APOSTACY.
of the primitive Christian church, they would have remained emphatically the same, with apostles, prophets, healings, gifts, tongues, etc., to the present day.
Paul, by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, wrote to the Saints, prophesying of the future. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" (I. Tim., iv,1).
"And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, with the giver of usury to him. * * * The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant (Isaiah, xxiv., 2-5).
"And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hands until a time and times and the dividing of them" (Dan. vii., 25).
"And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast. * * * And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations" (Rev. xiii., 4-7).
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. * * * Let no man deceive you by any means: FOR THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME, except there come a FALLING AWAY FIRST" (II. Thess. ii., 1-3).
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away" (II. Tim. iii., 1-5).
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (II. Tim. iv., 3, 4).
"The priests thereof teach for hire." (Micah iii., 11).
From the foregoing the reader can readily see that the prophets and apostles of God were looking forward to the time when the Saints would be overcome, their church broken up, their officers killed, and no one left upon the earth with authority to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel. No prophets, no apostles, no gift of the Holy Ghost, no one to act as a mouthpiece to the children of men. Only darkness and unbelief, war and bloodshed, strife and contention, division and discord, lo here and lo there.
Through all the long ages, from the day when the power of a corrupt and licentious church overcame the Saints of the Most High, drove them into dens and caves of the mountains; caused them to wander, clothed in sheep skins and the skins of wild animals; killed the prophets of God, and drove the priesthood from the face of the earth, men, left to their own devices, went into such excesses that angels must have wept over their condition.
The laws of God were ignored, the ordinances were changed, and the everlasting covenant was broken. The "woman" (church) arrayed in purple and scarlet, drunken with the blood of the Saints, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, rose up and bore universal sway; and, as time passed by, gave birth to a legion of Children—churches (Rev. xvii., 4-6).
"The mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the away. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming" (II. Thess. ii., 7 8).
These were the words of the great Apostle; and, reader, by examining the balance of the chapter, you can form some idea of the great power that was to grow up and deceive the nations of the earth, perverting the Gospel, teaching men and women that prophets and apostles were not necessary, that the gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer required; until to-day warring, jarring Christianity has become a spectacle to the whole world.
Confusion confounded reigns supreme—wars and rumors of wars on every hand—until the heart sickens and the soul faints in contemplation of the terrible condition to which poor, suffering, deceived and misguided humanity has been brought.
The power of the evil one would seem to have obtained universal sway over the hearts of men, leading them on the broad road to destruction, with no power sufficient to stem the nightly current of sin.