| News and Views | May 1940 |
Returning to God
STUDENTS of prophecy find it interesting to watch religious trends as they manifest themselves in the chaotic events of this dying world. On the one hand it is loudly proclaimed that only by returning to God will the world be saved; while from other sources comes a clamor for the destruction of religious systems. The latest of these was voiced recently by Francesco Giunta, a National Councilor, and former secretary of the Fascist party, speaking before the Fascist Deputies in Italy. Giunta referred to the Vatican as being friendly to the Allies, and as standing in the way of Fascists progress and victory. He was loudly applauded in the chamber.
The “time of trouble” will eventually cause humanity to realize their need of the true God; and there are indications that some are already beginning to think along this line. But as yet the tendency is to confuse the God of the Bible, with many gods of the heathen and of sectarianism. The following statement is to the point in this connection:
“The chief weakness of our age is not that we are atheistic, but that we are polytheistic. We have allowed a weird welter of pagan gods—Mars, Bacchus, Mammon and the rest of the unholy pantheon—to crowd out of our lives the ‘High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity.’ No longer is our highest allegiance to the One ‘in whose hands the nations are as a drop in the bucket.’ Rather, we have reduced the holy God of the Hebrew prophets and of Jesus to a kindly, well-meaning old gentleman who winks indulgently while His children have their fling. … If our Western civilization is added to the rubbish heap of forgotten empires it will not be because God has forgotten us, but because we have forgotten God. … This is no time for a weak, diluted faith in a little god. Only a great faith in a great God can save us.”—Rev. Howard A. Beetle, in the Philadelphia Record
Here are words of wisdom coming from a soul that is sincerely seeking, through religion, a solution for the world’s problems, and almost finding it. We say almost, because, while Rev. Beetle is on the right track he has not gone far enough. He is on the right track because he recognizes that only divine power can bring the desire of all nations, and realizes also the possibility of religionists worshipping false gods who cannot help. He has even identified a number of the deities which have supplanted the true God in the hearts and minds of millions; but he hasn’t gone far enough because he fails to see, or else hesitates to say, that the sectarian gods of the great denominational systems are also false deities, which, like the others he mentions, are utterly unable to save the people from their present distressing plight.
We are inclined to think that Rev. Beetle’s failure to identify more of the false gods of today is because he may not himself have clearly recognized them. He explains, that, “Far from being a denial of God, the fact that a large portion of the world is today in flames is but the abundant proof of the eternal validity of His laws.” Right! And the Scriptures show plainly that just such conflagration would destroy this “present evil world,” and also that it would come upon mankind as an expression of God’s wrath. On this point the prophet has said, “Wait ye upon Me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger: for all the earth shall he devoured with the fire of My jealousy.”—Zeph. 3:8
Where Rev. Beetle fails to think through to a Scriptural conclusion is revealed in his expression that if we could only exercise sufficient faith in a great God, the world might be saved. He concludes that the great God of which he speaks is the God of the Old Testament, but fails to discern that it is this God who has foretold the burning of the present world in order that there may be established in its place a righteous world over which Christ will be the King. Why should we imagine that at this late date, when we are in the very midst of the divinely foretold world conflagration, that a sudden turning to God on the part of a few thousand, or even millions, of backsliding religionists will cause Him to change His mind and permit this old order of sin and selfishness to continue?
When we are prepared to accept what God has prophetically outlined concerning the fate of the present world order, we are better prepared to investigate the reasons why He has decreed that it must be destroyed. Surely it is not because there is no good in the world that the present calamities have befallen it; for there is much good, and millions of well-meaning, sincere, good people. But there is so much that is not good; so much, in fact, that the evil predominates in practically all lines of human endeavor.
Along no other line is there more that is out of harmony with the God of the Bible than in the field of religion. That is why we have said that Rev. Beetle doesn’t go far enough in identifying the false gods of the present evil world. While it is true that we have the various pagan gods, the god of Mammon, etc., there are others as well, such, for example, as the various denominational gods. The worship of these cannot be tolerated forever by the true God.
But don’t misunderstand us! There is much in the worship of all these gods that is commendable. Mammon, indeed, is sometimes benevolent towards the unfortunate. Much good has been done by the Catholic and Protestant sects of the world; although this has often been in spite of the conceptions which have been held of their gods.
The Catholic god, for example, is a torment deity, and this is a fundamental fact underlying the worship and service of all loyal adherents of the Catholic, Church. The torment program of this modern Moloch is alleged to be carried out in two places; one called purgatory, and the other hell. Nearly all good Catholics are alleged to go to purgatory at death; there, by means of a long but indefinite period of excruciating mental and physical torment, to have their sins purged away, and thus be prepared to enter heaven and be canonized as saints.
