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Mass defections from Protestant churches are now the order of theday! Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches have lost,in total, millions of former followers. Other Protestant groups havealso lost many members—as have many “independent” churches.Why?MBy Roderick C. Meredithany polls show that increasingnumbers of people feel thesechurches do not really “stand foranything.” They have so muchwatered down what they believeand are increasingly “joining the world” that it is hardto distinguish the way of life of churchgoers from thegeneral population of this world. An article in USAToday points out:Most young adults today don’t pray, don’tworship and don’t read the Bible, a majorsurvey by a Christian research firm shows.If the trends continue, “the Millennialgeneration will see churches closing as quicklyas GM dealerships,” says Thom Rainer,president of LifeWay Christian Resources. Inthe group’s survey of 1,200 18- to 29-years old,72 percent say they’re “really more spiritualthan religious. We have dumbed down what it means to bepart of the church so much that it means almostnothing, even to people who already say theyare part of the church,” Rainer says (April 27,2010).Truly, the “mainstream” churches have “dumbeddown” what religion means. They really do not “standfor anything”! Rather, they have, in fact, joined theworld. So why should anyone join them? Increasingnumbers of people think “what’s the difference”between those in the church and those out of thechurch. They wonder, “Is there any religion out therethat really stands for something?”Interestingly, the Roman Catholic Church“appears” to stand for something it believes—eventhough often ridiculed by the mainstream media.Yet many Bible-believing people are put off by the“popery” of Marian devotion and so many practicesclearly taken from ancient paganism. What millionswant is a religion based on the Bible. As one of thenoted Protestant theologians of his time wrote: “TheBible, the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible, isthe religion of Protestants” (Schaff-Herzog Cyclopediaof Religious Knowledge, article “Chillingworth, W.”).The “Mainstream” Is DECEIVED!Yet, sadly, the vast majority of “mainstream”churchgoers have almost no knowledge of what theBible actually teaches! The ministers in these churchesget up and give generalized sermons referring to theBible, but rarely reading, explaining and expoundingwhole passages from the Bible to teach people whatthe Bible says. And most Americans and Britonsdo not study the Bible in detail to find out what theCreator is actually telling them about the meaningof life and what they ought to do. Because they lack asolid biblical foundation for their faith, most modernministers are going along “whole hog” with the ideasand traditions of men. So without a powerful andgenuine commitment to “seek” the God of the Bibleand do what He says, their followers are slowly butsurely compromising with Satan the devil’s agendaon virtually everything. It will not be too many moreyears until these Protestant leaders of professing“Christianity” not only allow homosexual practicesfor their members, but begin to approve polygamy,polyandry and “group marriages”! How dare I saythis? Because that is definitely the path of continuingcompromise which they are now on. And there is noindication that they will ever get off that path!The Gospel of John specifically condemned thereligious leaders of Jesus’ day by stating, “they lovedthe praise of men more than the praise of God” (John12:43). My friends, do you “love the praise of men”?Do you really believe that in the soon-coming GreatTribulation these puny men will be able to save you?Think!The inspired word of God warns all of us: “Cursedis the man who trusts in man and makes flesh hisstrength, whose heart departs from the Lord”November-December 2013 Tomorrow’s World5

WI L L P ROT E STA NT I S M D ISAPPE AR?(Jeremiah 17:5). As the Eternal God warns us in thebook of Proverbs: “There is a way that seems right to aman, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).If you who read this article carefully and really wantto obey your Creator and have part in His everlastingKingdom, please think carefully about what I amwriting and do not simply “go along” with paganideas masquerading as Christian!The respected “mainstream” Protestant historian,Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, in his well-known historyentitled, The Story of the Christian Church, describesthe early decades of what we call the “Dark Ages”as the main developing pagan church took over thename of Christianity:The forms and ceremonies of paganismgradually crept into the worship. Some of theold heathen feasts became church festivalswith change of worship. About 405ad, imagesof saints and martyrs began to appear inthe churches, at first as memorials, then insuccession revered, adored, and worshiped. Theadoration of the Virgin Mary was substitutedfor the worship of Venus and Diana; theLord’s Supper became a sacrifice in placeof a memorial; and the elder evolved from apreacher into a priest. As a result of the churchsitting in power, we do not see Christianitytransforming