The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-03-21

- verses are not to
((seafaAS Tor, & 2gSSELL8 be found in any of
the Oldest Greek
MSS. and were evidently added to the
Word of God in the seventh century or
later. Moreover, we gave proofs of the
untruthfuIness of this addition. Is 1t
true that whoever believes the Gospel of
Christ may handle serpents with i'm
punity and may drink deadly poison
without harm? Surely not. 1t is moth
ing short of sin for those who know
better to acknowledge these verses and
to use them to bolster up theories of
Divine Healing 1t is as much crime
to add to the Word of God as to take
away from it
Today invite attention to some 9TH
or dead flies. some other additions to
Gods Word, which have had much to
do with twisting the theology once
delivered to the saints. Take, for in
stance. the closing words Of the Lords
Prayer:
"Thine ls the Kingdom and Power and
Glory"
These words, If uttered by our Lord,
should be found in the old Greek MSS.
But they are not found therein. They
are, therefore, to be rejected as add
lions made by people centuries after
Matthews Gospel was written These
words were introduced when the faith
OF the Church respecting the Kingdom
Of Messiah was changed or changing
from what it was originally. All
through the New Testament the Sec
ond Coming of Christ in power and
glory to establish His Kingdom and
to glorify the Church, His Bride, is set
for the end of this Gospel Age But
as the time grew long a change Of
sentiment came into the Church. 1t
became popular and rich. Its bishops
were respected. Finally the theory
prevailed that God did not intend to
delay the establishment of the King
dom until the Second Coming Of
Christ. but did intend to establish it
In the hands of the Church during this
Age and to use the Church for the con
quering of the world and the fulfilling
Of all the promises of the past
In line with this the most prominent
bishop of the time was recognized as
Divinely appointed to represent Christ
In the world and to reign over the ma
lions In His stead and to bring about
the Millennium, etc. This was the
Bishop of Rome, who subsequently
was styled the Pope and who claimed
and was accorded the honorable title,
''Vice-0erent Of the Son of God" 1t is
said that the equivalent of this title to
this day is worn by the Pope on his
tiara or three-crowned hat-TicGrists
Del FIN.
Thus the change came In the general
sentiment Of the christian world"
Messiah's Kingdom was no longer to
be looked for as coming, but was to be
recognized as here. The Pope, as Mes
siah's reigning representative, was to
be acknowledged. All Kingdoms that
were to honor and obey Messiah were
commanded to honor and obey the
Pope. The various prophecies which
tell Of Messiah's Kingdom glory were
applied to the Pope. and are still so
applied.
As Messiah was to ride forth con-
Quering the world and wound the
heads over many peoples" so the Popes
in succession sought to do. to fulfill
these prophecies. AS the Inaugural
ton Of Messiah's Kingdom is prom
Used to be In the midst of a time Of
great trouble, it was not thought i'm
proper that Papacy should cause great
trouble In the world in its endeavor
to establish itself as the Kingdom Of
Messiah. As whosoever would not re-
ceiye Messiah was to be destroyed
from amongst the people," 1t was not
considered wrong to destroy those who
rejected and opposed the Papal Kingdom
and to give them to the burning fame.
4Thy Kingdom Come on Earth"
TIE Lords prayer was already In
the Scriptures, and was known to
many. 1t could not be eliminated
But some jealous person, fully believ-
ing that Gods Kingdom had come, felt
justified in amending the prayer to
correspond to what be supposed were
the facts. Hence the prayer which
begins. "Thy Kingdom come" is made
to end by saying, Thy Kingdom has
come in its glory and power"
II Papacy is the Kingdom of Mes
siah, it Is certainly not what the Jews
expected. 1t is certainly not what we
expected. 1t Is certainly not what the
masses of mankind had any reason to
expect, although 1t is SO accepted by
the majority of Christendom
Although our protesting forefathers
broke away from the Pope and de-
nounced him as Antt-C Christ and de-
clared that he falsely sat in the place
Of Christ without authority, they, new
ertheless, were imbued with the same
error. They did not think to go back
to the message of the Scriptures and
to look for the Son of God to set up
bis Kingdom at His Second Advent
and then to bless Israel and the world
through His glorified Church Instead
they held to the Papal theory that
Gods Kingdom was set up and was
conquering the world, and that thus
the Messianic reign mentioned in the
prophecy is being fulfilled. They hold
that Christ himself Is the invisible
King but that the Pope Is not author.
Led to represent him. Hence this spurt
Gus addition to the Word Of God IL as &C
ceptable to Professionals as to Catholics
indeed more SO. IL we may Judge By
the fact that the Catholic Bible omits
the spurious words, while the Protes-
tant Bible quotes them.
We here remark that according TO
Protestant theory Messiah's Kingdom
ts represented in the civilined nations
Of the world. especially Of Europe.
These all claim to reign 'sby the grace
Of God" in which case, of course, wars
and battles between them are conflicts
between the various parts Of Messiah's
Kingdom. And present military prep
arations on land and sea pcrtend a
most sanguinary conflict between these
Kingdoms of this world" which think
themselves and are called by Christen-
dom Kingdoms of God"
How glad we are to see the Truth on
this subject; that the Kingdom Of
Gods dear Son has not yet been set
mp, In any sense Of the word-that it Is
still future. 1t cannot be set up until
this Gospel Age ends and the elect
sanity few Of every nation-Jew and
Gendle-shall be changed from earthly
to heavenly nature by the First Resur-
rection, which viii qualify them to BIO
kings and priests unto God and unto
Christ and to reign with Him a thou
sand years" Revelation III, 81.
1t Is well that all Bible students
should mark this "ny" and extract It
from the Precious Ointment, and no
tice how much sweeter and fresher
the Lords prayer is to them forever.