The speed with which the torments of purgatory prepare the souls of the dead to enter heaven seems to depend somewhat upon the amount of money living relatives and friends are able and willing to pay for masses. For this reason, the worship and service of the Catholic god assumes a definitely mercenary aspect. Very few who hold to this belief are so hard-hearted as not to be willing to invest what they can in the project of expediting the progress of their dear ones through purgatory into heaven.
But the Catholic god has still another place of torment, called hell. There is no hope at all for those who enter hell. It is for the eternal torture of willful sinners; and in this place the Catholic god pours out his vengeance forever upon his enemies. Conditions in the concentration camps of the dictators, where they incarcerate their enemies, are most pleasant and congenial compared to what they are alleged to be in hell, where the Catholic god holds prisoners forever those whom he counts his enemies.
Shall we not conclude then, that here is another false god, which the true God is now permitting to be destroyed? The result of a long and undisputed subjugation of a people to the worship of the cruel Catholic god is well described by the historian, H.G. Wells, in his explanation of the causes leading up to the French Revolution, and other revolutions of a similar type. He says:
“Catholic Christianity had practically unchallenged power in France for generations. It was free to teach as it chose, and as much as it chose. It dominated the common life entirely. The Catholic system in France cannot have reaped anything it did not sow, for no other sowers were allowed. That hideous mob of murderous ragamuffins we are so familiar with in pictures of the period was the final harvest of its regime.”—Magazine Digest
But Mr. Wells does not tell it all. He does not explain that the worship of the Catholic god was maintained in Europe by the “Holy Inquisition” and other means of cruelty, which probably were thought to be patterned after some of the torture devices of purgatory and hell. We do not mention these things in any spirit of criticism of individuals, or of groups of individuals; but it is essential that we see and face the facts as to why the God of heaven is permitting present institutions of earth to be destroyed. It is essential, also, that in reaching out for the true God, we be not deceived as to His identity.
Then there are the many gods of the Protestant sects! These gods are alike in many respects, but differ in others. The Calvinist god—the one who led that intrepid reformer to murder Servetus by slowly burning him at the stake because he refused to believe the doctrine of the trinity—is a fatalist god, who has elected that a few shall be saved and enjoy happiness in heaven, while all others of earth’s millions are elected to be damned and suffer an eternity of torture in hell. Here, obviously, is another god that enlightened. humanity is now justifiably casting out as one of the hobgoblins of the darker past.
But many, even in Calvin’s day, couldn’t bring themselves to worship this kind of a god. They properly tried to conceive a better god, one who, at least, wished for the blessing of all his creatures; so there came into being the “free grace” god. This god wanted all to be saved. There was no fatalistic limitation to his mercy. But apparently he was like one of Rev. Beetle’s “little gods,” for he lacked foresight and power. The only ones he could bless were those who were reached and influenced to accept his grace before they died. The reaching of these few depended largely upon the zeal and ability of his worshippers to extend the offer of salvation as far and wide as possible; which was not very far and wide at all, because even today three quarters of earth’s inhabitants have never really heard of this god.
The result? Nearly all, even as with the fatalistic god, must spend eternity in a fiery hell of torment. Both of these gods are far inferior, in our estimation, to the Catholic god; for the latter, while he tortures nearly all of his creatures in purgatory, yet does it for a purpose, in that they are thereby prepared for happiness in heaven. But the others torture nearly all their creatures forever with no’ apparent good being accomplished thereby.
Another quite common characteristic of most of the sectarian gods is their alleged determination to one day rain down fire from heaven and destroy this planet earth. If what has been claimed in this connection were true, it would mean that by comparison, Hitler’s blitzkrieg air attacks on helpless neutral states would seem like a child’s Fourth-of-July celebration.
Again we insist we are not criticizing individuals and groups who unhappily have been led to worship these false gods of cruelty. We are merely calling attention to the revolting nature of the gods themselves, hoping that perchance some may be aided in this time of darkness to discern better the true God of the Bible, the God of love, power, wisdom and justice, who has planned, and is able to execute His plan, for the ultimate blessing of all the families of the earth.
