in Christ are growing mightily under this test.  They offer comparatively little and are usually able to meet their claims.  “Christian Science” does, to some extent, change the condition of mind and body.  “Spiritism” offers a demonstration from the invisible, and the demonstrations appear.  “New Thought” proposes a development of the whole natural man, and thrives by the practical test of “pragmatism.”  The same is true of all other similar systems and doctrines, and will be true of those that may yet appear, since it is the very program of Satan as it is revealed in his last blasphemous counterfeit of the Son of God; for it is written in Rev. 13:3, 4 that they first wondered at the miracles of the Man of Sin, and then worshipped.  Woe to the untaught soul who stands wondering to-day at the marvels of this evil age, if he be without a sense of the importance and value of the priceless blood of the Cross!  The step is not far, for such an one, to the place where he falls in worship:  worship of a being who is supposed to have forgotten abhorrence of sin and abandoned all eternal covenants of mercy by blood alone; a being who is supposed to be glad that the world has outgrown the old unbearable estimates of sin and redemption, and into whose presence the worshipper is supposed to be free to come on the ground of his fallen human nature, or the “universal fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.”

Who can be the god of these systems? the energizing power in these people? and the answerer of their prayers?  Surely not the God of the Scriptures, who cannot deny himself, and whose word cannot be made to pass away!  Revelation sets forth but one other being who is capable of these undertakings; and it not; only assigns to this being a great and sufficient motive for all such activity, but clearly predicts that he will thus “oppose” and “exalt himself” in this very day and age.

Much of the secondary truth is the present inheritance of the child of God:  yet, if there is a choice to be made, the deepest wisdom will perceive that all the combined secondary values that Satan can offer are but for a fleeting time; and are not worthy to be compared with the eternal riches of grace in Christ Jesus.

Chapter XI.

The Believer’s Present Position.

Since the Bible contains God’s message to the people of the ages, it must be rightly divided if the body of truth concerning any particular age or people is to be clearly understood.  There are, undoubtedly, many things in common in the various ages, and, because of that fact, the superficial use of the Scriptures has been to treat the entire book as a direct message to all people of all time.  This method, as has been stated, has resulted in great confusion as to the Divine program.

When that portion of Scripture which directly applies to the present age has been discovered, that, too, must be divided; for the present time is a period of mixture among the people of the earth—­the saints of God tenting among the citizens of the Satanic system, and having nothing in common with them beyond the ordinary things of this earth life.