A copy of The Winnipeg Tribune for July 11, 1964, was recently sent to us for our review of a great change in Sunday School teaching in the United Church of Canada. If this were an isolated incident in religious circles, we might forbear to comment; but as it is indicative of the general tenor of infidelity which is sweeping across Christendom, it calls for sounding an alarm.
Well may we exclaim, "If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?" Psalm 11:33If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3). When the Apostle Jude set about to write to the saints about their "common salvation," it was necessary instead for him to write to them to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints" (Jude 11Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: (Jude 1), 3). Since the foundations of faith in Christ, faith in the unerring Word of God, are under attack in the supposed citadels of faith, halfway measures would not do. The enemy was inside of the profession, and nothing less than earnest contention would meet the dreadful challenge. To acquiesce under such conditions is treason against the Lord.
The new Sunday School curriculum will shortly be put into effect. It is the product of six years of development at a cost of $1,000,000. There seems to be no shortage of money or lack of human effort to undermine the faith of children. These are often sent to Sunday Schools for the purpose of bringing them up in the truths of the Word of God, but what shall we say when on examination the materials used and the words planned by men of no faith are found to be used to indoctrinate the dear children with the very essence of unbelief. Money, often supplied by Christians, is misappropriated to the devil's artifice as they are taught, in their more impressionable years, the enemy's falsehoods which (contrary to being current and modern) are as ancient as deceitful lies uttered of old in the Garden of Eden, and by which he seduced and deceived our first parents.
The Winnipeg Tribune comments that the "Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec" is jointly publishing this new curriculum with the United Church. And thus the seeds of infidelity are spread. Nor does the scheme stop with the mere publishing of the Sunday School material, but the ground is being well prepared as other books are being published for teachers and members for the purpose of conditioning them to the coming changes. In common parlance of the day, the professing church members are being "brainwashed" to prepare the ground for ready acceptance of the noxious weeds. And an abundant crop of infidelity will be the certain result as Christendom plunges down the hill into the great apostasy. Scripture forewarns us that in the end God will allow men to be deceived because they did not wish the truth. And He says that in the end the apostate church will be damned. Judgment is the certain and final result of the current avalanche.
O the horror of blind leaders of the blind saying that Noah never saw an ark, that the divine account of David's overcoming Goliath is untrue, or, to use their words, that it is merely "a tall tale." This amounts to saying that it is an exaggerated falsehood in the name of the God of truth. Howbeit, David is a beautiful type of Christ who came down and met the giant foe and overcame him. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Heb. 2:1414Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14).
The new lie perpetuates the modern rejection of the Word of God by saying that the first 11 chapters of Genesis are not facts but only myth by which certain things are taught. The whole Word of God stands or falls together. It is either absolute truth, or the worst falsehood ever concocted, for it claims to be TRUTH. And all Scripture bears witness to itself by constant re-affirmation of itself. Go from Genesis to Revelation, and the closest examination will show that it is all in perfect harmony. All who contend otherwise do but demonstrate their ill will and enmity against God. The truth is that it searches the conscience, and for that reason men have a will to discredit it.
Take the early records of genealogy and compare them with the records of Chronicles, of Ezra, of Matthew, and Luke. Let any man seek to prove them to be false, and his antagonism is but demonstrated.
Time after time the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, restated the early records as facts. "From the beginning it was not so"; "He which made them at the beginning"; and so on. The same thread that links Genesis together is found at the end- the Book of Revelation. If God will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain, what will He not do to him who challenges His Word? The Lord Jesus said, "The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John 12:4848He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John 12:48). The very word which man tries in vain to set aside will yet judge the man who attempts it. "Forever, O LORD, Thy word is settled in heaven." Psalm 119:8989LAMED. For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. (Psalm 119:89).
We do not call attention to the shocking modern infidelity found in the professing religion of a neighboring land, as though it were not prevalent elsewhere. We know better. The infidelity of the day is to be found in all segments of Christendom. We are reminded of our Lord's parable of the woman who hid leaven in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. The leaven of infidelity has been so long at work in the meal that the whole lump of Christian profession has become permeated with the corrupt and corrupting element. We are receiving the same kind of poisonous literature from various sources with shocking regularity. It is quite common now to relegate the first 11 chapters of Genesis to the realm of myth and allegory, and then by clever play on words it is explained as a good thing. But Webster's Dictionary says that a myth is "a person or thing existing only in imagination." Whose imagination, if it can be found in the Word of God? This carries shocking implications.
God's record of Satan as the old serpent in Genesis (in Eden) is precise and understandable. Then in Revelation God makes his identity precise and unmistakable: "the great dragon,... that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan." But modern Sunday School literature says: "In ancient Near-Eastern literary style, a serpent is introduced into the record. Where the serpent originated or what the serpent is to represent is not made clear." In another place the same paper suggests that "in the light of recent discoveries yielding a long, lost Canaanite literature, it may be that the poet is simply adopting a well-known literary phrase of his day from the religious literature of neighboring cultures, and investing it with the essence of his Hebrew faith." This seems like the work of "the old serpent." The sublime Word of the living God is cleverly transposed into the work of mere man, and divine inspiration is discarded for literary absurdities of heathen neighbors.
Another statement from this E.U.B. Adult Leader is: "To us moderns these anthropomorphic representations of God in the Old Testament may seem strange and even crude, but it was not so to the ancient Hebrews." What tremendous progress modern man has made when parts of His Holy Word now seem strange and even crude to him. We read: "For He knoweth vain men: He seeth wickedness also; will He not then consider it? For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt." Job 11:11, 1211For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it? 12For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt. (Job 11:11‑12).
So-called Christian lands are heading for the overthrow of Christianity and the adoption of atheism-blatant and arrogant. But men will reap the reward of their error which is meet.
These modernist Sunday School papers and manuals are connected with the National Council of Churches in the U.S.A. We have frequently found such expressions in such papers which tend to bring all things down to a common level by making a comparison of the Old Testament scriptures with lore told around a campfire at night. Thus the miraculous and divine are obliterated. And "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" is rejected. The accounts of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus are said to be stories which were handed down from person to person until at length these were written down. This we utterly reject as the source of the divine records of the coming of the Son of God into the world.
We also noted instructions to teachers to "try to avoid confusing God and Jesus in their [children's] minds." Just who is Jesus? Will they draw a distinction and make of Him only a man? There are instances in the New Testament where Jesus and God are by divine design intermingled so as to be almost indistinguishable. But men would differentiate.
We have also read warnings that young children should not be told of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus in their early lives. Is the death-the saving death of the Lord Jesus-to be reserved until more mature life? Many dear children have heard of the Savior's love and death for them, and happily received Him in their early days. In fact, the vast majority of people who are saved by His precious blood have been saved in early life. Tell the story of man's lost condition to children; then tell them of the Savior and His death to save them. Tell them early and often. Tell them there is danger in delay, and tell them that the loving Savior invites them-"Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not." He took them up in His arms and blessed them when He was here; He pleads with them today to "come."
We also reject a strange statement: "coming to know God is a life-long quest." How long did it take the Philippian jailer to come to Christ and to know God? The answer is clear -the elapsed time was short, and it need not be otherwise today.