The greatest of all Protestant Reformers, was Rev.
Prof. Dr. John Calvin (1509-64). He lived and testified and died -- during the
time of Islam’s greatest expansion into Eastern Europe. Islam was formulated by
Mohammed and his successors from the seventh century onward. It is a fusion of:
portions of the Old Testament; fragments from the Apocrypha; scraps from the New
Testament; parts of Post-Christian pseudepigraphical books generally authored
by later sectarians; Arabic culture; the personal utterances of Mohammed as
inscripturated especially by his favourite wife Khadiya; and traditions later
attributed to him and to his close successors.
With Mohammed, Islam had -- apparently from nowhere
-- suddenly swept out of Arabia in A.D. 622. Soon it gained dominion all the
way from Kazakstan in the East and across North Africa into Spain and France in
the West -- during the subsequent century. Then, from A.D. 755 to 1000 -- it
spread all the way from Central Asia right across into Western China.
After the Turks in their homeland Turkmenistan
became Moslems -- most of them later left and exported Islam into Southern
Russia and the Ukraine. Other Moslems later spread Islam right throughout the
whole of Northern India, Malaysia, the Western Philippines, and Indonesia. Yet
others spread it from North Africa across the Sahara into West Africa, East
Africa, and thereafter into Southern Africa.
Its advance into Europe was stopped -- temporarily
-- only in 1683 right outside the Walls of Vienna in Austria. Since the Second
World War, Islam has gained millions of new followers all the way from
Australia to Ireland. Many of them are apostates from Christianity -- in
Germany; France; Britain; and (also among Black Moslems) in the U.S.A. In all
those countries -- Islam is now reputed to be the fastest growing religion in
today’s World.
* * * * * * *
The Christian Crusades, from 1091 to
1291, had failed to check the westward movement of the Turks from Turkmenistan
into Palestine on their way toward Turkey. By 1453, they had captured
Constantinople. Then they started overrunning Southeastern Europe also during
the lifetimes of the two great Protestant Reformers -- Martin Luther
(1483-1546) and John Calvin (1509-1564).
Now it should not be thought that Calvin was blind
to the few commendable features of Islam.
Thus, in his Sermons on Deuteronomy (4:8), he
frankly enjoined his Christian addressees: “Look upon the Turks [alias
the Moslems]! They have some reverence to their religion.... So
have the Papists also.... Still, both of them are cut off from the Church of
God -- through their own fault.”1
Yet Dr. John Calvin nevertheless did not hesitate to
brand Mohammad -- as a false-prophet. For in Deuteronomy 13:1-8,
God warned His People: “If there arise among you a ‘prophet’ or a ‘dreamer of
dreams’..., you shall not hearken to the words of that ‘prophet’ or that
‘dreamer of dreams’.... And that ‘prophet’ or that ‘dreamer of dreams’ shall be
put to death.” This, Calvin applies among others also to the founder of Islam
(whom he regarded as a false-prophet).
Explains Calvin in his Sermons on Deuteronomy (13:1f):
“The Christian Faith be impugned by the wicked ,which pretend not [or who do
not claim] to come unto [the Triune] God -- as by the Turks [alias
the Moslems]; Paynims [alias the Pagans]; and Jews [alias
the Judaists].... They blaspheme with open mouth.... They be utterly cut off
from the Church -- like rotten members. Their resisting of the Gospel -- and
their striving to abolish the Christians’ Religion -- is no great wonder to
us....
“When we see the troubles that are nowadays in
the World – let us not be overcome by them! Neither let our Faith be
defaced! But the more the devil labours and enforces himself to undo it -- the
more let it advance itself and get the upper hand of such assaults!
“And when we see ‘false-prophets’ step up...,
let us not cease to yield this honour still to God -- that we hold ourselves to
His Word and start[le] not from it by any means! ... In these days...we see
that such as call themselves ‘Christians’ and take that title most upon
them -- are the worst enemies of God that a man can find. For the [confessedly unitarian]
Turks [or Moslems] and Jews [or Judaists] are not more fiery and
venomous at this day against God -- to deface the whole doctrine of salvation
-- than are the [allegingly trinitarian] Papists.... “When we see
‘false-prophets’ step up...we must not fail...nor make a stumbling-block
of it to step aside or start[le] away – but overgo [or overcome] it,
through the power of faith.... They could find it in their hearts to
mingle Mahomet’s Alcoran and all the dotages of the Heathen and
all the superstitions of the Papists, with the pureness of the Gospel
-- and to make a medley of them.... That was the ‘Gospel’ of Mahomet
– to turn all things upside down, and to bring all things to confusion....
“Although the Heathen keep still their dotages;
although the Jews [alias the Judaists] be wilfil in maintaining these
false expositions of the law; although the Turks hold still their Mahomet’s
Al-Coran; although the Papists be still entangled in their
superstitions – all is one! For they [all of them maintain or] hold
fast this principle, that there is a God.... Meantime, they...worship
a puppet, and...have transformed the Majesty of God [viz. the
one and only true Triune God] -- though their intent was to worship
the living God.... The Papists do, who protest that they worship God the
Maker of heaven and earth. And likewise the Turks, who say the same
thing. And so also do the Jews [alias the Judaists] -- notwithstanding
that they abhor Jesus Christ....
“When the Turks set their Mahomet in
the place of God’s Son -- knowing not that God has manifested Himself in
the flesh (which is one of the chief articles of our Faith) – what a dealing is
it? ... How many things soever men term by the Name of ‘God’ -- they be
but devils of their own devising and setting up, if they keep not
themselves fast enclosed within the bounds of the Holy Scripture!
“And therefore let us mark well, that we must
hold us to the Pure Religion.... An hypocrite that would devise a new
religion, as it were to set up a [Romish] Popedom...or to bring in the Al-
Coran of Mahomet -- such a one ought now to be put to death, without
forbearing. For so has God ordained!”2
* * * * * * *
In Deuteronomy18:15f’s statement to
the Israelites, around B.C. 1400, Moses had told them: “The Lord your God will
raise up to you a Prophet from your midst, from your brethren like me. To Him
you must hearken!” The New Testament clearly indicates that this Prophet is
Jesus (Acts 3:22-26 & 7:37-59f). Yet Islam claims
Deuteronomy18:15f predicts the A.D. 600f coming of its own
alleged prophet, Mohammed.
