On July 11 Pope Paul received U Thant, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in a private audience. Incidentally, U Thant is a Burmese Buddhist. The two notable figures discussed world problems and, something close to Romanism's heart, the release of Cardinal Mindszenty in Hungary. Rome wishes him out of the way there so that she may work more amicably with the Communist Hungarian government.
It might also be worthy of note in considering the trends that, while President Kennedy waited in Italy for the coronation of Paul VI, he sent a delegation of four men to represent the United States government at the coronation. The four were headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren of the Supreme Court that a few weeks before had barred the reading (without comment) a portion of the Holy Scriptures in public schools, as had been done for 150 years, and also forbidden the recitation of the so-called Lord's prayer there. Another man to officially witness the crowning of the papal sovereign was Rabbi Dr. Louis Finkelstein, a man who disbelieves in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a historical first, that a Jewish rabbi was officially delegated to serve on such an occasion in Rome.
We do not know, but this may have been in accord with Vatican wishes, for it now seeks rapprochement with the Jews. On last so-called Good Friday, Pope John stopped a mass in Rome to delete some words from it that were offensive to Jews. It is also reported that Pope John planned to create for the fall Vatican Council meeting a Committee on Jewish Affairs to become a part of the Secretariat for Christian Unity under Cardinal Bea. We quote from the B'nai B'rith Messenger of Los Angeles, "According to Mr. Lapide [of a Hamburg paper], Pope John XXIII wanted to bridge-over the centuries-old breach between Jews and Christians, i.e. between the Old and New Testament, which both preach the same eternal truth...."
- July 12, 1963. According to the same paper, Pope Paul will probably continue the same course.
This new papal attitude fits in well with that of ecumenical Protestantism. Our attention was recently called to a report of the American 'Jewish Committee as found in the Illinois State Library (it is probably in other such libraries also). On page 43 of the annual report of the AJC for the year 1952 is the following: "The close contact established last year with the division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches has extended to their established department of inter-group education with which together with the Anti-Defamation League we are now in almost daily consultation. This department makes significant use of the Committee's [AJC] resources for material and information which it channels through 2,500,000 instructors to 27,000,000 Sunday School students." Here we see the secret workings within ecumenical circles to erase any stigma of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. Jewish organizations have long contended that the Sunday Schools teach anti-Semitism when they relate the New Testament accounts of the rejection of Christ. But the Old Testament testifies that a remnant of the Jewish people will in a later day weep and mourn and repent when they look upon Him whom they pierced (Zech. 12:1010And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)). That time has not yet come.
Even the National Association of Evangelicals had an American Jewish Agency representative, Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum at their spring meeting as an observer. And the liberal Christian Century commented on this that the NAE "manifested a wholesome trend toward greater responsibility in citizenship and churchmanship." Then the noted Rabbi gave an interview in which he pleaded for more dialog and mutual understanding between the two groups. This would be between professed followers of Christ, and rejectors of Him. Rabbi Tanenbaum is quoted as saying: "Far too many Jews and other Americans think of evangelicals as 'wild-eyed, hair-shirted fanatics' and far too many evangelicals think of Jews as 'disinherited' by God and living 'barren unredeemed existences.' " But those Jews who still reject the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Redeemer are lost in spite of all the efforts to alter the facts; but the Gentiles who also reject (or neglect) 'Christ as their only Savior "shall all likewise perish." The Word of God faithfully represents the guilt of all mankind—Jews and Gentiles—in the casting of the Son of God out of this world. The Lord Himself said to Pilate, "he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin." These are FACTS faithfully reported to us by the Holy Spirit of God, and the spirit of compromise and human dialog will not change them. The world as such is guilty and is waiting for the just judgment of God. But when once the Word of God is undermined on this one solemn point, the basic fabric of it must be rent; for it stands or falls together.
The last vile state of Christendom as depicted in Rev. 17 makes the mention of its fornication with the kings of the earth. This means unholy and illicit intercourse between the secular powers of the earth and the religious mistress who will prostitute her great one-church prestige for her advancement in the earth. It is on its way, most surely.
And what place will the Jews who reject Christ have in the great apostasy of Christendom? Just this, that in those last days (after the true believers are taken to be with Christ) Christendom will tire of false, moribund profession and destroy the whole empty thing, root and branch. Then the man who will head the Jewish nation and be in league with the beast of the revived Roman Empire will step into the vacuum left by the desolated church and deceive what is left of Christendom and the whole world with Satanic powers. Let us read from the sure Word of God:
"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [or, hinders] will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thess. 2:7-127For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:7‑12). If men will not have the truth, God will let Satan deceive them with a lie.
