Messages From The Heart

A WORLD-WIDE MOVEMENT...

Christianity is the only religion adapted to become directly catholic. It will apply universally to all men of all nations irrespective of political differences, customs, manners, and dress.

That Christianity will spread over all the world before the end comes is clearly taught in the Bible. To Abraham, God confirmed with an oath the following promise, and repeated the same to Isaac and Jacob: "In thy seed shall all the nations of earth be blessed. " Gen. 22: 18. "And in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. " Verse 17. This last promise reached a literal fulfillment during the law dispensation in Israel after the flesh. They multiplied until they became a numerous seed—a great nation. But its real and principal fulfillment was to take place under the gospel. Paul makes this clear in his Galatian letter: "They which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. And the scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed." Gal. 3: 7, 8. "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ." Verse 14. "And to thy seed, which is Christ." Verse 16. This makes clear that through Jesus Christ all the nations of earth are to be blessed, and that the heathen thus converted and blessed shall be numbered like the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore. As surely as God has spoken, this must fully come to pass, for it is confirmed with the oath of the Almighty. And from Paul's language it is clear that the multitude saved from the Gentile nations of earth during the entire Christian dispensation is the fulfillment of the promise.

"I have set thee [Christ] to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." Acts 13: 47. Yes, "all ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." Psa. 22: 27. "The heathen for shine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Psa. 2: 8. "He shall speak peace unto the heathen; and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." Zech. 9:10. "My name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." Mall 1: 11. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Hab. 2:14. "The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. " Isa. 60:5. "The glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream." Isa. 66:12. "The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth. " Jer. 16: 19. "I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.,' Luke 2: 10. " And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations., beginning at Jerusalem.'' Luke 24:47. "And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1: 8. " This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24 :14. Hence the urgent command, " Go ye therefore and teach all nations." "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. "

I have quoted at considerable length, and yet many more like texts could be given to show that Christianity must become universal. The saving gospel will reach every nation and people of earth. It shall penetrate the uttermost parts of the earth and reach all people. Before the end it not only will be preached as a witness to all nations, but will carry with it salvation to every part of the earth. "The abundance of the seas," that is, people from all the ends of the world, shall be converted and turn to the Lord; thus all nations will be blessed. In every place men shall offer sacrifice and praise to God, and " the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Thus Christ shall have the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. His spiritual dominion shall reach " from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." The pure church and kingdom is destined to become a great mountain and "fill the whole earth" (Dan. 2:34); that is, it will be universal "under the whole heaven" (Dan. 7 27).

Since truth is eternal and the Word of God can not be broken, all the above scriptures will and must reach a fulfillment. According to Matt. 24: 14, they will reach their fulfillment during the current dispensation. Many latter day teachers place the fulfillment of these great promises in a supposed millennial age to follow the present dispensation, but such is all human invention. The gospel age is the last. This dispensation will close with the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the great day of judgment, at which time the righteous will be rewarded in heaven, the wicked punished in hell, and "the earth and the works therein shall be burned up. "

We are now living in what is preeminently the day of salvation for all the world. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." It is in the age ushered in by Christ's first advent when he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and to the ends of the earth (see Zech. 9: 9, 10; Isa. 11: 9, 10; and Psa. 2: 7, 8). The earth can not perish until every continent, island, and people is illuminated with the light of the gospel. There must be a universal spread of the truth on the inhabitable globe.

As before stated, this great work began in the ministry of Jesus, was carried forward under the labors of the apostles and the early ministry, and has been more or less progressive throughout all ages. It is, however, a fact that as yet the foregoing scriptures have had but a limited and partial fulfillment.

In the morning light age of the church the gospel reached but little beyond the limits of the Roman empire. It was confined to the few countries clustering around the Mediterranean Sea. Paul went as far as Spain. A few churches were planted along the northern coast of Africa. Churches flourished in Egypt, Palestine, and a small portion of Asia. In Europe it was confined to territory along the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The entire territory over which the gospel spread in those primitive times would cover only about half the area of the United Sates of America. Before the great apostasy came, the entire territory covered by the gospel was very small compared with the area of the entire world. To say, then, that the morning light age of the church comprised the reaping of the entire harvest of the Gentile, or heathen, world is indeed folly. If so, then but a small patch of the great harvest field— about one twentieth—was reaped, for " the field is the world"—not merely the few countries around the Mediterranean Sea, but the world. In the light of these positive facts, the limit of the spread of the gospel in apostolic days proves beyond question that the great promises set forth in the many texts already quoted did not reach their complete fulfillment then.