The well-known Moslem Scholar Sayed Rashid Ahmed
wrote in his Mohammad in the Quran: "That Prophet was, of course, the
Prophet foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15; 33:2). It is clear that
neither Jesus nor John the Baptist was meant by ‘that Prophet.’ Whoever that
be, they were not [John1:19-25]. That personality was yet to appear, and at
last ‘it shineth forth from Mt. Paran’ nearly six hundred years after
this episode.... Muhammad is born, Hallelujah!”3
Calvin, however, in his 1556-57 Sermons on
Deuteronomy (18:15 & 33:2), explains: “As Mahomet says that his Al-Coran
is the sovereign wisdom, so says the Pope of his own decrees. For
they be the two horns of Antichrist.... Moses spoke not in his own person
-- but by the authority of God. He adds: ‘God came from Sinai; His coming forth
was from Seir; He showed Himself upon Mount Paran.’ Here Moses sets
God’s presence before the eyes of the People, after the same manner that it had
been known upon Mount Sinai at the time of the publishing of the Law.... For
Mount Paran and Mount Seir were near to Mount Sinai.”4
Also in his Harmony of the Pentateuch, Dr.
John Calvin comments at Deuteronomy 33:2 that the reference there is not to
a then-future event. Thus it cannot refer to any possible going forth of
Islam’s alleged prophet Mohammed from Mt. Paran. Instead, it is a reference to
the thenpast event of the Lord God Himself having gone forth from
Mount Sinai with His Law -- to Moses and the Israelities.
Explains Calvin: “‘The Lord came from Sinai.’ In
these words, He reminds them that He is setting before them a confirmation of
the covenant which God had made with them in His Law. Some, as I
conceive, improperly translate it ‘God comes to Sinai.’ Whereas
Moses rather means that He came from thence. By way of ornament, the same
thing is repeated with respect to Seir and Paran.”5
It is clear from John 1:19-25 and 6:14 that not
Mohammed but Jesus Christ is the promised Prophet like Moses Whose coming was
predicted at Deuteronomy 18:15f . Too, it is clear from John 14:16 &
14:26 and 15:26 and 16:7-15 -- that it is not Mohammad but the Holy Spirit Whom
Christ would then soon send, as the promised Comforter, to and also for His
People. Islam’s claims here, are false!
As Calvin comments: “The word ‘Comforter’ (Paracletus)
is here applied to both Christ and the Spirit.... Mohammed and the Pope have
this religious principle in common -- that Scripture does not contain the
perfection of doctrine, but that something higher has been revealed....
Continues Calvin: “Peter applies to the person of Christ,
what Moses spoke generally of the prophets.... The Prophet to
Whom Moses like a herald bears witness -- shall far excel him (Deuteronomy
18:15)!”
The same is true at Acts 7:37. For there, also
“Stephen included Moses’ testimony.”6 That
is the testimony: “This is that Moses who said unto the children of
Israel, ‘A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you -- of your
brethren -- like unto me. You must hear Him!’”
* * * * * * *
In his Sermons on Deuteronomy (29:25),
Calvin plainly implies that just like the modern Juda-ists also the
unitarian Moslems have turned away from the Triune God also of the Older
Tes-tament. Explained Calvin: “Moses does here expressly accuse the [unitarianized]
Jews, to the intent to take away from them all starting-holes [or
hiding-places]. He says, ‘They forget the [Triune] God of
their [fore-]fathers -- Him Who had delivered them out of the
land of Egypt and set them free from hard bondage’....
“Turks have that [same] defence, common
amongst them[selves] – that it is now a long while since they have behaved
themselves after that manner. The Turks say: ‘What? It is eight hundred
years ago since that Mahomet brought us to his law -- and it has been
kept ever since! Our [later] fathers have delivered it to us from hand to
hand’....
“But (as I have already touched),” responds Calvin,
“ it is not enough for us that our fathers have delivered us such a religion
as they thought good.” For we need to test the religion of our fathers
against the previous religion which their earlier ancestors received in purity
from the hand of the Triune God Himself (cf. Gen. 1:1-3 & 1:26 etc.).7
* * * * * * *
Perhaps almost at the same time Moses
was giving his prophecies -- an important declaration was made also by Job
(4:13f). Said that prophet: “In thoughts from the visions of the night, when
deep sleep falls on men -- fear and trembling came upon me.... Then a spirit
passed before my face...and I heard a voice saying: ‘Shall mortal man be more
just than God?’”
That was indeed a revelation from the Triune God to
Job – before the inscripturation of the now-completed Holy Scriptures.
Nevertheless, after that latter event – there would be no such further
revelations either in visions during the day or in dreams during the night.
Explains Dr. John Calvin8
in
his Sermons on Job (4:15f): “Devilish curiosity be not
contented to be taught simply by the Holy Scripture! Behold also -- whereupon
the religion of the Turks is founded!
“Mahomet has reported himself to be
the party that should bring the full revelation -- over and besides the
Gospel. And by means thereof, they [the Islamic Turks] have utterly become brute
beasts.... At this day, we see that those poor beasts busy their heads
about as doltish and unsens-ible things as any can be. But it is the just
vengeance of God, Who has given them over to a wil-ful stubborn mind!”
Also the equally-unitarian
Anabaptist Servetus “said that the Holy Ghost had not reigned
as yet – but that He was to come.... He would have made himself a
Mahomet, to have the Holy Ghost at his command.... But let us
content us with the Holy Scripture – seeing that God has enclosed us within
the bounds thereof!” John 14:16 & 14:26 and 15:26 and 16:7-15.
* * * * * * *
In Daniel 2:34f & 2:44, that Prophet
predicted that the Messiah would come and smash the Fourth World Empire. Said
Daniel to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in respect of the image of a Ruler he
had dreamed about: “Keep on looking, till a Stone gets cut out, without hands –
[a Stone] Which smites the image upon its feet that are of iron and clay!”
Pre-incarnational Israelites (before the birth of Jesus) regarded that
fourth or iron-and-clay kingdom as the Pagan Roman Empire -- which later
divided into two, the Eastern and the Western, like the hard yet brittle legs
of the image of the ruler in the above prediction. Though after the later Judaists
rejected Jesus as the Messianic Stone -- they more and more began to argue that
the iron Empire was Islam. They then did this -- so as to be able
to try and justify their view that the Messianic Stone would come forth from Judaism,
during the time of the hegemony of Islam.