the world to its own idea, but theworld dominating the church (p. 79).Sadly, neither Protestant nor Catholic theologiansas a whole have ever taken seriously the simple,straightforward teaching of Jesus. For when JesusChrist was asked by a young man the way to eternallife, He replied, “Why do you call Me good? No oneis good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enterinto life, keep the commandments” (Matthew19:17). In the famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesusclearly stated, “Do not think that I came to destroythe Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroybut to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heavenand earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will byno means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of thesecommandments, and teaches men so, shall be calledleast in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and6Tomorrow’s World November-December 2013Venus, Diana or Mary? “Heart of Virgin Mary,”from Basilica of San Lorenzo, Verona, Italyteaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdomof heaven” (Matthew 5:17–19).Many professing Christians do not remotely graspthe importance of those words. Christ said, regardingthe law, that not “one jot or one tittle”—the tiniestmarks in the Hebrew script—would pass from it untilheaven and earth pass away. Since heaven and earthhave not passed away, we must understand that thelaw remains. Did His “fulfilling” the law somehowchange these commands? Or did they change afterChrist’s resurrection? No! Heaven and earth didnot pass away at His resurrection. And we see thatJesus’ own example was to keep all of the TenCommandments (cf. Luke 4:16)!Peter’s WarningAt the very end of his life, in his final letter, theApostle Peter specifically warned that deceived mencould pervert the teachings of the Apostle Paul intoan excuse to do away with the law of God! Peterdescribes Paul’s epistles as a part of Scripture—yet asTomorrowsWorld.org

W IL L P ROT E STAN T ISM DISAP PEAR?a part that “ignorant and unstable people distort, asthey do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this,be on your guard so that you may not be carried awayby the error of the lawless” (2 Peter 3:16–17, NIV).Lawless? Do you think for one minute that Peterwas talking about traffic laws? Of course not! Hewas talking about the spiritual law of God—the TenCommandments. God obviously knew, in advance,that false teachers would rise up—as Peter and Paulwarned about over and over—and turn men awayfrom the way of lifeREQUEST YOURpatterned on the TenFREE BOOKLETCommandments,Satan’s Counterfeitwhich God intendedChristianityall true Christians tofollow. Paul consistently obeyed God’s laws—kept theweekly Sabbaths and the Holy Days—and never oncesaid God’s spiritual law was abrogated! Otherwise,he would have been contradicting himself whenhe wrote in God’s inspired word, “Circumcision isnothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keepingthe commandments of God is what matters” (1Corinthians 7:19).Yet bishops and popes substituted their ownpagan doctrine and “church traditions” for the clearteaching and example of Jesus Christ. And many ofthese substitutions were accepted and even embracedby the Protestant “reformers.” Martin Luther said:“No one can deny that we hold, believe, sing, andconfess all things in correspondence with the oldchurch, that we make nothing new therein nor addanything thereto, and in this way we belong to the oldvehemently affirms their essential oneness with theCatholic Church!Speaking of the other great Protestant Reformer,John Calvin, respected historian George Park Fishertells us: “He did not deny that the Christian societiesacknowledging the Pope are ‘churches of Christ’ . Heindignantly denies that he has withdrawn from theChurch” (History of Christian Doctrine, p. 304).Schaff tells us that it is in speaking of the visibleor historic Catholic church that Calvin writes: “Asour present design is to treat of the visible Church,we may learn even from her the title of mother, howuseful and even necessary it is for us to know her”(Schaff, Vol. VIII, p. 450).The insistence of the Protestant leaders on their basicunity with the Catholic church, and their identificationof her as their “mother” church is most significant!God Identifies the Roman ChurchIn the early editions of Martin Luther’s translationof the New Testament, there are many illustrationspicturing the “Whore of Babylon” as the RomanCatholic Church. In describing this widely understoodinterpretation, Bainton tells us: “Fallen Babylon isplainly Rome” (Here I Stand, p. 258).Countless Protestant books, pamphlets, and tractsmake that same identification today. They brand theRoman Catholic Church as the “Great Whore” ofRevelation 17.But, it must be admitted, most of the moreconservative Protestant denominational writershave stopped making this identification. After thosefirst editions of the Bible, and pamphlets and tracts,they suddenly came to theembarrassing realizationthat they were telling onthemselves! For in oneof the easily understoodpassages in this inspiredprophetic book, Goddescribes a great falsereligious system which was to arise and labels it“Babylon the Great” (Revelation 17:1–6).Turning to Revelation 17, we see that the womanpictured here is a fallen woman—a “Great Whore.”She sits upon “many waters.” In verse 15, thePROTESTANTISM CONTINUES ON PAGE 26PETER SPECIFICALLY WARNED OF DECEIVERSWHO WOULD PERVERT PAUL’S TEACHINGS INTOAN EXCUSE TO DO AWAY WITH THE LAW OF GOD!church and are one with it” (Lindsey, A History of theReformation, Vol. I, p. 468).By their own statements, then, it is proved thatthe Protestants regarded themselves only as acontinuation of the historic Catholic church, butunder a different and “purified” form. Luther himselfNovember-December 2013 Tomorrow’s World7