The church of Rome spread out farther. But this was apostate Christianity, and the pure gospel was not preached. The Sixteenth Century Reformation was confined to a few European states, while the Wesleyan Reformation spread over only Great Britain and a few American colonies. Protestantism has been imbued with a missionary spirit, and considerable work has been accomplished by the faithful self sacrificing saints therein. We would not for a moment reflect upon tile work accomplished by these faithful men and women, but after more than three hundred years of missionary effort by Protestantism the world yet remains enshrouded in heathen darkness. Today more than a billion people are antichristian. It is estimated that about eight hundred millions remain in heathen darkness. It follows conclusively, then, that the universal spread of the gospel, the final triumph of Christianity in all the world, returning to the Lord of people from all the ends of the earth, has not yet been fully realized.

But let us get at the real truth. In all the dealings of God with man there has been a plan, and he in his own good time has worked out that plan. Let us consider why the gospel did not and in fact could not reach the ends of the earth universally in the morning light age of the church.

First, the limited knowledge of the earth's area. At the time of Christ's first advent and the introduction of Christianity, it was generally understood that the Roman empire covered about all the earth (see Luke 2: 1). The Mediterranean Sea was the largest body of water really known on the globe. Around its shores clustered the provinces of the whole then known world. The Atlantic Ocean was mostly an unexplored sea, as was also the Pacific. The Indian Ocean had but a shadowy and almost fabulous existence. In fact, the whole world, with its teeming millions, that lay outside of the limits of the Roman empire was unexplored and unknown. The maps at that time showed the Great Sea—the Mediterranean—to be the center and the countries surrounding it the limits. This explains how the Queen of Sheba came from "the uttermost parts of the earth" to see the wisdom of Solomon. She came but a little distance as we measure the earth now. In this instance Jesus accommodated his language to his hearers' limited knowledge and understanding. It seems that Paul did likewise when the gospel reached the limits of the Roman empire. It was said that it sounded out "in all the earth" and "was preached to every creature under heaven." This shows how limited was their knowledge and understanding of the extent of the earth's area. What to them seemed like all the earth was in reality not a twentieth part of the whole world.

Second, the poor means of conveyance. The ministry of Jesus was confined to a small territory a few hundred miles in circumference. The most northern point reached by him was Caesarea Philippi, a city only one hundred and twenty miles north of Jerusalem. But we must take into consideration the fact that most of his traveling was done on foot, possibly some along the seacoasts in sailboats. He and his disciples walked from place to place, from city to city. He sent the Seventy before him two by two. There were no railroads, no electric lines, no steamships, no flying machines, no telegraph wires, no telephones, no wireless telegraphy, no printing presses—in fact, none of our modern rapid means of conveyance or of transmitting messages. Their only means of carrying messages was on foot or by donkey and camel. Paul, who traveled more extensively than any other of the early ministers, went mostly on foot. His travel on water was by sailboats, which were very slow and tedious. By modern methods, the entire ground traveled by the apostle during his thirty two years' ministry could be covered in a very few weeks. Taking all this into consideration, we see that the self-sacrificing primitive ministry did remarkably well to carry the gospel truth even to the Roman world and a few places in regions beyond.

The ministry of Jesus was one of constant labor and sacrifice. His was a busy life. When Jesus sent forth his disciples with the message of salvation, he told them that their message was so urgent they should salute no man by the way. Salutations is those Eastern countries were very tedious and would have required much of their time. "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." "And ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel until the Son of man have come." This is more properly rendered, " till the Son of man overtake you. " That is, he sent them forth to introduce the gospel of the kingdom in the different cities in which he himself would preach, and he gave them to understand that they would not reach all the cities of Israel until he would overtake them.