It does seem that the fourth iron kingdom was in
fact both the pre-Papal and the pre-Islamic undivided Pagan
Roman Empire, as well as the later Western-Roman Papal and the contempor-aneous
Eastern-Roman Islamic Empire into which it then subdivided.
Indeed, both “Mahomet” and “the Pope” -- as we have already seeni
--
Dr. Calvin called “the two horns of Antichrist.” Thus they correspond to
the two legs of the later Roman Empire – Islam and the Papacy.
As Rev. Dr. Calvin comments9
in
his 1561 Commentaries on Daniel (at 2:35 and 2:44) -- that Prophet
“speak of the Roman Empire as iron.... Daniel says the image perished
when the Roman Empire was broken up.... The dream was presented to King
Nebuchadnezzar -- so that he might understand all future events till the
renovation of the World.....
“There is no doubt, then, that Daniel intended
the Romans by the Fourth Empire.... The Jews [or Post-Christian Judaists]
agree with us [Christians] -- in thinking this passage cannot be otherwise
understood, than of the perpetual reign of the Messiah.... For Daniel
here openly affirms that Messiah’s Kingdom -- should arrive at the close of the
Fourth Monarchy! “Hence they [the modern Anti-Christian Judaists after the
First Advent of Jesus, now] fly to the miserable refuge that by the Fourth
Monarchy should be understood the Turkish Empire -- which they call that
of the Ishmaelites.... The Turks, a long time afterwards --
namely 600 years -- suddenly burst forth like a deluge....
“Rabbi Barbinel [Avrabanel (1437-1508)]...seems to
excel others in acuteness.... The Turks, says he, occupy a large portion
of the World -- and religion among Christians, is divided.... The
Turks have spread far and wide, and the World is filled with impious
despisers of God.”
* * * * * * *
Now in Daniel 7:7f & 7:20,
that Prophet predicted the rise of a ‘little horn’ within the Roman Empire.
Though first but ‘little’ -- that horn would later become very ‘stout’ and
arrogant. In his Commentaries on Daniel (7:7-18), Calvin explains10
that
“in this Fourth Monarchy those who are endued with moderate judgment
confess this vision to be fulfilled in the Roman Empire.... What is here
said of the Fourth Beast -- many transfer to the Pope, when it is added that
a ‘Little Horn’ sprang up. But others think the Turkish kingdom is
comprehended under the Roman. The Jews, for the most part, incline this
way....
“Christ’s Kingdom was erected by the overthrow of
the Roman dominion. The Jews...join the Turkish monarchy with the
Roman.... There are some of our [Christian] writers who think this
image ought not to be restricted to the Roman Empire, but ought to include
the Turkish.... “I have no doubt that in this vision, the Prophet was shown
the figure of the Roman Empire.... The Prophet simply means that the
Roman Empire was complex.... Some twist this to mean the Pope,
and others the Turk.... I have no doubt that ‘the little horn’ relates
to Julius Caesar and the other Caesars who succeeded him.... Some take
this prophecy to relate to the kingdom of Turkey; others to the tyranny
of the Pope of Rome.”
Indeed, in his Institutes of the Christian
Religion, Dr. Calvin himself applies Daniel 7:25 to the A.D. 600f
Papacy (which arose contemporaneously with Islam). For
there he remarks:11 “We call the Roman
Pontiff Antichrist.... Paul says that Antichrist would sit in the Temple
of God (Second Thessalonians 2:4). In another passage -- the Spirit...says
his reign would be with great swelling words of vanity (Daniel 7:25)....
“All the heresies and schisms which have existed
from the beginning, belong to the kingdom of Antichrist. Yet -- when
Paul foretells that defection will come -- he by this description intimates
that that seat of abomination will be erected when a kind of universal
defection comes upon the Church.... This calamity was neither to be
introduced by one man, nor to terminate in one man.... Second Thessalonians
2:3; Daniel 7:9....
“The mark by which he [Paul] distinguishes Antichrist
-- is that he would rob God of His honour and take it to himself.... It is
certain that the Roman Pontiff has impudently transferred to himself the
most peculiar properties of God and Christ. There cannot be a doubt that he is the
Leader and Standard-bearer of that impious and abominable kingdom!”
* * * * * * *
Yet Calvin was not at all discouraged when he perceived that Daniel
predicted the later rise and development of the Roman Pontiff as the “Leader
and Standard-bearer” of the Kingdom of Anti-christ. Nor was Calvin discouraged
to see Islam more and more challenging the claims of Christ, and ultimately
drawing closer to the Standard-bearer of Antichrist’s abominable kingdom. For
Calvin knew, also from the Book of Daniel, that Christ’s Kingdom would nonetheless
increase and ultimately triumph over Islam as well as over the Papacy.
Thus in his 1561 Commentaries on Daniel (at
11:34), Dr. Calvin uttered a passionate prayer. He petitioned: “Grant, Almighty
God, as at this day Thou dost try the faith of Thy People by many
tests, that they may obtain strength from the unconquered
fortitude of Thy Holy Spirit! “May we constantly march under Thy standard,
even to the end; and never succumb to any temptation!” Instead, Calvin urged
the Lord: “Add numbers to the cause! And should the number of those who
are professed Members of Thy Church diminish -- yet may some seed always
remain, until abundant produce shall flow forth from it; and such
fruitfulness arise, as shall cause Thy Name to be glorified throughout the
whole World, in Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Yet, in Daniel 11:37, that Prophet predicted the
coming of a terrible tyrant. This is how he described that tyrant: “Neither
shall he pay regard to the God of his fathers, nor to the desire of women.”
Applied to the Unitarian Moslems, this might
well mean that they would ignore the Trinitarian God of their forefathers --
and with their licentiousness and polygamy also disregard the desire of women
to conclude monogamous unions. Applied to the Papal Clergy, it could mean
they would depart from their Culdee Proto-Protestant forefathers -- and also
lapse either into meretriciousness or alternatively into celibacy (or both). Comments
Dr. Calvin:12 “Some refer this prophecy to the
Pope and to Mahomet -- and the phrase ‘the love of women’ seems to give probability
to this view. For Mahomet allowed to men the brutal liberty of
chastising their wives, and thus he corrupted that conjugal love and
fidelity which binds the husband to the wife....
