A Holy Fear of God

A Holy Fear of God and His Judgments

John Cotton 1693-1757

Preached November 3, 1727

"My flesh trembleth for fear of Thee; and I am afraid of Thy judgments"
Psalm 119:120

I persuade myself that this text has so often employed the thoughts of many of us since we felt the awful shaking trembling of the earth under us that we have been and are now ready to cry out, "My flesh trembleth for fear of Thee; and I am afraid of Thy judgments": It is a day of no little distress, concern and fear, and it may well be so, for what a holy and provoked God may be about ready to do with us, He alone knows. One thing is certain, our transgressions have been multiplied, and our iniquities testify against us. In past years the Lord has been, in various awful ways, testifying to His anger and displeasure against us, and we may be wisely afraid He will do yet more awful and terrible things. I am convinced that this is the great fear of every one that truly fears the great God today. Would to God that we did not have such solid reasons to fear that the Lord will yet dispense more terrible things in righteousness to a sinful, unreformed people. Yet I am sure the spirits of all flesh in the midst of us have reason enough to tremble for fear of what God may further bring upon us.
I shall improve the words of the text then, on this solemn occasion, by applying it not only to particular persons but more especially to a backsliding and sinful people. Accordingly, I propose this doctrine for our present instruction and improvement;
DOCTRINE. The condition and circumstances of a people may be such that their flesh may well tremble for fear of God, and they may wisely be afraid of His judgments.
In the prosecution of this doctrine I will show:

• What is meant by the judgments of God and what judgments we are exposed to that we ought to be afraid of.


• What is meant by trembling for fear of God and being afraid of His judgments.


• That our condition and circumstance are such that we have abundant reasons and occasions to tremble and be afraid.

What is meant by the judgments of God and what judgments we are exposed to that we ought to be afraid of.
The judgments of God are those manifestations of His vindictive or corrective justice whereby He lets the world know what a sin-hating God He is.
These judgments are temporal, spiritual, and eternal. God can arm the whole creation against us and make everything we enjoy destructive to us. God does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men but when, by their sins, they provoke Him, He sends down His judgments upon them. The judgments of God ought to be the object of a natural man’s fear, for hereby God reveals His just displeasure against sin. "The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth" (Psalm 9:16). Godly men are afraid of God’s judgments. This was the case of the Psalmist in the text, "I am afraid of Thy judgments." This was so of holy Job,
"Destruction from God was a terror to me" (Job 31:23).
The judgments of God and the rebukes of heaven that we lie exposed to and are often suffering and groaning under various. The great God, who is holy in all His ways and righteous in all His works, is sometimes provoked to come out in judgment and to write bitter things against us in the way of His Providence. It is sometimes the sovereign and holy pleasure of God to lay us under some sore judgments and to threaten the infliction of yet more and greater ones. There are the judgments of sword, pestilence, and sickness that the Lord often bring upon us. He sometimes sends cleanness of teeth or a great scarcity of the necessities of life. He sometimes withholds the rain which makes the earth fruitful, causing the heavens over us to be as brass and the earth under us as iron and the rain of the land powder and dust (Deuteronomy 28:23,24). We have sometimes had sad occasions to say with the prophet,
"the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the tress of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto Thee; for the rivers of water are dried up, and fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness" (Joel 1:19, 20).
God sometimes visits His people with scorching droughts so that the fruits of the earth are diminished, the tress do not yield their fruit nor the land its usual increase. Sometimes God sends surplus of rain so that the crops drown or rot. Sometimes He sends infectious epidemic sickness that proves mortal and sweeps away multitudes. There is also the judgment of the sword, when God lets loose the enemy upon us, to waste our substance and destroy the lives of many our people. The sovereign and righteous God has dreadfully punished us in years past by long and bloody wars, when we have seen garments rolled in blood, our young men slain, and many carried into miserable captivity and there poisoned with the Romish religion. There are also judgments of storms and tempests of wind, of thunder and lightening which we have seen and felt to an uncommon degree in the weeks and months that are past. Only a very few weeks ago, upon the evening before the Sabbath, the Lord brought down upon us a violent storm and awful were its effects on our orchards and among the trees of the woods, while some in the city were sorely wounded and one slain.
Now, upon the evening after the Sabbath, the Lord has brought upon us the unusual and terrible judgment of an earthquake. We have thus seen those awful words fulfilled,
"Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire"(Isaiah 29:6),
and
"The earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth"(Psalm 18:7).
Among the awful judgments of God, that of the earthquake is much described. It is very particularly and most awfully detailed in the twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah which you will do well to read this day with very great attention I will single out a few verses and read them to you now.
" behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof… The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left… All the merryhearted do sigh… The noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be gone. In the city is left desolation… Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up our of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake… The earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard… and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again"(verses 1, 3-12, 17-20)
The Prophet predicted that in that day:
"they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth" (Isaiah 2:19).
The Lord said, "Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place"(Isaiah 13:13).
The Prophet Ezekiel also spoke of earthquakes saying,
"Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls creep upon the earth, and all men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at My presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground"(Ezekiel 38:19,20).
Joel wrote,
"the Lord also shall roar our of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake" (Joel 3:16).
The prophet Haggai recorded,
"For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations…"(Haggai 2:6,7).
Malachi also spoke of this day of the Lord,
"For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that is shall leave them neither root nor branch"(Malachi 4:1).
In the Gospel we read of earthquakes as forerunners of our Saviour coming to judgment,
"There shall be famines, and pestilence’s, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:7,8).
Matthew speaks here of the Son of Man’s coming the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and oh the same signs preceding it that the prophets I have just mentioned spoke of. The apostle Peter also speaks remarkably of our hastening unto the coming of the day of God and of its coming most suddenly and unexpectedly upon a secure, unprepared world, when
"the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2Peter 3:10).
Thus we see that we may wisely look for such awful shaking dispensations as we have been under this week. They are very terrible indeed and God only knows what will be the outcome. It certainly looks as if God is very angry with us and that we are ripe for His terrible judgments. When God threatens to bring judgments in general and earthquakes in particular, He says,
"I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove our of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger"(Isaiah 13:13);
"For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land"(Ezekiel 38:19).
Our flesh, therefore, trembles for fear of what God may be about to do in a still more special manner by this judicial dispensation.
I must also speak of spiritual plagues and judgments we lie exposed to and, doubtless in many instances, are bringing down upon ourselves. These are the worst of God’s judgments. How can any temporal judgment be compared with being given up to blindness of mind and hardness of heart, to being cast away from the presence of God and having His Holy Spirit cease striving with us, in having the Word and the means of grace made a savor of death unto death instead of life unto life, having a blinding and hardening effect on the hearts of men. Oh, dreadful judgments! These above all others are to be feared, for if these judgments are inflicted on any, they will ripen rapidly for eternal destruction. If persons under such judgments are allowed to continue longer upon the earth, it will only be to fill up the measure of their iniquities and to permit them to treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgments of God which will be revealed against them and forever inflicted on them in the world to which they are going.
This, I trust, will suffice to answer the first question, "What is meant by the judgments of God and what judgments we are exposed to that we ought to be afraid of."
II. What is meant by trembling for fear of God and being afraid of his judgments?

1. Trembling for fear of God implies our solemn an awful apprehensions of the great God, who brings such judgments upon us

.
We are to adore God’s infinite wisdom and almighty power. We are to love Him who is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has ever hardened themselves against Him and prospered? He removes the mountains and they know not. He overturns them in His anger. He shakes the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble (Job 9:4-6) We must sanctify this Lord of Hosts Himself and make Him our fear and our dread. To fear God means that we adore His sovereignty and righteousness even in His awful dispensations and that we employ our serious, devout, and solemn thoughts on these an other glorious excellencies and perfections of Almighty God displayed in His judgments. They must be the subject of our frequent and solemn meditations so that we may always maintain in our hearts suitable apprehensions of the great God who sends His judgments upon us.

1. Trembling for fear of God means that we are sensibly touched and affected with the consideration of the judgments that are or may yet be brought upon us.