After all, to be able to locate and properly identify the true God, and what He is doing in connection with the chaotic world events of today, is a thing of paramount importance if we are not to lose our faith entirely. This world is dying, being destroyed by the conflicting ambitions of its selfish rulers. There is nothing we can do about this—indeed, there is nothing that the Christian wants to do about it, except to point the people to the hope of a better world to come. But it is important that we understand the underlying causes of the world conflagration, else we will view it as a calamity, and will not lift up our heads and rejoice as the Master bade us do when we see these things come to pass. More and more of the world’s thinking minds see what is happening, but in most cases the vision strikes terror into the heart, because the true God is not seen in the vision. We quote, for example, the following, from the pen of Joseph Fort Newton:
“The beliefs of our fathers have been thrown to the winds. Their values repudiated. It is an age of revolt, the like of which we have never seen … Today the house of the world is on fire … Already there is revolt against the whole Christian scheme of things, such as we have never seen before. Never has there been such an outcry against the church as there is today. The second World War differs from the first. It is an ideological war—led by new religions brought to birth by modern times, and apparently suitable to the modern materialistic mind. They do not offer us a new heaven—to them heaven is a myth. Nor do they offer a ‘new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,’ for to them righteousness is also a myth … No wonder the future is a fear in our hearts, and no one can tell what the years ahead may disclose of tragedy and sorrow.”
Mr. Newton, without realizing it, is calling attention to the fulfillment of prophecy. He says that there has never been anything like the present revolt of the world—Daniel said it would be a “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) He says, the world is in flames, and Zephaniah said the whole earth shall be devoured by the fire of God’s jealousy. (Zeph. 3:8) He says that the future is a “fear in our hearts,” and Jesus said that at this time, men’s hearts would be filled with fear as they looked forward to the things coming upon the earth.—Luke 21:26
Many efforts are now being made by those who have not yet properly identified the true God, to put out the fire which is destroying the present evil world. One of the organizations for this purpose is known as the National Committee for Religious Recovery. Mr. Colby, a speaker at a recent dinner sponsored by this group, said:
“We need some man who has the resources and the genius and the fire and anger of the crusaders to wield the whip and knotted cords, as was done by Jesus in the temple. We need some man with excoriating utterances, with blistering tongue, with fearless heart, to flay and scourge.”
Mr. Colby will not be able to find a man who will be able to flay and scourge severely enough, nor have a tongue blisteringly hot enough to arrest the present fire of destruction with which the present “heavens and the earth” are being destroyed. God, the true God, is speaking out against earth’s false systems, political and religious, in the only language the people are now able to understand; a language which finally will awaken the people to the fact that they have been worshipping the false gods of Mammon and Torment. When they realize this, how glad they will be to worship and serve the true God.
God has promised that after the present conflagration is over He will then “turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:9) When the veil of superstition is removed, so that the people see and know the true God, and when the Kingdom blessings of life and happiness begin to flow out to mankind in the new world now so near, then will come the hearty and enthusiastic response of the multitudes, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: … we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”—Isa. 25:6-9
“God is our refuge … therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; …”—Psalms 46:1,2
| The Everlasting Gospel |
Waiting for the Kingdom
THROUGHOUT the sacred Scriptures, the subject of the Kingdom of God is made a very prominent one. In our Lord’s prayer it is represented as that agency which will be employed for the reestablishment of the divine will upon the earth. God is the Great Emperor of the universe, and the vast majority of His creatures elsewhere are in full loyalty to His government. Upon the earth, however, there is an exception. Fallen man is in rebellion against God’s will, and has been in rebellion for more than six thousand years.
Throughout this long period of sin and death, God has made many promises concerning the blessings of the Kingdom which He proposes to establish upon the earth. Many of those whose hearts have been in harmony with God and with righteousness have rejoiced in these promises. Frequently, however, some have not been willing to wait God’s time for the establishment of His Kingdom, but have undertaken abortive efforts of their own to bring in the Kingdom.
All such efforts have failed, and, of course, will continue to fail. This failure of human efforts, however, will in no sense discourage those who have faith in the promises of God and who believe that in His own time and way all of the glorious promises which He has made in respect to the future blessing of mankind will be fulfilled, and that ultimately the knowledge of His glory will be caused to fill the whole earth as the waters cover the sea.
God’s laws, which are just, holy and good, must be upheld in order for His blessings to be available for His creatures. It was because of disobedience to divine law that the penalty of death came upon the human race. Satan used his influence in connection with the disobedience of our first parents. Though he craftily succeeded in tempting our first parents to transgress the divine law and has used his advantage with rare ability and unearthly persistence in dragging mankind into unspeakable physical, mental and moral depravity, thus turning the earth into a wilderness (Isa. 14:17), yet the depth of man’s calamities are not of such a sort that infinite wisdom, goodness and power cannot provide the means by which God can be just and yet receive man again into His favor; a favor more interesting and blessed because of his former disaster.
