Strong delusions, "The light turned on,"

Chapter XXII. Faces Turned Away Back and Hazing. . 277 i PREFACE, OR INTRODUCTION

The sole object, in writing this book, is to set forth the law of God; concerning 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 is sending strong delusion upon them in high places ; that they should believe a lie : That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. Practicing all sorts of deception, and amusement, in preference to the true worship of God. And also the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the Holy place, so we may understand, that the day is drawing nigh. And for a signet, and a warning, for all who are so fortunate as to obtain a copy of this book, and read the contents. Further, to make oare the truth, and show by comparison, so that chose who want to know the truth, may have better access in finding the light.

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Chapter I

Rev. J. C. Rowe’s Sermon.

When we look around us, and take into consideration the human family at large, and see such diversity of gift and talent, we can not avoid full appreciation of the noble and the great. But many times we see the most imperfection in some of the greatest minds we come in contact with. Especially so in the divine law. For instance we will take Mr. J. C. Rowe, the pastor of West Market Street M. E. Church at Greensboro, N. C. On the first Sunday in February of the last year he served, when lie preached on the subject of “The Beginning of Time”; when he referred to the beginning he said that if we could comprehend millions, and millions, and emphasized millions of years; with all the force that he could exert apparently; that we could tell something about when time began; and said in connection with this statement that “the two first verses of the Bible were disconnected with any of the Bible.” Now we want to compare these statements with the word of God. He says in the beginning God made the heavens and the earth, and all that in them are, and names what he made each day; and finished all that he created and made in six days, and rested from his work on the seventh day. Furthermore, this record of the creation was written about twenty-six hundred years after God made them ; and God gave the word to Moses, and he wrote these words, as they were given to him. Now we believe that God the Father gave those words just as they transpired; and if we say that it was any other way than given by the Prophet Moses, we are contradicting the word of our

Maker, and do say that He lied. But I say, let God be true, and all men liars. Then as to the disconnecting, (the same as to take from His word), and if any one takes from His word he will take his part away out of the Book of Life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book. And again, if we disconnect these two verses from the Bible, it would begin to read thus : “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light, and he had no place prepared to put the light.” So you see that it would have been in very awkward shape. No one that believes the Bible believes any such stuff. Mr. Rowe tried to prove by the building of West Market Street Church that his theory was right; and said that the Church was not commenced being built when the corner stone was laid and the ceremony said over it; but the people had been thinking about the erecting of the house for years, and rolling it over and over in their minds, and it was begun away back there somewhere. Now let us investigate a little. I ask if a man or a number of men can not talk about building a house all of their lives, and not begin? Not even locate the place. I ask again can not they go so far as to do all the planning, and have the architect to draw the plans, and then not have commenced to build? Or, they might have laid the foundation stone, and stop and then, never build. And further, all the material might be put down and be made ready, and yet the building is only ready to be built. When the foundation is laid, and the material cut, and fitted for to put together, then we begin to build by putting piece upon piece, until we are done. Let us compare it to the Kingdom and see if we are right. All the prophets spake of the coming of

Jesus and told the time; even the forerunner came to prepare the way. Now, did all that set the Kingdom up? No; not until Jesus came and began his work. Of course not. Then, if God was in existence from everlasting; that is not the least shadow of reason that time was back there, Millions and Billions of years. There is nothing revealed of time being in existence before the fall of man, and we have no idea of anything but eternity, previous to the fall. Time began with the fall of man ; man was made in eternity, and fell out of eternity into time, and is just given time enough to make preparations to go back into eternity. God being so good as to allow man this chance, furthermore making redemption for him; redeeming him from the fall. And Mr. Rowe, neither any other man, has any right to refer to any such an idea or make any such an erroneous and unjustifiable statement. Further, no man has the least business with anything pertaining to God that is not revealed, for He says that those things belong to him. The bad part, for worse, is the effect such preaching has over the lay members, or subordinates, of these leaders. As Mr. Wyche and I returned home, I asked him, he being one of the leading members of the West Market Street Church, how he liked the sermon. He answered, “Fine; very fine.” I exclaimed, “A very fine oration ; but, if Mr. Rowe was to meet with an infidel, what do you think he would say, when this same doctrine is one of his strong points?” It seemed that he was surprised, and I continued, that Mr.

