Bible Readings for the Home Circle—1914 - A New You Ministry

BIBLE READINGS
16. What is the essential teaching of the new covenant
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write
them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a
people.” Heb. 8:10.
17. When Christ thus ministers the law in the heart, what does it
become
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit.” Rom. 8:2–4.
18. In what other statement is this same truth expressed {257
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“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63.
19. What kind of teaching have men substituted for the words which
are spirit and life
“Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men. . . . And He said unto them, Full well ye reject
the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” Mark
7:7–9.
NOTES.— There are two cups, the cup of the Lord and the cup of
Babylon. The wine in the Lord’s cup represents the living truth, “as
the truth is in Jesus;” the wine in the cup of Babylon represents her
false doctrines, her substitution of human tradition for the living word
and law of God, and the illicit connection which she has made between
the church and the secular power, depending upon Political power to
enforce her teachings, rather than upon the power of God. By this very
thing, while maintaining a form of godliness, she denies the power
thereof. 2 Tim. 3:1–5.
The following quotation states the position of that church in regard
to tradition: “Though these two divine streams [the Bible and
tradition] are in themselves, on account of their divine origin, of equal
sacredness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, tradition
is to us more clear and safe.” “Catholic Belief,” Rev. Joseph Faa
Di Bruno, D. D. (Roman Catholic), page 45.
The substitution of the law of the church for the law of God, in
fulfilment of the prophecy in Dan. 7:25, testifies to the complete subordination
of the Word of God to the authority of the church. The worldwide
teaching of these doctrines in place of the pure gospel has led
the world astray, and has made all the nations drink of the wine of her
fornication. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was an effort to
return to the pure truths of God’s Word. In this the Reformers denied
THE FALL OF MODERN BABYLON
the supremacy of tradition over the Bible.
20. What relation does the Church of Rome sustain to other apostate
churches
“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON
THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH.” Rev. 17:5.
NOTES.— In the creed of Pope Pius IV, an authoritative statement of
Roman Catholic belief, is found this statement: “I acknowledge the
Holy Catholic Apostolic Church for the mother and mistress of all
churches.” Article 10. When the professed Protestant churches repudiate
the fundamental principle of Protestantism by setting aside
the authority of God’s Word, and accepting tradition and human speculation
in its place, they adopt the fundamental principle of modern
Babylon, and may be regarded as the daughters of Babylon. Their fall
is then included in the fall of Babylon, and calls for a proclamation of
the fall of modern Babylon.
Many representatives of modern Protestantism have, in one way or
another, rejected many fundamental doctrines of the Bible, such as,—
The fall of man.
The Bible doctrine of sin.
The infallibility of the Scriptures.
The sufficiency of the Scriptures as a rule of faith and practice. {258
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The Deity of Christ, and His consequent headship over the church.
The miraculous conception and the virgin birth of our Lord.
The resurrection of Christ from the grave.
The vicarious, expiatory, and propitiatory atonement of Christ.
Salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost.
The efficacy of the all-prevailing name of Christ in prayer.
The ministration and guardianship of holy angels.
Miracles as the direct manifestation and interposition of God’s power.
[The Bible and Reformers’ identification of the Papacy as the “man
of sin” and antichrist.
Sprirtual Israel as the heir of the promises to unrepentant, physical
Israel.
The one week (7 year) confirmation of the covenant with Israel
(Dan. 9:27) by Christ and His disciples.]
Although many leaders of modern Protestantism known as higher
critics have not formally adopted the creed of the Church of Rome, and
have not become an organic part of that body, yet they belong to the
same class in rejecting the authority of God’s Word, and accepting in
its place the product of their own reasonings. There is just as much
apostasy in the one case as in the other, and both must therefore be
included in Babylon, and both will go down in the fall of Babylon. The
warning message applies with equal force to both classes.