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The Reformation Herald Online Edition

Every Principle Repudiated

Editorial
Every Principle Repudiated

Behold how the world is changing with such speed that even the media cannot keep up with it! The Word of God says: “Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). The patriarch Joseph had laid a wise, prosperous foundatio n for the nation he was entrusted with overseeing—yet in later generations, the nation evidently chose to forget the legacy of this great man of God and the blessings he had brought them.

Let us consider also how the founding fathers of the United States were fully aware that freedom could be guaranteed only by preserving Biblical principles in the new society being formed. George Washington is often cited as having made an observation along these lines: “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” Another early American statesman, Andrew Jackson, continued with the concept of reverence for the Bible, saying: “That book Sir, is the Rock upon which our republic rests,”1, and Daniel Webster concluded: “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”2 Later, in 1885, a humble writer by the name of E. G. White was to pen a declaration in anticipation of the changes currently occurring today. The insightful statement has so many details that it’s impossible to believe that mere human logic and reasoning could be so marvelously adept in foreseeing such a complex, unexpected future.

“By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.”3

Not long afterwards, when the fulfillment of the above prediction still seemed inconceivable, Theodore Roosevelt (U.S. President from 1901–1909) imagined the fate of society without Scripture by saying: “The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teaching were removed.”4

If this great statesman would be alive to see that it is possible to live in this beautiful country without much “. . . teaching of the Bible” and without that close relationship with our civic and social life, he would indeed be able to “imagine life without this teaching” and understand why we have come to such point in our society as to cancel the culture to such a degree that “all our foundation” would be virtually lost!

In our daily encounters with people in today’s world, we must pray to discern who is open to a full explanation of what is going on, who may be sufficiently enriched by a simple answer, and who, on the other hand, has no interest whatsoever. I invite the reader to consider the evidence and determine accordingly.

We are rapidly approaching the hour foreseen in 1899: “When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy, which will end only in national ruin.”5

May the Lord guide and help us.

References
3 Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 451. [Emphasis added.]
5 Evangelism, p. 235. [Emphasis added.]