Rowe, would say, “I think you are about right ; for that is just what I preach and believe.” The whole truth summed up in a nutshell is that Mr. Rowe was deluded, the worst kind, that day, and every one that believed his sermon was deluded through him. Then on another day in the home department of the Sunday School, when Mr. Claxton was Superintendent, he asked some one to make a talk after we had gone over the lesson, and Mr. Rowe arose, and said “I have nothing to say I believe.” But he went into a lengthy discussion of the boy Jesus. And the Elder said “ Jesus was just like any other boy except he was without sin. And he had to be taught and studied books.” And the tenor of his discourse was in all the details of his life; was reared in the same manner of all the boys of that day and age. He did not refer to the wisdom that he displayed at Jerusalem with the lawyers and rulers of the synagogue. Which does show plainly to the contrary of His teaching that day. “And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? “And what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?” If we look at Jesus just in the light of Mr. Rowe’s expression of his being without sin, I would suggest that this alone would be a vast difference. And to look further, he was very God, and very man — his being God himself, and the creator of all things, even the maker of us all; certainly, His is a wonderful difference. Then, he was the Son of God the Father, and could any one afford to say that he was just like any other boy?

So it is written, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul ; the last Adam was a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which was natural ; and afterward that which was spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy ; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. The above certainly is a wonderful difference from other boys. Then after he was baptized he said, “The man Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil, but he said, “I don’t believe that Jesus could see the Devil any more than I can, and I can’t see him ; and he said within himself, when he was an hungered, that ‘If I be the Son of God that I could command this stone to be made bread, and it would obey; but this would separate me from the favor of the Father, and I can’t do that.’ Then he went into the city and climbed upon the pinnacle of the temple and took a bird’s-eye view of the great city and said within himself, ‘If I be the Son of God, I could cast myself down, and God would give His Angels charge, concerning me and they would bear me up in their hands; but that would separate me from the favor of my Father; therefore, I can not do it.’ Lastly, he went up on an exceeding high mountain, took a general view of all the kingdoms of this world, and said, ‘What a glorious king I could be, and such kingdoms of splendor as I could have; but this would separate me from the favor of my Father, so I can not do this either.’ ” His whole idea was that the whole of Jesus’ temptations were within himself, leaving Satan out of the entire course of the whole series of his trials. Mr. Rowe would have led his hearers to believe that there is no Devil, and that Jesus was filled with evil spirits, and we, in like manner, are possessed with evil spirits that tempt us to do all kinds of sin.

When we read God’s word the difference is so obvious that any intelligent person w T ould say that Mr. Rowe’s comment is a perfect contradiction of God’s word; and further, for a man that has attained the high position of Elder in the church to be misled, in such erroneous misapprehensions does vast harm to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was driven of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil, and was with the wild beasts of the forest for forty days; and after he was an hungered the Devil came to him and said unto him, “If thou be the Son of God command these stones that they be made bread.” And Jesus replied unto him and said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” And the controversy continued throughout all three temptations, showing that there were two distinct persons engaged in the whole circumstance.

“Then the Devil taketh him up into the Holy City, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, ‘If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down: for it is written ‘He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone’.” I will say just here that the Devil transformed this text by leaving out the words “in all thy ways,” showing his subtlety in the temptation, this not being one of our Saviour’s ways. In like manner he transforms much of the Scriptures when he presents them to us, so we had better search the Scriptures, “for in them ye think ye have eternal life.” Jesus said unto him, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God.” Again, “The Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them ; And saitli unto him, ‘All these things will I give unto thee if thou wilth fall down and worship me.’ Then saith Jesus unto him, ‘Get thee hence, Satan : for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.’ Then the Devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”

These temptations seemed to consist, in the shameless contempt and the bold attack made on the Master, with wanting modesty, and full of sauciness as though Satan were supreme and all belonged to him. Actually he possesses nothing but a cursed name — cursed above all cattle of the field and over all the beasts of the forest. This old Devil — Satan — could not have left Jesus if he had not been there in the temptation. Any one who believes God’s word, who will read and see what He says can see that Mr. Eowe is wrong, and radically wrong ; and what I have to say is that he had better get right, and all others with him.

Chapter II

The Home Herald on the Truth of Abraham and Sarah.

The Home Herald , one of the most widely read and distinguished among all the religious periodicals published in America, in sending out the lessons for the Home Class Study, refers to one of the first lessons of the Bible, which contained the story of the visit of Abraham with his wife, into Egypt. While they were on their way, Abraham, being a Holy Prophet of God, said to his wife when they were near entering into Egypt, “ Behold now. I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon. Therefore, it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister : that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. And this prophecy came to pass as Abraham said; that when they came unto Egypt that the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her and commended her before Pharaoh, and they took the woman into Pharaoh’s house.” So you see they proved to a certainty that Abraham was right in his saying, or, in other words, he was forewarned of God, so God suffered him no hurt, and the king of Egypt treated Abraham well for her sake, and gave him largely of his substance. But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and all his house with great plagues because he took Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Then Pharaoh called Abraham and questioned with him concerning what he had told him as to his wife being his sister, and said, “Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