But times have changed. The globe has been circumnavigated The great waters of the Atantic and Pacific and Indian Oceans have been crossed and recrossed The Arctic and Antarctic Oceans have been penetrated by modern sea vessels. Probably every navigable country on earth and every island of the sea has been explored. The great and mighty nations of earth, then entirely unknown to civilization? have been penetrated by modern civilization. Such great nations and countries as China, India, Japan, and Africa, which have never been reached by Christianity, except in a very limited way,, but as a whole remain wrapped and bound in pagan darkness, are today opening their doors to the gospel and with outstretched arms are calling for salvation from sin.

The evening light is breaking. Surely God rules in the kingdoms of men, and thus through modern improvement and invention the way has been prepared for the evangelizing of the world. All this, with famine, pestilences, and wars, have plowed furrows for gospel seed into the darkest corners of the earth. Today instead of the slow foot travel of primitive times, we have a modern railroad system with its lightning express trains operating throughout the land. We have a network of electric lines operating in every direction. Great steamships plow across the seas in a few short days. Already airships are safely carrying passengers from one point to another. Thus messengers of God can "run to and fro" in the earth with almost lightning rapidity and also fly in the midst of heaven, "having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people " (Rev. 14: 6).

The modern printing press is being utilized by God to turn out volumes of truth and send them broadcast to every nation like leaves from the tree of life. Messages can be sent around the world in a few hours by telegraph and telephone. The North Pole is said to have been recently discovered, and an expedition is now on its way toward the South Pole. It looks as if every corner of the earth would be reached. We stand in awe and wonderment, yea, in holy awe and reverence, as we behold the guiding and directing hand of God. It is the great day of preparation. It certainly looks as if these modern inventions would be used of God in bringing about his glorious purpose and in carrying out his plan in the world's evangelization.

The evening light reformation is, we believe, the one designed of God to fulfill the great spiritual work thus to be accomplished. '"It shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be. And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall Jehovah be one and his name one. " Zech. 14: 7-9, A. 13. V.

The evening light reveals the corruption of sect Babylon' calls out the people of God scattered in the various folds, and restores a pure church the church of God in all its primitive glory and power. This has largely been the work of the reformation thus far. The pure church thus gathered and redeemed is in prophecy metaphorically termed Jerusalem. Many have thought that the restoration of Zion—the church—to its primitive glory is all that is to be accomplished in the blessed evening light, and that when this is fully accomplished, the Lord will immediately come; but, dear reader, you will observe that after the restoration of the pure church—Jerusalem—then shall living waters go out of her toward the eastern and the western sea. These living waters are the streams of gospel truth and salvation that shall flow out to all the world. These Dow out from Jerusalem—the pure church of God. They are destined to cover the earth with the knowledge of God till all nations shall be blessed thereby and people from all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord. Thank God for this blessed day!

Jehovah shall be king over all the earth in the evening of time. The spiritual domain of Christ shall reach from sea to sea, even to the ends of the earth. Present facts, we believe, bear this out. The reformation thus far has been principally directed in restoring the whole truth—full salvation from sin through holiness, divine healing, gifts of the Spirit, and unity of the Spirit in the one church of God. Sect Babylon has been exposed as a false and corrupt system, and a voice from heaven has been calling out of her the people of God. The result is, thousands of sinners have been saved from sin into the one fold of Christ and thousands of others have been gathered out of sectism. All these together constitute the Zion of God, the redeemed church in the blessed evening light. Others are still coming from sin and sectism to the heights of Zion, to the mount of holiness.

But a missionary spirit is now taking hold of the church. Instead of thinking that the day of judgment is but a step before us, the church is being inspired with a spirit of evangelizing the world before Christ comes again. Though the great truth of Christ's second coming and the near approach of the end of the world is made prominent in our teaching, we believe that all signs point to the impending judgments soon to break in upon this degenerate world, yet a special effort is being made to spread the saving truth of the gospel to all people before Jesus comes, and we believe that it is the hand of God moving in the order of his plan. Already self-sacrificing missionaries are going to the different nations of earth, missions are being established in foreign lands, missionary homes are being built in many of our cities for the training of workers to invade heathen lands, pure literature by the ton is being sent to almost every corner of the earth. All this is preparing the way for the stupendous work before us. In fact, the reformation thus far has been but a preparation for the great work soon to be accomplished. The whole church on earth is being inspired of God for world wide missionary work. It is certainly God's time, his plan, and his leading. He had prepared for this. Everything in the world seems to point to this spreading of the gospel over all the earth.