A definite purpose of operation was instituted by God to seek and to save that which was lost; that is, to deliver the groaning creation from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. (Rom. 8:19-22) And how wonderful are the steps of the Heavenly purposes. A great Shepherd Himself goes after the lost sheep. Leaving the ninety and nine in their accustomed pastures, He lays aside His heavenly glory and betakes Himself to the problems and mistakes of the missing one. He humbles Himself and becomes a man.—Phil. 2:7
At His birth in Bethlehem, the heavenly host manifested an intensely favorable interest in the great proceedings, for a multitude of them praised and glorified God; and one of them gave an amazing message of good will and world-wide hope saying, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall he to all people.”—Luke 2:10
What wonderful patience is manifested by the Good Shepherd in seeking and saving fallen man! He is not discouraged by the risk and privation of His errand of mercy. He steadfastly resists the temptations of the adversary and endures the contradiction of sinners. When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion, for they were “as sheep having no shepherd.” (Matt. 9:36) He came to minister and went through every city preaching the glad tidings, healing multitudes, shedding tears at Bethany and weeping over Jerusalem.
While often faint and weary, He does not give up the pursuit. How great His agony in Gethsemane’s garden! What depth of sorrow that would bring forth strong crying and tears! What unutterable anguish on Calvary! He, through whom all things were made, who always did those things pleasing to the Father, now is nailed upon a cross, the gazing-stock of the soldiers, of the accusers, of the curious and indifferent, all of whom joined in heaping ridicule upon Him.
But He endured it all, for in the language of the parable, He went after that which was lost until He found it, and when He found it, He “layeth it on His shoulders rejoicing.” (Luke 15:5) But none of the ransomed can fully know how deep were the waters crossed, or how dark was the night through which the Lord passed, ere He found the sheep that was lost. What a heavenly sweetness in the picture. The Shepherd does not chide the wanderer or seek to drive it back with increased terrors, but takes it in His arms and bears it back to its proper home and blessedness. Man was guilty and He came to help him in his weakness. He did not come as a wrathful avenger but as a sympathizing friend.
The Good Shepherd’s Continued Compassion
Our Lord’s compassion for the multitude brought forth criticisms from the lofty, self-righteous and hard-hearted; yet He continued to be sympathetic, kind, forgiving. Three of His parables, namely, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son, reveal these divine attributes in operation for the ultimate recovery and blessing of the fallen human race. Through these simple illustrations we are able to understand some of the depth of Divine compassion and of why it is true that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.
“Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression. … He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion on us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”—Micah 7:18,19
How wonderfully merciful and sympathetic the Creator has been; and what depth of love is manifested in the sending of His Son to recover the sinful and lost race. While God’s justice could not clear the guilty, yet His loving sympathy for the condemned race has caused Him to suffer no less than those who have violated His law. Brother B.H. Barton once said, “Sin is more awful to God than to us. Our senses are dulled and we suffer for only a few years, but He has suffered for six thousand years. It cost Him nothing to give blessings, but it is infinitely harder to withhold them. Sin has cost God more these six thousand years than it will cost Him to shower blessings through all eternity.”
Consider the heights of divine fortitude, the amazing strength, the firmness of mind, that has enabled God to endure that which His wisdom and foreknowledge would dictate in this great drama of the permission of evil—the dispensing of wrath, indignation, anger in all long-suffering against sin, the permitting of His name to be reviled, reproached and misrepresented to the utmost limit and His glory as the incorruptible God changed to the image of man, birds, beasts and creeping things. Consider Him beholding the course of His beloved Son from Bethlehem to Calvary, suffering the just for the unjust.
