The Divinely Appointed Remedies: "Gold"
Chapter 7 (continued — part 5)
Wherever one finds the idea of the
natural immortality of the soul, there he is sure to find self-
centeredness as the dominant concept of love. It is as different from the
New Testament idea of love as Sunday is different from Sabbath, yet is
likewise a cleverly designed counterfeit. The doctrine of the natural
immortality of the soul is a flag that warns us: here you will find no
true understanding of the everlasting gospel of righteousness by faith
because there can be no true idea of New Testament faith, certainly not
that which is in harmony with the cleansing of the sanctuary.
This is one of the real reasons why Ellen
White warned against the dangers of this false but subtle error. Ultimate
Spiritualism is a false righteousness by faith:
The popular ministry cannot successfully
resist Spiritualism. They have nothing wherewith to shield their flocks
from its baleful influence. … The immortality of the soul … is the
foundation of Spiritualism. (1T 344).
Through the two great errors, the
immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness. Satan will bring the people
under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of
Spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome …
As Spiritualism more closely imitates the
nominal Christianity of the day. it has greater power to deceive and
ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He
will appear in the character of an angel of light.. Protestants. having
cast away the shield of truth. will also be deluded. Papists, Protestants
and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power.
(GC 588).
The simplicity of true godliness is
buried beneath tradition.
The doctrine of the natural immortality
of the soul is one error with which the enemy is deceiving man. this error
is well-nigh universal …
This is one of the lies forged in the
synagogue of the enemy, one of the poisonous drafts of Babylon. (EV 247).
Why is it impossible for true New
Testament love to exist in company with this "poisonous draft of
Babylon"? Why can’t Babylon see the cross, see agape, and
experience genuine New Testament faith? Why can’t she proclaim the true
gospel?
Integral to the idea of the natural
immortality of the soul is the view that Christ did not make an infinite
sacrifice when He died on the cross. He tells the repentant thief, We’ll
get a great reward today. "Today
shalt thou be with Me in paradise"
(Luke 23:43). Yes, both supposedly went there that day! Throughout His
ordeal, our Lord was sustained by the hope of reward and comforted by the
assurance that He would not truly die. His sacrifice was only physical
agony and human shame, of a temporary nature. Moses made an even greater
sacrifice in behalf of Israel when he asked that his name be blotted from
the Book of Life if Israel could not be forgiven (Ex. 32:32)! But in this
popular view, the complete self-emptying nature of agape in Christ’s
love is neatly removed. He was motivated merely by egocentric concern; or
at least the hope of reward was thoroughly mixed with His love.
But the true Biblical view is that Christ’s
sacrifice was truly infinite and eternal. Not only His human body
"died"; He Himself died the equivalent of the "second
death", the death without hope of resurrection. Himself being the
infinite Son of God, such a sacrifice is the measure of infinite love,
beyond our capacity to appreciate fully. Although He was indeed sustained
by the bright assurance of His Father’s favor up to the moment that
darkness enveloped Calvary, there came over Him then the horror of a great
darkness when He cried out, "My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken
Me?" the Father’s face was completely hidden. The full weight of our
guilt was pressing upon Him. He then lost sight of the resurrection and a
future reward:
The Saviour could not see through the
portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the
grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the
sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their
separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner
will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. (DA 753).
It is this infinite dimension of Christ’s
love that is eclipsed by the pagan-papal doctrine of natural immortality.
No church that holds to this concept can adequately appreciate the cross,
or preach it in its proper power. This false doctrine further makes it
impossible for the "agape of Christ" to constrain us
truly, for its high fidelity realism is absent. And with agape thus
adulterated, faith likewise is adulterated; and it is inevitable that
righteousness be likewise shorn of its true dimensions. Nothing can come
of it but disobedience to the law, continued sinning, self- centeredness,
and lukewarmness, all cloaked as "salvation by faith".
Thus, when John says love (agape) is
of God (1 John 4:7), he means that there can be no other source.
"Herein is love (agape), not that we loved God, but that He
loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins"
(verse 10). But we can sum up live ways in which that
"propitiation" is virtually denied or at least obscured, by this
popular false doctrine. It creates a perplexity or hiatus: (1) The Father
did not truly give His son but only lent Him; (2) His love
was conditioned by a self-seeking anticipation of reward; (3) He made no
real sacrifice beyond that which many martyrs have had to make, such as
physical sufferings, but was sustained by more hope than many humans have
when they die; (4) He did not truly die, but immediately entered a higher
state of conscious existence in paradise; (5) at is very best, the love
that "dwelt in the heart of Christ", so understood, was a
synthesis of agape and eros identical to the caritas of
Augustine, the basis of medieval Romanism.
Thus the cross is robbed of its true
glory and New Testament love is nullified.
Automatically therefore faith is likewise robbed of its true content, and
is "dead", as James warns us. It cannot produce true obedience.
Fear or concern for personal security remains the dominant motivation for
the human soul. The cross cannot exercise its true power because it is
enshrouded in mysterious confusion like a mountain peak encircled by
clouds. No wonder Christ was concerned at the beginning of the process in
the early church that led to the great apostasy — "thou hast left
thy first agape." Until Evangelicalism sees and accepts
the truth of the nature of man in the
light of the cross, it will be quite unable to accept the cross of true
Sabbath-keeping, or other "testing truths" of the third angel’s
message.
"The
popular ministry" are ever so sincere
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