The Present Evil World

While this is the “Dispensation of Grace,” and God’s purpose during it is to gather out a “People for His Name” – the CHURCH, the world out of which the Church is being gathered is called –

“THE PRESENT EVIL AGE”

Gal: 1:4

That this “Age” is EVIL is seen in the character of its civilization. After nearly 1900 years of Gospel preaching the world is in a worse state, in proportion to its light, than it was in the days of Christ, and seems headed toward some great crisis.  The spirit of lawlessness is in the air, and despite all efforts to quench it, it is strangely becoming unmanageable and perverse and determined to break away from all authority and law.

            How are we to account for this?  Has God lost His control over the world, or is He permitting some other agency to have its way?

            The answer is that there are

“TWO OPPOSING SPIRITS”

at work in the world in this Dispensation.  The “HOLY SPIRIT” who is engaged in gathering out the elect body of the Church, and the “SPIRIT OF EVIL.”  These are called in 1 Cor. 2:12, the “SPIRIT WHICH IS OF GOD,” and the “SPIRIT OF THE WORLD”  and in 1 John 4:5-6, the “SPIRIT OF TRUTH”  and the “SPIRIT OF ERROR.”  The spirit of Error is the source of all the “STRONG DELUSIONS” (2 Thess. 2:11) that are in the world today, and as the “End of the Age” draws near they are being rapidly multiplied, and it requires the utmost vigilance not to be caught in their net.  Just as the Church is indwelt and guided by the “HOLY SPIRIT,” so the World outside the Church is indwelt and guided by the “SPIRIT OF THE WORLD” (1 Cor> 2:12), or “UNHOLY SPIRIT.”  And as the “HOLY SPIRIT” is a PERSON, so the “SPIRIT OF THE WORLD” is a PERSON.

    “And you hath He quickened, (by His Holy Spirit), who were dead in trespasses and sins;    wherein in time past ye walked according to the “COURSE” (AGE) OF THIS WORLD,’ according to the Prince of the ‘Power of the Air,’ (Satan) the ‘SPIRIT’ (Evil Spirit) that now worketh (energizes) in the –

‘CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE.’”

Eph. 2: 1-2

            From this we see that the “SPIRIT OF THE WORLD” is SATAN.

            The world refused to accept the rule of God when it crucified His Son, and chose Barabbas instead of Christ, thus exalting Satan to the position of the “GOD OF THIS AGE,” for Satan is not spoken of as the God of any other Age than this.  It was Satan’s ambition to be like God that caused his fall (Isa. 14: 13-14), and he has not as yet given up that ambition, and it is his purpose and plan to exalt himself in the person of Antichrist, whom he will indwell, and sit in the “Temple of God.” (the rebuilt Jewish Temple in Jerusalem), AS GOD, and have the people worship him as such.  2 Thess. 2: 3-4. Rev. 13: 4, 11-12

    This Dispensation is spoken of in the Scriptures as "MAN'S DAY."  Writing to the Corinthians Paul says, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of 'man's judgment.'"  The margin reads of - "MAN'S DAY." 1 Cor. 4:3. This then is the day of the GLORIFICATION OF MAN.  The day in which the works of man are exalted and praised.  We cannot explain the great advance in knowledge and the mechanic arts of the past one hundred years, apart from God, only on the supposition that there is some superhuman being who imparts this knowledge and who controls the affairs of the mechanical and commercial world.  And it  is worthy of note that it was not the descendants of Seth, the godly people of the Antediluvian Dispensation, but the descendants of Cain, the ungodly people of that period, who invented metal working, devised musical instruments (doubtless for pleasure), and built great cities for commercial and other purposes.  Now we know that Satan's gospel is the -

"GOSPEL OF PROGRESS."

    He preached it in the Garden of Eden when he promised Eve that if she would eat of the fruit of the Tree of the "Knowledge of Good and Evil," her eyes would be opened, and she and Adam be as "Gods," knowing good and evil.  Gen. 3:5

    It was the promise of KNOWLEDGE that caused the downfall of the human race, and when Adam and Eve followed Satan's advice they committed the race to the acceptance of his LEADERSHIP AND PROGRAM.

    It is not likely that the Holy God imparted to the ungodly race of Cain the knowledge to invent things that would lead to the downfall of the race and help to bring on the Flood.  Neither is it to be supposed that a God of Love would impart to men the knowledge that would enable them to invent such hellish instruments of warfare as were used in the great European War.  It is clear then that there is some "SUPERNATURAL BEING" who is at the head of the "WORLD SYSTEM," and that that "Being" is - "SATAN."  His Program is to build up a magnificent Civilization without God.  The phrase "Christian Civilization" is an invention of the "God of this Age." There can be no such thing, for Christianity and Civilization have nothing in common.  There can be no Christian civilization without Christ, and when He comes back He will bring to an end the boasted civilization this Age, and set up a NEW CIVILIZATION over which Satan shall have no control, for he will then be a prisoner in the Pit.  It is clear that if this world could be made a fit place for men to live in without God, it could not have had a more masterly leader than Satan, and that if he has failed it is not his fault, but is due to the willfulness of man.

    There are but two classes of people spoken of in the New Testament.  The "CHILDREN OF GOD," and the "CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL."  "In this the 'CHILDREN OF GOD' are manifest and the 'CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL' whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God."  1 John 3:10  Here all who "doeth not righteousness" are classed as "CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL," and in Eph 2:2 are called the "CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE." There is no possibility of union between them, therefore there cannot be any such thing as the "BROTHERHOOD OF MAN,"     which popularly understood is the union of all religious bodies and sects, such as Christians, Jews, Atheists, Unitarians, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Confucians, etc., in a Federation of Religions.