It suggests that we so abhor them that they make deep impressions upon our hearts; that our spirits are so sorrowfully affected with the tokens of the divine anger visible therein that we weep bitterly in secret places in the consideration thereof. Indeed, they have the power to make us cry out,
"Oh that my head were waters, and mines eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night" (Jeremiah 9:1).
Our hearts then should be deeply and sorrowfully affected with the judgments of heaven inflicted or threatened to the point that we are grieved and concerned continually. This may be very much what is meant by "trembling for fear of God and being afraid of His judgments."
3. Trembling for fear of God means our humbling ourselves exceedingly before Him who is thus visiting and threatening us.
We can wisely lay our hands on our mouth and our mouths in the dust before Him and there repent and abhor ourselves. We ought, while trembling before Him, to judge and condemn ourselves, acknowledging that we are guilty before God, that He is justly angry with us, and that He could, in righteousness, afflict us until we are so consumed that not even a remnant escapes. We need to humbly acknowledge and declare that the Lord is just in whatever He is pleased to lay upon us; that He does right but we have done wickedly; that He punishes us much less that our iniquities deserve and, therefore, He is justified when He speaks and clear when He judges. We need to humbly accept the punishment of our sins and bear the indignation of the Lord because we have sinned against Him. We have every reason to continue sighing and crying for the abominations that are committed among us and for the many provoking evils that are to be found in the midst of us, to the infinite dishonor of the holy God and the wounding of many precious souls.
4. Trembling for fear of God implies in it the greatness of our fear and distress.
In the text it appears that the apprehensions of God’s judgments frightened that psalmist as nothing else could. It is doubtless expressed this way to set forth the greatness of his fear and to show how deeply he regarded the hand of God therein. We see how profoundly Moses felt the judgments of God,
"Who knoweth the power of Thine anger? Even according to Thy fear, so is Thy wrath" (Psalm 90:11).
We too must receive the judgments of God in such a way as to prove they are no light and trivial thing to us. This was the attitude of David when he prayed
" Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure" (Psalm 6;1).
When men are very much frightened, their countenances change and their bodies tremble. Nothing can cause this trembling more that the sense of God'’ anger manifested in His judgments, if we are rightly sensible of them. Belshazzar’s knees shook and trembled at the judgment threatened in the writing on the wall(Daniel 5:6). The holy prophet Habakkuk quaked for fear of God saying,
"When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself" (Habakkuk 3:16).
Just so the Psalmist, in these words of our text, expresses the greatness of his fear at the apprehension of God’s displeasure in His judgments. Is it not clear that these word imply our fearing nothing so much as the Lord’s anger in His judicial dispensations? Surely the consideration thereof should fill us with the greatest fear and concern of spirit that God has been so provoked that He has had to come out against us in His anger and to threaten our utter ruin and desolation.

1. This fear and trembling implies in it a conscientiousness and diligent care to avoid and forsake every provoking evil to rush to God in Christ as our only refuge and safety.