But if God has recorded for our admonition, His manifestations of wrath, indignation, anger against evil, He has likewise recorded in no uncertain terms, the “showers of blessings,” He will dispense in “the Day of Christ.” Paul writes that if God “spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.” (Rom 8:32) Time would fail to repeat all of the abundant testimonies given us in the Scriptures concerning God’s purpose to bless mankind. These are positive, glorious, thrilling earthly promises of blessings yet in store for the repentant race; and, in them, we are told of the triumphant ring of joy and real pleasure the Great Author of redemption will have in the dispensing of these blessings in due time; and that due time will be the Kingdom time. Note a few of these reassuring promises:
“I create new heavens and a new earth.”—Isa. 65:17
“I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.”—Isa. 65:18
“Before they call, I will answer.”—Isa. 65:24
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain.”—Isa. 65:25
“And many nations shall … say … let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.”—Micah 4:2
“All nations shall flow unto it.”—Isa. 2:2
“All flesh shall come to worship before Me.”—Isa. 66:23
“I will make the place of My feet glorious.”—Isa. 60:13
“Behold, I make all things new.”—Rev. 21:5
To such and many more exceeding great and precious earthly promises the Creator attaches His signature; as, for example, “I Jehovah will hasten it in his time.” (Isa. 60:22) Untold millions have perished amid harrowing scenes, on battlefields, by disease, calamities, plagues, swords, and poverty. All these in due time will be awakened under new heavens, and in a new earth, where the knowledge of the Lord will be world-wide. When it dawns upon their minds as to why they have been called forth from the tomb and have been given the privileges of that new kingdom rule, and that these wonderful blessings of God have been purchased for them through the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, can we be surprised that they will say, in the words of the prophet, “Other lords … have had dominion over us: but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name” nor can we doubt but that they will become so enraptured and entranced with, their surroundings that “the former [things] shall not be remembered, nor come into mind..”—Isa. 26:13; 65:17
Some Who Could Not Wait
The experiences of mankind throughout the six thousand years of the reign of sin and death have been so distressing, and the promises of God so thrilling in their portrayal of the blessings of the new age, that many who have known of these promises and believed in them, have found it difficult to wait for God’s time for them to be fulfilled. The result of this impatience on the part of God’s people has time and again manifested itself in abortive efforts to establish the Kingdom ahead of time. Wishfully thinking that the Kingdom should be established, misinterpretation of the Kingdom promises, have frequently led the Lord’s professed people to conclude that it has been established.
This evidence of human impatience in the outworking of God’s plan was manifested even in the early church. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, indicates that some in that congregation apparently were claiming that the Kingdom had been established through them, even at that time. He writes, “Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us.” That Paul did not think that these to whom he was writing did actually reign, is indicated in his concluding statement on the point which reads, “I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.”—I Cor. 4:8
The Lord’s program for the consecrated followers of the Master in this age is one of self-sacrifice and suffering. It is only on the basis of our suffering with Christ that we may hope to reign with Him when His Kingdom is fully established. There is no scriptural way therefore, in which the people of God, while still in the flesh, can be said to reign with Christ. It was the losing sight of this fundamental teaching of God’s Word that made possible the development of the great apostasy of the dark ages, in which it was claimed that God’s Kingdom was operating through the Papal hierarchy. Paul forewarned of this falling away and the development of the anti-christ system, but it required centuries ere the complete counterfeit of the Kingdom became apparent.
While individuals and small groups of the professed followers of the Master may have made claims concerning the establishment of the Kingdom in their day, this idea did not take on any great proportion until the time of Emperor Constantine. Prior to that, Christians were openly persecuted by the Roman emperors and were accorded no recognition by the kingdoms of this world. The cross was despised and rejected by an unbelieving and pagan world. This meant that those who espoused the name of Christ must necessarily suffer with Him, and because of their allegiance to His cause.
But so far as the great body of professed Christians was concerned, this entire picture of persecution and ostracism on the part of worldly kingdoms was suddenly changed by Constantine, who himself professed conversion to Christianity. The year 313 A.D. this emperor put his signature to a decree reading in part, “Henceforth in perfect and absolute freedom, each and every person who chooses to belong to and practice the Christian religion shall be at liberty to do so without let or hindrance in any shape or form.”
How the Christians must have read the lines with astonishment when they realized the implication of this new change of front on the part of earthly governments. Just emerging from the ten year persecution by Diocletian, they were now free to meet and sing and pray and read their Scriptures in the open sunlight, any time, anywhere. And this was but the first of other favors that were shortly to come to them. The historian records that,
“Constantine ordered the state funds to be used to rebuild their churches, ruined in the previous persecution; he donated land by the acre, built new churches wherever needed in the east or the west—magnificent, costly structures. Christian clerics were relieved of taxation and became officials. Even laymen were shown marked favor in political appointments. Gift was piled upon gift and privilege upon privilege. Decrees were issued exhorting the public to abandon their ‘ancient superstitions’ and accept the ‘truth.’”
Complete and expensive copies of the Scriptures were furnished to Christians by the state, replacing those destroyed by former persecutors. Could or should they decline to accept these marvelous favors thus bestowed upon them? Should they decline to avail themselves of e the wonderful opportunity thus afforded to proclaim the Gospel of the Son of God to the large audiences now forthcoming because of governmental favor toward the church? Should they refuse to rejoice that now multitudes “suddenly saw the light?”