And the man who will be the instrument of the deception will deceive the lost, both Gentiles and Jews. Judaism, except the elect portion which will be persecuted and flee, and Christendom will alike perish in the great apostasy in the righteous judgment of God. So today we see all this coming forward—apostasy on every hand—but the coming of the Lord for His own must precede this great delusion. Lord Jesus, Come.
Those prophetic expositors of a century ago saw plainly from the book of Revelation that the Roman Empire (which had then ceased to exist as an entity) would be revived in a new form as ten separate governments under a federal head. This was also given prophetically in the book of Daniel, chapters 7 and 9. It was also clear from Revelation that there would be a mistress who would sit upon the new Roman beast (Rev. 17:1-81And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:1‑8)). This rider was to be a great church amalgamation to be known for its confusion, for the name Babylon suggests this. This will be the last noxious-to-God state of Christendom. The rider of the beast is to sit upon, or be carried by, the great Western political federation; it is also said to sit upon "seven mountains" (v. 9), which identifies it with the city of Rome- the seven-hilled city. It is further said (v. 1) to sit "upon many waters." This clause came forcibly to mind in a recent article which spoke of Roman Catholicism, thus:
"The man [the Pope] and the office cannot be sharply distinguished, of course, for whoever sits upon the oldest throne in the world must wholly serve one grand design-in G. K. Chesterton's words, 'one scheme... bestriding lands and ages with its gigantic arches, and carrying everywhere the high river of baptism upon an aqueduct of Rome.' "-Newsweek, June 10, 1963. Thus the great "one church" will sit upon and help direct the Western beast in government; it will also sit upon the seven hills of Rome, and bestride many lands as "upon many waters."
But after the true Church's rapture to be with Christ, the apostate composite of left-over Christendom will be utterly destroyed by the beast and his subservient kings during the seven years tribulation period.
Then it will be that the false prophet of the Jews will come forward with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. It will be the overthrow of empty Christian profession when militant atheism seizes control and carnage follows. After this will come the worship of man and of Satan in the last dreadful state of MAN before Christ appears out of heaven with His saints to put down all authority, and subject His enemies in God's time according to the decree of Psalm 2.
Other developments which point the way toward the fast-moving big church union have occurred. The Faith and Order Conference of the World Council of Churches convened in Montreal. One report on this says that "Faith and Order Conferences rank among the landmarks of the ecumenical century." Then after listing the representatives who were there, the article added: "Also present were 20 Roman Catholic observers-including five appointed by the Vatican-and Montreal's Paul Emile Cardinal Leger delivered one of the major addresses."- Time, August 2, 1963.
Other comments included those of Anglican Bishop Oliver Tomkins of Bristol, expressing his expectation of the opportunity for "positive and fruitful dialog" between Rome and other confessions. And now Protestant theologians are to study texts about Mary to see what Roman and Orthodox communions teach about "the Mother of God." If coming events cast their shadows, these are more than shadows of phantoms. They are taking on a very realistic image.
According to another report on the same event, Cardinal Leger called the meeting a "family reunion." It also commented that while the Reformation had worked to splinter Christianity, it "is now at work in the opposite direction." Also Dr. Raymond E. Brown, a Roman Catholic New Testament scholar, and Lutheran Dr. Ernest Kasemann of Germany, agreed that the writers of the New Testament were as divided in their theologies as theologians are today, although they all were conscious of "belonging to the one Christian church."-Newsweek, August 5, 1963.
This is dangerous heterodoxy. It may not be realized, but it strikes at the very foundation of the Holy Scriptures as indited by the Holy Spirit of God; for there was no disagreement between the writers of the New Testament. Their theologies did not differ. To say that there is conflict or disagreement in the scriptures of the New Testament is to either deny that the Spirit of God gave them all, or to charge Him with inaccuracies and division. The Spirit of God used different men to put forth different parts, but there is no disagreement or divergence. They all speak part of the same blessed truth; it is all perfect harmony. Its design is like a gigantic arch where each part is necessary to the construction of the whole. Sacrifice any part of Holy Scripture, and you do violence to the whole sacred deposit. But such charges only presage departure from the truth and eventual utter apostasy. Romanism and Protestantism are both on a slippery, downhill road; and the present fast pace may be expected to accelerate.