OhCanada!REPUTATION, CHARACTERAND LEADERSHIPA recent survey by The ReputationInstitute surveyed more than 27,000people from the G-8 countries, to arriveat a reputation ranking for 50 countriesaround the globe. The result? “Canadahas the best reputation, for the third year in a row”(Barron’s, August 19, 2013).Such surveys and reports are not unnoticed byCanadians, who pride themselves on tolerance,inclusion and good government.When it comes to human government, Canadacertainly has much to be pleased with, but itsgovernance has not seemed uniformly good in recentyears. Last November, Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblayresigned amid allegations of corruption. “Tremblaycontinued to deny any direct knowledge of corruptionwithin his administration on Monday evening, saying inhis speech that ‘crooks’ within his circle had betrayedhis trust” (“Montreal mayor’s resignation called‘courageous,’” CBC News, November 6, 2012).Michael Applebaum was chosen as Montreal’sinterim mayor, but he too resigned after 14 countswere laid against him alleging fraud, breach of trust,conspiracy, municipal corruption and secret payments.According to a Reuters report, “His departure willdo little to help the reputation of Quebec, where atwo-year public inquiry is unearthing almost dailyallegations of contract rigging, kickbacks and fraudgoing back many years” (“Montreal mayor resigns,says will fight corruption charges,” June 18, 2013).While Canada’s second largest city is mired inaccusations of corruption, its largest city fares no better.Toronto’s colorful mayor, Robert Bruce “Rob” Ford,seems to be all over the news for all the wrong reasons:illegally driving while talking on a phone, making an8Tomorrow’s World November-December 2013obscene gesture to a woman and her six-year-olddaughter and being intoxicated in public on severaloccasions. He has also been accused of much moreserious offenses; three reporters claim to have seen avideo of him smoking crack cocaine, but after a week ofsilence (during which several of his trusted senior staffmembers quit), he confidently declared, “I do not usecrack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.” Inspite of the accusations, Ford’s popularity remains high.The picture is no better for national leadership. Fourappointed senators are currently facing legal scrutiny;three for allegedly taking illegal tax deductions, andanother for claiming inappropriate expense claims.Interestingly, two of the four were well-known televisionjournalists before being appointed to the Senate.Even the Canadian Forces took it on the chin severalyears ago with a shocking scandal. Colonel RussellWilliams was the highly decorated commander ofCanada’s largest airbase, CFB Trenton. He was alsochosen to transport various international and CanadianVIPs, such as the Prime Minister, Queen Elizabeth II andPrince Philip. All this ended when he was arrested andlater convicted of rape and the murder of two women.Recently, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau confessedthat he smoked marijuana more than once whileholding a seat in Parliament. In response, manypoliticians around Canada quickly jumped on the potsmoking bandwagon, saying they too had broken thelaw by smoking marijuana while in office. Apparently,they calculated that their admissions would help themgain popularity with a public morally adrift.Growing Cynicism?The failure of leadership is nothing new in Canada orelsewhere, but more and more people are growingTomorrowsWorld.org

RE P UTAT ION , C HARAC T E R AN D L E DE RSH IPcynical about their leaders. No matter where youturn, you seem to find a lack of personal integrity andcharacter. Leaders entrusted to public service appear tobe more interested in having the public serve them.This should not be surprising. Leaders are a reflectionof society at large, and today we see character andintegrity devalued in our culture. Real belief and faithin God is on the decline, and with it, standards of right,wrong and morality in general.Few realize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is amessage about government. Jesus came to declarethe coming Kingdom of God, where rulers will not beelected, appointed or usurped by men. Jesus Himselfwill appoint leaders who have proven they will put theneeds of others before their own.Today’s crisis in leadership will bring about anunimaginable time of trouble. Jesus revealed, morethan 19 centuries ago, that “unless those days wereshortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’ssake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22).The