Having contemplated the days of Noah, we must ask, how did things get so bad? Not desiring to retain God in their knowledge, the inhabitants of the earth before the flood soon came to deny His existence. “They adored nature in place of the God of nature. They glorified human genius, worshiped the works of their own hands, and taught their children to bow down to graven images”. {Patriarchs and Prophets (PP) 90.3}
“Men put God out of their knowledge and worshiped the creatures of their own imagination; and as the result, they became more and more debased. The psalmist describes the effect produced upon the worshiper by the adoration of idols. He says, “They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.” Psalms 115:8. It is a law of the human mind that by beholding we become changed. Man will rise no higher than his conceptions of truth, purity, and holiness. If the mind is never exalted above the level of humanity, if it is not uplifted by faith to contemplate infinite wisdom and love, the man will be constantly sinking lower and lower. The worshipers of false gods clothed their deities with human attributes and passions, and thus their standard of character was degraded to the likeness of sinful humanity. They were defiled in consequence. “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. . . . The earth also was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with violence.” God had given men His commandments as a rule of life, but His law was transgressed, and every conceivable sin was the result. The wickedness of men was open and daring, justice was trampled in the dust, and the cries of the oppressed reached unto heaven. {PP 91.2}
Polygamy had been early introduced, contrary to the divine arrangement at the beginning. The Lord gave to Adam one wife, showing His order in that respect. But after the Fall, men chose to follow their own sinful desires; and as the result, crime and wretchedness rapidly increased. Neither the marriage relation nor the rights of property were respected. Whoever coveted the wives or the possessions of his neighbor, took them by force, and men exulted in their deeds of violence. They delighted in destroying the life of animals; and the use of flesh for food rendered them still more cruel and bloodthirsty, until they came to regard human life with astonishing indifference”. {PP 91.3}
As we were preparing this article, news came that a young man drove over two hours to a Buffalo store and mercilessly gunned down thirteen people with ten dying on the spot. According to a report, it seemed like it was a random act of violence. But is it? “The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun. Is there [any] thing whereof it may be said, See, this [is] new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10[KJV])
As it was in the world before the Flood, iniquity will prevail. Following the promptings of their corrupt hearts and the teachings of a deceptive philosophy, men will rebel against authority in earth and in Heaven.
Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? Yet he filled their houses with good [things]: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. (Job 22:15-18 [KJV])
They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What [is] the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? (Job 21:13-15 [KJV])
This is the philosophy that brought the world to its breaking point. The same philosophy now permeates this world. Martin Luther saw and understood that danger and gave warning, but to no avail. Here is Luther. “He wrote thus of the universities: “I fear much that the universities will be found to be great gates leading down to hell, unless they take diligent care to explain the Holy Scriptures, and to engrave them in the hearts of our youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Holy Scriptures are not regarded as the rule of life. Every institution where the Word of God is not diligently studied, must become corrupt.” {Great Controversy 1888 140.4}
PAGANISM SELF-WORSHIP
Here, Sutherland described what develops when man turns from God.
“As to paganism and its system of education, what was the religion of the pagan world? and what were the ideas it strove to propagate?
First, it placed above God the study and worship of self. Christ is the “true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
All men have, then, at some time in life, light enough to lead them to truth, for the gospel “reveals a divine anger from heaven upon all wickedness and iniquity of men who pervert the true into the false; because the knowledge of God is clear within themselves, God having revealed it to them; for from the creation of the world His invisible attributes might be discovered from the created facts, — that is, His unseen power and Godhead.
Consequently, they are inexcusable.” Men, therefore, who of necessity have light may reject that light, and they then become pagan.
Paul, in the first chapter of his Roman letter, states a universal law, in that when truth is rejected, error takes its place. The quotation is again taken from Fenton’s translation, because the wording, by differing slightly from the authorized version, stimulates thought: “Because, knowing God, they did not honor Him as a God, or rejoice, but trifled in their augmentations, and darkened their senseless hearts; professing to be philosophers, they played the fool, and transformed the glory of the imperishable God into an image of perishable man, and birds! and beasts! and reptiles! And, therefore, God abandoned them in the lusts of their hearts to filthiness, to dishonor their own bodies to themselves; they having changed the truth of God into falsehood, by honoring and serving the creature contrary to the Creator, who is truly blessed in all ages.”⁴ Having turned from the worship of Jehovah to the worship of man, then bird, and beast, and reptile, we find associated with worship the grossest forms of licentiousness.
This is stated by Paul in the first chapter of Romans. The thought which must be borne in mind is that man turns from God and worships himself. He can conceive of no power higher than his own mind, no form more lofty than his own. His first idol is the human form, male or female. He endows this with human passions, for he knows no heart but his own. By beholding he becomes changed into the same passionate creature; a beast becomes the personification of his deity, and the sacred bull his god. Everything about the worship is gross, and birds, crocodiles, and all sorts of reptiles become objects of worship. This PROGRESSES TOWARD SELF WORSHIP Romans 1:18-20, Fenton’s translation.
Living Fountains or Broken Cisterns is Egypt. This, in fact, pictures the final worship in any country which turns from Christ and places faith in man. Pages 94-96.
We are here and repeating the sad history.
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