“Mahomet allowed full scope to various lusts --
by permitting a man to have a number of wives. This seems like an explanation
-- of his being inattentive to the love of women. “Those who think the Pope to
be intended here -- remind us of their enforcing celibacy, by means of
which the honour of marriage is trodden underfoot. We know with what foulness
the Roman Pontiffs bark -- when marriage is hinted to them.... We observe,
then, some slight correspondence -- but the remaining points will not suit this
idea. “As Mahomet invented a new form of religion, so did the
Pope. True indeed! But neither of them are intended here.” At least, not
centrally so. Yet nevertheless also certainly so -- by way of further
application.
* * * * * * *
“We must now come,” concludes Calvin, “to
the [Ancient] Romans -- of whom we began to explain the
passage.” They were the forerunners of the christianized Roman Empire
that was later taken over by the Pope in the West and by Islam in
the East. That was seen to the case - - by both Luther and Calvin.
For Luther, Daniel twelve predicts the Babylonian
Captivity of the Church. It would last for many years between the First and the
Second Coming of Christ. So too concluded Calvin. Commenting on Daniel 12:1 (in
A.D. 1561), Calvin here saw how “Daniel therefore represent-ed Michael as
the guardian of the Church.... I embrace the opinion of those who refer
this to the Person of Christ.... He is called the ‘Mighty Prince’....
It was in no degree superfluous for the Angel to predict such great calamities as
impending over the Church.... In the present day, the same expressions
are most useful to us.”13
On Daniel 12:4's reference to the time of the end,
Calvin comments that “at the present time, in the Papacy and throughout the
World, impiety prevails.... There is scarcely a single corner -- in which the
majority agree in true obedience to God.”14
On Daniel 12:7, he adds: “How sad is the dispersion
of the Church -- in these days! ... God indeed defends it by His power
-- but this is beyond human expectation.... But yet the end shall be
prosperous!”15
On Daniel 12:11f'’s words ‘from that period
there shall be 1290 days’ -- Calvin comments that "the Angel then
purposely puts days for years -- implying, although that time may seem immeas-urably
prolonged and may frighten us by its duration and completely prostrate the
spirits of the pious, yet it must be endured.... Some think the days should be
understood as years.... The faith-ful ought constantly to persist in the hope
of deliverance.”16
Next to be noted, are Daniel 12:13's two phrases ‘till
the end be’ and ‘at the end of the days.’ Here,
Dr. John Calvin comments that “after God has sufficiently tested the
patience of His People and...has humbled His Church and purged it -- the
end shall arrive.”
Before then, however, God would expand and strengthen
Christians -- by chastening them. Beyond doubt, God has now been purging
His Church for almost 1500 years through Islam and the Papacy. But after
the present purge and the resulting blessing, the end shall be prosperous!
* * * * * * *
In the meantime, however, Trinitarian
Christianity will be sorely tested and chastised -- and finally challengingly
rejuvenated. One of His agents in doing this, is Unitarian Islam. Regarding
the latter, Calvin explained in the 1536f edition of his Institutes :"The
Turks in the present day...proclaim...with full throat that the Creator of
Heaven and Earth is their God. Yet they -- by their rejection [of the Godhead
and Saviourhood] of Christ -- substitute an idol in His
place."17 That is to say, Allah is
an idol substituted by Mohammed and his Moslems -- instead of the
one and only true and Triune God.
In 1539, Calvin wrote to his friend Farel that “the
more prudent...foresee that the Turk will not remain quiet if he sees
Germany engaged in civil war. Already he has possession of Upper and Lower
Wallachia [in Romania]; and has declared war upon the King of
Poland unless he [the latter] allows him free passage through his
territories.”18
In 1541, Calvin again wrote to Farel19
that
the German Emperor (of the so-called ‘Holy Roman Empire’) then feared “an
attack on the side of Turkey.... Regarding the Turks, various rumours
are spread about.”
George Martinuzzi, the tutor of the young King of Hungary
after the decease of his father King John, had taken upon himself the
guardianship of young King Sigismund. Explained Calvin: “The Turk had
sent...troops...who...laid siege to Pesth [Budapest].... Accounts
relate that the Turk himself was on his way with a great army and camp
equipage.”
Indeed, those in “Wallachia [within Romania
had]...delivered themselves over...in subjection to his authority.”
However, patriots in their midst then “chose a new leader...whom they bound by
oath to promise eternal enmity against Turkey.
“They have also taken possession,” continued Dr.
Calvin, “of a very strong fortress which the Turks had built with wonderful
despatch upon the Polish frontier. If he does not punish this affront, we
shall then know that he is otherwise engaged.... Would that it may turn out to
be so that, while he is healing his own wounds, we may have some time allowed
us for taking measures to oppose him, and for collecting our resources!
The King of Poland could render very effectual assistance to his Wallachian
neighbours -- if the Tartars were not so troublesome to his kingdom.
During the past winter, they carried off great booty.”
* * * * * * *
Soliman, the Leader of the Moslem Turks,
then invaded Hungary with a huge army. He took possession of almost
the whole country. Indeed, his fleet besieged even Nice in France!20
Very concerned, Calvin in Switzerland then wrote to
Philip Melanchthon in Germany in 1543: “It is not without the bitterest grief
that I hear of the sad condition of your Germany! Nor are the evils which I
dread, of a less serious kind than those which I bewail....
“The Turk again prepares to wage war with a
larger force. Who will stand up to oppose his marching throughout the length
and breadth of the land, at his mere will and pleasure?”21
Calvin’s
1544 tract The Necessity of Reforming the Church, was then presented “to
the Most Invincible Emperor Charles V and the Most Illustrious Princes and
other Orders now holding a Diet [or Council] of the Empire at Spires.”22
There,
the Swiss Reformer wrote: “God raised up Luther and others, who held
forth a torch to light us into the way of salvation.... The Turkish War now
occupies the minds of all, and fills them with alarm. It well may!
“Consultations are done.... The fuel of the Turkish
War is within, shut up in our bowels, and must first be removed -- if we would successfully
drive back the War itself. In future, therefore, as often as you shall hear
the croaking note [of the Romanists] – ‘The business of reforming the Church
must be delayed for the present; there will be time enough to accomplish it after
other matters are transacted’ – remember, Most Invincible Emperor and Most
Illustrious Princes, that the matter on which you are to deliberate is whether
you are to leave to your posterity some empire, or none!
“Yet why do I speak of posterity? Even now,
while your own eyes behold – it is half bent, and totters to its final ruin!”