Our fear of God must excite us to depart from all evil and to abstain from all appearances of it and approaches toward it. We must stand in such awe of God that we dread to allow ourselves to commit any known evil, realizing that sins are the procuring causes of the divine anger. Out of holy fear and concern of soul we will, in times of distress and danger or when under judgments indicated or feared, make haste to Christ to get under that shadow of His wings. At such times we will, in fear and trembling, say,
"Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me; for my soul trusteth in Thee; year, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast"(Psalm 57:1).
Such things as these are implied in our trembling for fear of God and being afraid of His judgments. I now proceed to the third and last head propounded
II. That our condition and circumstances are such that we have abundant reasons and occasions to tremble and be afraid.
A professing people may be left to fall into sad degeneracy. They may forsake the Lord God of their fathers, depart from the blessed truths of His Word, abandon Him in respect to His holy institutions, worship, and ordinances, disregard Him in their conversation by walking in the way of pride, sensuality, and unrighteousness and by being unholy and profane. The fear of God can be so evidently wanting in men that their conduct becomes scandalous, and they sin against great light, love, and grace. Our apostasies from the good ways of the Lord may even be such that He says to us,
"I have planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right see; how then are thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?" (Jeremiah 2:21)
It is recorded concerning the children of Israel,
"They turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so" (Judges 2:17).
The fathers endeavored to uphold religion in its power, but heir children did not do so. Notice how Moses once spoke to them,
"Behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, and increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel" (Numbers 32:14).
Alas! How this very thing is true in this day. The first generation of Christians has gone off the stage and in a manner the second, and is there not another, and a more sinful, risen up in their stead? We read,
"Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?’ (Joel 1:2)
Were there such judgments formerly in New-England as there are now? You may, therefore, conclude that you have departed from God and by your sins have provoked Him so to punish you. Must not this very thing be said with reference to our state and circumstances and the later dispensations of God toward us? Alas! For us!
Did we ever have more reason to stand trembling before God under fearful apprehensions of impending vengeance when we consider the many scandalous, provoking evils abounding among us including oppression, injustice, fraud, deceit, falsehood, evil speaking, pride contention, intemperance, drunkenness, unchastity, excessive and inordinate love of the world, and may I add, the rudeness and profaneness of young people? God Himself, and our duty to Him, is evidently neglected and forgotten by many, and a form of godliness is maintained and kept up without the life and power of it. The sacred and dreadful name of God is dishonored and blasphemed by profane cursing and swearing. His holy Sabbaths, instead of being strictly observed and sanctified, are very much profaned by idle, vain, trifling and unsuitable conduct. Some forsake the house of the Lord, frequently neglecting and needlessly staying away from the public worship of God. Has not manifold contempt been put upon the Lord’s holy ordinances and institutions? Are there not many who disregard coming to them in a serious and worthy manner? Must we not acknowledge that mutual Christian love and charity grow cold? Are not both the love of men to God and the love of men to their neighbors treated with a visible coldness and indifference that clearly mark the lack of the power of godliness? Alas, for this people!
Are not the iniquities I have just described, and many more, prevailing among us and testifying against us, loudly proclaiming our impiety and great degeneracy, declaring that we are an impenitent, incorrigible, and unreformed people still, ripening rapidly for a destruction without remedy? Surely then, if this is the case with us, we have reason to tremble for fear of God and to be greatly afraid of His judgments. We might wisely be afraid of temporal plagues and judgments of a far heavier and sorer nature than we have yet been visited with, for the transgressions of God’s covenant people are exceedingly provoking to Him and richly deserve to be severally punished. I beg of you , do not forget that our sins are the more offensive and provoking to God for we are a people in covenant with Him.
We are not altogether unlike those of old of whom it was said,
"You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (Amos 3:2).
See how God once solemnly threatened Israel,
"But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandment; and if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break My covenant; I also will do this unto You, I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume thy eyes, and cause sorrow of heart; and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass; and your strength shall be spent in vain’ for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. And if ye will not be reformed by Me by these things, but will walk contrary unto Me; then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of My covenant; and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight; and ye shall eat and not be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto Me, but walk contrary unto Me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my should shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors" (Leviticus 26:14-31).
Do not we in this day need to be justly afraid of the fulfillment of these terrible threatenings? Indeed, some of them have been awfully inflicted already. When we consider our many and grievous provocations of the great God, have we not reason to fear we shall be laid utterly waste and desolate? Or if the Lord shall yet spare us, have we not reason to be greatly afraid of having brought on ourselves that fearful judgment denounced against Israel after the Lord had sworn He would not forget any of their sins and that the land should tremble for them?
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it" (Amos 8:11, 12)
And even if our eyes shall yet see our teachers, and our ears they hear the Word of life dispensed to us, have we not reason to fear that the Lord’s Ambassadors shall be sent on that same doleful errand the Prophet Isaiah was when one of the seraphim touched his mouth with a live coal from off the altar and told him,
"Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed" (Isaiah 6:9-10)
I say, when we reflect on our past unprofitableness and unfruitfulness under the precious means and advantages enjoyed by us, may we not fear the Lord thus judicially coming out against us and causing the means of grace to have a blinding and hardening efficacy upon us? May we not fear that some are already and more shall be, under such a judicial dispensation that they have not been nor are likely to be reformed, either by signal mercies or terrible judgments? May not the Lord say unto this people, as He once said unto Jerusalem when He wept over it, oh that "thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes" (Luke 19:42).
What awful symptoms there are of blindness and hardness of heart right in our midst. Ought we not to fear that men are dreadfully blinded and hardened in their sins when there is not so much as external reformation in connection with such an awful judgment of God as this earthquake? Are not the very iniquities that have been frequently and solemnly testified against by the Lord’s ambassadors prevailing now as much as ever before? It was once said by an eminent divine of our own, in a sermon on a very public and solemn occasion, "That there was not a general reformation in respect of so much as any one evil found amongst us." If this is still so, and we continue going on incorrigibly in our evil ways, we must look for a continuation of temporal judgments and of shaking dispensations to be trembled at.
"The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?" (Amos 8:7,8)
Hopefully, these truths will suffice for the confirmation of the doctrine I have set before you, that the condition and circumstances of a people may be such that they have abundant reasons to tremble for fear of God and to be afraid of his judgments. If I am not greatly mistaken, we are in such a condition, and the circumstances of this day should give us sad occasion for such reflections.
I proceed to make some application of these truths
USE ONE. We learn from the text considered, the astonishing stupidity, madness, and folly of those who do not fear the Lord and are not afraid of His judgments.
Sinners usually mock at God’s judgments and put the evil day far from them, but if they would just consider that God’s omniscient eye can find them out and His omnipotent arm can punish them, they may justly fear and tremble as the godly Psalmist does here in our text. I am inclined to hope that there is not a man, woman, or child who is able to reflect upon the providential dispensation of God toward us but who has had, and especially since that awful night after the last Sabbath, some concern of spirit awakened in them about working out their own salvation with fear and trembling and thereby preparing for the coming of the Lord. Verily, if you cannot say that it has been so, you have been exceedingly stupid! If you cherish such a frame, you are guilty of the greatest madness and folly. Indeed, if you do not fall down before Him and give glory to that God who has made the earth to tremble and so make confession of your sins and seek earnestly for peace with Him, He may not give you any further warning before he executes the fierceness of His anger upon you.
"Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: Fear ye not Me? Saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at My presence?" (Jeremiah 5:21, 22).
USE TWO We learn from this text what is the best frame with which to entertain God’s judgments.
We are to adore the perfections of the glorious God who is displayed in them. We are to be afraid of them, deeply abhorring the divine displeasure and humbling ourselves under His mighty hand. We are to stand in such awe of Him that we renounce and abandon every evil way and rush to the Lord Jesus Christ as our only place of refuge.
"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." (Psalm 2:12)
USE THREE We learn from this text that it is not cowardly to be afraid of God’s judgments but very agreeable to true Christian courage.
God is no fit match for us to contend with. No one has ever hardened himself against Him and prospered(Job 9:4). He is our Creator, we are His creatures. We are as clay in the hands of the potter. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. God cannot err on His end, as the princes of this world may in the execution of their displeasure through impotency or want of knowledge, for He is infinite in knowledge, wisdom, and power, and there in no comparison between infinite and finite. It is not cowardly then to fear God. Our Saviour advises us,
"Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell"( Matthew 10:28)
