctrine of the cross, redemption, has for these reasons met with little open opposition except from the world, since the days of Apostles, until very recently. It has not only been accepted by the church nominal, but gradually the civilized world, under the influence of the church, has also assented to the doctrine, though blindly; and if they have not professed faith in it before, they frequently do so when about to die.
But of very recent years a change has been coming over public sentiment both in and out of the church, caused by the general increase of knowledge in this Day of the Lord. The former authority and prestige of the nominal church, and its teachers, and many errors, are fast giving way, as the world is beginning to reason--not from a Scriptural standpoint however, but from the standpoint of their own ideas. And of course from such a standpoint, and failing entirely to understand the grand design of the divine plan, the cross of Christ, redemption, ransom, through his precious blood, is foolishness, and is discarded with, and as a part of the rubbish of error. This being the world's conclusion, and the nominal church being composed largely of the world, and the balance being mere "babes in Christ," utterly ignorant of the plan of God, and taught from earliest infancy the lessons of worldly conformity, the great mass of the nominal church is just ready to stumble over the cross, as its prototype the first house, Israel after the flesh, did. They will conceive God's favor without a ransom, while his favor in the ransom they will stumble over and reject.
Having learned to think and reason on other subjects, just as fast as they get awake and begin to think and reason upon religious subjects, they are being confronted by this question: If the penalty of sin is everlasting torture, how can we understand the statements of church creeds and the Bible, when they declare that Jesus became our substitute, or ransom, and suffered in our stead, the just for the unjust to secure for us justification and a return to divine favor? Would not this imply that he must suffer eternal torture, IF that were our penalty?
All who can and will think at all, must concede that either one or the other of these doctrines (eternal torture, or ransom) must be erroneous, and must be discarded; and observation assures us that nine out of ten, or as the Scriptures put it, a thousand to one, will stumble and reject the cross of Christ. Many will hold firmly to the unscriptural idea of everlasting torture as the wages of sin; while others, carrying to an extreme the opposite of their former false ideas of divine wrath against sin, conclude that there is no penalty against sin, to require a ransom. They thus overlook entirely the penalty pronounced against sin, namely, death, and the proof of ransom contained in the fact that Christ died for our sins--the just one for the sinful to bring us [back] to a state of acceptability before God. In a word, the revulsion caused by seeing the error of the horrible and unscriptural idea of eternal torture, leads them to ignore the plain statement of Scripture that "The wages of sin is death," and also that eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23.)-- through his sacrifice finished on the cross. Nor should we be greatly surprised at this, when we remember the words of Hebrews 5:14.
Within the past eight years, the enemies of the cross of Christ have multiplied theories supported by deceptive sophistries, the object of which appears to be any thing, or any theory, to disprove the fact that Jesus' death was the ransom (corresponding price) for all. For though these theories are contradictory of each other, they never oppose each other; nor need they, seeing they have the one aim.
The theories advanced to fill the place of the cross are various enough to suit the crotchets of any and every class anxious to get rid of it. And many of the blinded followers accept all no-ransom theories, ignorant of and blinded to their contradictory character.
ONE NO-RANSOM THEORY
claims that Jehovah is bound in justice to save men, and that since justice requires their salvation, no ransom-sacrifice was necessary. The theory implies of course, that God has been doing his creatures an injustice in punishing what he calls sin in them, for which in reality he only was to blame; for as they claim (rejecting, or rather perverting the account in Genesis), God created man imperfect, and he could not avoid sinning. They claim, to the contrary of Scripture, that Adam's act was one of obedience to a law implanted by the Creator, and so with all sin.
Hence the claim of this theory is, that God being the real author of sin, he sooner or later must do men the justice of releasing them from the penalty of that which they claim he only was responsible for. Thus they would make it appear that for six thousand years God has not only condemned and punished mankind unjustly for evil, for which he himself was the responsible or guilty one, but they insist that now his JUSTICE, backed by sympathy, is about to conquer him, and that he will compensate men for the injustice and false condemnation of the past by untold blessings in the future. But we ask if such a God-dishonoring view were correct --if it were true that God has injured and dealt unjustly with his creatures for six thousand years, what guarantee can be given of reform on his part? Is not proof of such reform wholly lacking? Does not God himself say, I am the same, I change not? Ah, but say they, he has promised to restore mankind. Yes, we answer, but what confidence could be placed in the promises of an unjust being? None; justice and truth are dependent qualities, injustice and untruth go hand in hand, while justice and truth are twins. If these theorists prove, to their own satisfaction, that God has been unjust, it is folly for them to rely upon the promises of such a being. They make him a liar in any event; for they say that he calls mankind sinners, whereas they reason (falsely) that he alone is the transgressor. Of course with this view there is no place for the ransom; for at most the cross, the death of Jesus, would then be only an expression of sorrow and repentance on God's part for having wronged his creatures; a show of his love by which he desires to win back mankind's love and respect. In such a view, Jesus sacrifice was God's offering to man and not for man's sin.
