Friday, October 3, 2014

Signs of the Times (10)


In the last forum article, I talked about Matthew 24:11, which text speaks of the rise of false prophets. In this article, I want to turn to the sign our Lord mentions in verse 12: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
 
The first point that I need to emphasize is that the sign of which Jesus speaks in this verse is a sign that is a result of the presence of false prophets. False prophets preach and teach false doctrine. The false doctrine they teach results in sin, or, as the text says, iniquity. This is a point worth talking about. Doctrine and life belong together. The only guarantee of a life of holiness and obedience to God is a life of holding fast to the truth of God’s word. Teaching false doctrine always results in a walk that is not pleasing to God but earns his judgment.
 
This is so important that a few illustrations will help us to understand it.
 
In the Middle Ages, say from about 600 A. D. to the time of the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church was morally corrupt. It was very, very bad. From the pope in Rome to the lowest monk in his monastery the clergy were guilty of every sin known to man. They were drunken, gluttonous, immoral, murderers (many popes died from being poisoned), covetous beyond description and more interested in gathering riches than caring for the souls of God’s people. It was so bad that Dante, the Renaissance poet who lived in the 12th century, put the current pope in the lowest spot in hell. Even more, serious people in the church were so appalled at the wickedness of the clergy and of the general populace that they pleaded for reform. Three times the pope called a council to reform the church. Three times these councils met in efforts to reform the church. Three times they were utter failures. Why? The Roman Catholic Church was teaching false doctrine: all kinds of false doctrine, such as the pope the vicar of Christ, transubstantiation, the merit of good works, indulgences, and many superstitions. The church would not repent of false doctrine, and therefore could not reform the church.
 
When the Council of Constance met, it was the greatest and most imposing council in the history of the church, because kings were there, members of the highest levels of clergy in the church, rulers of all the nations in Europe and dignitaries from all levels of society. They passed many motions to reform the terrible sins in the church, but they also imprisoned John Hus and burned him at the stake because he had preached the truth of God in Bohemia.
 
When Luther began his work of reformation, he was almost at the beginning confronted by men who joined the Reformation, but wanted complete and total reformation of the whole of life immediately. Luther told them to be patient. He said, in effect, “Just preach the word and do so in truth. When the people hear, know and love the truth, then they will reform their lives too. Let the word of God do its work.” Luther was a man who could speak clearly and interestingly. Someone asked him the question of how he could accomplish so much and stir all Europe by what he did. He answered, “I did nothing but preach. I just sat here in Wittenberg with my good friend Amsdorf drinking beer, and the word of God did it all.” Luther did not mean, of course, that all he did was drink beer. His writings come to about 64 volumes in our library at Seminary. He did far more work than any of us will ever do. But he meant to emphasize that the truth preached changed the morals of the people: not decisions of councils or use of force: just preaching the truth.
 
That is still true today. When the truth is not preached, morals go out the window – even conservative teachers, some of those who are called “Christian Reconstructionists,” which by the way, is an error taught by “conservative” theologians, divorce their wives of many years and marry some other woman. Several conservative scholars whose works I have read, are guilty of boldest Sabbath desecration.
 
Evolutionism, which teaches man’s animal ancestry, openly pleads for the doors of the church to have a welcome sign above these doors, which reads, “It is permissible to engage in premarital sex in this church.”
 
We sometimes think that minor doctrinal details (or, at least, so we call them) of the truth are not important and we can have fellowship with those who teach false doctrine but claim to believe in sovereign grace. But the fact is, history is littered with the wreckage of churches that had departed only in “minor” details, but have ended up in serious violations of the law of God.
 
America has rejected the gospel and systematic steps are being taken to make our country atheistic. These efforts are proving successful. It is now a crime to have the ten commandments hanging in a school; to have prayers before classes or even before football games – of all things. It is a crime to condemn homosexuality. It is a sin to mention the name of God. There are those who want “In God we trust” taken off our coins, and who want the words “under God” to be driven from our pledge to the flag. They are succeeding, slowly but surely, in all their efforts. What is the result? A government that makes same-sex marriages legal and approves of abortion, so that millions of unborn babies are murdered.
 
One can, if he so desires, take a look at those blogs on the web that promote the prosperity gospel. What is the result of this dreadful perversion of the truth. The materialism that runs rampant in our country – and in your country makes money king! Money is our idol. Money brings happiness. Money is “Christian stewardship” (so say those who try to justify their mad pursuit of earthly possessions by making their sin sound like piety).
 
False doctrine leads to iniquity. And, if false doctrine is not stopped, iniquity is the result.
 
I have written about this at some length, because false prophets and resulting iniquity are signs of the coming of Christ. If we are to “watch and pray,” we must be aware of these signs. And, of course, we must not only be aware of them, but we must avoid becoming a part of the signs themselves in our life; and we must see these things that are happening in the world as evidences that the coming of our Lord is near.
 
With love for you in the Lord,
Prof. H. Hanko.

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