Such wise fear is agreeable to true Christian courage. This should be expressed in our lives by maintaining a reverential fear of God upon our minds, in fighting against the enemies of our salvation; in mortifying our lusts; in steadfastly persevering in all the duties of our holy religion; in not disobeying His commands, despising His judgments, scorning His rod or setting ourselves in opposition to His threatening, which is the most daring and prodigious folly and madness and will be found so in the end.
USE FOUR. We learn from what we have heard the reason for the Lord’s awful threatening us as He does at this day.
Our many provoking iniquities have been the procuring cause. Our evil ways and doings have brought these rebukes from heaven upon us. We are not humble even unto this day, neither have we feared or walked in His statues which He set before us and before our fathers. Therefore the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, has set His face against us for evil (Jeremiah 44:10,11).
USE FIVE. Let our flesh now tremble for fear of God. Let us be afraid of His judgments. Let us at last hearken immediately to the exhortation to reform and amend our ways and doings. This we most certainly must do if we are to expect or even hope to be saved from destroying judgments.
My dear neighbors, are you trembling this day for fear of God? Are you now afraid of His judgments? Are you sensibly touched and deeply affected with the threatening tokens of the divine anger? I am sure you ought to be, and if you are not, you are stupid indeed! I hope there are few or none before the Lord now but who are in this day of fear and apprehension, serious and thoughtful concerning what may be God’s meaning in this terrible dispensation. Surely the great God is very wroth. Therefore, He has been shaking the earth so terribly. In this week before us we may expect to feel yet more terrible shocks, if a thorough repentance and reformation do not prevent additional judgment. This very repentance you have been, oh how often, exhorted and urged to, and the Lord who alone knows and searches hearts, knows how many of you there are who have never yet complied with this exhortation and have, therefore, been greatly instrumental in bringing down this unusual judgment of God upon us.
Unto such I would now address myself and with bowels of pity and concern entreat and beseech you not to go on any longer in your unrepentant state. I advise such not be deaf to God’s voice unto them this week but to be searching their hearts and trying their ways. I beseech you to no longer delay taking some suitable time to look within yourselves and to reflect with all possible seriousness and solemnity of spirit upon all your past evil ways and doings. You are also to bring to your remembrance and to especially mourn for the carnality, the corruptions, and great wickedness of your evil hearts, realizing that carnal mind and heart within you in enmity against God. Oh, be persuaded to bring your hard, corrupt, and depraved hearts to God for softening, renewing, cleansing, and healing. Plead with Him that He will take away your hearts of stone and give you hearts of flesh! Oh, plead with God the gracious promises He has made to do so for those who will seek Him for it.
And as you bring unto the Lord your corrupt and wicked hearts, so come to Him also with the wickedness of your lives laying heavy upon your hearts; wickedness by which you have dishonored God, squelched the Spirit of God and wounded your own souls. Oh, come with the utmost grief, distress, and anguish. Know and see the evil and bitterness of such ways and doings which your conscience must tell you have not been right. Abhor yourselves before God in the very remembrance of them. Judge and condemn yourselves before him as utterly unworthy of any mercy or salvation from Him, and having thus mourned for your provocations of God, earnestly implore divine pity and pardoning mercy through the merit of Christ for His sake alone. Resolve, by the help of divine grace, that you will cast away from you all your transgressions. Then you will have reason to hope to be saved from the judgments of God or hid under that shadow of his wings until the heat of His indignation is past. By such a repentance and reformation you may answer the Lord’s design and end in the threatening dispensation we have been experiencing. You might then have reason to hope that the Lord will turn from the evil which He had thought yet further to have brought upon you.
"Therefore now amend your ways and doings, obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent Him of the evil that He hath pronounced against you" (Jeremiah 26:13).
Oh, what encouragement have we then to be humbling ourselves before God as we do this day. But what will all our confessions avail if we will not forsake as well as confess our sins. Let each one of us then, from this day onward, set himself to reform and amend everything that is amiss. Let every one ask, "What have I done?" And "have not I done a great deal to bring down this new and tremendous judgment on the land?" If we do not, with the greatest possible concern of soul, do so, this will not be an acceptable day unto the Lord. I trust God has a remnant of His reformed and faithful people here, a number of such that tremble at His Word and at His judgments, men of humble and contrite spirits, men of prayer and of holy conversation, men who are burdened over the sins of the times and of the place in which they live, who are daily interceding with God for sparing mercy to a sinful land. And how many such are there in other towns and places, doing as we are doing here and have been in a very solemn manner all this week, who are this day pleading with God for mercy to a sinful people. But whether their intercessions shall prevail, God only knows.
Oh, that this might be a day of atonement to us and to our houses. Oh, that God would hear and answer our supplications to Him in this time of distress, while we are trembling before Him and greatly afraid of further terrible manifestations of His holy displeasure. Let us beg the Lord to show us what He would have us learn and do by this awful voice by which He has spoken to us. I hope, my neighbors, this is your great concern his day. I dare not any longer delay calling you thus together that we might once more unite in humbling ourselves before God and seeking His face and favor.
We do not know what a day or a night may bring forth. We are told that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night (2Peter 3:10), which intimates how unexpected it will be and how surprising to a secure and wicked world. How frequent and solemn are the exhortations given us in the Gospels to "Watch and Pray" and how awakening are the motives used to excite us to do so.
"Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is… Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!" (Mark 13:33, 35, 36).
Oh, what cause we have had to think much upon this exhortation and the call of God to us since the last Lords day night? How very surprising and amazing was the first sudden shock and convulsion we felt! Our houses and beds were shaking, and the earth was trembling and reeling under us like, I suppose, none ever felt in this part of the world before. And how many times has the awful noise been repeated, though not to such a fearful degree? Well may the people in this city and in the country round about be filled with the surprise and consternation of which we see and hear. Multitudes seem to be under great conviction, distress, and concern about their soul and eternity. Oh, that the impressions might abide until conversion to God is accomplished and the great work of their salvation is completed.
But it may be that up until now many of us have not been duly affected with God’s awful providence. I trust many of you are now become more thoughtful about death, judgment, eternity and the speedy coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that the Spirit of God might now fix in our heart His convictions and never leave you until you are savingly brought to God.
You ought surely to be afraid of delaying your repentance and reformation any longer. Be thankful for the time God has given you to repent. You might have been swallowed up in the deep vaults and caverns of the earth the very first night the earth shook. But the mighty God has stayed His hand and has spared you to this hour. Will you not now do as you were exhorted to do the last Lord’s day? Come trembling and abased to your Saviour and say, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Remember the Philippian jailor came trembling to Paul and Silas after the earthquake crying out, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:25-34). Will you not do the same?
"Give glory to the Lord your God," I beseech you, "before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it grow darkness" (2Peter 3:11).
"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).
"Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless" (2Peter 3:14).
If you have an interest in God through Jesus Christ as the portion of your soul, He will be your hope and your strength.
"The day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision… The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel" (Joel 3:14, 16).
Such of you may say and sing with the holy Psalmist,
"God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we 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.. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Psalm 46: 1-3, 7)
We may say with the prophet Jeremiah,
"We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace… and all faces are turned into paleness. Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:5-7).
The Lord will set a mark upon such as ware sighing and crying for their own sins and the sins of others (Ezekiel 9:40), and He will be their protection and give them a part and portion of His kingdom that cannot be shaken when multitudes about them shall cry to the shaking rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the presence of Him that sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb(Revelation 6:16, 17).
Oh, that we could realize these things more! Let us cry unto God with whom is the residue of the Spirit, that He will now pour Him out upon us and our families, that our houses may be sprinkled with the blood of the great sacrifice. Let us all resolve that we will, by the help of God, walk before Him in our houses with a perfect heart; that we will put away all iniquity far from our churches; that family, religion, family prayer, instruction and government shall be maintained and kept up in them; that we will be more diligent and faithful in our Master’s work; that we will be conscientious about sanctifying His holy Sabbaths; that we will be no longer slothful in the business of religion but fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord; that we will work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Make haste to Christ and so get on good terms with heaven. Give not sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids until you have sought earnestly a reconciliation to God. He may not suffer you to rest quietly if you neglect it. Oh, how comfortable it would be to be able to say with holy David,
"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety" (Psalm 4:8).
I will only add that I am greatly afraid that notwithstanding the surprise and consternation many have been and are yet in because of these terrible earthquakes, that if they should quickly and wholly cease, many in every place will return to their carnal, secure frames again. Oh, what need we have then to cry mightily unto God that He will make the impressions lasting on the souls of parents, children, young, old, rich, poor, bond and free! We have done it already. We will continue to do it, and we hope the lord will not turn away our prayers nor His mercy from us.