For the German ‘Holy Roman Empire’ was fast disintegrating. Yet we
Protestants, added Calvin, “feel assured that we...do the work of
the Lord. We are also confident that He will by no means be wanting
either to Himself or to it. But be the issue what it may – we will never repent
of having begun and of having proceeded thus far.... “We are indeed
desirous, as we ought to be, that our ministry may prove salutory to the World....
We will die; but even in death, be conquerors.... We know that
our blood will be as seed to propagate the divine truth!”23
* * * * * * *
To Calvin, then, there could be no
doubt at all as to the final outcome of those Turkish Wars. Ultimately, they
would result -- in the final victory of Christendom over Islam. Similarly,
the Church’s parallel efforts to rid itself from the blight of Papal
Romanism -- would in turn result also in the final victory of Protestant
Christianity.
Thus, in his 1550 Commentary on Second
Thessalonians (2:3), Dr. Calvin identifies the first century A.D. Paul’s
‘man of sin.’ There, the Reformer insists that “the interpretation which some
have given -- that this passage refers to the end of the [Ancient] Roman
Empire -- is too stupid to need lengthy refutation.” Preterists,
note well!
“When the word ‘apostasy’ is used -- without
any addition -- it cannot be confined to a few individuals. Now the word
‘apostates’ -- can be understood only of those who have previously
enlisted in the service of Christ and His Gospel.
“Paul, then, is predicting a general defection on
the part of the Visible Church. As if he were saying, ‘The Church must
be reduced to a ghastly and horrifying state of ruin, before its full
restoration is achieved’....
“From this, we may at once conclude how useful
this prediction of Paul’s is. For it might have seemed that a building
which...lay for so long in ruins, could not have been the work of God --
had Paul not warned them long before that this would take place.
“ In our own day, indeed [1550], very many
people begin to waver -- when they consider the long continued dispersion of
the Church. As if this had not been regulated by the purpose of
God!... The pretext of the [preteristic] Romanists which they
make in extenuation of the tyranny of their idol [the Papacy] -- is that it was
not possible for Christ to forsake His bride. But here, the weak have an
assurance on which to rest -- when they learn that the disfigurement which
they see in the Church, has long since been foretold.
“The impudence of the Romanists, on the other
hand, is clearly exposed. Because Paul declares that when the World has been
brought under the rule of Christ -- a defection will take place....
“The minds of [Romanizing] ancients were so
bewitched -- that they believed [preteristically] that Nero would be
Antichrist! However, Paul is not speaking of one individual -- but of a
kingdom that was to be seized by Satan, for the purpose of setting up a seat of
abomination in the midst of God‘s Temple. This we see accomplished in Popery.
“The defection has indeed spread more widely! For, since Mohammed was
an apostate, he turned his followers, the Turks, from Christ.... The
sect of Mohammed was like a raging overflow, which in its violence tore away
about half of the Church. It remained for [the Papal] Antichrist to infect
with his poison the part which was left.”24
*
* * * * * *
Yet, in the words ‘the Lord Jesus shall slay’ in
Second Thessalonians 2:8 -- Calvin insists Paul “predicted the destruction
of the reign of Antichrist.... He will be annihilated by the Word of the
Lord....
“Paul does not think that Christ will accomplish
this in a single moment.... Christ will scatter the darkness in which
Antichrist will reign, by the rays which He will emit before His coming --
just as the sun, before becoming visible to us, chases away the darkness of
the night with its bright light.
“This victory of the Word will therefore be seen
in the World. For ‘the Breath [or Spirit] of His Mouth’ means
simply His Word -- as in Isaiah 11:4, the passage to which Paul appears to
be alluding.... It is a notable commendation of true and sound doctrine that
it is represented as being sufficient to put an end to all ungodliness, and as
destined at all times to be victorious over all devices of Satan. It is
also a commendation when -- a little further on -- the preaching of this
doctrine, is referred to as Christ’s ‘coming’ to us!”25
In
Second Thessalonians 2:13-16 Paul “makes a clearer division between the
[Christians among the] Thessalonians, and the wicked [there] -- so that their
faith [namely that of the Thessalonian Christians] should not waver through
fear of the [then] coming apostasy. At the same time, however, his purpose was
to consider the interests not simply of these [folk], but also of future
generations [plural!].
“He not only establishes them so that they may
not experience the same downward plunge as the World, but uses this
comparison to commend further the grace of God towards them.... The
statement which he afterwards adds, ‘[the Father] Who loved us and gave us comfort,’
refers to the confidence which we have in getting what we ask for....
The term ‘hope’ also refers to the same thing.
“They are to have a sure expectation that
their gifts will continue without interruption.... He is asking that God may
lift up their hearts -- by His comfort!”26
‘Finally brethren,’ concludes St. Paul, ‘pray for us
so that the Word of the Lord may run!’ Thus Second Thessalonians 3:1.
Here Calvin comments27 of Paul: “When he adds
‘that the Word of the Lord may run’ -- he shows he is concerned not so
much for his own personal advantage or interest, as for the entire Church.
Why does he want to be commended -- to the prayers of the Thessalonians? So
that the doctrine of the Gospel may run its course.... “The ‘course’ to
which he refers, means dissemination.... ‘Glory’ means...that his preaching
may have power and efficacy to refashion men in the image of God....
It should be an incentive to the godly to see that all others are like
them! Hence, those who have already entered into the Kingdom of God -- are
bidden to pray daily that it may come” or keep on coming.
‘Thy Kingdom come!’ Matthew 6:10. Thus, the kingdom
of Islam needs to be won for the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ.
Revelation 11:15. For, as the Calvin-istic Westminster Larger
Catechism explains:28 “In the second petition
(which is ‘Thy Kingdom come!’)...we pray that the kingdom of sin and Satan
may be destroyed; the Gospel propagated throughout the World; the Jews
called; the fullness of the Gentiles brought in; the Church...purged from corruption...and
made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins” etc.
Also in the Calvin-istic Public Prayer Before the Sermon in the
1645 Westminster Assembly’s Directory for the Publick Worship of God,
“the Minister who is to preach is to endeavour to get his own and his
hearers’ hearts rightly to be affected...and...to pray for the propagation
of the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ to all nations; for the conversion
of the Jews; the fulness of the Gentiles; the fall of Antichrist;
and...for the deliverance of the distressed churches abroad from the tyranny of
the antichristian faction, and from the cruel oppressions and blasphemies of the
Turk” etc.29
* * * * * * *
Yes, Islam is indeed blasphemous. But
the Moslems and Romanists are to be converted from Islam and from
Romanism -- back to True Proto-Protestantism alias Biblical Christianity (of
which both Islam and Romanism are early-mediaeval perversions)! It is very
significant that Moslems claim Mohammed is a descendant of Abraham via Ishmael.