Why saidst thon, she is my sister ?” “She truly is my sister,” so Abraham answered, “she is my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter.” In the publication referred to, the Home Herald said that Abraham lied, because he said that his wife was his sister. Abraham certainly told the truth, for he said she was his Father’s daughter, but not his mother’s, and she became his wife. Then she undoubtedly was the servant of God; for she was the mother of all the righteous that lived afterward, for all the good women are called the daughters of Abraham’s wife, as long as they do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Then we would say that Abraham told a two-fold truth; in that she was his sister in the flesh, and also in the spirit; for Jesus taught us, when on earth, that whosoever doeth the will of my Father, is my mother, and brother, and my sister. The harm such publications do is incalculable, for there are but very few that do not believe what is published in a religious paper of good reputation, taking for granted there is no error. And again, it is a false statement, because Abraham is in heaven, and the accusation can not apply to him in the least, nor can anything be said against them, without reproaching the pure name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to say nothing of the slander cast upon Abraham, who is the father of all the righteous from his day on down until now. Such a hideous charge as to say that Abraham is a liar. Away with all such delusion! The publisher is deluded, and deludes every one who reads such articles and believes them.

What do you suppose Abraham thinks of us, or says about us, as he looks upon our depraved acts; in all of our deception, and our false accusations against him? Don’t you suppose that he is one of those saints that cry unto the great King, with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, Holy and true, dost thou not judge, and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Seeing that those saints that kept the testimony of God, do know all about what is said and done upon earth. Let us be ashamed of ourselves to think or say anything disgraceful against the good character of any prophet of God that is dead and has gone to heaven. God’s word is truth, and when we change the word, or the divine sentiment, we then become liars and there is no truth in us. Then again to accuse our brother on earth or in heaven is to be just like the Devil. For he was not charged of any other sin only that of accusing his brethren all the time, and it caused war in heaven; so that he was overpowered and he was cast out, and all his angels, unto the earth, so their places were no more found in heaven, but reserved in chains of darkness, until the great judgment of God. Therefore, if false accusations will cause an angel to be hurled out of heaven when he is guilty of such habit, certainly it will keep a man who does such a thing, who has never attained such high dignity as the angels, out of heaven. This same paper, in reference to Jacob’s obtaining his brother Esau’s birthright, said that Jacob stole it from Esau.

I will say that Jacob did not get the birthright in the absence of Esau, and slip away, and conceal, or hide it ; but they were both together, and were very conversant with each other, and fully agreed as to the trade; then Jacob paid a good ransom for the birthright, if what Esau said was true; which we are bound to admit is the whole truth, for it is the revealed Word of God, for as I have stated in this book other where, he saved his brother’s life ; what greater thing could he have done? And the false statement does not apply to Jacob in the least, for Jacob is in heaven, and how can it refer to him in the least degree? All such flouts, and contemptuous words are applicable to all liars and thieves that are here among us now, and all such as are gone on to the eternal hell ; and to no others. Further, such accusations are becoming common in the pulpit, and in Sunday School teaching, and among many leading laymen of the church; showing the influence of the broadcasting of such public petty religious literature. The damaging influence of no other source can harm the kingdom of heaven in comparison as does this false teaching from the socalled leaders in Christendom. There is no right teaching or preaching that conflicts with the Word of God. Then again, no man has any right to any opinion, or belief, that does not agree with the revealed Word of God. That is unbelief in itself, and fills the minds of others full of doubts, which is a damning sin. There is only one plain statement or law laid down whereby we can be saved, and that is embodied, or collected, in these words : “Repent and believe and thou shalt be saved.” This law is in the present, not the past, nor is it in the future, but right now. Then you see that it begins with us in childhood, and continues with us as we live, and applies to every person, and always as we live; now this is not teaching to sin and repent, as is so commonly talked, and believed, but abstinence from every evil thing and repentance and belief, that we may be saved. We omit duty enough, without committing ourselves of any unrighteousness, to require continued repentance for our eternal salvation. And I want to say, that this publication is not an exceptional case, on this subject. I have talked with other men, and numbers of them, that will say these same things about these Holy men that came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Chapter III

Rev. Mr. Stowe and Mr. Ratledge on the Same Line of Thought.

I was talking with one Mr. Stowe, an ordained preacher of the Reformed Protestant Methodist Church that had been preaching for about thirtyfive years, and he went so far as to say that Abraham and his wife conspired together to tell a lie; to deceive the King of Egypt and his people and this communication took place in the presence of his congregation, in his church, just before he preached. Then in his discourse he preached that every transaction of man was prompted by love, or the person would not have done the act. He said that if a man is in an affray and beats his antagonist, that he does it through the love of revenge; or if he goes on, from crime to crime and commits murder, that he does it through the love he has for the shedding of blood, and the taking of life. And in his sermon left the impression, or rather conveyed the full idea, that there was no hatred, but all was love, and everything was done from or through the motive of love. This old divine leaves the Devil and his work of hatred out of all the strife that is going on in all existence. Or, in other words, he attributes to satan a spirit of love, or the same as God, Who is love.