THE SAINTS WILL HAVE UNIVERSAL DOMINION...

The final triumph of Christianity over all other religions and faiths is assured in the Word of God. In Daniel 2 we read of a "stone cut out without hands." This refers chiefly to the church or kingdom of God—Christianity. It did not come by human hands. Being divine, it came from heaven. It is of a spiritual nature; hence no worldly policy, human doctrine, nor military force was employed in its establishment. 'Not by might nor power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts.' This stone smote the image and broke it to pieces. As observed in a previous chapter, the great image represented four heathen kingdoms that reigned in succession in ancient times. These were the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman. It was the Roman which held the dominion when Christ appeared to set up the everlasting kingdom of heaven.

At the time when this heathen government, partaking of all the characteristics of the preceding empire, was at its zenith of imperial splendor, military glory, legislative authority, and literary eminence, Christianity smote it at its very foundation, or principles of support, and by destroying these brought the whole to ruin. This stone began to smite the image when the apostles went out into every part of the Roman empire, pulling down idolatry and founding Christian churches. Soon the saving gospel spread to every quarter. Pagans were converted by the thousands. In A. D. 331, by an edict of the emperor himself, all the heathen temples were ordered destroyed, and Christianity became the religion of the empire. In the very territory where paganism held full sway during the dominion of the Babylonian, MedoPersian, Grecian, and Roman empires, Christianity was now the universal religion. You see that many of the distinguishing marks and principles of all the preceding empires remained in, and were compacted with, the Roman government, not only as to their territorial possession, but also as to their distinctive characteristics. Thus when Christianity struck at the roots of pagan Rome, not only the iron and clay, but also the brass, the silver, and the gold, representing the former pagan systems and governments, " were broken to pieces together. " Christianity triumphed, and the pagan systems fell.

But mark well the fact that at the very time when Christianity crushed the image and broke it in pieces, it was only "a stone." That was the blessed morning light age of the church. Christianity at this time was represented by a stone, and yet that stone filled the Roman empire, or the then known world; but it was foreseen that this stone which smote the image became a "great mountain and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2: 34). This shows that tile work of Christianity was to be progressive. Beginning small, it was to continue to enlarge and expand. Not only would the Roman empire and a few countries clustering around the Mediterranean Sea be brought under the influence of the gospel, but the kingdom—the church of Christ —would enlarge from a stone into a mountain, yea, "a great mountain, and fill the the whole earth." Wherever it goes, it breaks in pieces, consumes, and destroys idolatry out of the hearts of man.

What was done in the morning light age of the church throughout the Roman empire is what will be accomplished in the evening light throughout the whole earth. No law or principle in Christianity is directed against the political code of any country, but against the sin and idolatry therein. False religions and corrupt systems of so called Christianity must give way to pure Christianity revealed in the whole gospel now being preached. That which in primitive times spread out and filled the Roman empire shall in these last days spread from sea to sea and fill the whole earth with its influence. By this I mean that those countries which have not as yet felt the powerful influence of Christianity will yet feel it; for " the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

Since the pure and redeemed church of God in this evening time is destined to spread over all the earth, it follows that God's saints will have the dominion. Not that the temporal governments will be given into their hands, for the reign and kingdom of God is " not of this world." It is of a spiritual nature. The idea is that in the very nations where paganism and apostate Christianity rule and govern, there pure Christianity will yet wield a mighty influence; and since this triumphant reign is the enjoyment of the saints, who will be distributed in every corner of the earth, theirs is a universal dominion. "He that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to pieces. " Rev. 2: 26, 27. The reign of Christ is a spiritual reign, and his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. He reigns in the hearts of his people.