A SECOND NO-RANSOM THEORY
claims that God's course in condemning mankind was just, but that his love is superior to his justice, and that, though justice has held out in the past, during six thousand years, the time for love to conquer is at hand. Here again the fallen perverted judgment reasons of God from its fallen standpoint, and as a parent might allow his love for his child to conquer his justice and reverse his threats, so they reason of God, and confidently they ask--Is not the love of God greater than that of man? Aye, we answer, God in all his qualities is infinitely greater than fallen man, but as his love is greater than ours, so his justice is greater than ours, and more so, because in all his loss man has held to love beyond any other feature of his original likeness to his Creator. Even the brute creation have held to love also as their strong love of their offspring proves. Hence we say that God's justice is pre-eminently higher than man's.
But as we have heretofore shown,
God's attributes are not at warfare, the
one conquering the other; and it is only
our fallen state that makes it so with us.
The Wisdom, Power, Love and Justice
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of God, each being perfect and operating
in unison, He never has necessity for a
conflict with himself. But this theory of
overbalancing love, has no use for the
cross, no use for the ransom, and sees
no necessity for a corresponding price.
It claims that God's love conquers and
pays no price to justice for the sinner,
and scorns the sentiment that--
"Jesus died and paid it all,
This theory seeks to cover its deformity
by much talk about the love of God and
many direct and indirect slurs upon his
justice. By magnifying the love of God
at the expense of his justice, they cloak
themselves as angels [messengers] of
light and love, while touching a sympathetic
cord in the hearts of those so long
accustomed to false ideas of God's plan,
which exaggerated his justice to fiendish
cruelty, and hid his love almost entirely.
But blind as the other, only in another
direction, these love theorists ignore the
fact that though for the past six thousand
years God's justice has held full sway
over the race of sinners, and sickness,
pain, sorrow and death in a thousand
forms have caused the whole creation to
groan and travail in pain together, yet
God's LOVE has offered no protest against
it. In fact his love has been manifested
only once, and that in the very case
which these theorists deny: namely, in
the ransom. In this and nowhere else
in all the past, was manifested the Love
of God toward us: because that God
sent his only begotten Son into the
world, that we might live through him.
God has loved the world always; but
his love has been vailed, not manifested
except by this one act. Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved
us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation
[hilasmos--satisfaction or appeasement]
for our sins. "He was manifested
to take away our sin."--1 John 3:5;
4:9,10.
How blind are they who, from past
history and from past experience, have
learned nothing; and while rejecting the
efficacy of the one act manifesting love,
claim that in God's character love over-balances
justice and conquers it. Ah,
though the past and present are one continuous
chastisement, enforcing the lesson
that God is just, and will by no
means CLEAR [excuse] the guilty, the
future alone must reveal God's love and
must show his wisdom; for those whom
he could not justly clear, his wisdom and
love have rescued by redemption, and
only the future will reveal to the world
what through his Word, God hath even
now made known unto his saints--that
"the man Christ Jesus gave himself a
ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
--1 Tim. 2:5,6.
A THIRD NO-RANSOM THEORY
runs on this wise: All that God demands
of man is that he shall do the best he can
to live a righteous (moral) life, and whoever
does this is acceptable to God,
whether he knows Jesus or not. This
doctrine of the fall, say they, is ridiculous
and absurd, and passages of Scripture
teaching thus [for instance Gen. 3,
Rom. 5:15-19, etc.] should be ignored
as the mistaken ideas of a more ignorant
age than ours; or, as others say, as false
statements given of God because of human
ignorance. These theorists will
praise the character of Jesus, and commend
it to all men as an example of self-denial
for the good of others, though
they do not advise that other men
should do as he did, but rather that
they should follow in a general way his
teachings without going to the foolish
extreme to which they consider that he
went. These, like the others, entirely
ignore the ransom without attempting a
critical explanation of the Bible statements
regarding that feature of Jesus'
work; and while speaking of him as a
Saviour, they mean nothing more by
that term than when it is applied to other
notables; as for instance, Abraham
Lincoln, who is styled the saviour of his
country, because during the civil war he
was largely instrumental in preserving
or saving the union by breaking down
the secession of the Southern States.
When these theorists speak of Jesus as
the Saviour and Redeemer, they mentally
attach to those words the idea of
deliverer or teacher merely, and not the
Scriptural idea of Ransomer, as well as
Leader and Deliverer.