Comments on Christma

Comments on Christmas
by Charles H. Spurgeon

"We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas. First because we do not believe in any mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be sung in Latin or in English: Secondly, because we find no scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Savior's birth, although there in no possibility of discovering when it occurred. It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the Church celebrated the birth of our Lord; and it was not till long after the western Church had set the example, that the eastern adopted it. Because the day in not known. Probably the fact is that the "holy" days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. We venture to assert that if there be any day in the year of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which our Savior was born it is the 25th of December. Regarding not the day, let us give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son.
How absurd to think we could do it in the spirit of the world, with a Jack Frost clown, a deceptive worldly Santa Claus, and a mixed program of sacred truth with fun, deception and fiction. If it be possible to honor Christ in the giving of gifts, I cannot see how while the gift, giver, and recipient are all in the spirit of the world. The Catholics and high Church Episcopalians may have their Christmas one day in 365 but we have a Christ gift the entire year". C. H. Spurgeon Dec. 24, 1871
"Upright men strove to stem the tide, but in spite of all their efforts, the apostasy went on. till the Church, with the exception of a small remnant was submerged under pagan superstition. That Christmas is a pagan festival is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, and the ceremonies with which it in celebrated, prove its origin".
"Those who follow the custom of observing Christmas, follow not the Bible, but pagan ceremonies".

TEN REASONS

TEN REASONS
by Pastor Larry Killion
The Lord's Baptist Church, Tacoma, WA

TEN REASONS WHY BAPTISTS SHOULD OBSERVE CHRISTMAS:

1. It makes me feel so good to be so warm and fuzzy.
2. I do not have to be such an odd ball and not fit in with everyone else.
3. I might get some cool presents out of the deal.
4. You can drink booze if you want to and nobody thinks it is wrong.
5. It is OK to kiss someone who is not your spouse. (mistletoe)
6. You can make the kids behave better by threatening to tell Santa.
7. There is money to be made if you have the right business.
8. It gives the appearance of religious UNITY for a change.
9. Diets and eating right can be overlooked during this season.
10. By doing all of this stuff, I can witness for Christ . . . . (?????)

TEN REASONS WHY BAPTISTS SHOULD NOT OBSERVE CHRISTMAS:

1. Learn not the way of the heathen.
(Jer 10:2) Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
2. Little children keep yourselves from idols.
(1 John 5:21) Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
3. That which is highly esteemed by men is abomination to God.
(Luke 16:15) And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
4. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
(1 Th 5:22) Abstain from all appearance of evil.
5. Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord.
(2 Cor 6:17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
6. God is to be worshipped in Spirit and in TRUTH.
(John 4:24) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
7. For the customs of the people are vain.
(Jer 10:3) For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
8. Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God.
(Rom 14:12) So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
9. Don't give a brother an occassion to fall.
(Rom 14:13) Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
10. We should not be an unrighteous witness.
(Exo 23:1) Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

SOME FACTS ABOUT EAS

SOME FACTS ABOUT EASTER

by A. A. Davis (from the book The Baptist Story, pp. 167-171)
Matt. 28:1--"In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre."
(Note:--The Jew reckoned his time from sundown to sundown. Since the Sabbath was the seventh day, the time in this text is evidently about sundown, Saturday afternoon. The Grave was empty.)
John 20:1--"The First day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene, early when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre."
Note:--This visit is not the same visit Matthew records. Note the time element.)
Mark 16:2--"And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun."
(Note:--This is still another visit made at sunrise, Sunday morning. Luke evidently records this same visit. Thus much confusion will be eliminated if we understand that separate visits were made to the tomb. The first one recorded by Matthew, who says it was near the end of the sabbath or about sundown Saturday afternoon. Note, also, that Matthew mentions an earthquake. None of the other writers make mention of an earthquake. Surely if they are all writing of the same visit to the tomb, they are very confusing to say the least. Since we believe the Bible is divinely inspired, we must believe that each of the writers told the truth.)
Please Note Matthew 12:40--"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
We are asked to believe in the Easter celebrations that Jesus was crucified on Friday and was raised at sunrise Sunday morning. We would like to meet the man who can get three days and three nights from Friday afternoon to sunrise Sunday morning. If the Easter story is true, then Matthew 12:40 is false.
Who started this Easter business anyway? "There is no trace of the celebration of Easter as a Christian festival in the New Testament or in the writings of the Apostolic followers. The sanctity of special times or places was an idea quite alien from the early Christian mind; too profoundly absorbed in the events themselves to think of their external accidents." (Enc. Brit.--Ed. 9, Vol. VII, p. 531)
"The Christian who dwells on the truths of Christ as our passover and the gift of the Holy Spirit is every day keeping an Easter and pentecostal feast." Origin (contr. Celsum VIII--22)
'The Ecclesiastical historian, Socrates, (Hist. Eccl. VII) "Neither Christ nor His Apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. The Apostles had no thought of appointing festival days, but of promoting a life of blamelessness and piety."
"The word Easter is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Eostre or Ostrae. The Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring and fertility, to whom the fourth month, answering to our April, thence called 'Eoster-monath' was dedicated. The name of this Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring was unfortunately blended with the passover festival. The Paschal festival was observed by the early Christians of Jewish descent early in the history of Christianity. The Jewish and Gentile elements were engaged in a long, continued and bitter controversy and an unhappy severance of Christian union. No rule as to the rule of the Paschal festivals having been laid down by authority, Christians were left to follow their own instincts. With the Jewish Christians, the Paschal Feast would end at the same time as that of the Jews on the 14th day of the moon at evening. And the great festival day would follow immediately, entirely irrespective of the day of the week. With the Gentile Christians, on the other hand, unfettered by Jewish traditions, the first day of the week would be identified with the resurrection festival and the preceding Friday would be kept as the commemoration of the crucifixion, irrespective of the day of the month. With one group, therefore, the observance of the day of the month; with the other, the observance of the day of the week was the ruling principle. The chief point was the 'keeping' or 'not keeping' the fourteenth day of the moon corresponding with the month, Nisan. Those who adopted the Jewish rule, did so keep the fourteenth day and were called 'Quartodeciman' and were stigmatized as heretics." (p. 531-Enc. Bri. 9 ed. Vol. VII.)
"How was this controversy finally settled? This diversity of usage was gradually brought to an end by the verdict of the Church of Rome. The Roman Christians adopted the ordinary Gentile usage, which within certain limits placed the observance of the crucifixion on Friday and that of the resurrection on the following Sunday. A decretal of Pope Plus I, (C. 147) pronounces that the 'pasch' should be celebrated on the Lord's Day by all." [Note: The word Easter is not used. This is the Paschal Feast.--A. A. Davis] Polycarp, the venerable Bishop of Smyrna, who according to Irenaeus (Apud Euseb, H.E.V 24) visited Rome in 159 A.D. with this object, failed to induce Anicetus to conform to the Quartodeciman usage which Polycarp had inherited from his master, the apostle John." (Enc. Bri.)
The Apostle John was baptized by John the Baptist. (Acts 1.22).
Polycarp was baptized by John the Apostle, Dec. 25, A.D. 95. (Neanders Ch. Hist.--p. 285).
At the time the above visit to Rome A.D. 159, Polycarp was Pastor of the church of Smyrna. Certainly we would be safe in assuming that these brethren, Polycarp and John, were representatives of the New Testament faith to their generation. You remember John was an apostle of the Lord and wrote the Book of Revelation. They certainly aligned themselves with the Quartodecimans which was the Jewish interpretation of the Paschal festival, which was to be observed, according to the Jewish calendar and not the Roman calendar. The feast of unleavened bread and the passover feast were identical. Luke 22:1; Exodus 12:14-20.
John 19:31--"The Jews, therefore, because it was the Preparation that the body should not remain upon the cross upon the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath was a high day) besought Pilate that their legs be broken that they might be taken away."
Now, what means the Preparation? What kind of a Sabbath does it refer to? The Preparation Day was always the day of the feast of unleavened bread preceding the Passover Sabbath. The Sabbath referred to was the great Sabbath of the Passover that began at sundown on this Preparation day. You will please note that John is careful to say that this Sabbath was not the ordinary seventh day of the week, but a High Sabbath. This Sabbath came only once a year, and always came on the fourteenth day of Nisan. Now if the Jewish calendar is correct, He was crucified on the day before this Great Sabbath, which would have been Wednesday, April 13th. Now figure your Matthew 12:40 text and harmonize it with Matthew 28:1. I believe that from the moment He entered the grave late Wednesday evening that exactly 72 hours to the minute He was raised from the dead. [A. A. Davis]
Further thoughts: See Romans 14:5; Romans 6:1-4; "There is only one authorized Bible method of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is Believer's Baptism. Every time a believer in Christ is baptized, he preaches and testifies that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Never in the scriptures is there any reference to a day or a season for the purpose of observing the resurrection of Jesus. Col. 6:16-17--"Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an Holy day or of a new moon, or of the sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ."
We believe that those who have respect to holy days and new moons and sabbath days are Shadow worshippers. The term Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Whit Sunday, Easter Sunday, Blue Monday, Sad Tuesday, by what ever name, these terms are meaningless to the informed new Testament Christian. While we believe in the resurrection of Jesus, since the moment of His resurrection, we cannot accept the Roman Catholic dogma of Easter anymore than we can accept their dogma on the virgin Mary and purgatory. Because of this conviction, Baptists have been persecuted and rivers have run with Baptist blood, because Baptists would not accept a Roman Catholic decree that contradicted their conscience and their Bible. For the Resurrection we have everything. For Eostre, the pagan goddess of spring and fertility, for whom the Easter festival was evidently named, we have no place for her in our religious life. Let Baptists everywhere beware of the Easter heresy. Watching the sunrise doesn't prove anything. It rises three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but watching a Believer rising from the waters of baptism, is God's appointed testimony. And Jesus rose from the dead to die no more. But I do believe this much about Easter, the women should get new dresses and hats for Easter, but I do not believe rabbits lay eggs.

