The approaching time of the end with its deadly apostasy is coming on apace. We may well wonder how God in His grace bears with the devitalized Christianity of the day. We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth, and that His severe judgments will certainly fall on that which once professed the name of Christ.
The "All-Faith Convocation For Peace" on June 27 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco is a precursor of a greater apostasy, but the judgment of a holy and righteous God who will not brook an affront to the holy name of Jesus will surely fall. "My glory will I not give to another," nor will He suffer His name to be linked with the false gods of the heathen (Isa. 42:88I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8)).
This great convocation at San Francisco is in commemoration of the founding 20 years ago of the United Nations, at which time and place the nations of Christendom acquiesced in the atheistic refusal of prayer to God for guidance, in the guise of seeking world peace. How could peace be secured by rejecting even the name of the "Prince of Peace"? Have the 20 intervening years produced real peace? The answer, as is well known, is an unequivocal, NO. The world has been filled with uneasiness and tensions of gigantic proportions. Well did God say to Israel, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Isa. 57:2121There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (Isaiah 57:21). The present time is fraught with forebodings, strife, and carnage. Certainly peace was not procured by godlessness, nor by giving up the foundations of the faith among those who once professed it.
On the tenth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, a so-called Festival of Faith was held in the same city. It was a gross mockery, as Protestants, Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus, and others joined in the travesty.
Now another ten years have elapsed, and peace seems farther away than either ten or twenty years ago; and still another united gathering is being enacted ostensibly "to give support and prominence to the world peace objective of the United Nations." As the Catholic Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken said, "We hope the total effect will be to add to the United Nations something some of us feel it may have lacked -the strong motivation of religion." Shall the uniting of professors of Christianity produce that needed ingredient by bowing down with pagans? Has God not asked, "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" 2 Cor. 6:14-1614Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:14‑16). One thing is certain, no good will come out of such overt wickedness.
More than 17,000 persons are to be in attendance, while 2,000 voices rise to sing together. It will indeed be a medley of mixed voices, with the name of the Lord Jesus sedulously eliminated. The One in whom God found His true delight in a world ravaged by sin, will be excluded by common consent. O world! how soon art thou rushing on to perdition!
A letter of invitation to this occasion is signed by Joseph G. Kennedy as President of the San Francisco Council of Churches, in which he said, "As you can see, long-standing precedents are being broken. World conditions call for bold actions. We invite you to join us in building a significant and unprecedented occasion." This reminds us of the great building once perpetrated by men of another day, when they said, "Let us build us... a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven," but God there confounded the languages of the people and brought their whole scheme to confusion. It was unprecedented in its day, and yet stands as the display of God's signal disfavor and judgment.
There was also a time when King Nebuchadnezzar demanded on the pain of death that all of his people should join in bowing down and worshiping his false god. All the accoutrements of religious and sensual worship were on hand to bring about frenzied excitement for the occasion. This came to naught in the bold faithfulness of three children of Israel who would rather court death than join in the then "Festival of Faith," as it might easily have been called. It might have been written over the proud monarch's attempt to enforce a one-world religion, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Gal. 6:77Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7). And may the present apostate church be aroused before His dictum, "God is not mocked."
On the previous occasion, the first hymn on the program was "God of our fathers." What an awe-inspiring spectacle with so many voices joining to sing, "God of our fathers." And, may we ask, What God was that? To the Moslem, this god was none other than Allah; to the Buddhist, his god is "the supreme Buddha." Thus the modernist and inclusive ecumenical profession can unite with pagan gods to seek guidance for peace. But "the way of peace have they not known."
When we think of 2,000 voices blended in singing, it makes us think of the time that King Saul sent for the Ark of Jehovah, when the camp was threatened. They brought it forward that "it might save us," but alas! their folly was soon manifested, and the Philistines carried it away. But before it was captured, the Israelites shouted "until the earth rang." What a hollow pretension! Their empty boast reminds us of the latest occasion. Even the Philistine could understand the shout of all Israel when the Ark was brought into the camp. They said, "Woe unto us." They thought that the shout indicated God was on the side of the faithless Israelites; but the great pretension should not have impressed them. Soon God made manifest that He had left them to their own devices, and Israel was decisively defeated, and the Ark carried away to the house of Dagon, their pagan god.
We may well wonder if God will not bring all the wishes for peace into the dust. God has decreed, "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about.... Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision." (Joel 3:9-149Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. 12Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. 14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. (Joel 3:9‑14).)
It is significant that Secretary General U. Thant will be a convocation speaker. It will be remembered that he pays homage to Buddha, and devotes time for meditation each day. A pagan who was once healed of leprosy (Naaman by name) had a conscience about bowing down in the "house of Rimmon" when his master leaned on his hand. Evidently there would be less compunction today in lukewarm, nauseating Christendom about joining the name of God and heathen deities together. Oh, that true believers in the Lord Jesus may keep themselves aloof from all the pageantry and vain show of the world over which the severe judgments of God are about to break. The time is at hand when, instead of peace, men's hearts will fail them for fear, "and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Luke 21:2626Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:26).
We have previously written editorial comment about Life magazine's attack on the Bible as the holy and inspired and unfailing Word of God-the Word of Him "who cannot lie." We have also reprinted our review in pamphlet form under the caption "Refutation of an ATTACK on the Bible." It is now available from the publishers.
Our reason for recurring to this subject is that Life recently published a Spanish edition of their same English attack. It was sent out as Life En Espanol under the date of April 12, 1965, with a prologue entitled, "El Eterno Dialogo del Hombre con Dios." It was circulated in Latin America and Spain, and contains the same clever and deceptive attacks on the trustworthiness of the Bible.
We trust that many Christians will warn the Spanish speaking peoples against this heretical hoax, so that many of them may be preserved from this snare of the enemy. These are the days of which Jude warned, when we need to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (v. 3).