These, with a look of compassion for
the ignorance of the hearer will explain,
that God has from time to time raised
up great teachers among various peoples,
as he raised up Jesus among the Jews;
and that these have all been saviours, in
the sense that by both their teachings
and examples they delivered many from
degrading vices and immoralities injurious
both to mind and body. In a list of
such saviours, such names as those of
Socrates, Confucius, Zoroaster, Moses
and Mahomet, would stand side by
side with that of Jesus. Is it any wonder
that such a theory is esteemed by
the carnally minded, as "broad" and
"liberal" and "advanced"? It removes
at once the "stumbling-block"
and foolish feature--the CROSS--and
exhorts men to follow any good exemplar,
whether Jesus or any other, and
teaches them to depend for acceptance
before God not upon the merits of
Christ, made applicable to them through
his sacrificial death, but upon their
own merit and righteousness.--Compare
Rom. 10:3 and 5:10. And no wonder
that such a view is popular among those
who in pride of heart scorn to receive
the gift of God as an unmerited favor.
A FOURTH NO-RANSOM THEORY
claims that the life and trials and temptations
of Jesus, were really deceptions;
that all the while he was a spirit being,
merely using the flesh as a covering like
his clothing. Really, they claim, he was
not "made flesh," and did not take our
nature, but merely appeared to do so,
appeared or pretended to be tempted,
pretended sorrow and pain and death
in order to set men an EXAMPLE. Of
course these cannot admit the force of
the ransom [antilutron--a corresponding
price]; for according to this theory there
was no real correspondence between
Jesus and men. And when they claim
that he was a great and worthy example,
they seemingly forget two things: first,
that a life of fraud and deception would
not be a proper example; and secondly,
while claiming that Jesus was sinless,
they claim that his life was an example
for all the world, of how to put away sin.
But how could he who knew no sin be
an example of putting it away? Ah, but
say these, the Apostle says, "He died
unto sin once;" and since we are to follow
in his footsteps, should not we also,
die unto sin? That is to say, should we
not regard his life as a battle with sin,
and should we not esteem that by such
[R864 : page 3]
an example he profits us, and not as a
ransom or sacrifice for our sins?
Yes, yes, we see; having taken away
the foundation of faith, the ransom-sacrifice,
they are entirely confused in
the use of Scripture language. When
the Apostle says, "He died unto [or because
of] sin once," he refers to the fact
that sin and condemnation had passed
upon all the race through Adam; and
because of that fact Christ died, laid
down, surrendered his life, and became
the victim of sin's penalty, death, in order
that thus he might redeem all from under
that lasting penalty. And though we
were dead [guilty and condemned], those
who realize his perfect work, are to reckon
themselves as released, set free, and
no longer subject to sin and death, but
as though made alive from the dead
through Christ's sacrifice. And henceforth
we should realize ourselves justified
freely from all things, and enabled to
present our justified selves (not our sins)
a sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable
through Christ's cleansing redemption.
He put away or expiated our sins
when he gave himself a ransom for all.
And since he did not have, and hence
did not put away sin from himself, it follows
that he could not be an example to
men, of how to put away their own sins
by sacrifice.
Jesus' sacrifice consisted not in resisting
sin; sin is an unlawful thing in any,
hence to resist it could not be a sacrifice.
The sacrifice of Jesus consisted not
in abstaining from sin, (though he did
so abstain), but in the surrender of the
rights and privileges legally and properly
his,--even unto death. He made his
soul [being, existence] an offering for
sin--our sin. And those who follow his
example should not imagine that their
efforts to resist sin (though proper) are
any part or share in the sacrifice of
Christ. But, putting away sin so far as
we are able, and realizing that all our
sins past and weaknesses present, are
fully covered by Jesus' sacrifice, such
have been invited during the Gospel
Age to follow Jesus' example and deny
themselves legitimate pleasures and privileges
in their endeavors to serve the
truth, honor God, and bless their fellow
creatures; and they are promised that
if thus now conformed to the image and
example of God's Son, they shall by and
by be with him and like him and share
his glory.
This class of no-ransom theorists,
though fully aware of the meaning of
the words ransom and redeem, as used in
the Bible, ignobly give out the impression
that these words found in many
texts, are not in open and direct conflict
with their theory. They give this impression,
not so much by what they say
on the subject, as by the inference they
give by freely quoting the very texts
which pointedly and directly contradict
their position. Satan has long found
bluffing a successful plan with many.
A FIFTH NO-RANSOM THEORY
and one into which the other theories all
seem more or less to merge, might be
termed a Modified Evolution Theory.
One of the advocates of this theory effects
to be a holiness and faith paper,
impressing this every month upon its
readers by publishing a diary list of donations
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of which the following is a sample:--
"An offering, $2.44 from England,
has been the only provision for the entire
week." In explanation of this donation,
a Scripture is misapplied thus:
"Surely the isles shall wait for me; and
the sons of strangers shall build up thy
walls and their kings shall minister unto
thee."
