The Loss of True Christianity

The Loss of /True Christianity

BY WILLIAM EVANS, SUPERINTENDENT Y. M. M. I. A., YOUNG STAKE

In a recent sermon delivered at Lancaster, Pa., Pastor Rus- sell, discussing the proposition that people will no longer attend divine service to hear gospel preaching, gives the following, in his opinion, as the reasons therefor :

"(1) The church lost the real gospel during the Dark Ages and few Christian people have yet recovered it. The word gospel, as all agree, signifies good tidings, a message of joy; but the message handed down to humanity from the Dark Ages has been the reverse of this — bad tidings of great misery for nearly all of our race. Is it any won- der that the great majority are disgusted with the horrible misrepre- sentations of the creeds?

"(2) Responding to the growing sentiment of intelligence, the ministers of the various denominations of Christendom have ceased to preach bad tidings of great misery for all but 'the very elect'. Nearly all the ministers, graduated within the last twenty years, lost all their faith in the Bible as the inspired word of God, in the theological sem- inaries, where they were taught unbelief, under the name of higher criticism. Under these conditions what shall these ministers preach instead of the gospel of Christ, which they no longer believe? Is it any wonder that they preach those things that they ought not to preach, and leave unpreached those things that they ought to preach? Not many of their hearers care for scientific disquisitions ;> not many of them care to hear common place essays on good morals. So how can such ministers avoid foolish preaching?

"(3) Not content with undermining the faith of the people who trust and honor and obey them, these ministers mix their higher crit- ical and evolutionary views with diluted morality and serve this instead of the gospel of Christ."

This in the main is what Latter-day Saints have declared dur- ing the past 80 years, and it is somewhat refreshing to hear a sec- tarian minister state and argue our case so clearly.

We admit with alacrity, and with sorrow born of a desire for the welfare of the human race, that the proposition first stated by Mr. Russell that "The church lost the real gospel," is true. We insist that the indictment is proven, first, in the light of prophecy — which is history reversed — both ante-apostolic and apostolic ; and, secondly, in the light of ecclesiastical history, or in the record of

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events which transpired in the Christian church previous to, dur- ing, and since the so-called Dark Ages.

For our present purpose, not desiring to go into the facts of the loss of Divine truth, we will hasten on and admit the truth of the second part of Mr. Russell's first indictment which states that few Christian people have yet recovered the gospel of Christ. And, admitting the balance of the pastor's statement as truth, we will carry the point a little farther and proclaim that few people will ever recover the gospel of Christ unless the plan of salvation is preached in its fulness and simplicity, and individuals yield obedi- ence to laws embodied in that plan. It is primarily through the lack of this that the world lost the real gospel.

Furthermore, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a divine institu- tion, and through attempting to substitute human logic in place of divine guidance, confusion and lost truth resulted.

Are we then doomed to despair? Is truth banished from the earth forever? No. Thanks to the mercy of an allwise and eternal God, there is a way so simple that "a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein." Though the entire Christian world, clergy and laity, priest and people depart from the "real gospel" and "few of them recover it," truth is on the earth.

In Acts 5 an account is given of the second imprisonment of Peter for proclaiming the divine mission of Christ. Being brought before the council, Peter, and the apostles imprisoned with him, were asked why they persisted in preaching Jesus Christ when they had been forbidden to do so by this same council. In answering, Peter exclaimed : "We are witnesses of these things ; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him."

A double proposition is stated here. The testimony of the Divinity of Christ, and the means of acquirement by others — the witness of the Holy Ghost, in and through obedience. This, then, is the secret of the "recovery of the real gospel." First, obedience to the laws of the gospel, and then comes the witness of the Holy Ghost. Simple. Yet, with all its simplicity, the "church lost the real gospel" and "few Christians have yet re- covered it." What, then, are the means of recovery ? Obedience. And, as obedience is defined as submission, and as submission in this instance means to submit to the laws embodied in the gospel of Christ, we can safely assume that the loss referred to is the re- sult of a failure to submit, or obey.

Briefly, then, the church, i. e., the Christian world, has "lost the real gospel" in and through non-submission to the very require- ments upon which salvation is predicated. This is a pretty strong implication to hurl upon Christians in general, but we are not making it. It remains for a pastor of the Christian world to

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make the charge, and an ancient apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ supplies the remedy — obedience.

At this stage another element enters into the situation — the impossibility of obedience to an injunction or requirement unless it is known. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Romans, "and how shall they believe in whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach except they be sent?" And in the next verse he continues, "But they have not all obeyed the gospel."

Again, briefly, the proposition submitted by Paul is this: The "preacher" must be sent ; i. e., he must be endowed with author- ity, in order that his acts be valid before the throne of grace. He must preach the gospel of Christ and, perforce, all its require- ments. In turn, the people must obey. ,

Logically, then, if the world has "lost the true gospel" in that loss is embodied the loss of the above principles. And rea- soning along the same lines, the recovery of the "true gospel" must be accomplished by means of those same principles. Here, then, is food for thought for mankind.

Referring again to "the church," with its numerous Christian churches, their millions of communicants, and only few "have recoverd the true gospel," the great majority have yet to accept the principles enumerated above.

Proceeding, the gospel having been divinely given to man, and in course of time, through various causes, lost to man, the recovery must, perforce, take place through divine interposition. For a thing divinely given, then lost, can only through divine means be restored.

More food for thought for those who desire the "recovery" of the "true gospel."

Now as to the recovery (Latter-day Saints are pleased to call it the restoration) : Joseph Smith, Jr., proclaimed to the world that he had received divine visitations. He, being but fourteen years of age, could have understood but little regarding the neces- sity of a restoration (recovery) of the gospel. He could not possibly, owing to his immature years, have come to the conclu- sion reached by Pastor Russell regarding the loss of the true gos- pel, and thus time his declarations of divine visitations to the necessity of the times. It was through answer to simple, child- like faith and prayer that the heavens were opened.

In course of time, others believed his story, and they, too, with him, were the recipients of visits of holy beings who had possessed the "true gospel" and the powers thereof in former days, and were given the powers which we have shown must be restored through divine means. With these powers of the gospel were given the truths pertaining to salvation. With this divine message Joseph Smith went before the world, promising that

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those who would obey the gospel plan should receive a direct tes- timony of its truthfulness.

Hundreds and thousands of people investigated the claims for this restored gospel and found that its principles coincided with the teachings of the Master. Accepting its requirements, they received a fulfilment of the promise of a knowledge of the truth, and gained the assurance so much desired.

Here, then, was a preacher who was sent, having a divine commission. Here also, were they that believed, having heard, and through obedience had become witnesses through the witness of the Holy Ghost, as declared by Peter. (Acts 5: 32.)

Thus is the plan of recovery unfolded to our view, and how potent are the words of the Savior, "He that doeth the will of the Father shall know of the doctrine."

FRUITLAND, NEW MEXICO

(In Volume 17, Improvement Era, beginning November 1, each issue will contain a pertinent and upbuilding gospel talk.)

Photo by Howard B. Anderson. THE JEREMY RANCH, UINTAH RESERVATION.

Located at the junction of Wolf Creek and the West Fork of the

Duchesne River.