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Robert 31. Russell 191
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to
draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:29, 30). Paul is equally
clear as he writes concerning the church and her earthly destiny to
Timothy: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times
some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and
doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1). "The time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they
heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall
turn away their ears from the truth and shall he turned unto fables"
(2 Tim. 3:4). Some fulfilment of this prophecy is seen in present-
day life, when people refuse to believe the miraculous movements of
God in human history and then turn to the absurdities of modern
cults and philosophies.
Peter, guided by the Spirit of God, realized that the future would
not differ from the past so far as the rising of false teachers and
their welcome by men was concerned, hence he wrote: "But there
were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable here-
sies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring upon them-
selves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of which the way of truth shall be evil spoken of"
(2 Pet, 2:1, 2). His words certainly describe present-day conditions
in the churches when he says, "Tliere shall come in the last days
scoffers, walking after their own lusts and saying. Where is the
promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Pet.
3:3, 4). The coming of the kingdom of God by a natural process of
human evolution, or by "the development of resident forces," instead
of through the return of Jesus, our true King, is maintained by many
who still profess to accept the Bible as authority on matters of
religion.
The beloved disciple John furnished a test by which false teachers
can be discerned when he wrote: "Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of anti-
christ, whereof we have heard that it should come; and even now
already is in the world" (1 John 4:1, 3). Any modern "ism" may
be tested by inquiring its attitude to the incarnation. All false re-
ligions deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. When the spirit
of antichrist begins to find expression in supposedly orthodox creeds,
there is denial that Jesus Christ is coming a second time.
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