But his dominion shall be to the ends of the earth. "The uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession"; that is, his truth and kingdom will spread to the uttermost parts of the earth and through its conquering influence will affect every nation. Thus Christianity will become the universal religion of earth. All other religions are of a local nature and apply only to certain nations and peoples, but pure Christianity will apply to all nations, and the prophet said that "all nations shall flow into it." The universality of Christianity in the earth at the time when Christ comes again, its final and glorious triumph, is clearly seen in many scriptures

Turning to the seventh chapter of Daniel, we find the same four heathen monarchies—Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman— brought to view under the symbols of four beasts (verses 2, 8, and 17). Following their reign, the saints of the Most High were, it is said, to " take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever " (verse 18). Unlike the heathen kingdoms that preceded it, the kingdom of grace and righteousness possessed by the saints was to continue forever. All these governments, being imperfect in their nature, contained in them the seeds of their own destruction. Kings die; ministers change; subjects pass away; new relations arise; new measures and new projects are originated; and these produce political changes and often political ruin. All former empires have changed, and the very names of the peoples have changed with them. The Assyrians were lost in the Chaldeans and the Babylonians; the Babylonians were lost in the Medes; the Medes in the Persians; the Persians in the Greeks; and the Greeks in the Syrians and Egyptians; these in the Romans; and the Romans in the Goths and a variety of other nations. Nor do the names of those ancient governments or the people who lived under them remain on the face of the earth at the present day. They are found only on the pages of history. Even every dispensation of God prior to Christianity opposed another by which it was to be succeeded. But every principle of Christianity is eternal—the everlasting gospel, the eternal Spirit, the eternal God, the eternal Christ, his everlasting love, everlasting joy, everlasting righteousness, and everlasting peace. All these constitute the everlasting kingdom of grace; and since the saints possess these elements in their hearts, theirs is an everlasting reign, an everlasting possession.

Following the setting up of the everlasting kingdom, came the reign of the little horn and great apostasy (verses 19-21; 24, 25). During this long period the saints were martyred by the millions. This power prevailed against them. This was to continue until judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and this judgment executed was to take away the dominion of the horn, to "consume and destroy it to the end" (verse 25). This began with the Reformation of Protestantism and reaches its grand climax in the evening light. The consuming here spoken of evidently refers to the executing of the flaming judgments of truth against false worship and false systems of religion. The fire of salvation and holiness has a consuming, effect upon corrupt systems of religion. For example, the preaching of Luther and other reformers in the sixteenth century could well be illustrated as setting fire to the whole system of papal religion. "I will make my word in thy mouth fire and this people wood, and it shall devour them." Of course, we are not to understand this literally, but such figuratively was the effect of the preaching during the Reformation. The power and dominion of Rome was largely taken away, and honest souls held within her deceptive fold were led out into clear light. And so in this evening time, as the judgments of truth that were executed in the clear morning of the Christian era are restored to the church, and the saved execute these against every false system of religion and even against false worshipers, the effect is the same upon these as the preaching of the reformers was upon Rome. And as honest souls accept the preaching of the pure gospel, they will be led to renounce the false and corrupt systems in which they have been held and come out into clear light.

This consuming and destructive work against false religions has been going on for some time, and the whole realm of sectism has to some extent felt its withering effect; but I am sure that in a deeper and broader sense will the whole realm of apostate religion be made to feel the burning effects of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only will apostate Christianity be made to feel this, but as the pure gospel goes to all nations, false religions of every kind will be affected by it; and as people renounce these and accept Christianity, in this sense the dominion of false religions will be taken away. This blessed work will continue " until the end. "

We have reached the evening light—the restoration of the whole truth, and in this is comprehended full salvation from all sin and false religion, a pure church restored and an enjoyment of all the rich blessings of the kingdom of Christ. "And the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. " Verse 22. Thank God! we have reached that time. In the morning light age the kingdom of God, as we have seen, spread over the entire Roman empire and Christianity conquered paganism therein. That was the then known world. But after the great apostasy, when we reach the evening light age of the church and the saints again possess the kingdom, "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High" (verse 27). Yes, "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that al] people, nations, and languages should serve him. " Verse 14. That is, in all the earth in all nations where the gospel is destined to go, there will be found disciples of Jesus offering praise and honor and glory to his matchless name. Here, then, we have the glorious triumph of Christianity set forth. It becomes universal. In this sense the church of God, the saints, the beloved city, shall have the dominion under the whole heaven. Christ will have true disciples among all people, nations, and languages; and they shall serve him. This state of things shall continue until the end. [ End of Part 13 ]