Yet the Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 4:22-31 that
“Abraham had two sons -- the one [Ishmael] by a slave; the other [Isaac]
by a freewoman.... He who was of the slave, was born according to the flesh;
but he [who was born] of the freewoman, was [born] according to the promise.
“These things are an allegory. For these are the two
covenants -- the one from the Mount Sinai.... For this Hagar [the mother of Ishmael]
is Mount Sinai in Arabia.... We [Christians], brethren, like Isaac,
are the children of the promise. But as he who was born according to
the flesh then, persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit –
even so it is now!” From 1557 onward, Calvin preached his Sermons on
Galatians. There he explains: “When the Papists say that they be
the representing Church, they say trul! .... Let us mark what is
told us here, by Saint Paul.... It was not once only that there was an
Ishmael...to persecute Isaac.... The children of God shall be borne down
and trampled under foot by such as have no more but the bare title of
Eldership....
“But however the World go -- let us prepare
ourselves to battle (says Saint Paul)! And let not our faith quail at
the sight of the pride of the enemies of God’s truth -- yes, even of the household
enemies of it, which are not as Turks and Heathen men, but keep a
garrison in the Church and yet will needs be Prelates.... Isaac was
persecuted by his brother Ishmael.... Ishmael laughed him to scorn.”30
And
also in Calvin’s day, both the Moslems and the Papists did the same to the True
Protestant Church. Indeed, they still do -- also today.
In a sermon on Second Timothy 1:3, Calvin explained:31
"The
Turks at this day, can allege and say for themselves: 'We serve God from
our ancestors!' ... It is a good while ago since Mahomet gave them the cup
of his devilish dreams to drink, and they got drunk with them. It is about
a thousand years since those cursed hellhounds were made drunk with
their follies.... Let us be wise and discreet!.... For otherwise, we
shall be like the Turks and Heathen!"
* * * * * * *
In Calvin’s 1551 Commentary on the
First Epistle of John (2:18-23) -- on the first century A.D.’s Apostle
John’s words ‘even now many antichrists have arisen’ -- Calvin comments32
that
“here, all the marks by which the Spirit of God has pointed out Antichrist --
appear clearly in the Pope.... Those who think that he would be just one
man, are dreaming!
“For Paul, referring to a future falling away,
plainly shows that it would be a body or a king-dom (Second Thessalonians 2:3).
He first foretells a falling away that would spread throughout the whole
Church.... He makes the head of this apostasy the adversary of Christ, who
would sit in God’s Temple and claim...divine honours.
“Unless we deliberately want to err, let us learn to
know Antichrist from Paul’s description! ... But how does that passage agree
with John’s words, when he says that there were already many
antichrists? I reply that John only meant that certain sects had already
arisen, which were fore-runners of a [then-]future scattering.
For Cerinthus, Basilides, Marcion, Valentinus, Ebion[ites], Arius and
the rest -- were members of that kingdom which the devil afterwards raised
up against Christ.... It follows that Turks [or Moslems], Jews [alias
Judaists], and such like -- have a mere idol in place of God” -- a unitarian
idol in place of the Triune God ’Elohiym of both the Older
and the Newer Testament of the infallible Word of the Father- Son-Spirit!
In First John 4:3-6, that Apostle warns Christians
against “the spirit of the antichrist.... We know the spirit of truth --
and the spirit of error!”
There, Calvin comments:33
“Today,
Papists boast with professorial superciliousness that all their inventions are
the oracles of the Spirit. Mohammed too asserts that he has drawn his dreams
only from Heaven [cf. Deuteronomy 13:15 &18:10-22].... Hence,
when false spirits claim the Name of God – we must enquire from the
Scriptures whether it is as they say. So long as we use godly care, with
humility and modesty, the Spirit of discernment will be with us.... As a
faithful Interpreter, He will expound what He Himself speaks in Scripture!”
* * * * * * *
Because Calvin believed the Moslems who follow
Mohammed were in the grip of false spirits -- he also believed that both the
Moslems and the false spirits that misled them, are lost. Yet it is important
to realize that Calvin also believed that Moslems can repent and thus be saved.
Indeed, he not only insisted that Moslems could and should be evangelized by
Christians. He also believed that God had also predestined many Moslems
precisely in that way to come (back) to the True Triune God of the Holy
Scriptures of the Older Testament and of the Newer Testament!
Moslems, then, could and should be evangelized by
God’s People. Calvin deduces this from Deuteronomy 23:7. There, God commands:
“You shall not abhor an Edomite, because he is your brother! You shall not
abhor an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land!” The ‘general
equity’ of this, argues Calvin, is that today the baptized Romanist is our
brother -- just as the uncircumcised Edomite was the brother of the Israelite.
Romans 4:11-13 cf. Colossians 2:11-13. He argues further, that although
the unbaptized Moslem is not (yet) our brother -- just as the uncircumcised Egyptian
was back then not (yet) the brother of the Israelite - - we may never-theless
not abhor the Moslem.
The Israelites were not to abhor the Egyptians. One
such reason, specifically mentioned by God through Moses, was because the
latter had been hospitable to them. In return, God’s People were thereafter to
reciprocate that hospitality -- and, indeed, even to show them precisely spiritual
hospitality. That, then, is how Christians should treat Moslems -- also
today.
Indeed, some of the Egyptians even joined the
Israelites and trekked with them toward Canaan (Ex. 12:33-51 cf. Leviticus
24:10f). So too will receptive Moslems yet link up with godly
Calvin-ists; receive baptism; and join the Church as fellow Christians and as
fellow Protestants.
* * * * * * *
In his Sermons on Deuteronomy [23:7],
Calvin argues34 that baptized Protestants are now
far closer to baptized Romanists than either of them are to unbaptized Moslems.
In comparing circum-cised Edomites to baptized Romanists and uncircumcised
Egyptians to unbaptized Moslems, Calvin insists: “Moses says that if the
Edomites would yield themselves into the [True Christian alias the godly
Protestant] Church of God -- they might be received...and be incorporated
thereinto altogether. For he who offered himself to be circumcised,
was always received....