only way mankind’s madness will be stopped is forJesus Christ to return (Acts 1:6–11; Zechariah 14:1–4).Jerusalem will be the focal point of world conflictat the time of Christ’s return, but every region of ourplanet will be affected before He comes to take Hisplace as “King over all the earth.” Some nations will atfirst resist His rule, but He will prevail (vv. 16–19).As regular readers of this magazine know, Scriptureidentifies the people of the United States and the Britishdescended nations, including Canada, as modern-daySir John Macdonald, first Canadian Prime Minister,on Canadian 10 banknotedescendants of the ancient Israelite tribes of Manassehand Ephraim. The prophet Ezekiel tells us that Israel’sdescendants will be reunited in the future (Ezekiel37:15–22). King David will be resurrected to rule overthem (Ezekiel 37:24–25; Jeremiah 30:9). Jesus givesus further insight into who will be ruling these nations.When Peter asked what he and his fellow apostles wouldreceive, He told them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in theregeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throneof His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit ontwelve thrones, judgingREQUEST YOURthe twelve tribes ofFREE BOOKLETIsrael” (Matthew 19:28).What Is aBut He did not stopTrue Christian?there! In the parable ofthe minas, Jesus informs us that those who overcomeand multiply spiritual fruit today will govern cities whenHe returns (Luke 19:16–19; Revelation 20:4).Moral Character?Our leadership crisis today is one of moral character.Canada is no worse than most countries in the worldwhen it comes to corruption of authority. Comparedto some, it may even appear to be better off, but thisdoes not excuse the rampant misbehaviour by someof its leaders. Human nature, which is made up ofvanity, lust, greed and selfish ambition, is the commonshortcoming of people everywhere. To solve thisproblem, God is working with a few men and womentoday whom He will appoint to positions of leadershipat Christ’s return. These are not the elite of the world(1 Corinthians 1:26–29), but are people who possessthe basics of leadership: self-sacrifice and outgoingconcern for those governed. They are learning duringthis lifetime the way of give rather than get.There can be no better advice for Canada’s futureleaders, and the future leaders of every nation, thanthat found in Philippians 2:3–7: “Let nothing be donethrough selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness ofmind let each esteem others better than himself. Leteach of you look out not only for his own interests, butalso for the interests of others. Let this mind be in youwhich was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form ofGod, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of abondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”—Gerald WestonNovember-December 2013 Tomorrow’s World9

TIPPINGPOINTHas the world economypassed the point of no return?PBy Dexter B. Wakefieldicture in your mind a man sitting in a woodenchair with four legs. Then imagine what wouldhappen if he slowly begins to tip the chairbackward, lifting the front legs off the floor. The chairwill remain stable up to a certain point, where it willbe barely balancing on its two rear legs. At that point,just a small additional push and the man and chairwill crash over backward. That point is “the tippingpoint.”National economies can be very much like thatchair. Consider that when governments spendmore than they receive, they typically finance thedifference by borrowing. The interest rate theymust pay is determined primarily by the investors’confidence regarding repayment and monetaryinflation in the borrowing nation.When governments accumulate large amounts ofdebt relative to the size of their economies, investorsget worried. The credit rating of the government maybe downgraded, which increases their borrowingcosts. The increased borrowing costs further limit thegovernment’s ability to service the debt—which againreduces their creditworthiness even more—whichincreases borrowing costs again. As their credit driesup, the government must increase taxes and reduceexpenditures—called “austerity”—which restricts theeconomy, compounding the problem. A devastatingdownward economic and credit spiral can begin.Cry for Argentina?Argentina is a beautiful country of 40 million peopleblessed with great natural resources, fertile plainscalled pampas and a world-famous wine-growing10Tomorrow’s World November-December 2013region near the majestic Andes Mountains. But in2002 the nation defaulted on its sovereign debt.“When Argentina defaulted on some 100 billion inbonds 11 years ago, its debt represented 166 percentof gross domestic product. Bank deposits were frozenand devalued, the economy shrank 11 percent inone year, and millions lost their jobs” (Reuters, May13,

Simple case in point: homosexual activists call their movement "gay rights." This accomplishes two major objectives: (1) Use of the word gay rather than homosexual masks the controversial sexual behavior involved and accentuates instead a vague but positive-sounding cultural identity— gay, which, after all, once meant "happy" and