Then, in the Fourth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation, held in Helsinki, Finland, the delegates "warmly applauded" at the introduction of "three Vatican observers." And the conference closed with the establishment of a foundation to promote "dialog with non-Lutheran churches-especially the Roman Catholic Church. The decision was a climax to a series of friendly exchanges throughout the meeting between Vatican observers and the Lutheran delegates."-Newsweek, August 19, 1963. Truly Protestantism has gone a long, long way down since it was founded in the blood of men who "counted not their lives dear" that the truth of God might be established. Should not the Word of God speak to those who inherited such deliverance at the great cost in suffering that the reformers paid?-"Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent." Rev. 3:33Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. (Revelation 3:3).
A conflict that Martin Luther would never have expected from those who followed the doctrine he propounded was touched off at the Helsinki conference. It centered on the theme of "justification by faith" apart from works. It was the keystone of Luther's Reformation days, but, alas! it is being scuttled today. Dr. Gerhard Gloege of Bonn University said, "that today neither the church nor the world knows what to do with this doctrine of justification. For the fathers it was the foundation and rule of faith and life. For the church today it is clearly an embarrassment."-Time, August 23, 1963. The article mentions a number of problems relating to this doctrine, one of which was, "that downgrading works seems less acceptable than ever to self-justifying, activist modern man." It seems that the truth of God must be changed to accommodate it to modern man who is bent on justifying himself. The Lord met many of this type when He was here-"Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts." Luke 16:1515And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15). So after all, it would seem foolish for the reformers to risk, and even encounter, death that the truth of God might continue. So modern man assumes to be wiser, and all things are now judged on expediency and what man wishes.
We continue to quote: "A more serious challenge to traditional Lutheran thinking came from the Federation's Commission on Theology: modern Biblical study makes it clear that justification is not, as Luther thought, the dominating theme of the New Testament."-p. 48. If justification is not the theme of the epistle to the Romans, then what is? The whole epistle sets forth that subject-how God can be just while He justifies the ungodly person who accepts the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. It is the only ground of a sinner's acceptance before God. But, as we may expect, the winds of ecumenicalism are strong enough to blow away precious and sacred truth in the interest of at last being able to form a one-world church- "Babylon the Great," to be more precise! And the article goes on to state that this re-examination of this doctrine could lead to a healing of the breach between Rome and the Reformation. Alas! Alas! How have the mighty fallen! Truth is being trampled in the dust.
Another recent religious gathering of ecumenical note was the conference of 13,000 at the 24th annual North American Liturgical Week at Philadelphia. It is a Catholic group which is working for liturgical reforms within the Catholic Church. They are seeking to bring about more general participation in church liturgy, instead of having the priest do it all. Changes have already been made, and it is anticipated that more will be ordered by the to-be-resumed Vatican II Council. More use is being made of the language of the people, rather than having all performed in Latin. The movement is of 20th century origin.
This will probably change the performance at the mass, but it is not to change the doctrine of the mass which signifies a continual offering of an "un-bloody" sacrifice for sins. The repetitious offering of the mass is contradictory to the blessed truth that the Lord Jesus has in consequence of one sacrifice for sins, which can never be repeated, set down in perpetuity at God's right hand. He has perfected His people forever. The "Lord's supper" is not a sacrifice for sins, but a simple memorial -remembrance-of Himself in death.
This was one of the great conflicts of the Reformation, but the changes being worked out are calculated to bring Roman Catholicism and Protestantism closer together. We quote the words of another: "Liturgy, a source of religious strife during the Reformation, is today a force for Christian unity. Liturgical reform is bringing Catholic worship closer to Protestant practices. At the same time, some U.S. Protestant and Episcopal churches have introduced into worship practices once considered 'popish,' such as incense and eucharistic vestments at Holy Communion."-Time, August 30, 1963. The article further adds that both groups may yet find that "the old, divisive differences in forms of worship have... vanished."
The early Church had no such forms or customs. It was all simple reading, praying, or remembering the Lord in death. There was nothing in the day of "The Acts" ornate or appealing to the flesh; in those days it was truly "worship... in spirit and in truth." But when the power disappeared, man supplemented it with carnal ordinances and earthly forms of worship. And today, the more that vitality disappears from Christendom, the more formalized liturgy comes in to replace the vacuum which has been created. This is plainly evidenced by the trends toward Rome on the one hand, and, on the other, by Rome's minor concessions which will lull many Protestants into the deadening stupor which will mark the last stage of devitalized and debilitated Christianity. The coming of the Lord to call His blood-bought people home to Himself, according to His sure word and promise, is the only hope we have today. The present accelerating trends may soon become an avalanche of popular opinion which will sweep everything before it.