We have great sympathy with a true
life of faith and true faith homes, but remembering
the Apostle's words, "Hast
thou faith, have it to thyself" (Rom. 14:22);
and Jesus' words, "When thou
prayest enter into thy closet...
and pray to thy Father which is in secret.
...Moreover, when ye
fast, be not as the hypocrites...
when thou fastest anoint thy head and
wash thy face that thou appear not unto
men to fast," etc. We can have no sympathy
with the above form of begging
misnamed--a life of faith. However,
some are deceived by such pretensions
as others were at our Lord's first advent.
And for the same reason that our Lord
spoke plainly, we speak plainly, namely,
because some deceived by these
methods, are ready to swallow their
teachings without examination, and they,
like the Pharisees, are making void the
Word of God through their theories
while claiming great reverence for it.
In view of what we have said, you
should not be surprised to learn that the
journal we describe, has its outside covered
with texts of Scripture as well as
the headline of every page, while in the
manner illustrated below, it seeks to
make void the Word of God by coupling
quotations from it with its own teachings,
directly opposed to it.
Under the head of Dispensational Seed,
it first quotes John 12:24,* and then
proceeds to ignore and deny the ransom,
in a most subtle manner, and applies
the above text not to our Lord alone,
but to many others of whom he was one.
Thus instead of Jesus' death being the
one and only ransom, it was but like
that of others--one of the steps, of dispensational
advancement. It says: "The
Bible history gives several epochs of
spiritual unfoldment [another way of
saying evolution, one less grating to the
ear of some, and more likely to catch
the unwary] corresponding to the several
days of natural creation. The first
spiritual day extended from Adam to
Noah, and the development of character
was general....The same spirit
of God that moved upon the face of
the waters when the earth was without
form and void, brooded over humanity
and operated in harmony with the higher
human forces, acting as a seed-force
to bring the moral chaos of the first day
of spiritual creation into form, life and
spiritual consciousness....Noah
was the first ripe man [seed] that
brought about a dispensational revolution
in moral character....He
was the representative character of natural
and spiritual forces in equilibrium."
[In proof of this the quotation from
Scripture is given.] "Noah was a just
man, and perfect in his generations."
*Those interested might do well to refer to the
treatment of this text, in the TOWER of February,
1885, after reading this article.
"Second Day. The spiritual forces
evolved by Noah, ripened as dispensational
seed in Abraham....He
was brought into corresponding environments
that advanced and perfected his
spiritual character.
"Third Day. The spiritual conditions
already evolved and appropriated, ripened
in Moses....He was a hidden
man known and understood better by
his God, than the murmuring people
HE GAVE HIS LIFE TO ELEVATE....
Thus he proved himself equal to a great
dispensational revolution."
"Fourth Day. John the Baptist was
the next representative man that characterized
a new spiritual creation....
He adjusted his life to the higher forces,
so that he fulfilled all righteousness."
"Fifth Day. Jesus was the NEXT and
LAST representative seed-man of Bible
history....Jesus embodied into
organic life the new factor or spiritual
forces....All preceding spiritual
conditions were latent in his organism;
hence he was able to carry spiritual law
farther than any other previous seed-man.
...He ripened absolutely,
in that organically he never saw death.
He laid down the life that is subject to
death, by keeping an equilibrium of
inner and outer relations, and became
concretely the resurrection and the life.
The HARVEST which will be yielded
will be the redemption of all men."
To some it may be needless that we
should point out the unscripturalness of
this theory. We trust that many of our
readers are so "thoroughly furnished" as
to be able to see through such snares of
the Adversary. We say snares of the
Adversary advisedly, for "We are not
ignorant of his devices." We know
well that it is his accustomed and favorite
method to assume to be a light bearer,
a holy and faithful servant of dispensational
truth, and if he can get any of
God's children to serve him and his
cause in the livery of heaven, he well
knows that the darkness will be the
more confusing and blinding to the
Lord's sheep.
Nevertheless, we will point out the
errors of the above, being aware from
letters received that many who for their
time and opportunity should be teachers
and able to assist others, are really babes,
and have need that one should teach
them again, which be the first principles
of the doctrine of Christ. (Heb. 5:12.)
Alas! it is the first principles, the foundation
of all, that professing Christians
feel most secure upon, yet they have
never received intelligently and in simplicity
the first principles, and hence this
is the stone of stumbling.
