River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-08-26

- Zz.184z14Xzz2zzz1Al SFA SPOhCh u
And in covetous-
ness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you; whose SEN
tence now from of old lingereth not.
and their destruction slumbereth not"
Pet. 2:1. 2, 8.
The preceding verses reveal two
methods God uses in speaking to men.
1. The audible voice. There came
such a voice to him from the excel
lent glory, This is my beloved Son in
whom / am we'll pleased: and this
voice we ourselves heard come out OF
heaven, when we were with him in
the holy mount" Pet. 1:17, IS.
On the Mount of TRANSPORTATION
God the Father spoke to Jesus in an
audible voice when Peter. James and
John heard it and understood.
2. Written language. In verse 20
1t is called prophecy of scripture"
and scripture means writing "proph-
ecy of writing" The prophet was
one who spoke from God to the
people message sometimes of pre-
diction, but usually of present rebuke.
warning, exhortation or instruction.
This prophecy was frequently spoken
first and then reduced to writing.
Of this prophecy of writing" three
things are said in the context: ID II
is more certain than the vocal utter
ance. eve have the word of proph-
ecy made more sure" than the voice
heard in the mount. The writing is
more easily understood and more
permanent. The voice was heard but
once, while the writing is for all ages.
The voice was for the Son only, heard
amid confusion and excitement, while
the writing is for eye and ear to be
read and recited in calm and quiet.
(2) The written word did not come
to us by mere human agency. mo
prophecy of scripture is of private in
depreciation" The word private"
means not private as in contrast with
public, but private in the sense of its
being ones own rather than another's.
Private property means that it is ours
and not another's. The word enter
probation" means primarily the un-
loosing, as when birds are Embossed
from cage. No prophecy of Scrip
ture is of the writer's own unloosing.
He did not let those thoughts loose
out of himself, "for no prophecy ever
came by the will of man." CD The
Holy Spirit expressed the written
word through men. MEN spoke from
God, being moved by the Holy Spirit"
q Pet. 1:21.) Bear in mind that these
words refer to the prophecy of writ
ing" in the preceding verse and you
have a biblical definition of the Scrip
lures. They are prophecy written by
men through whom God spoke by the
Holy Spirit.
The context gives seven character.
istics of these false teachers.
1. Their teachings are destructive"
rather than constructive. They tear
down rather than build up. They
doubt and deny.
2. They work under cover. "Who
shall privily bring in destructive her
esies." They prefer to do their work
in the position of Christian teachers.
They carry a dagger for Christian
truth under the cloak of science and
philosophy.
8. They repudiate the vicarious
atonement of Christ, denying the
Master who bought them" Some of
them are willing to admit that Jesus
was a good and great man who taught
wonderful truths, but the cross is an
offense to them. They inveigh against
blood atonement.
f. They have many followers. MANY
oh Follow fhoir 1acniuiO11C
Their wanton ways of thinking have
a daredevil tone about them which
win a certain class of minds and, sad
to say, not few Of these false teach
ers by dethroning the authority of
the moral law have so weakened and
blunted the ethical sense of their fol-
lowers that they have gone into ex-
cesses of carnal indulgences.
5. They have an eye to business.
'In covetousness they shall make mer-
chandise of you" Some modern apos-
tastes, like Christian Science, are
money-making institutions. One of
the inducements for joining is that
you can make money easily.
6. False teachers do not hesitate to
buy you from loyalty to truth by the
offer of lucrative and honorable posi-
tons. They make it appear that it
will be for your interest in the future
to keep quiet or take sides with them
in their efforts to propagate their va
carries. They will buy any man of
brains who is for sale.
z. Their literary style will be Pc
dantic and artificial. with feigned
words" The Greek for "feigned"
means nodded" formed" as wax.
clay or iron into any artificial shape
you may wish. They hide their
thoughts in great, unusual words, to
which they often give artificial mean
k1.o& ORC rnn5a5 -