“Let us therefore diligently note here of the
children of [the circumcised] Esau...that if any of them
would renounce his own kindred -- as converted Papists should their kindred
Romanists
- he would be accounted in the number of this
blessed flock” of God’s True People. Today, True Pro-testants are God’s True
People. Such, says Calvin, “God had shouled out to serve Him” or dug out of the
soil to do the will of God. Among such, also baptized Romanists (after being protestantized)
are to “be received in among them....
“It was not for nought that God commanded that Ishmael
should be circumcised. We know what circumcision imports. It is a sign of
the favour of God.... It was given unto Ishmael. It is great reason that he
should approach more near to God than the Paynims [alias the Heathen]
who were altogether defiled and who did not have the sign that God loved
them....
“But here [with Ishmael and Esau] -- the case is of
having some warrant of adoption. Now Ishmael had it. But in the end, it
is said that he shall not be the inheritor of the House. Behold, he is cut off.
And St. Paul also alleged the same similitude [in Romans 9:6f], to show
that there are many which are called in the Church of God -- which in
the end are driven out again and banished as not worthy to enjoy so
great a benefit. And so was it with Esau.... He was the son of Isaac. Yes, he
and his brother Jacob were twins....
“Likewise at this day” -- Dr. Calvin
explained in 1556f -- “we are far nearer neighbours to the Papists than
to the Turks or other Paynims [or Heathens]. And the reason is,
because albeit they [Papists] are estranged from the grace of God and have
corrupted all religion and are so entangled in their abuses and corruptions as
it is horrible to behold -- yet, nothwithstanding, there remains among them
some footsteps of the calling of God.
“For they have Baptism, which is a visible
sign whereby we see that God held those of His House and of His Fold. You see
then, how the Papists are as it were the Edomites” -- who had received
circumcision, which Baptism has now replaced (cf. Colossians 2:11-13).
The Papists were and are not at all like the Moslems. Yet the convert-tible and
baptiz-able Moslems were, and are, more like the circumcisable and convertible
Egyptians!
Calvin adds: “As touching the Egyptians [cf. the
Moslems], it is said that they also shall be received into the Church.
And why? ‘For you were a stranger (says he) in the land of Egypt.’ “Now
indeed,” explains Calvin, “it is true that the children of Israel were
oppressed with cruel bondage by reason of the cruel tyranny which the Egyptians
exercised over them” -- just as today, Christians in Islamic lands have often
been oppressed by the cruelty of some of the Moslems.
“But yet, Gods wills that their benefits should be
acknowledged” -- the benefits of the Ancient Egyptians toward the Ancient
Israelites; and the mediaeval benefits of the Moslems toward the Christians.
Regarding the Egyptians, continues Calvin, “the
children of God had their refuge thither in the time of famine, and were there
relieved [Genesis 41:1 to Exodus 1:7]. God will not have that bene-fit
forgotten!”
In Exodus 23:7f, explains Calvin, “when God
gave an entrance unto the Egyptians to be received into the Congregation in
the third generation -- it was not to the intent that the People of Israel
should defile themselves with the abominations of Egypt, or meddle any whit at
all with them. But rather that the Egyptians should not remain in so desperate
a case as they were in – but [rather that they] be brought to worship the
living God, and to dedicate themselves wholly unto Him....
“If the Egyptians would forsake all their own
corruptions, they might be grafted as an imp [or slip] into the
Church of God. And we see how in the forty-fifth Psalm -- mention is made
of the [foreign] wife of Solomon...[to] ‘forget your father’s house and all
your people.’” So, then, the very same applies to the unbaptized Moslems -- as
then applied to those uncircumcised Egyptians.
Concludes Dr. Calvin: “Let us therefore note that God’s
opening of the gate into His Church both to the Edomites and the Egyptians,
was not to have them bring in their infections to pervert His service or to
make any medley -- but rather that the Edomites and Egyptians should come
and agree in all points unto His Law, and yield their consent unto the
pureness of doctrine which is therein contained....
“Therefore nowadays, seeing that God has
showed Himself so gracious unto us, as to make us His Church -- let us be
ready to receive them which will be reclaimed thereunto! Yes, let us have
our arms stretched out not only to them which are the children of God --
but also to such as are our kinsfolk afar off, endeavouring for all that to
win and to gain them! “Howbeit, always with this condition -- that they
remove us not us from God. But that they rather be knit again unto Him -- with
us”
* * * * * * *
For God has predestined many
Moslems to come back to the True Triune God of the Holy Scriptures! That
Calvin believed this, is seen even in his view of Isaiah 19:21-25. It is seen
also from his views of the Great Commission -- and of the preaching of the
Gospel to Moslems, and the baptizing of all of them who convert to Christ (as
required thereby). In Isaiah 19:21-25, God predicts: “The Lord shall be known
to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day....
The Lord shall smite Egypt and heal it; and they shall return to the
Lord....
“In that day, there shall be a highway out of Egypt
to Assyria.... The Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptians
into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. “ In
that day, Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria -- even
a blessing in the midst of the land.... The Lord of hosts shall bless, saying:
‘Blessed be Egypt, My People; and Assyria, the work of My hands;
and Israel, My inheritance!’”
Here, Rev. Dr. John Calvin comments:35
“The
Prophet says that the Lord will be gracious and reconciled to the Egyptians.
He at the same time shows that as soon as they have been converted, they
will obtain forgiveness....
“It will therefore be a true conversion –
when it is followed by a calling upon God.... There is no man who ought not to
acknowledge in himself what Isaiah here declares concerning the Egypti-ans, in
whom the Lord holds out an example to the whole World.
“The Prophet [Isaiah] now foretells that the Lord
will diffuse His goodness throughout the whole World! As if he had said:
‘It will not be shut up in a corner or be known exclusively, as it formerly
was, by [but] a single nation.’
“Here, he speaks of two nations [Assyria and
Egypt] that were the most inveterate enemies of the Church.... And
if the Lord is so gracious to the deadly enemies of the Church -- that He
pardons and adopts them to be[come] His children! – what shall be the case
with other nations? This prophecy thus includes the calling of all nations”
– hence of even diehard Islamic nations, like Iran and Saudi-Arabia!
“Through the undeserved goodness of God,” explains
Calvin, “the Assyrians and Egyptians shall be admitted to fellowship with
the chosen People of God.... There is a mutual relation between God and His
People, so that they who are called by His mouth ‘a Holy People’ (Exodus 19:6)
-- may justly in return call Him their God. Yet this designation is bestowed indiscriminately
on Egyptians and Assyrians....