This theory be it observed, like all
other no-ransom theories fully developed,
points out the ultimate everlasting
salvation of all men. This is but consistent
on their part, for if God's plan is
one of evolution by steps and stages with
which man has nothing to do, it would
be the only reasonable conclusion for
them to reach, that God would finally
make them right. For it is a further
part of these theories, that Adam, instead
of being created in the image of God, was
created more in the image of the brute
creation, if not directly evolved from a
brute. And they account for the statement
of Genesis (1:27)--"In the image of God
created he him," by saying that the
language applies to man as he will be
when the process of creation, "unfoldment,"
or evolution, is complete by processes
described above; namely seed-men
or saviors, each of whom "gave
his life to elevate" (see above) but none
of them to redeem the people. Thus
these have really the same idea as the
third class of theorists mentioned above,
only more deceptive, in that they attempt
to wrest the Scriptures to suit
their theory, while the others reject interfering
Bible statements; and while
these make a list of Saviors and claim
that Noah, Abraham, Moses and John
share with Jesus in evolving truth and
bringing mankind up to perfection, the
others are more reasonable in naming
Moses, Confucius, Socrates, Zoroaster,
and Mahomet with Jesus as the great
elevators of the race; for surely if the
idea be the elevating of the race in general,
as is claimed, it would be simply
absurd to count ALL the teachers (saviours)
in one little nation in a little corner
of the world and to leave the masses
without.
Now let us contrast with this the Bible
account. We do not say that the Bible
account is the most reasonable view; on
the contrary, we concede at once, that
to the carnally minded and to the carnal
babes (1 Cor. 3:1) it will appear less
reasonable than these theories. What
we expect to do is to show that whether
esteemed reasonable or unreasonable
these no-ransom, evolution theories, are
in open and direct variance with the
Bible, so that those who hold to the
Bible may be set free from the blinding
delusion that the Bible favors such views
in any wise. For ourselves, we can
surely say that the Bible theory is most
reasonable and the OTHERS from this
standpoint most unreasonable.
The Bible starts out with the statement
that Adam was created an image
of God in flesh--possessing mental and
moral qualities like to those of his Creator,
but limited to (perfect) earthly (i.e.
human) scope or capacity. It tells of his
trial, of his disobedience, and of the
death penalty or curse, which came upon
him in consequence thereof. It points to
that sin as the cause and source of all
the evil (curse), which has befallen man;
and declares that man when rejected of
God and left to himself, made haste
downward, degrading himself mentally,
physically and morally more and more,
until the whole world was so terribly
corrupt that he removed them with a
flood of water. So then, the very reverse
of the above theory is true of the period
from Adam to Noah; for instead of developing
character, all character was lost
save in the case of the one family of Noah.
"God saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil [sinful] continually."--
(Gen. 6:5.) And hence a more bare-faced
lie in the name of truth, is scarcely
conceivable, than the one this theory advances
for what it terms its first day of
spiritual unfoldment.
The text cited to prove this; namely,
"Noah was a just man and perfect in
his generations," (Gen. 6:9) is totally
misapplied. It refers simply to the fact
that his family line or generations had
not been mixed or corrupted in the manner
described in verses 2 and 4 (See article
"Sons of God and daughters of
men," in TOWER of June, 1884.)
But let us settle this first day of spiritual
unfoldment once and forever for
"him that hath an ear to hear," and into
its grave will fall the same theory as it
relates to the succeeding days.
Not only have we the foregoing
straightforward account given through
Moses, but we have it corroborated by
the most notable among the apostles
[R866 : page 3]
and prophets, and by our Lord. The
apostle Paul reminds us of the first temptation
saying, "I fear lest by any means
as Satan beguiled Eve through his subtilty,
so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ."
(2 Cor. 11:3.); and again he tells us
that though Eve was deceived, Adam
sinned knowingly (1 Tim. 2:14.); and
again he declares that condemnation
and death came upon all through Adam's
disobedience--"By the offence of one
judgment came upon all" "By one man's
disobedience many became sinners."
"By one man sin entered into the world
and death by [as a result or penalty of]
sin."--(Rom. 5:12,16-19,20.) This
harmonizes with the prophetic statements
that God created man upright and crowned
him with glory and honor and set him
over the works of his hands, but that
man sought out many inventions [sinful
devices].--Psa. 8:5-8; Eccles. 7:29.
Yes, says Paul, They changed the
glory of the incorruptible God. When
they knew God, they honored him not
as God, were not obedient to him, etc.
Wherefore God gave them over etc., and
the glory and perfection waned with
each generation. (Rom. 1:20-32.) Yes,
says Peter, God spared not the angels
that sinned,...and spared not
the old world, but saved Noah the eighth
person, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in a flood upon the wicked.
(2 Pet. 2:4,5.) And so, in whatever
direction we look, we find that degradation,
and not advancement, was the
course from Adam to Noah. From
being "very good" and called a "Son
of God" (Luke 3:38), and provided
an Eden home, and granted access and
communion with the King of kings, and
crowned with glory and honor as Jehovah's
representative in the rulership of
earth, the race lost all these and became
so depraved that they were unfit even
to be allowed to live a few years under
the curse. If there was a spiritual unfoldment
there, it was the unfolding of a
terribly bad spirit.
