| Highlights of Dawn | April 1962 |
The State of a Dying World
APRIL is the month this year when the professed Christian world will commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whom the Creator, our Heavenly Father, sent to earth to be the Redeemer and Deliverer of the human race from sin and death. That was 1,933 years ago, when Jesus began his ministry. During most of this time Jesus’ professed followers have been laboring to induce the people to accept him as their Savior and to conform to his standards of righteousness. It has been the hope of millions that in this way universal and lasting peace would be established and that the spirit of good will would prevail everywhere throughout the earth.
These world conversion efforts began soon after the apostles fell asleep in death. They have taken different forms, one of them being the attempt to impose their formalistic Christianity upon the people of Europe by a church-state system of government. Another method has been the preaching of the God-dishonoring doctrine of eternal torture to frighten people into accepting Christ. The alleged expurgations of a fantastic purgatory also have been kept before the minds of millions to hold them in line with what are purported to be the natural laws and the laws of God. What has been the net result of these efforts? What is the condition of the world today—the world which the nominal church has been endeavoring to make into a so-called Christian world?
We all know that the world today is divided into two gigantic armed camps, capable of inflicting virtually total destruction upon each other, including the people. In the event of war both sides would use this potential of destruction, with the result that what is left of civilization would be wiped out, together with a large portion of the human race itself. Meanwhile, critical conditions develop and continue throughout the earth, erupting at times into what has been called “brush fire” wars. It is the hope of the nations that these can be contained, for should any one or more of them spread, the much dreaded global conflagration could be ignited. This situation exists basically because of human selfishness, which the impact of churchianity has failed to remove from the human heart.
Within Nations
TURNING away from the international turmoil and tensions which daily threaten the destruction of the world, and looking at the situation within nations, what do we find? Is righteousness and good will prevailing within any of the nations of earth? The United States might be considered the most nearly Christian country there is today; and what is the situation here? It is not good! Here is a quotation from a brochure published by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency:
“In the United States the prison population is growing four times as fast as national population. Over two million major crimes are committed each year—one for every twenty U.S. families. Juvenile delinquency is increasing ten times as fast as the population in the 10-17 age group. One out of every seven children 10 to 18 has a delinquency record. Prisons are now overcrowded, and the prospect five years hence is frightening.
“In just one state it costs $161 million a year to keep adult offenders in prison. By 1970 $4 million more will be needed for new prisons and $41 million more to operate them. It costs $15 million a year to support the dependents of those in jail—by 1970 it will cost $20 million; the total for ten years: $395,000,000—in one state.”
This is a sad commentary on the moral tone of a nation which proclaims on its currency, “In God We Trust.” But these statistics pertain only to recognized flouting of the criminal laws of the land, such as killing, stealing, etc. Even worse, perhaps, is the more or less concealed practice of exploiting others by means of graft, dishonest methods of business, and other unfair practices both within and outside of governmental circles. If statistics could be compiled on this sort of crime they might well be almost beyond belief. In this field also, churchianity has failed to stem the mounting tide of human selfishness and sin, leaving the shape of the world in this respect a revolting one indeed.
The State of the Church
THE hell-fire teaching of the nominal church not only failed to frighten people into “being good,” but now the number of church members who believe this teaching is steadily decreasing. The latest statistics show that perhaps five percent of Americans believe in hell-fire. This is inside and outside of the church nominal. Those who profess belief in some sort of heaven amount to forty percent.
Forty percent of the people in the United States do not attend a church of any kind. In England the percentage of non-churchgoers is ninety, and this despite concerted efforts in recent years, including the services of Billy Graham, to “reconvert” the nation to Christianity. And as for the success of the church’s foreign mission activities, we might observe that only one-half of one percent of Japan’s population is professed Christian.
In passing, it is interesting to note that according to a recent survey reported in the New York World-Telegram the non-churchgoers of America are just as religious as those who attend church. The report said:
“The people who set off in their Sunday best at church time and the people who stay at home are psychologically identical twins. The idea that the latter need to be converted is apparently as old-fashioned as sawdust trail evangelism and does not fit the facts.
“The outsiders are not atheists—a mere three percent have taken this stand. A few agnostics—about six percent. Most non-churchgoers (1) believe in a personal God; (2) retain enough orthodoxy to qualify for church membership, and (3) regard the church as a ‘worthwhile’ institution, and in some cases are even enthusiastic about it and commend its good works.”
The survey brought to light another similarity between church goers, and non-churchgoers; namely, that within the church there are also three percent who claim to be atheists, even as among those who do not attend church. Evidently these belong to a church for no other reason than to improve their social and business standing in the community.