I met an old Sunday School Superintendent at Guilford College, located in Guilford County, N. C., and in our talk he said that Jacob cheated everybody that he had dealings with and cheated his father and had to flee. At the same time a young lady w T ho was a school teacher, was present, 2 and in questioning her, she said : “There is a great deal of the Bible that — well, I don’t want to say what I think of it,” Such expressions are getting so common. Think of so many people that will condemn their Maker, the preserver and source of all life, the source of all joy, all happiness, and light, and peace. If it was not for the care that our Heavenly Father has for us, we could not have any being, or state of existence. A young man by the name of Ratledge preached a sermon on the second Sunday in June, 1912, at Zion Church, south of Greensboro, Guilford County, N. C. In his sermon he referred to what an infidel said about the human family, in comparison with the creation of the beasts of the earth, and said : “The infidel said the only difference in man and the beasts was that the beasts would forgive each other, but men would not forgive each other.” And the preacher said there was a whole lot of truth in his statement. To show the inconsistency of such a statement we must reverse the statement. The beast is so constituted that he can not forgive his fellow beast; but God in his wisdom has given the beast a general knowledge and instinct, so when there is a decision to be made by any of them it is accomplished by strength, and when the stronger has overcome the weaker, he is satisfied, and the two ever after this go on with that understanding. This decision is commonly made early in life, and in many instances, the one subjected, or mastered, outgrows in size, and strength, though skill abides by this same decision, not having any mind to observe the difference. Now to the contrary with man. In the glory of his creation he has a mind — one of the greatest attributes ever possessed by anything, and rationality. This reasoning power enables man to consider any fault found in our fellowman ; and we can forgive him. Then to further show how he contradicted himself, he said in the same sermon that “it was an impossibility for any one to live a Christian life, without forgiving his brethren.” This shows the weakness in the mind of man, taking up with the infidel or the Devil, and saying that there is a whole lot of truth in his statement, when there is no truth at all in any such stuff, hut a lie; for the Devil is a liar and the father of it. And then he turned and said that man was not like the infidel said, but the sentiment of his statement was that the man is above the beast, in his expression ; that it was an impossibility for any one to live a Christian life except he forgive all.

Chapter IV

Bishop Morrison’s Sermon on Consecration and What He Said.

On another occasion, at an Annual Conference, Bishop Morrison preached on Sunday at eleven o’clock. He preached to the young preachers ordained at this meeting on “Consecration, or Sanctification.”

The first thing that Bishop Morison said was “The three leading sins of the world are strong drink, socialism and the use of tobacco.” But he said he was not a fanatic on the use of tobacco like some men. He believes that a man could use tobacco and get to heaven. He said his father used tobacco and he died; he believes he was in heaven. He then said, “I wish I could attain the high standard of character that my father attained.” He then explained to some extent how some men used the weed to excess, which is wrong in itself ; some men say that it was made for some good purpose. No one can prove that the weed was made and created, for it came forth under the curse, after man fell. God cursed the earth, and the briars, thorns, thistles and every poisonous thing, came forth ; and all strife among the human family and all the ferocious nature among the beasts of the field, and all savageness among all creation. This conveys the idea of cause and origin of every mean and wicked thing. God said “Touch not, taste not, handle not the unclean thing,” and if tobacco is not the unclean thing among all other uncleanness, tell me what it is. Just see a man chewing the stuff and spitting the ambier about; also, after running down each side of his mouth and on his beard. Is it clean? Is not the cow that chews her cud, or the sheep cleaner? Then he did not dwell upon strong drink much, but said that depravity was not rottenness, like some men called rottenness; but it is like a car running on the track, and some object being on the rail derails the car. Then that is a depraved car. The wrecking crew come along and reinstate this car, and it becomes a prave car again. Just so with socialism, or depravity, which is the same, so far as human life is concerned.

Let us see what God says about it. He says, Ye are the salt of the earth ; but if the salt lias lost its savor wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Further says, It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out. He that has ears to hear, let him hear; which is the same as to say, You had better take notice what I say.

You can plainly see that the Bishop was in error to this extent.

Chapter V

Mr. Bowles and the Creation of Our Foreparents in Eternity.

Mr. J. A. Bowles, on an Easter Sunday, at Groomtown, was preaching a very fine sermon until about the conclusion, when he said he did not know whether our foreparents were made in eternity or not; he said he could not conceive, nor any other one could. But let’s have the revealed Word to decide by : “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: so God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them.” I ask the question, Would they have been like him if they were not going to live parallel with him?