Then God's plan of salvation, as expressed
in Scripture, utterly annihilates
this evolution theory. He not only condemns
the sin and pronounces the death
penalty, but mentions the various incidental
troubles as resulting from the same
in these words: "Unto the woman he
said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
[pain] and thy conception; in sorrow
shalt thou bring forth children." And
unto Adam he said, "Because thou
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy
wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which
I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt
not eat of it, cursed is the ground for
thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life...till thou
return unto the ground; for out of it
wast thou taken...and unto dust
shalt thou return." "Therefore the
Lord sent him forth from the garden of
Eden....So he drove out the
man." And in the midst of all this God
did not hint at evolution to a higher
condition, but told of a great fall, and
held out only a dim hope of a recovery.
And afterward, in all the repeated references
to man's sin and a recovery from
it and its penalty, and in every type and
sacrifice it was clearly indicated that
without the shedding of blood there
could be no remission of sins, no return
to fellowship with the Creator, and no
further life.
And, finally, when he of whom Moses
and the prophets wrote, and whom the
sacrifices for sins typified had come,
what said he and his faithful Apostles of
the evolution of mankind from a position
one step above the monkey, up to
perfection? Did they state this to be
his mission? Not one such word. Quite
[R866 : page 4]
to the contrary, the Master stated his
mission, saying that he had "come to
seek and to save that which was
LOST." (Luke 19:10.) Thus he places
things in a reverse light from that of
our evolution no-ransom theorists. According
to their idea, what was lost was
degradation and animalism and brutality,
and the valuable thing was being
gradually gained by evolution and development
at the hands of great teachers
or what it calls "seed-men"; hence, for
the Lord to "save that which was lost,"
would be to wholly upset their theory
that man had already made four steps
forward and merely lost brutality. But
the apostles keep up the Lord's idea of
getting back something very valuable,
originally possessed, but lost. Thus
Peter speaks of the great blessings to
come in due time through Christ Jesus,
and assures his hearers (Acts 3:19-21.)
that, as a result of blotting out of sins
there would come times of restitution or
restoration, which he claims was the
story of all the holy prophets. Thus
Peter's testimony alone would completely
vanquish the evolution theory, not to
mention our Lord and "all the holy
prophets" and other apostles.
But our Lord not only states that he
came to save that which was lost, but he
proceeds to tell us of its final recovery,
showing John and the Church through
his visions (Rev. 1:1; 21:10-27 and
22:1-7) the Paradise restored and sin
and its curse or penalty removed, and
no more pain or tears or death.
And notice finally that the restoration
which Peter mentions, is effected by
the "precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot,"
"Who his own self bare our sins in his
own body on the tree." (1 Pet. 1:18,19;
2:24.) The prophets testify to the
redemption as well as to the restitution,
in scores of texts of which we cite but
one, Isaiah 53. Paul not only tells us
that by one man's disobedience all came
under sin and condemnation to its penalty,
and that thus death passed upon all
men, but when assuring us of a restitution
to life, that as through Adam all die,
even so through Christ shall all be made
alive, etc., he gives us the method by
which the change is effected from the
curse of sin and death, to the blessings
of divine favor and life, saying: "While
we were yet sinners Christ died for us"
and "being now justified by his blood
we shall be saved from wrath through
him." (Rom. 5:8,9. Compare also Eph. 1:7;
Col. 1:14.) And let the apostle
John add his testimony, he says, "He is
the propitiation [satisfaction, or appeasement]
for our sins, and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world."
(1 John 2:2.) And now hear the Master
tell how he gained the right to loose the
prisoners of sin and death from the
tomb, and to offer life, restitution to all
for whom life and all had been lost. He
says, "The Son of Man came...
to give his life a ransom [price] for
many." (Luke 10:45; Matt. 20:28.)
And in the symbolic representations of
the future, it is carefully noted, not only
that the Lamb that was slain redeemed
by his blood, [his death] but it is shown
that only his blood can purge or wash
away sin and present the sinner acceptable
before the Father, in the merit of his
imputed robe of righteousness.
Among all those whose bliss the Redeemer
pictures before us in his Revelation
of the coming glories, none were
heard singing Glory to God for the
"evolution" and spiritual unfoldment
which brought us here, for the reason
that none will reach there by that route;
but the Apostle did in vision hear the
anthems arise from the blood-washed
multitude, out of every nation, redeemed
--"Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood."
There the honors of salvation are not
divided among saviours, but are ascribed
to a work of redemption by one Saviour
anointed of Jehovah, of whom all
shall sing "Thou art worthy to take the
book and to open the seals thereof; for
thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation."--
Rev. 5:9.