The Catholic Church
TO GET a proper understanding of the true state of things within the Catholic Church one must take into consideration the situation as it is in Italy where this nominal church system was mothered, and where it went almost unchallenged for so many centuries. An article by Dave Meade, the Chicago Daily News religious writer, has such headings and subheadings in it as:
“Catholicism Is on the Defensive in Italy”
“Faces Same Difficulties As in Rest of the World”
This article points out that the average church attendance in Italy today is between fifty and sixty percent of the total female population, and ‘twenty to thirty percent of the total male population. If adults only are considered, the percentage is much lower, since a large portion of children attend mass regularly, and, according to Catholic teaching, these also are church members. While no statistics are available on church attendance in Italy fifty years ago, the Catholic Church at that time boasted that Italy was one hundred percent Catholic.
One of the reasons given by Dave Meade for the decline of Catholic influence and prestige in Italy is the historic anti-clerical feeling arising out of the existence of papal political rule in earlier centuries. This feeling, he observes, is made more intense by the unremitting communist propaganda against the church. And there is no denying that in this area the communists have much upon which their propaganda machine can work. The evils of papal political rule are well spread over the pages of history. The cruel persecutions of those who did not bow the knee to papal authority are well known to the communists, and are used effectively by them against the church, right in Italy, where the church can no longer control what is preached and published.
Changes Contemplated
THE Pope has summoned an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church to be held probably late this year. One of the main items for consideration at this council will be what can be done” to make the church more appealing to the people of all nations in an increasingly irreligious world. In an article entitled, “All Catholic Ideas Slated for Review,” written by Barrett McGurn, and datelined Rome, the writer says:
“The council is to review the entire field of Catholic ideas and practices. Nothing adjudged to be an essential of the nineteen-century old inheritance from Jesus Christ will be changed, but a vast variety of rituals and religious formulas will be examined, with the idea of making them more palatable to twentieth century minds.”
The article by McGurn says that symptomatic of what the Vatican has in mind was the issuance of a postage stamp last Christmas by the little Vatican State on which Joseph and Mary, and the babe Jesus were depicted as Chinese instead of Jews. In other words, the Catholic Church may openly take the position of being all things to all people regardless of the truths or untruths involved. McGurn says further:
“Changes in rituals might help bring the Catholic cult closer to those of the Orthodox and Anglican churches. Some Catholic church-men have been urging, for instance, less Latin in the Mass and other Catholic rituals and more use of local languages in general. Many American bishops are pressing quietly for such changes.”
In McGurn’s article he states that the coming Catholic council will endeavor to discover the viewpoints and practices of the church which did not come from Jesus. That is good! May we suggest a few which they might at least investigate? Purgatory, for example. What did Jesus ever say about purgatory? So far as the Bible reveals, he never said anything.
And, of course, hand in hand with purgatory is the mass. Did Jesus ever say anything about the mass, and about paying for mass to get souls out of purgatory? To look into this should make for a really spirited investigation if the investigators faced up to the truth. This is probably too much to expect.
And what about Mary, “the mother of God,” and Peter, “the first pope”? And what about the pope being the civil as well as religious head of the Vatican State? Which one of the apostles ever assumed a position like this? Surely, the Catholic Church did not get this practice from Jesus, for he taught, even as did his apostles, that the only ones who would be qualified to reign over the people as God’s representatives were those who first proved their worthiness by suffering and dying with him. This puts the reign of the church, the members of His body, following the return of Christ and the first resurrection.—Rev. 20:6
God’s Plan Not a Failure
WE CALL attention to the gross errors of belief and practice on the part of the Catholic Church, not to ridicule but to emphasize the reason the Lord has not blessed the efforts of this institution to establish peace and good will throughout the earth. Many of the same reasons apply with respect to the efforts of the various Protestant denominations. That the world is in the state that it is, more than nineteen centuries after the death and resurrection of our Lord, does not mean that God’s plan, as centered in Jesus, has failed. It simply highlights the fact the nominal churches have been endeavoring to accomplish something that was not authorized by God, and attempting it in, unchristian ways.