What is Christmas

What is Christmas?
By: E. G. Cook

In the light of God's Word, how can anything with a Christian name be popular with the world? In John 7:7 Jesus said the world hates Him and in John 15:19 He said the world hates His people. But in spite of all that everybody loves Christmas. The vilest sinner in town will run over you, if necessary in order to celebrate his Christmas. If you have any doubts as to whether the world loves Christmas or not, just go into one of our large department stores, or Ten Cent stores, during the last few frantic hours of Christmas shopping and see if the sinners don't elbow you just as quickly, and tackle you just as hard as the saints do.
As I meditated upon that question the thought came to me that if I would make a feast everyone would love, I must give everyone what he wanted. If I wanted the Orientals to come to my feast I would serve rice, if I wanted the Italians to be there I would serve spaghetti, for the Russians I would be sure to serve plenty of vodka. In other words, if I wanted everyone to come and enjoy my feast I must give everyone what he wants. Then the thought came to me that maybe that is just what has happened to Christmas. So I began to search the reference books to see if that were true.
I had to go to the secular books because I was unable to find it in my Bible. It was truly amazing what I found, and what you can find if you will only look for it, concerning the most loved of all seasons of the year. According to the most authentic sources available, and I will even throw in the Catholic reference works because on this point they all agree, there never was a Christmas before the middle of the fourth century, even in Rome. In Jerusalem, it was first observed in the fifth century, and then we are told it caused rioting in the streets.
I searched through at least a dozen of the world's leading reference works on the subject and they all agree that no one knew the date of Christ's birth, and some of them say we cannot be sure as to the actual year in which He was born. But, in order for the Catholic Church to have a big feast day, it was necessary for some date to be set for His birthday. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia says that in order for the shepherds to have been out that night with their flocks it would have been necessary for His birth to have occurred sometime between March and September. The Catholic Church, however, could not celebrate Christmas at that time of the year as we shall see later. It must be in December whether there were any shepherds and sheep out that night or not. It became really interesting when I began searching for the reason why it must be in December.
First, however, let us consider some of the things which were put into Christmas to make it so universally loved. In Babylon, that great heathen Chaldean city, pagan religion reached its peak so far as ancient history was concerned. Here in Babylon the queen of heaven and her son had their beginnings in the persons of Semeramis and her son, Tammuz. When Belshazzar was slain (Daniel 5:30) and the Chaldeans defeated by Dailus, the Mede, it seems the capital of the pagan religious world was moved from Babylon to Pergamos. Later, at the death of Attalus III, Phrygia was given to the Roman Empire in 133 B.C. The Babylonian pagan worship was then removed to Rome where Semeramis and Tammuz became Fortuna and Jupiter. This queen of heaven and her son became the very heart of pagan, or idol worship throughout the world. They were called by different names in different countries. In Egypt they were Isis and Osiris, in India they were Isi and Iswara, in other parts of Asia they were Cybele and Plutus, but they were all the same queen of heaven and her son. All of these were dumped into Christmas under the new name of Mary and Jesus. This new name did not affect the pagan people of the world too much, for no matter what you call a dish of tender fried chicken it is still a very tasty dish.
I learned that the more religion the Catholic Church put into Christmas the more popular it became. The world is a great lover of religion so long as the Christ of Calvary and His shed blood are left out of it.
Now with all the ingredients in Christmas, it is time to look for the reason why Christmas must be in December. Even back in ancient Babylon the birth of Tammuz was celebrated in our December. The heathen sun worshipers throughout the northern hemisphere all celebrated the rebirth of the sun at the time of its turning back toward the North, that is about December 25. Tammuz, Oriris, Iswara, Deoius, Plutus and Jupiter were all representatives of the sun in their respective countries. These heathen people had been brought into the Catholic Church, mainly through the efforts of Constantine the great. They were still just as heathen as they were before they were incorporated into the Catholic Church, and they were going to continue celebrating this great feast at this same time. It did not matter too much what their god was called. It was still a representative of their sacred god, the sun. But the time of their feast could not be changed, because the sun starts on his return toward the North at only one time of the year. Even old Satan, with the help of all his able efficient coworkers, could not change that time. Therfore, Christmas had to be December 25, whether the shepherds were out that night with their flocks or not.
As much as the head of the Catholic Church likes to boast of his God-like power and authority, this was one time when he was completely helpless. He had absolutely no choice in the matter. His problem was clear. If he wanted to make good Catholics out of his host of heathens he must give their queen of heaven and their god a Christian name. So Mary and Jesus had to be the name and December 25 had to be the date. Had Bishop Julian, I, been really and truly interested in setting the real date of Christ's birth the month of December would not have been considered at all, because anyone who is at all familiar with the climatic conditions which prevail in Palestine during the month of December would know there were no shepherds and sheep out in the field at that time of the year.
With Christmas literally loaded down with the world's religion it is easy to see why the world loves Christmas, but we see people observing the feast who should not be lured into the feast of the pagan gods. The Baptist themselves seem to be trying to out-spend, out-shine and out-do the world in the world's own feast. If you ask why they are at this feast, some would unthinkingly say it is because Mary and Jesus are in it. But that statement won't stand when we turn the light of God's Word upon it. Jesus, himself, said the world hates Him, and He is not a liar. So it is easy to see that if He were in Christmas that would completely ruin it for the world. The world would care no more for Christmas than they do for the church if Christ were really in it. If He could be put in it, I can just see Him plaiting that whip again. When I see posters which read, "Let's put Christ back in Christmas," I always think of the story of the boy from a backwoods family who went away to college. Upon his return home he wanted to improve the family's grammer, so when his younger brother said pass the lasses, he said don't say lasses, say molasses. His brother retorted, how can I ask for mo'lasses when I ain't had no lasses? So how can we put Christ back in Christmas when He has never been in it? Maybe we should let God tell us why we Baptist are so deeply in love with Christmas. If we read Jeremiah 5:30-31 in our everday language it says, the preachers preach false things and the priests run things their own way, and my people love to have it so. The Baptist people run after false gods and false religion connected with Christmas simply because they love it. Why do so many preach false things concerning Christmas when they can find nothing in the Bible, nor in authentic secular history to justify what they teach and preach?
With everybody, including the Baptist, partaking of Christmas, it was time to give it that good old Christmas spirit. You know, that spirit that makes you feel that it is perfectly all right for you to do things you could not afford to do at any other time of the year. If the drunkard refused to drink on Christmas and the harlot became virtuous for the day, we might be able to say this Christmas spirit is the spirit of Christ. But it is an undeniable fact that untold thousands of people drink at Christmas without any compunction of conscience who would not drink at all any other time of the year. All manner of evil and Godprovoking things are done at this season of the year because this is Christmas.
Do you believe it is the Spirit of Christ that causes thousands of people to line up in the saloons of the land at Christmas time who would never go near them at any other time? I know there are people who will say that is not the real Christmas spirit, but I wonder if that is not just a weak effort on our part to try to justify our participation in this ungodly thing called Christmas. Certainly it is not the Spirit of Christ that gives us all that freedom at Christmas time, but rather it is the spirit of Saturnalia. In ancient pagan Rome a week of feasting and merry-making was observed in the latter part of December. During this feast everyone, even the slaves, were permitted to do just as they pleased. Things like gambling, etc., which were prohibited at other times, were winked at during Saturnalia. This feast was brought over from ancient pagan Rome by modern pagan Rome and dumped into Christmas to give it that tangy flavor and make people look forward to it with great anticipation.
As you recall, I stated in the beginning that I was unable to find Christmas in my Bible, but after learning a little about this lovely season from other sources, I was able to find quite a lot about it in my Bible. In Jeremiah 7:18 I found that even in his day, some 600 years before Christ was born of the virgin Mary, the children gathered wood, and the men kindled the fire, and women made cakes to the queen of heaven, to provoke God to wrath. In Jeremiah 10:3-5 I learned that the customs of the people in his day were vain because they went out in the woods with an ax, cut down a tree, took a hammer and nails to fasten it upright, and then decorated it with silver and gold. God said it was a vain custom, and vanity is one thing He hates. I must confess that I have done the same thing many times except that I used cheaper decorations. Christmas, like the groves in Israel, is so beautiful. What could be more beautiful than a Christmas tree with all its decorations and gifts? Surely nothing unless it were the original Christmas trees decorated with silver and gold. But when I think of the beauty of Christmas, I am reminded of the tabernacle. In Exodus 26 we read that all that the world saw was the skins of animals, but on the inside it was overlaid with gold and had all manner of beautiful curtains and hangings. The beauty of the tabernacle was hidden from the world, but not so with Christmas. The beauty of Christmas is on the outside in plain view of everyone, but on the inside are dead men's bones. All manner of drinking, debauchery and unclean living is covered over with the beautiful cloak of Christmas. But in Revelation 17 and 18 we have a ghastly picture of the Catholic Church, including her Christmas and fabulous Christmas trade, which will cause all that weeping and wailing when it is finally cut off (Daniel 9:27), and in Rev. 19:4 Christ says come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
It is not an easy thing to come out of her. No wants to be a kill-joy or an old Scrooge. Many will say that Christmas has become a part of our American way of life, and that is so true. It has become about as much a part of our way of life as idolatry had in the Jew's way of life in Israel and Judah, and if I remember correctly it took the destruction of their country and the enslavement of the Jewish people to tear them away from their idol gods.
If anyone has any evidence to justify our participation in Christmas, please let it be known. I have searched in vain. I have heard about that one about it's being handed down to us by our fore-fathers, but it seems to me that would come under the heading of commandments of men, and Jesus did not sound to complimentary in Matthew 15:9 when He said, "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men."