Ah yes, beloved! Jesus Christ the
crucified Redeemer is the stone of stumbling
and rock of offence both in his first
and second presence: but "there is none
other name given under heaven or among
men whereby we must be saved."
Among all the teachings of heathen
philosophies not one corresponds with
the Bible in its three main features--
first, that the curse or penalty of death
came upon all men through one man's
disobedience; secondly, that penalty met
in the person of another one whom God
hath set forth to be a satisfaction for the
sins of all (1 John 2:2); and thirdly, a
resurrection as the means of deliverance
to life and divine favor procured by such
ransom. On the contrary heathen philosophies
advocate evolution and spiritual
unfoldment by "seed-men" or great
teachers; and that of the Brahmans is in
advance of all others, tracing evolution
into the future and claiming that all obedient
followers of their teachings finally
become absorbed into their God, as of
the same essence. So then, those who
would receive these theories as new, as
dispensational light, are really going
back to heathen theories which existed
before Christianity was founded--before
life and immortality were brought to
light.
Seeing we are so warned and guarded
by our Father's Word against the snares
and pitfalls of this day of the Lord, it
behooves all to be on their guard. Many
who have caught glimpses of the truth
now dispensationally due, should beware
of receiving as truth everything which
calls itself "dispensational truth." Receive
nothing without close scrutiny, well
knowing that our adversary is a counterfeiter
of no little experience, who knows
well the forms and names most likely
to entrap.
How shall you know? The apostle
says, "Prove all things, hold fast that
which is good." But how shall we prove?
There are always some to say that truth
is error as well as to call error truth.
Yes, it is a part of the adversary's policy
to put light for darkness as well as darkness
for light, and even their candor and
their desire to use the advice of the apostle
to "prove all things," has been made a
snare to some. They understand it to
mean that they must reject nothing which
claims to be of God, and which quotes
[R867 : page 4]
from the Bible in its support. Hence
some keep reading all they can lay their
hands on, and are in a constant state of
unrest; as the same apostle describes it,
"Ever learning and never able to come
to a knowledge of the truth." (2 Tim. 3:7.)
They do not understand what is
meant by "proving," else they might,
without difficulty, quickly test or prove
every doctrine presented to them.
Draughtsmen or carpenters would test
whether an angle were true or untrue in
a moment, by putting their square upon
it, thus proving it. A mason would prove
or test the trueness of a wall by his plumb-line.
And just so every one engaged in
building up himself and others in the
most holy faith, is provided with a square
and plummet by which every item of
truth can be tested speedily and positively,
namely the Bible. And the more
thoroughly we are acquainted with it and
skilled in its use, the more quickly we
shall be able to prove all things by it. It
is able to make us wise, and in it the man
of God is thoroughly furnished.--2 Tim. 3:15,17.
Use and experience will soon
teach you how to measure speedily any
new view presented. Measure its foundation
first of all; if its foundation is out
of square, stop there; you are through
with proving it--you have proved it to
be false, untrue, and to handle or measure
at it further, is to run the risk Eve
ran when she allowed the Serpent to talk
to her about how good and desirable was
the fruit which she knew was contrary to
God's word. "I fear, lest by any means
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his
subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity [simple truth]
that is in Christ." (2 Cor. 11:3. Compare
verses 12-15.)
This we know is the difficulty with
many. They go on to compare God's
plan with other theories, and the more
they do so the more confused they are
apt to become; and judging mostly by
their own opinions, prejudices, or education,
they are as apt to take the error as
the truth. Learn then, that the Bible
lays down as the basis of all blessings
God has provided for fallen man, as the
foundation of all hope, the death of
Christ--a ransom [a corresponding
price] for all. As you proceed you
will find that nearly all of the erroneous
theories presented to you, will prove
themselves false by being crooked in the
foundation. Less than one hour should
disprove any of the above no ransom
theories to a mere beginner, or babe, and
one glance should be sufficient to a man
of God thoroughly furnished.
By thus learning to rightly and
promptly prove all things, you will not
only be free from harassing uncertainty,
but you will have moments and hours
saved for building up yourself and
others in the truth--in that which will
stand the test. Wherever you find the
foundation true, measure on, prove on,
rejecting the untrue, and accepting the
true, up every course to the very top,
using the same square and plummet.
But you will not find many to require
testing above the foundation, or at most,
the first course or two above it; for
finding these badly twisted and untrue,
or as in the no-ransom views, entirely
gone, you will readily see that all built
upon them are also untrue, and thus
your work of testing them may be
speedily accomplished.
Inform yourself thoroughly as to the
meaning of the word RANSOM. It occurs
but three times in the Greek--Matt. 20:28;
Mark 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:6. It
signifies TO RECOVER by paying a price.
