"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you" (John xv., 16).
"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (II. Peter i., 21).
"He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me" (John xiii., 20).
"As thou has sent me into the world" (John xvii., 18).
"Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. xviii., 18).
"And when they had ordained them elders in every church" (Acts xiv., 23).
"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? (Rom. x., 14, 15).
"And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron" (Heb. v., 4).[A]
[Footnote A: "Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words into his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth: and will teach you what he shall do." (Exodus iv., 14, 15.)]
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. i., 8).
These were the principles taught by the Savior and His Apostles, and we see no reason for their alteration and change to the present accepted ideas of the Christian world; and but for
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).