A Reply To The Statement

"Millions and billions will die lost
and all the time we have the power
to save them--if we will."
By W. J. Berry
Editorial from the Old Faith Contender

The above statement is made in the editorial of a current periodical. The statement involves an erroneous concept now generally believed and taught as gospel truth. Since the expressions made in this editorial are normal and fair representations of this pernicious teaching, we will use them merely as a basis for some brief observations touching the principle of divine truth.
This editor writes:
"It is appalling to think that millions and billions now living will be in eternity just a hundred years from now. Over ninety-nine percent of them will die lost. The march of most men from the cradle to the grave is a trail of tears. Their destiny is eternal ruin. And all the time we have the power to save them if we will."
Frankly, we experienced a little shaking in the pen in transcribing the last clause--"and all the time we have the power to save them if we will";--but there it is. First, we have often wondered why, men who have their power to save souls--yet do not--always speak in terms of souls now living or yet to be born. What about the poor souls that have long since departed and--as they say--already burning in endless torment? Could it be that these soul-saving men do not have power to save, once souls have departed into the unknown regions of the dead? If so, then, in all seriousness and concern for such souls, we would urge these men to join the ranks of those men who have not power to forgive sin and save souls of the living, but have power (for a sum) also to save souls even after they have missed their chance here and have gone into the lower regions of darkness. We repeat--we are serious about this whole matter, even though most of these men are not--as we shall show.
We must not project our plans for so long a period as "one hundred years from now," but take immediate steps to recover those departed souls. Then let every man and every woman, boy or girl, who has this power to save souls--begin at once--yes, at this very moment--because souls are dying every moment--and let them not stop, day nor night--except for a sandwich or a cold biscuit and just enough sleep to keep going, going, going. Keep going! Would you be so heartless, so cruel and unconcerned to stop for one moment when you could reach just one more soul and save him or her from "eternal ruin,"--from an endless torment? What kind of a heart and soul do YOU have, that you can even consider such selfish action, much less to fritter away days and months and years satisfying your own flesh, spending your money to feed your own bellies and to build fine homes and expensive buildings--you call "churches."
We are not informed as to the source of information that there are "over ninety-nine per cent" of these billions of departing souls who will die lost, and whose "destiny is eternal ruin." If such statements are correct we would like to have some substantiating authority for such a stupendous declaration! Yes indeed, whether or not these soul-saving men realize it, the very thought that not millions, not one billion-but billions (!!!) of souls now, living will die LOST! And not only lost, but doomed to eternal ruin and torment! Men--you men who "have the power to save them"--all of these billions of poor dying souls--how call you so lightly and coolly hand out such figures and such wild statements? If any of you--and we make no exception--if any man or woman really believed such to be the fact, you would not and should not stop long enough to tell it. You would be too busy using your power to save those perishing souls, and very properly so.
"And all the time we have THE POWER to SAVE them --IF WE WILL." What shall we say? that we are a bit surprised, amazed or astounded!!! flabbergasted!!--or is there any word to express so utterly unbelievable, unthinkable a condition? Men, yes, men and women thousands if not millions of them--living in comfort and luxury--blandly informing the rest of us that billions of souls are dying lost when they "have the power to save them--if we will"! Are you actually saying that you have the power to save these souls from the wrath of Almighty God and from eternal ruin, and yet you are failing to do so? Can you possibly be making such a shameful and despicable admission? Tell us--you men the world around who have this wonderful, amazing power to "save souls... from eternal ruin--why, why, why! have you not done it? Why are you not NOW doing it, and WHY will you not do it in the next "hundred years"? Which one of you can stand up and say, I have done it, and am still doing it; I have denied myself every necessity of life, save food for bare existence; I have gone and am still going day and night, with only snatches of sleep, using my power to save souls. I have gone, and am still going, when my shoes had worn out and my bare feet bleeding,--but I rejoice that I could save even one of those billions of souls that otherwise would have spent an endless eternity in a burning hell, had I failed to reach them, and I did--just in time! Not one of you--dead or living--can say that, or anything approaching it.
You say this is "fanatical." Now we know you are insincere. You call it fanatical to have the power to save a soul from eternal torment, for you to deny yourself only a few moments of comfort to your mortal life here and thereby let an "immortal soul" die lost for an eternity of pain? You say it is appalling to think of billions of souls dying lost, and yet you call it fanaticism to suggest no time, no efforts, no money should be lost to save them! Then you by such an answer indicate that your heart is harder than that of the lost souls you claim to have the power to save.
But now where did you get this "power to save" souls from eternal ruin? The Lord said, "I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me." (Isa. 63:5)
The apostle Peter further declares: "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby must [not "possibly may"] be saved." (Acts 4:12) But we need not multiply scriptures with which you learned men especially are familiar,--that there is but one Mediator between God and man--the MAN CHRIST JESUS!
"Oh but"--are we hearing you "soul-saving evangelists" saying: "We don't mean that we save souls, but we bring them to Christ so He can save them, etc., etc." Now, we shall not spend precious time with such God-dishonoring arguments as that. If you do not save souls why do you publish to the world that you do? If you do not have the power to save souls from eternal ruin, why do you claim such power? If you do not mean what you claim and boast of--now that your presumption has been exposed,--frame your words in any shape you please, defend your erroneous and unscriptural, anti-gospel teaching in any fashion you choose. When you have used your cleverest mind and your best logic, you will have ignored the Arm of God and assigned the arm of flesh as the final means of saving these billions of souls from eternal ruin.
Notwithstanding the fact that God loved and chose certain people in Christ before the world began, sent that Son into the world to make an efficacious--absolutely effective --sacrifice as a complete atonement for the specific sin and sins of that certain people, raised from the dead for their justification, and stands NOW as their High Priest making intercession for them according to the holy, divine will of the Almighty Creator and sustainer of all things,--but,--and that is your "but,"--notwithstanding all this--and more,--if you great and important men of earth--who are really earth worms--fail to get the information out, or bring these souls to Christ, or some way or somehow fill in a missing link between these billions of souls and a sin-avenging God, alas, it will all have been in vain, and these billions of souls will finally be lost and go on into the eternal ruin to which you say they are "destined." Here you used the wrong word, for if they were "destined," then you had no power to save them even if you willed--which you didn't!
"Ninety-nine percent of billions of souls will die lost." What should we call this pernicious teaching? It flatly contradicts the absolute and unqualified declaration of the Son of God: "My sheep hear MY voice, and I know them, and they follow ME: and I give unto them eternal life; AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, neither shall anyone [or anything] pluck them out of MY HAND." Are you listening? There is a little more: "And this is the Father's will which has sent Me, that of ALL which He has given Me I should lose NOTHING, but should raise it up again at the last day." "Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that ONE of these little ones should perish." (John 10:27-28; 6:40; Matt. 18: 14)
From these clear statements of the Savior Himself we understand that not billions shall be lost, not millions, not thousands, not a hundred, nor a dozen, no not even ONE soul for whom Christ died will be lost. So then, of the millions, or as numbered in Rev. 7:9: "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred's, and people, and tongues" whom Christ redeemed and for whom He NOW prays--not one shall be lost or be eternally ruined, for they are "clothed with white robes: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne and to the Lamb."
"In a garden still wet with the dews of creation He gathered together some dust and made man. In man alone God placed that spark of immortality we call a soul. . . . The soul is immortal. It is eternal. The very possession of a soul proclaims the fact that God has for man some more noble purpose than eternal silence in dreamless dust.
"Because of the sin the race was doomed to a wilderness wandering, in which famine and thirst and nakedness and pestilence and the sword all have taken their toll. For four thousand years his course was a hopeless trail. But because God was not willing that any should perish, He sent--in the end of the ages--His only begotten Son. . . . From a little hill outside Jerusalem Jesus ascended back to the right hand of God, bearing in His nail-pierced hands the trophies of His triumph. His own blood had been offered as an atonement for the sins of the race. Following His ascension the twenty-four elders surrounding the throne of God were commanded to sing a new song, 'Worthy art Thou 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.'"
Here we have outlined for us the popular concept of universal man, and God's good intentions for this man, but which was not fully realized because of man's refusal to cooperate. Let us first notice the very erroneous teaching that man was given an "immortal soul." Here it is referred to as a "spark of immortality." Again there is no authority given for the statement. The two words from which our word immortal is translated, means not corruptible or capable of being corrupted. In 1 Timothy 6:15-16: "Which in His time He shall show who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who ONLY has immortality, dwelling in the light." All other references to this word show that God alone possesses immortality and they to whom He gives it in the resurrection of the Redeemed. The word soul is variously and broadly used in the Scripture, and relates usually to the natural life of man. God said the soul that sins shall die; that which is immortal does not die. The concept expressed by this editor is the general teaching of Christendom that God created Adam with the plan for all of his posterity to "live happily ever after"; but somehow the plan went amiss, and the Creator had to make some revisions. That He really meant to have a paradise for mankind universally, but after man ruined himself, God then set about to salvage it by sending His Son to atone for the sins of the whole Adamic "race," as this writer puts it. God's word does not say that. However, if God's sacrifice did atone for the entire race of Adam, it failed in its purpose, since even now in the next hundred years billions will die lost; and this would represent only a very small number of the total lost from creation to the end of the world! It is rather puzzling--in view of this great loss, to read in this editorial that when Christ ascended to the right hand of God He bore in His nail-pierced hands "the trophies of His triumph." We can understand the General of an army returning from a battle with a few trophies, and although he had lost several thousands of his soldiers, yet supposedly was victorious over the enemy. But for God and His Son to go out to battle and lose several billion of His soldiers in the effort, somehow we just cannot believe God nor His Son would regard this as "his triumph." In fact, we have every reason to believe--both from our concept of God Himself as well as His Word, that He would have been very much disappointed had He lost even one of those who follow Him on white horses having their robes washed in His blood.
Then too, if He had lost any of His children we would be quite confused to read, "Yet it pleased the Lord to Bruise Him; He has put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." (Isa. 53:10-11) When we sinful mortals see several men and women drowning, make an attempt to save them and return with less than all of them, we are certainly not "satisfied." How much more would the Son of God Himself be very much dissatisfied, after descending into the lowest hell, separated from His God and Father, suffer--the spit of filthy sinners, and then the shameful death on a cross--and still come short of His goal, even the possibility of not saving even one, if these men who "have power to save them" also fail their part! Furthermore, His last words on the cross must have been a pitiful delusion when He cried out "It is finished." Perhaps some of you soul-saving men can tell us just what He meant by that statement. No indeed, if this God-dishonoring Rome-inspired doctrine be true, He did not finish anything, nor did He ascend into Heaven with the trophies of His triumph. He either takes ALL of His trophies or NONE of them, and if He doesn't take all of them into Heaven He doesn't triumph!
With what glibness and irreverence do men speak to God and about God;--what He "can't do" unless we "let Him"; what He "wants," and how "helpless" He is if He cannot get the cooperation of the so-called "free agency" and "free will" of sinful men. What a low concept do they have of the Supreme, Sovereign Creator who holds the universe in the palm of His hand!
