Christian Apostasy

“Suffice it to say that faith is faith, and not obedience, or love or delight in God, or any other distinct grace or virtue. Nor does the Bible say being justified by obedience, or love, or delight, or good works, but ‘being justified by faith, we have peace with God.

“Why did I leave the ministry when I left the Congregational church? Because, in the first place, my New Theology and Higher Criticism had destroyed my faith in the perfect, divine authority of the Bible; and in the second place, they had destroyed my faith in the perfect deity of Christ.

“The peril… lies not in any apparent ability to gain a large number of adherents… but in the fact that where it is received… it undermines belief in the existence of the soul and in eternal retribution for sin.

“This weightiest chapter ever penned by Inspiration yields up its lessons best when literally understood, and when explained by the laws of common sense. “The secret of recent assaults upon the Bible is the restiveness of the modern spirit… so eager is the desire for anything new, that even the destruction of all that is precious and venerable is hailed on account of the morbid excitement thereby aroused.

“Unbelieving and unrighteous men do hate the old Church doctrines. Why? Because these old teachings as to sin, guilt, retribution, the fact and need of a divine-human vicarious atonement the need of sovereign grace, the need of the divinely instituted means and all that these fundamental teachings imply – these teachings are unwelcome to the reason of the natural man.

“Modernism accepts just as much of the Bible as suits its subjective conceptions, and then turns around and protests that it believes the Bible. This is certainly not accurate. It ought to say that it accepts such parts of the Bible as agree with its own ideas, and rejects the rest.

“The first book of Moses, called Genesis, tells us whence we come; the last book of the Bible, the Revelation of St. John, shows us whither we go. It is true, men who have considered themselves wise above that which is written, have tried in every way to gainsay this divine answer; and a false reasoning at the present day proclaims from the housetops that science has done away with the former belief concerning the origin of man, and that we are not created by God, but descended from the monkey.

“Criticism has reached certain conclusions regarding various Books of Scripture. The older narratives are declared to be mere legends, and the history generally is described as tradition tinctured by the time when it was put into writing.

What is going on in America? “Lock-downs”, riots in 100 cities, mass unemployment, the destruction of small businesses. This rare little book ties current events into the great chess game of history.

“The Father hath revealed Himself in Christ. He gave His only begotten Son to a life on earth, to suffering and death, that the alienated sons of men might be redeemed, and reconciled to Him, and brought back again into filial relationship with Himself, that in the true spirit of adoption they might look up to Him and call Him, Abba, Father.

How To Understand Scripture “The sin of man not seldom works as a barrier, obscuring what is clear per se. That is the reason why we mentioned also progress in sanctification as one means that might accelerate the process.

The Marks of Unionism 1 A difference in doctrine which hitherto has been regarded as divisive, is suddenly made to lose its divisive significance. 2 Differences in doctrine are made to lose their divisive significance with a view to uniting hitherto separate churches.

“There is no danger that Rationalism and Infidelity ever will get the upper hand in the world; for nobody will for any length of time have to do with mere sterility.

“The tone of levity, in which you often indulge, leads me to fear, that you do not sufficiently realize your accountability for your doubts… Remember, it is the infirmity of an honest mind, to believe until compelled to disbelieve; that it is proof of a dishonest and depraved one, to disbelieve until forced to believe.

Theodore Graebner was a Missouri Synod professor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, and defender of the Six Day Creation account of Genesis. Though he wrote Evolution many years ago, the points he makes are still valid.

“Modern religious liberalism has really only one dogma and consequently knows just one heresy… From this viewpoint a person is heretical to the extent that he may believe that there is absolute religious truth.

In 1893 an attempt was made by liberal elements in the General Synod to remove Dr. Luther Gotwald from Wittenberg Seminary. He was said to be guilty of teaching the Augsburg Confession as, “a correct expression or exhibition of fundamental divine truth”.

“They would have us believe that all hearts will finally be moved and melted by the love of God. The tender love of Jesus to poor, fallen man, did not move and melt the hearts of all with whom he came into contact here.

Much of Evangelical Christianity is now what used to be called New Thought. In this small, easy to digest book, Rev. Sheldon makes the important connections between the ideas of Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophy, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s New Thought and what passes as mainstream Christianity today.