The church had endured persecution—bitter, death-dealing persecution. Now the reverse lever was thrown and they were enjoying the favors of the state. Could they endure prosperity? What was to be their attitude toward this new aspect of the Christian life? How were they to view the future? The great and sudden relief experienced by the lifting of the hand of persecution evidently had the effect that Satan desired that it should, because the historical record shows that the great body of professed Christians at the time concluded that the days of waiting for the Kingdom had ended. One historical writer in telling about this says,
“When they were relieved of their persecution, and came into honor after having been so long reckoned the filth of the world, the cry was straightway raised that the Kingdom of God had come. The emperor was the visible favorite of God, the predestined over-thrower of the powers of evil—even while the Devil was still the reigning prince.”
Following the last session of the Council of Nicea in the year 325, Constantine made a splendid banquet, of which the historian Eucebius, a bishop and one of the guests, has left us the following account,
“The proceedings were sublime beyond description. The soldiers of the emperor’s bodyguard were drawn up before the door of the palace with bared swords. The men of God, over three hundred bishops, some of them bearing in their bodies the marks of the last persecution passed by them proudly into the interior of the palace. Some sat at the same table with the emperor. One might easily believe he beheld an image of the very kingdom of God.”
Following this, and amidst violent, stormy internal disputes, the church multiplied, for the state was still friendly and the sons of Constantine improved on their father, for they not only favored the church, but persecuted paganism, The professed followers of the Master quickly caught the spirit and with even more ardent zeal than was manifested by the arm of the state. They, like so many others who are not willing to wait God’s time for the exercise of kingdom powers, themselves took the law into their own hands. Christian (?) mobs tore down pagan temples, shattered their idols, burnt their libraries, and slaughtered their priests. There was no restraining them, so fierce was their faith and zeal for the alleged kingdom of God.
But Satan was still “the god of this world.” (II Cor. 4:4) While the professed church as a whole entered into these Satanic revelries in connection with the establishment of a counterfeit kingdom of the Lord, there still remained a few true followers of the Master who did not share in this viewpoint and therefore did not enter into these un-christian activities. Concerning these, the historian says:
“Some indeed during this century, were disgusted with the pride and arrogance of the clergy and aimed at primitive simplicity and opposed the general trend; but the only fruit of their labor was that they were branded with infamy.”
Evidently this little flock of true followers of the Master were branded as being anti-kingdom, even as it still is true of some today. When the prince of this world offered the kingdoms of the earth to our Lord, He declined the gift, choosing the present cross and present rejection and finally death, while carrying out the Father’s arrangements of suffering which must precede the glory of the Kingdom. But what the Son of Man refused, the church centuries later through its various bishops, wished for, longed for, schemed and plotted for until finally the Roman bishop emerged at the head, insisting, demanding in the name of God, and receiving, the headship of the kingdoms of this world. From thenceforth it was woe unto those who dared to be “anti-kingdom.”
These abortive Kingdom efforts, however, were not limited to the large body of professed Christians who finally became amalgamated into the Roman Catholic church-state system. When the Protestant movement got under way Satan still was active both with the small and large groups of Protestantism and almost without exception these have fallen prey to this master stroke of delusion.
The historical record of some of these unauthorized efforts to establish God’s Kingdom are almost unbelievable. An interesting example of the fanaticism to which this false theory leads in the lives of those who are not able to wait for the Kingdom is that of Melchoir Hoffman, who gained a large following by his preaching abilities, and claimed that the city of Strassbourg had been divinely appointed as the new Jerusalem. Hoffman proclaimed his message aloud in the streets and set 1532 as the date when the Kingdom would be in full operation and all opposers thereof would be destroyed. But his theory failed.
He spent the next ten years in prison, during which time other preachers set out to establish the Kingdom in a more forcible manner. They gathered in Muenster, Germany, drove out the Mayor and bishop, took over the city, decided that the new Jerusalem would rise there, and all adult inhabitants of the city who refused to be baptized were obliged to leave the city. The news of this Kingdom established in Muenster spread rapidly, reaching persecuted Christians elsewhere, and many came flocking to the wonderful city.
But soon an army besieged the city. The leader within proposed to scatter the army as the princes of Samaria had scattered the Syrian army. So sure that God was on their side, he emerged from the city through the city gate with twenty picked men, and while expecting victory, actually perished quickly, having found, when it was too late, that the special message of God through a special prophet to an ancient king of Israel, did not apply to him. The faithful within the city were discouraged. A new leader arose. They endured a sixteen-month siege and when the besieging army finally succeeded in entering the city, the Kingdom of God in Muenster perished in its fire and blood, all the inhabitants being slain.