“By calling the Egyptians the People of God --
He means that they will share in the honour which God designed to bestow in a
peculiar manner on the Jews [meaning the Older Testament’s Israelites] alone.
When He calls Assyrians ‘the work of His hands’ – He
distinguishes them by the title peculiar to His Church.”
What a glorious day is coming! For the Moslems of
Egypt and the Judaists of Israel and the Islamic nations of
the Neo-Assyrian Iraq and Iran, will yet come to Christ and join His Church!
* * * * * * *
Dr. John Calvin clearly saw at least
some of the fulfilments of those predictions, even in the few intricklings of
converts from Islam to Christianity during his own day. Thus, in the year 1547,
he described36 how an anonymous censor asked him
“whether Baptism is to be denied to a Jew or a Turk -- if they
request it.”
Calvin’s response was to demonstrate that such
Ex-Jews and Ex-Turks (or rather Ex-Judaists and Ex-Moslems) had in their heart
already become Christians prior to their requesting Baptism. Indeed, they were
now so requesting Baptism both for themselves and for their children -- precisely
because they had already trusted in Jesus Christ, and thus become Christians.
Explains Dr. Calvin: “Here everybody sees under what
gross hallucination he [the anonymous censor] labours, in assuming that those
are aliens to whom [even] he assigns faith.... It is
absurd to use this argument against me, who uniformly teach that by
faith [in Jesus Christ] all who were most alien –
have been united into the family and body of Christ.... This is no
reason why they should not also be united to the Church by a formal rite
[of Baptism] -- as a more complete rati-fication of their
ingrafting....
“All the censor says here, has its source in
ignorance – from his not understanding that those who were unclean by nature
[alias by birth], are [now made] holy by virtue of the covenant. Those who were
exiled from the Kingdom of God because of sin, are made nigh by the right of adoption.
Those who were liable to eternal death..., obtain blessing...; so that they are
[because by faith in Jesus they have become] -- the heirs of heavenly life. In
short, he never considers what distinction there is between the children
of Christians and Turks” -- prior to the conversion of those
Turks to Christ.
“He also betrays gross ignorance of the nature and
efficacy of Baptism. Had it ever occurred to him that Baptism is an appendage
of the Word,” observes Calvin, “he would have seen the consequence
that none are fit for the sign save those who have been sanctified by the
Word!” It is perhaps also significant that the Arabs claim to be physical
descendants of Ishmael -- and that also all Moslems everywhere claim
to be his spiritual descendants. Consequently just as even Ishmael was circumcised,
also the Moslems (who claim kinship with him) should be baptized.
For baptism has now replaced circumcision.
Colossians 2:11-13 cf. Matthew 28:19.
* * * * * * *
Calvin died when but fifty-five, in
1564. He did not live long enough to write a commentary on the last book of the
Bible. Yet his historicalistic view of predictive prophecy – very clearly documented
in his commentaries on Daniel and First Thessalonians and First John -- would
surely have been reflected in his understanding also of the last twenty-two
chapters of Holy Scripture.
For his colleagues John Knox and William Whittingham
(Mrs. John Calvin’s brother-in-law), clearly reflect that view in their
translation of the Book of Revelation -- in the 1560 Geneva Bible.
So too do Dr. Francis Junius’s marginal notes, in
the 1599 edition. Likewise the 1614f Thomas Brightman; and equally so do
the footnotes in the 1637 Staten-Vertaling of the Dutch Bible -- as commissioned
by the 1618f international Calvinistic Council of Dordt (the ‘T-U-L-I-P’
Synod). So too do the 1639f works of the famous British Westminster
Assembly Theologian Rev. Prof. Dr. Thomas Goodwin. So also do the Westminster
Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster
Directory for the Publick Worship of God. And so too do a long line of
Calvinists thereafter -- such as the 1657 James Durham; the 1669 Increase
Mather; the 1705 Campegius Vitringa; the 1710 Sir Isaac Newton; the 1714
Matthew Henry; the 1739 Rev. Prof. Dr. Jonathan Edwards (first President of
Princeton University) -- and many others (such as Bishop Newton, John Gill,
George Stanley Faber, Thomas Scott, Alexander Keith. Edward Bickersteth, Louis
Gaussen, Bishop Elliott, Albert Barnes, and Philip Mauro, etc.).
Texts in the Book of Revelation considered by the
above Calvinists to be of significance in the rise and fall of Islam and the
conversion to Christ of many Moslems, are: 9:1-21; 16:10f; & 19:20.
Such Calvinists see Revelation 9 as describing the rise of Mohammed and his
Saracens, and later of the Turks and their Musselmans.
They see Revelation 16 as describing the followers
of the ‘False-Prophet’ as finally becoming allied even with Romanism and also
with Spiritism against the True Church. And they further see Revelation 19 as
suggesting the conversion of many of the former followers of the ‘False- Prophet’
-- after he himself gets cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, right before
the Millennium.
* * * * * * *
For “the kingdoms of this World are
to become that of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall keep on reigning
for ever and ever!” Revelation 11:15. “Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and
glorify Your Name? For You only are holy. For all nations shall come and worship
before You!” Revelation 15:4.
“And the nations shall walk in the light” of
the City of God alias the Christian Church. “And they shall bring the
glory and honour of the nations into it” Revelation 21:24-26. As Dr. Calvin
himself observes:37 "They must be purified,
before they can be admitted into the Kingdom of God -- into which shall not
enter anything that defileth (Revelation 21:27)."
Yes, even the now-Islamic nations of Indonesia
and Pakistan and the Sudan shall yet come to Jesus and thus
get purified! Those nations shall yet get baptized -- and then serve
Him in inter-national harmony, also within the Kingdom of the Triune God!
Matthew 28:19. So, then. Whether Protestant, Romanist, or Moslem -- unless a
man be born again, he cannot even see, and still less enter into, the Kingdom
of the Triune God! John 3:3-5. Yet God Triune so loved the World, that He gave
His only begotten Son -- so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. John 3:16. He who trusts in the Son, has everlasting
life.
He who does not trust in the Son, shall not see
life; but the wrath of the Triune God abides upon him. John 3:36.
Dear reader! How do things stand with your soul?
Do you put all your trust -- solely in the Lord Jesus Christ,
as the only begotten Son of God Triune? If not yet the case – do so now!
Ellis Skolfield's Studies
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