Modern Theology
Shocking though it may sound, modern theology is merely combination of German Rationalism, materialistic evolution, and higher criticism of the Bible as is now being taught in our American and British universities, colleges, and seminaries.
Note this daring quote from an American college textbook: "The Biblical canon . . . had no right to rule over men. Man was the book's judge; the book was not man's judge. The Book must be measured by man's truth, man's conscience" (George Burman Foster, The Contribution of Critical Scholarship to Ministerial Efficiency, p. 740).
It is a modern-day tragedy that our theologians have entirely lost the knowledge that the German Rationalists FALSELY ASSUMED that the superstitions of the Dark Ages were unscientific superstitions based upon the Bible. They are unwilling to learn that when those men of learning proved the superstitions of the Dark Ages to be false, they erroneously assumed the Bible also to be false.
REMEMBER the early critics did not prove that the TRUTH of God's Word was false. They proved only that the lies and superstitions of the Middle Ages were what they are — lies and superstitions.
What Student Ministers Believe
A distinguished public-opinion research firm, Louis Harris and Associates, RECENTLY interviewed students at eight theological schools, including YALE Divinity School, UNION Theological Seminary New York City, Baptist Theological Seminary, and Augsburg College Seminary in Minneapolis.
They found the STARTLING fact that "only 1 per cent are convinced there will be a second coming of Jesus Christ" (Cosmopolitan, December, 1959)
These researchers were astounded! These students idealized "human nature and elevated it to the realm of the Divine, while demoting God to the level of the human — a strange attitude!" A Congregationalist explained, "I believe that all of us are more godlike than we know. It's a matter of bringing it out."
This implicit belief in human nature causes man to depend COMPLETELY upon himself. He then cannot realize the utter wretchedness of his own human nature — his own human reason. He can then see no real NEED for Christ to be his Savior — the only "name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
These future ministers have been "duped" into doubting the trustworthiness of the Old Testament as history, the Inspiration of the Bible, the authority and the infallibility of God's Word. They doubt the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the second coming of Jesus Christ, the purpose, the authority of the Gospel of Christ. They doubt that we will be resurrected in the likeness of Christ's body. They do not believe there is a Devil, or Satan, as your Bible plainly states. They doubt the atonement of Jesus Christ for sin by the blood He shed (McPherson, Crisis in Church and College, p. 105).
The graduates of our seminaries are teaching the same old German Rationalism they learned in college. Men have not changed. They teach the unsuspecting public the very same skepticism which they were taught in college by their atheistic and agnostic professors.
The American Rationalist
The American Rationalist, or Modernist, is teaching his own version of Rationalism — every bit as bold as that still being taught in modern-day Germany. For example, Rudolph Bultmann, who is now professor at Marburg, Germany, has started a world-wide discussion with his proposal to "demythologize" Christianity (See H. W. Bartsch, ed., Kerygma and Myth).
Consider what a noted Bishop of California is teaching the gullible public. He recently startled many United States churchgoers when he declared that he does not believe the Biblical account of the virgin birth of Christ. "It is a PRIMITIVE religious myth," he says. Joseph, Mary's husband, was — he asserts with no proof — PROBABLY the physical father of Jesus (Redbook Magazine, August, 1959).
Neither is the evolutionist to be ignored, for his philosophy permeates every facet of American life. The evolutionist teaches that "ALL THINGS are possible with man, but NOTHING is possible with God."
Examine the forthright statement made by Bruce Koeman: "I believe in evolution and I am a SKEPTIC concerning a life beyond the grave. I am also a CRITIC of Biblical history. . ." (Los Angeles Examiner, 1961).
An even more surprising statement was made by John B. Ison, 51, minister of the First Unitarian Church, Des Moines, who said: "We are a form of Life which, has become conscious of its will to live, groping brothers of the tadpole, the tree, the fern, and the amoeba: knowing not yet how we came to be what we are, nor why we are here, nor where we are going. We may be a freak of nature — a chemical accident — our lives having no meaning . . ."
People are like sheep they want to believe what other famous men are believing. They have never been taught the simple rule: "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17).
Who Is to Blame?
Louis Cassels of the United Press reports that "During the past half century or so . . . Biblical CRITICS have literally examined every word and phrase, trying to differentiate between historical fact and illustrative myth."
Notice that no word is mentioned that men have been studying the Bible to learn how to live. They have been studying to learn HOW NOT to live.
Because our theologians have departed from the knowledge of God as the All-powerful, CREATING Ruling God, they have lost the revealed knowledge that all truth, all wisdom, and all understanding come from God. When men no longer know that the LAW of God is to be OBEYED, there is nothing to restrain their actions. The result is chaos and lawlessness and wretchedness.
Bishop Hazen G. Werner of Columbus, Ohio, recognized that something is wrong. He said, "We who are to overcome the world have been overcome by the world. . . (The Augusta Chronicle, September 29, 1961).
What Your Bible Says!
The Apostle John plainly revealed why modern preachers are being overcome by the world when he asked, "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? John also said to the obedient Spirit-filled Christian: "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (I John 4:5, 4). But John also said of the modern-day preachers: "They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them" (I John 4:5).
Bishop Gerald Kennedy of the Southern California-Arizona Methodist Conference said, "The blame falls upon as who are the religious leaders of this generation" (L. A. Examiner, December 6, 1959).
Bishop Kennedy is not the first man who has recognized this fact. Over 2500 years ago Isaiah wrote: "The leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed" (Isa. 9:16).
God condemns people who have allowed themselves to be deceived by such lies. He said, "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have ' provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward" (Isa. 1:4).
Why God Will Punish Our People
Again and again God reveals that in the end times He will punish all men until they come to know that God is God.
Notice, "Mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 7:4).
God will punish this nation until we acknowledge that God is God: "And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. 12:20).
Your immediate future is of your own choosing.
God says "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return. That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isa. 45:22, 23).
God also says, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land" (Isa. 1:18-19). Yes, every knee is going to have to bow and confess that Jesus Christ is LORD.
You will need to be willing to give up this world's Satanic philosophies, religions and false scientific theories and get back to God's Instruction Book for you — the Bible — and live abundantly "by every word" (Matt. 4:4). Send for the following articles which will help you understand the Bible: WHY GOD IS NOT REAL to Most People, How to be an OVERCOMER, and The SEVEN KEYS to Understanding the Bible. These articles are absolutely free.
The choice before you is Life — or Death — Eternal Life, or Eternal Death. God commands you, "THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE that both thou and thy seed may live" (Deut 30:19).