The Protestants, in separating from Rome, never completely passed out of the harmful shadow of the Papal mock kingdom. Many of the Protestant systems united with the state. Even today, most professed Christians confuse the present church with the coming Kingdom, and when their hopes prosper or their activity apparently is blessed in a material way, they forthwith believe that the Kingdom of God must be here.
Kingdom Established by Divine Power
While all true Christians should be on the alert watching for evidences that the Kingdom is near, they should always keep in mind the great fundamental truth of God’s Word which makes it clear that divine power, and not human effort, is to establish that Kingdom.
We should never lose sight of the fact that the church in the flesh is a suffering church, not a reigning church. It is the privilege of the Christian to bear witness to whatever God may be accomplishing. He is to tell of the glorious Kingdom which God will establish, and in this present great time of trouble when the nations of earth are crumbling in preparation for the Kingdom, it is the Christian’s privilege to bear witness to this fact. But beyond this the Christian must not go. He is to await the consummation of his hope and realize that he is in no sense to attempt the exercise of Kingdom power until he has proved his faithfulness even unto death. Then, in the first resurrection, he will experience his exaltation to glory, honor and immortality, as a joint-heir with the Master.
Misapplication of Promises
In the Second Psalm, Jehovah makes a definite promise to Jesus in which He says, “Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen [nations] for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Without doubt the Master knew that this and other like promises applied to Him. Nevertheless, He did not make the mistake of misapplying them and expecting that they were to be fulfilled during the time of His earthly ministry.
As a matter of fact, when Jesus did ask of His Father things pertaining to His followers, His petition was a very restricted one. Instead of asking for all the nations for an inheritance, He said, “I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou hast given me.” Jesus recognized that the time had not then come for Him to ask His Father for the rulership of the whole earth. He knew furthermore, that the due time for this request would not come until His own sacrificial work as well as the sacrificial work of His body members was completed.
Nearly all false claims of the Kingdom being established through God’s professed people while still in the flesh are based upon misapplication bf the promises of God. By the misapplication of promises and instructions concerning the Kingdom and its operation, deceived followers of the Master have justified themselves in the practice of intolerance and the judging of all those who do not agree with them nor co-operate in their premature Kingdom efforts.
In first Corinthians 15, the apostle tells us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. In this wondrous chapter, the apostle also makes it clear that those who do become associates with Jesus in His Messianic Kingdom must undergo a change of nature. This mortal must put on immortality, the apostle says. To ignore these clear statements of the Word of God, leads to all sorts of absurd interpretations and practices. Some, even in this enlightened day, are widely proclaiming that our Lord has set up His Kingdom.
Consistent with this theory is the claim that it is now improper to pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” because it is claimed, the Kingdom is already here. This message is held to be of such vital importance that it must be accepted and heartily co-operated with in order for one to be saved. “Salvation,” the claim is, “means deliverance from impending disaster—Armageddon. What is done, must be done quickly and only those of good will toward God will give heed and act quickly and find a place of safety.” The further study of this erroneous theory reveals that the “place of safety” is that of membership in the particular group that holds to and practices this false philosophy.
In all of these pre-kingdom movements there has been no lack of faith and zeal. But it will be noted that the Gospel of the love of God, the cross of Calvary, repentance, remission of sins, justification through the blood of Jesus Christ, sanctification, transformation, renewing of the mind by the power of God through the Holy Spirit, are gradually set aside or ignored and new gospels are introduced and made specialties.
Again today, even as in the past, we have the declaration of woe unto all those who are anti-kingdom; that is, those who do not accept these new gospels. The anti-kingdom class today are branded with infamy even as they were in the dark ages and sentenced to everlasting destruction, no matter how much they may have repented toward God and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, or how much of the love of God, or the love of righteousness, may be in their hearts, or how much of the Holy Spirit may be theirs, or how much they may believe in a future Kingdom.
Christians should ever be on the alert so that they will not be drawn into these attractive-looking but actually counterfeit kingdom arrangements which are unauthorized by God and must certainly fail eventually. On this point, Pastor Russell in the Daily Heavenly Manna comment says:
“Temptations continually assail the Lord’s people—suggestions to do some wonderful works in His name and to prove to themselves and to others that they are heaven’s favorites. The lesson for us to learn is, that the work which the Father has given us to do is not a work of convincing the world, but rather that we should quietly, yet as effectively as reason and propriety will permit, let our light shine, … and from a desire to be wonder-workers to the reasonable position of servants, ministers of the truth.”