According to this very human and ignoble concept of God and His work, we behold a most pathetic sight, when this God-man returns to the courts of Heaven. As He enters the portals we notice a droop in His body and a sadness in His face as He approaches the great throne. He hesitates a moment, and then with tear filled eyes looks up to His Father, and says, Here are a "few of the trophies I saved from those lower regions; they are not nearly all the children You gave Me, but I did My best." God the Father answers, Did I not send you into earth as My Mediator, to make full reconciliation for ALL the rebellious children which I gave You as an inheritance?
This noble Son, now with slumped shoulders and downcast eyes, answers, "Yes, I did go to earth as a Savior; that was even My name. I offered up My body, which I felt was a sufficient atonement for their sins; I suffered the painful separation from You, My Father, agonized under Your terrible wrath You would have poured out on these people; I even rose again for their justification, and saw to it that not the least charge could ever be brought against them in Your Holy Court, by bearing all the penalties Myself. But alas, My Father, there were literally billions of them who remained in their rebellious state, and refused My salvation. I don't understand it;--I went to earth as a Savior to save, but did not save--that is, but comparatively few of those You gave Me. And I fear I should have lost even them had they not fully cooperated with Me and accepted Me as their Savior. The rest of My blood-bought and blood-washed multitude,--alas, My Father,--have slipped into eternal ruin and torment!
I know You know how grieved I am and how utterly disappointed, but it seems both of us have failed somewhere. Another thing I must tell you,--and it has made Me feel shabby and even dishonest. Just before I gave My spirit back to You and died on the cross to which they had nailed Me, I declared in a loud voice, "It is finished!" I know that many of those people who were familiar with the promises You had made to them and their fathers, were left with the impression that I kept those promises fully, and finished the work of salvation which You gave Me to do. I was sincere in what I said, and verily believed I had finished it. But alas, My Father, something terrible has gone wrong! To contemplate the whole situation is heart-rending; to think that You had chosen each one of this people in Me and that We had loved them from eternity, and how we planned that glorious and "more abundant life for them, that they might be with Me where I am" now, and behold My glory!--What did I say?--glory? Nay--not glory now but shame!! Oh I realize that I did the work, and made the necessary payment for sin; but I see it now where we failed. Both of us overlooked a most essential provision to bring these children to glory, namely,, effectual calling. If, We had done that I am sure O My Father, I would not have lost even ONE which you gave Me to save.
"This blessed gospel is the universal heritage of the race. All nations are to be taught. In its proclamation there is to be observed neither national nor racial lines. The great commission is time-wide and world-wide. It is impossible but that thinking people feel the weight of that responsibility. Each individual must say with Paul. 'Woe is me if I preach not the gospel.'"
The so-called evangelical sector of Christendom have erroneously represented what Christ gave to His disciples, as the "great commission" by which they understand this to be universal; that if this "offer" can be brought within range of the natural hearing, then those who accept the offer will be saved, and those who don't will go to hell, etc. All this is a sad twisting and perverting of the real purpose of the true gospel and the instructions given to His disciples just before His ascension. Of course He did not give His instructions even to all His followers at that time, much less to all who should profess His name in the future.
Christ gave specific instructions to eleven men (Hebrews) who believed in Him as the promised Messiah. They still had neither the boldness nor the spirit to obey His instructions, but received this power soon after His ascension. These eleven Jews had no conception whatever that the good news of the promised Messiah should ever be proclaimed among the nations of the Gentiles, which they called "the world." Jesus, their Anointed Messiah, Himself commands His eleven Hebrew disciples now to go,--not only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but into all the world and declare the evangel or the good news. Good news of what? Here is the crucial point that has developed the deplorable condition in Christendom and confused the thinking even of many saints.
Christ, the Redeemer and Head of His body, the church, did not commission His eleven disciples with a "universal offer" of eternal salvation--even to all Jews, much less to all men of all nations. But He did make it clear to them then, and again later to Paul, and in a vision to Peter, that He was to take out from among the Gentiles also "a people for His name," and therefore this good news of an "elect," "chosen," "redeemed" people must also be preached or proclaimed throughout the whole world. The words of Caiaphas confirms this when he said to the members of the council: "You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation [Israel] perish not. And this spoke he not of himself, but being, high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. And not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." (John 11:49- 52) THIS was the evangel, the good news, the gospel-- that the SAVIOR of His people HAD COME; that He HAD made the one supreme "offering" that HAD forever "taken away the sins of His people"; that "THIS MAN" HAD "overcome death, hell and the grave"; that He HAD "led captivity captive" and that He DID bear in His nail-pierced hands ALL the trophies of His triumph "into Heaven itself"; that He NOW intercedes--"not for the world"--but for ALL for whom He died and rose; even for all "the Father gave Him." THIS is the gospel referred to when he said, "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel." THIS is the good news proclaimed by the apostles and by every God-called man since the apostles.
The Editorial continues:
"Today, a messenger of the Lord will land, unheralded and un-noticed upon a continent, or an island in the sea, [he refers here to the modern so-called soul-saving missionary] Where the pure gospel is unknown, and teeming thousands will go about their work, never realizing that a stranger has come among them. He will probably begin as Paul began, with a very simple and humble audience. The world will hardly note his presence. It will not realize that it is the recipient of an unusual blessing. Yet, a little group of disciples will be formed. The church grow, and a few of the millions who might have died lost will be saved.
"Every gospel preacher ought to do some work where the gospel is completely unknown. Every congregation should engage itself in at least some effort to get the gospel to those who have never had a chance to hear it. All of us ought to build something beside what we build upon another man's foundation. It may not be necessary for every congregation and every preacher to spend their entire energies doing it, but it is certainly apostolic for them to spend a good portion of their time preaching where the gospel has never gone. If churches don't 'send' their preachers out, the preachers should go 'unsent.' There is no need for both to go to hell.
"Preachers ought to declare a 'declaration of independence' and do more preaching and less 'pastoring.' There are thousands of opportunities to preach the gospel where it has never been preached even here in our own country. Countless souls now living--right here in America--will die lost--unless we get to them with the gospel.
'The thrill of saving souls has all but disappeared from the average congregation. We are too content to carry on a good program of work and to baptize the members' children as they reach the age of accountability. We must get the gospel out into the crossroads, the hamlets and the slums. We must preach it in the suburbs and in the inner city, for after all, it is the hope of the world."
The commission or instructions given to the eleven Hebrew disciples, was not to preach the gospel as a means of saving souls from eternal ruin, but rather as already noted--to proclaim the evangel or good news that the Messiah had now come, and redeemed or saved, not only the children of God among the nation of Israel, but also in the world or Gentile nations.
There is no intimation by either the Lord or any of His apostles that it was the work of apostles, or the church, by their preaching or by any other means, to save sinners from eternal ruin. They were instructed and exhorted many times to call out by their preaching and teaching those whom God had chosen in Christ, namely, "the children of God." The erroneous and now popular teaching is that Christ died or atoned for the sins of the human race--for every human being that has been or shall be born; however this atonement will not be effective--or save anyone--unless they "apply it," that is "accept it" or "accept Christ and His offer" of this atonement. The amazing thing is that there is not one shred of scripture to sustain this pernicious idea, but much to the contrary. It is freely admitted and even preached, that God and Christ have "done all they can," and now the case rests wholly with the sinner whether--he will be saved and go to Heaven or Hell; he makes the final decision in the whole matter;--"God is helpless to save the sinner unless he wills to meet the conditions." Such a teaching obviously reflects on God's ability and purpose to save, and is blasphemous in all its implications.
From the paragraph just quoted from this editorial, the evangelist or missionary is represented as a "messenger of the Lord... landing in a country of teeming thousands where the pure gospel is unknown." It is of course understood that this "pure gospel" must be brought to these heathen only by human agency. The Almighty God could create a universe, His Son had "power over all flesh," the Holy Spirit has power to blow where He pleases, etc., but, according to this false idea,--They cannot do a thing until the evangelist, "soul-saving missionary" or even a tract gets there!
But now comes the big let down. We are informed that this "messenger of the Lord" does not get the ear of these "teeming thousands" so they will hear with their natural ears the "gospel offer" and have a "chance" to be eternally saved, but instead only "a few of the millions who might have died lost will be saved." This is admission of a miserable failure on the part of this whole modern soul-saving machinery. They have a commission from the Redeemer Himself to save these millions, and yet they admit to saving only "a few"! And this failure is attributed to the lack of sufficient zeal, men and money!
But notice we have still another big let down. This editor says "every gospel preacher ought to do some work," etc. A "messenger of the Lord" who has "the power to save" these "teeming thousands" is told that he "ought to do some work" in this field where billions of souls are dying--LOST! "It may not be necessary for EVERY preacher to spend his entire energies doing it." No doubt that would be asking too much of these "reverend" messengers of the Lord to spend ALL of their time, energies and money, saving souls from eternal ruin and torment. They must have their rest and vacations time to arrange their programs, etc.! But,--come to think of it,--after all, "it is certainly apostolic" to spend a good portion of their time in an attempt to save at least "a few" of these billions who will die lost "unless we get to them with the gospel." There are even countless souls right here in America "who will die lost unless we get to them with the gospel." You must not worry too much about these poor souls, since ninety-nine percent of them are destined to eternal ruin! But then we might "both go to hell" if we thus fail!
"We must get the gospel out into the crossroads, the hamlets and the slums. We must preach it in the slums. We must preach it in the suburbs and in the city, for after all, it is the hope of the world." This well-meaning editor says we must do this, but they don't do it, and will not do it. Now they are confronted with "population explosion" which these soul-saving men have stated that at the present rate of increase, and at their present rate of reaching these souls, it will be impossible for them to ever get the gospel to but a small fraction of these billions dying lost! They may however take care of the critical condition by not attempting to "save individuals," but scoop them up in whole "nations and societies"! This is called "mass evangelism"--Billy Graham style.
"It is the hope of the world." Every soul-saving evangelist from Billy Graham down is preaching the gospel as the "hope of the world." For all the evils in the world they paint on their sign boards that "Christ is the Answer," etc. We don't find any ideas like this in the Bible, but we do read of some fearful judgments already pronounced upon the nations of earth. A real messenger of the Lord told Daniel, "the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand." And we are told "there is no hope for the wicked." If God purposed this gospel to be the "hope of the world," it has been a miserable failure. But we remember He speaks by Paul of Christ being the hope of Israel, and "all those who have hope of His righteousness" and who "love His appearing." We are promised that NONE of these ,"shall be ashamed" at His appearing! For these and these only is the gospel their only hope.
We have a standing challenge for anyone to show, in either the Old or New Testament, one place where God has OFFERED eternal life or eternal salvation to anyone; also one place that even intimates that one soul for whom Christ died shall suffer eternal ruin or torment, or where God has left the eternal destiny of even one of the redeemed with any human agency whatever. Please do not flood the mails with your private interpretations concerning such a vital matter as one's eternal destiny. God has spoken plainly enough to be understood without interpretations. Read our challenge again carefully before you attempt a reply.