Who can estimate the mischief that has been done in the world, the dishonor to God and to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the misery brought to many of God's dear children, and the ruin to souls by the imaginations and reasonings of men?
The following instance is but a sample:
A Christian woman, greatly burdened about the soul of a man, her neighbor, asked a brother in Christ to call on him. The man was a professed infidel and a most unhappy person.
On going to see him, the servant of the Lord found that, as usual, this man had “many and weighty difficulties" against the inspiration of the scriptures.
“Well, what are they?" asked his visitor. “Let us have them one by one.”
And so they were presented.
The result may be anticipated by those who know the divine, exact, consistent power and marvelous adaptedness of the Bible to meet every "difficulty.”
The infidel was not one of those who make pretensions to the intellectual superiority so often claimed by his class, and he advanced his "objections" with the air of one who distrusted them himself. He finally acknowledged that he got them out of a book. He produced this volume from under his work-bench. In it—as in all works of the kind—were found misrepresentations, suppositions, and statements founded on gross ignorance of the true Word of God.
Instead of struggling to maintain his ground, the man seemed to find relief, even gratification, in the demolition of the infidel author's false "facts" and reasonings. In fact, at the close of the interview he begged his visitor to come again as soon as possible. When he did return in a few days, the truth came to light: the man was not truly what he claimed, what he really feared, and what he had styled himself—an infidel; he was but the victim of other men's reasonings.
“Why, then, did he pretend to be?" you may ask. Well, you shall hear.
As a little boy, this man had been a happy part of a godly family. When about seven years old, he had in childish faith received the Lord Jesus as his Savior; and until young manhood he had given evidences of being a "born again" soul, a Christian. Then came the time to prepare for a vocation. The young man entered college.
Heretofore surrounded by those whose love for the Lord was unquestioned and whose continual purpose was to shield him from evil and to lead him in the way of righteousness, our young friend was ill prepared to withstand the "wiles of the devil." Now "on his own" as it were, away from friends and loved ones, his lonely heart craved youthful companionship and the approbation of his fellows.
And well did Satan know how to conform the lad to his own purposes. Through the most amiable, the most popular of his college mates the boy was drawn almost imperceptibly and irresistibly into the worldly atmosphere of college life. When he finally protested that a Christian could not enter into some of the more flagrant of these “pleasures," he was derided for his "narrow” views. At his attempts to quote Scripture to uphold his position, he was met with the declaration that the well-informed college man could not believe the Bible. And to prove this statement he was dared to read infidel books which his mates produced.
Thinking himself to be proof against any attack on his faith in the Word of God, our young friend accepted the challenge. How true the Word: "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall"! 1 Cor. 10:1212Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12). Scarcely had he read the first pages before doubts crept into his mind; but ere long he was reading avidly the scoffing, taunting words of godless men whom Satan would use to harass the Lord's own and to destroy the weak and wavering sons of men.
In a little while the "shield of faith" was lowered, "the fiery darts of the wicked" had found entry through the unprotected armor, and the lad had fallen prey to the unholy reasonings of men.
But the One whom he had known as Savior would not let him go. Though grieved and quenched, the abiding presence of the Spirit of God continually prodded him with remembered portions of the once precious Word, and frequently on his lips were lines of faithful old hymns, too true to be stifled.
Years went by. In his unhappy state the poor chap began to take pride in the appellation, "an infidel," forgetting that "the fool hath said in his heart, NO GOD." Psalm 53:11<<To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.>> The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. (Psalm 53:1), (N. T.). Yet his heart, his true affections, were with the people of God, those whom the Savior of sinners deigns to call “brethren.”
What conflict, what torture did he endure! All the lonely, wasted years his heart cried out for assurance, for certainty of salvation, for the enjoyment of lost fellowship. Instead, the emptiness of a life without Christ, the bitterness of death, the hopelessness of eternity seemed to be his portion.
And you, dear unbelieving friend, are in that very same condition. Perhaps you are one of those who seeks to stifle conscience with the paltry frivolity of worldly pleasure, or, maybe, your pride sustains you in your course. From a heart of love for your never dying soul I cry to you, I beseech you Go to the Book that cannot lie. Eternity is a LONG time, and there are no atheists in hell! Listen to the Voice of authority: “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 18:33And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3).
Dear friend, as eagerly as you have adopted the opinions of men—ungodly men—I beg you to "turn about" NOW. Put first things first. Your eternal destiny is at stake. Cast down all imaginations, all reasonings. “Search the Scriptures" with the unprejudiced simplicity of a little child. "Let go, and let God." He will show you His salvation. Otherwise I warn you: the day of His wrath, fast approaching, will come and find you with NO HIDING PLACE.