The Greek word rendered ransom is
intensified in the last of these texts so
as to signify a recovery by the payment
of a corresponding price. And the
Apostle's use of it clearly and unequivocally,
teaches that our Lord Jesus
bought back for man a right to life and
all the favors of God, lost through sin,
by taking man's nature and then giving
himself a CORRESPONDING price for
that which was lost. Thus informed on
what the Bible does mean by the word
ransom, you should resent as an insult,
not only to your intelligence, but also as
a most outrageous insult to God's Word,
the insinuations and inferences thrown
out by those who quote these texts containing
the word ransom, while denying
that we were bought with a price--denying
that man ever had or lost God's image,
and that Jesus came to save (recover)
that which was lost. Settle it forever
in your hearts that the theories which
find it necessary to deceive and misrepresent
and shun the light of full investigation,
are not of God. "To the law
and to the testimony;" prove them by
these, beginning at the foundation. "If
they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them."
(Isa. 8:20.) The more you handle error,
the more you love to handle that
which you have thus proved to be off the
true foundation, the more likely you are
to be snared by the enemy and smitten
down by this noontide pestilence. (Psa. 91:6.)
You will have plenty to do to
help yourself and others to put on the
whole armor of God and to stand in
this evil day without tampering with, or
further examining, that which you once
prove false--out of harmony with the
fundamentals of Christianity.
OTHER DEVICES
Another device and snare is known as
the "Christian Scientists'" views. Their
chief hobby is that any disease of the
body can and should be cured by the
power of the mind, the will; they call
these "mind cures" as distinguished
from faith cures; cures accomplished
through power of will, and not through
faith in God's power or by prayer. This
is in the same line as those above, so far
as Jesus' ransom is concerned. They
claim their mind cures to be a step in
advance of all others, the highest attainment
of human evolution or spirit
unfoldment.
It is a fact well known to all physicians,
that the mind has great power
over the body, either in inducing or arresting
disease; hence the greater success
sometimes of one physician over that of
another using the same remedies; the
one securing the confidence and mental
co-operation of the patient more than
the other. So with these mind curers,
they get their patient to will and determine
upon recovery, and inspire confidence,
and thus sometimes produce
cures in cases of long standing; and
when they are unsuccessful, the patient
is blamed with a lack of determination
or loss of confidence.
The fact is, that being in the Dawn of
the Millennial age, it is in harmony with
the divine plan to gradually encourage
the world to look toward and expect, the
blessings of restitution to health, strength
and a gradual return to perfection of
being and fulness of life. And as the
labor troubles come in spasms and go to
come again with increased force, thus
gradually drawing on into the great time
of trouble and dissolution of earthly
governments and readiness for the heavenly,
so with restitution in the matter of
healings, etc. It seems to be God's plan
to let it come in waves, each time dying
out, yet each time becoming more general
and wide-spread, thus drawing on
gradually and preparing mankind for the
full dawn of restitution in its due season.
And as in everything else and at every
other period, (2 Tim. 3:8. Acts 16:16-18.)
Satan seeks, as usual, to draw
attention from the truth by counterfeiting
it and using his counterfeit as a snare
in two ways: first, to mislead by erroneous
teachings using the light as a trap;
and secondly, by disparaging the facts of
the genuine. So mind curers or the so
called "Christian Scientists" (without a
Christ), and their so called "seances" are
but a step in the direction of Spirit-ism
(misnamed "Spiritualism") which outwardly
has fallen into disfavor, though
really, privately, it is extending its influence
daily.
Another similar effort to hand-truck
Christian people into the great Omnibus
of Spiritism, is a little paper published
on the Pacific Coast, which goes under
various names, one of the most popular
of which is the "Father's Love." This
journal selects from other papers some
good, simple articles as a sugar coating,
which with its title, we doubt not often
entraps for a time at least God's hungry
children, only to feed them on no ransom,
and dispensational evolution, and
to introduce to them out and out spiritist
publications.
What shall we say to these things, dear
brethren: these have all sprung up just
recently, and how many more are yet to
come God and Satan only know. Is
there not every reason for us to believe
that the Lord did not overstate the terrible
battle between truth and error,
when he foretold that a thousand would
fall to one who would stand, upheld by
God's truth and its messengers? (Psa. 91:4,11,12.)
There is every reason
to think that the Master did not overstate
it when he said, "If it were possible
they would deceive the very elect"
(Matt. 24:24); and to believe the apostle's
statement that we would need the
whole armor of God that we might be
able to stand. Remember the test--
Jesus in the flesh, a ransom for all.
"My soul be on thy guard,
====================
All the debt we owed."
Ten thousand foes arise;
The hosts of sin are pressing hard
To draw thee from the prize."