The Divine Commission
Our Lord’s great commission to His followers was to go to all nations, preaching repentance and remission of sins in His name, making disciples, teaching to observe all the things commanded by Him. (Luke 24:47, Matt. 28:19,20) Consulting a concordance one finds under the heading of preach and witness, that the message preached by the apostles was “repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ,” “Jesus Christ,” “Jesus and the resurrection,” “peace by Jesus Christ,” “Christ crucified,” “the cross,” “the grace of God,” the “gospel of Christ,” “the unsearchable riches of Christ,” “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
It is found, also, that the proclaiming of the knowledge of God as outlined in these various phases of the Kingdom message meant that through the goodness of God men would be led to repentance.—Rom. 2:4
The entire Jewish nation perished at the close of the Jewish age because of their failure to accept Jesus. Thirty-seven years before the destruction of Jerusalem the Master wept over the city, mourning because their house was to be left unto them desolate. Yet the gospel of repentance toward God and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ was the only message which our Lord authorized to be sent to them. Is there any authority to alter, amend or substitute the gospel message at this end of the age, with the claim that by joining a particular group one may be saved from the impending destruction of Armageddon?
Those who really understand the glorious hope of the Kingdom, and realize that by divine power the vast hordes of mankind who have gone down into the tomb from the days of Eden to the present time are to be raised from the dead, will not be concerned about those who perish in Armageddon. They will realize, rather, that God is just as able to raise these from the dead as He is to raise those who perished a thousand or six thousand years ago.
Those who are guided by the Word, of God, therefore, will not permit themselves to be side-tracked into the publishing of an erroneous philosophy simply because the world today stands on the brink of ruin. They will realize, however, that it is a most wonderful time to proclaim more zealously than ever the glad tidings of great joy concerning the blessings coming to mankind just beyond this time of trouble. Thus they will be messengers of comfort in a. dark and distressed world.
The fact that some at various times have mistakenly supposed that the Kingdom of God was established in their day, and through them, should not lead us into a condition of indifference in the sense that we will take the position that even now the Kingdom is in, the remote future. Neither should we be blind to the fact that in our day the kingdoms of the world are actually being overthrown by the power of God, and that this does mean the near-establishment of God’s Kingdom.
Nevertheless, we should keep clearly in mind that this work that we see transpiring in the earth is. wholly in the hands of God, that it is not for His people in the flesh to themselves attempt the overthrow of the present order, or to feel that in any way they are now privileged to exercise Kingdom, authority and power over their fellow man.
We can rejoice to be living in this most wondrous time of the earth’s history. We can lift ups our heads with confidence as we note the stately steppings of our God, and realize that the quick work of destruction which has been foretold is even now taking place in the earth. True, the transition period in which the old order is going into decay has already stretched out for a period of many years. But this is a short work as God reckons time. To Him a thousand years are but a watch in the night when it is past. “Sudden destruction” shall come upon them, the apostle says, but we must remember that this is expressing God’s viewpoint of suddenness, and are not to look for a precipitous demonstration of divine power that will bring an end to the old order of things in a few brief days.
The time will come in the outworking of God’s arrangements when miracles will be manifested in the establishment of the Kingdom. These miracles include the resurrection of the ancient worthies, and eventually the resurrection of all mankind from the dead. The prophecies indicate that the miracle-working power of God will be manifested on behalf of Israel. Evidently it will be this that will tend to convince Israel and all nations that at long last God has interfered with the evil course of man and that He now intends to use His power for the protection of His people and the establishment of His rule of authority in the earth.
Meanwhile let those of us who are privileged to be living in this wondrous period when the old is giving place to the new, rejoice more and more in the opportunity that is ours of proclaiming the glad tidings of the Kingdom and of thus being witnesses for God and for His glorious Kingdom arrangement.
Let us not do this however, in a condemnatory spirit toward those who may not agree with us. Let us realize that the god of this world is still blinding the minds of those who believe not, and that hence if they fail to appreciate the message as we give it to them, we are to continue to love and sympathize with them, leaving them in the hands of the Lord to be dealt with in the glorious new day when all the blind eyes will be opened and all the deaf ears will be unstopped.
The divine commission of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Christ today is, that outlined by the prophet in Isaiah 61:1-3. Outside of the activities outlined in this commission the Christian has no right to go. It is our privilege to believe in the Kingdom, to wait fore the Kingdom, to pray for the Kingdom, to preach the Kingdom; but it is God’s work to establish the Kingdom. He will accomplish this, not through His people in the flesh, but through Christ Jesus our Lord, now the express image of the Father’s person, whose second presence is already a reality.