JESUS knew that the world would not be converted by the preaching efforts of his followers. Just a few days before his crucifixion, his disciples asked him about the conditions, that would obtain in the earth at the time of his return and presence [mistranslated, coming], and the end of the age [mistranslated, world]. They referred to these as “signs.” (Matt. 24:3) He said that at that time there would be “great tribulation” which would threaten the destruction of “all flesh.” (Matt. 24:21,22) Luke refers to this as “distress of nations, with perplexity.” (Luke 21:25,26) Jesus also indicated that a universal lack of faith on the earth would characterize the time of his second presence and the end of the age.—Luke 18:8
These are things which add up to make the state of the world as we see it today. The situation has gone completely beyond the ability of human efforts to correct. Conditions are worse ‘now than they were a year ago, and they will continue to worsen until the due time for the Lord to intervene and say to the raging nations, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen [Gentiles], I will be exalted in the earth.”—Ps. 46:10
This divine intervention will be through God’s elect—Jesus and his faithful followers, exalted to the divine nature to live and reign with him. After his resurrection Jesus commissioned his disciples to go into all the world to preach the Gospel of the kingdom. (Acts 1:8) It was not God’s intention that this should result in the conversion of the world to Christianity. Its purpose was merely to draw from the world those whom God would invite, upon the basis of their belief in the Gospel and dedication to: his will, to follow in Jesus’ footsteps of sacrifice and suffering, even unto death. By faithfulness to the terms of this calling, these prove worthy of the prize of the high calling to “glory and honor and immortality,” and to reign with Christ in his thousand-year kingdom.—Rom. 2:7; Phil. 3:14; Heb. 3:1
The apostles and Early Church in general had this Gospel Age feature of the divine plan clearly in mind, and were faithful to the divine commission. They did not expect to evangelize whole cities or communities. They did all they could to proclaim the good news, with the realization that the visible results of their efforts, as represented in the number who accepted the message and consecrated themselves to the Lord, would be very small.
They were not discouraged by this. Doubtless they often recalled the encouraging words of Jesus, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom:” (Luke 12:32) And it was a “little flock.” It was “little” then, and continued so throughout the age even until now. These have not been recognized by the world. They are not recognized in church history, except by the references which brand them heretics.
But the Lord’s true disciples have not been interested in securing recognition by the world. Their endeavor has been to prove worthy of divine recognition. They have known that if they did this. it would be the Heavenly Father’s “good pleasure” to give them a share in the rulership of Messiah’s kingdom when the due time came. They knew that this was something upon which they could depend. Paul wrote, “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.”—II Tim. 2:11,12
Not So with the Nominal Disciples
BUT this has not been the viewpoint of the merely nominal disciples of Christ. These have sought the friendship and favor of the world, and of earthly governments. The trend in this direction became marked soon after the death of the apostles. Losing the clear understanding of the work of God in the earth during the Gospel Age they began to seek numbers, prestige, and power—and not without success. Teachers of pagan philosophies in the name of Christ infiltrated their ranks, and soon the “tares” began to outnumber the “wheat.” Historians, seeing the vast field of “tares,” supposed it to be the church of Christ, and ignored the “little flock” of true disciples of the Master.—Matt. 13:24-30,36-43
But the “wheat” continued to survive despite the overwhelming number of tares growing around them. Today those who compose the “wheat” recognize the true nature of nominal churchianity. They know that it is simply a part of a world that is disintegrating because based upon, and motivated by, selfishness. They are not bewildered and dismayed by the condition of the world that is dying. Seeing these things, they take courage in the realization that their deliverance from this present evil world into the glories of Messiah’s kingdom is near at hand. They rejoice also to realize that with the death of Satan’s world will come the full establishment of the Lord’s kingdom, and through the agencies of that kingdom, the deliverance of all mankind from the thraldom of sin and death.
The rapid growth of crime and irreligion, and the daily threatened destruction in a global war are frightening to those who do not know God’s plan. But “we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” (Ps. 48:2,3) Knowing, as every enlightened follower of the Master should know, that there is even now a divine overruling in the affairs of men designed to bring the world to an end, we can say with the prophet, “Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.”—Ps. 46:8,9
We “behold” the fulfillment of this prophecy by the eye of faith, and through an understanding of the divine plan. And it is our privilege, yea, we are commissioned, to invite all who will, to “behold” this glorious outcome of the divine purpose, and thus to enjoy the vision with us. This is our message to all who will give ear. It is the Gospel of the kingdom by which mourning ones may be comforted. And surely the world is now filled with mourners!
An interesting viewpoint is presented in the prophecy just quoted. It speaks of the desolations the Lord makes in the earth. And then, as we read the description of those desolations, we find that nothing at all worthwhile is destroyed. “He maketh wars to cease.” This is a “desolation” in which we should all rejoice. “He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear asunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.” This assures us of the ultimate destruction of all the instruments of war. Who does not wish to see a “desloation” of this sort?
We do not know how the details of prophecies like this will be fulfilled. Perhaps the sheer awfulness of the potentials of war, which have been brought about through the increase of knowledge, will help to prepare the nations to be willing to abandon war. This is in the Lord’s hands. What we do know, as we look upon the state of the world today, is that God has not forgotten his earthly creatures, and that his plan for the blessing of all the families of the earth is moving grandly forward to the great joy of all “the children of light.”—II Thess. 5:5