Nearness to Christ

Nearness to Christ would keep us from sectarianism, the most natural weed of the human heart. (Sectarianism is getting an interest in a little circle round ourselves.)
Now I know, at the present time, of no service which is worthy of Him, if it is not done in humiliation. This is not the time to speak of a place for ourselves. If the Church of God, so dear to Christ, is dishonored in this world, if it is scattered, ignorant, afflicted, he who has the mind of Christ will always take the lowest place. True service of love will seek to give according to the need, and because of their need, he will never think of slighting the objects of the Master's love because of their necessity.
Men taught of God, for His service, go forth from a place of strength, where they have learned their own weakness and their own nothingness. They find that Jesus is everything in the presence of God, and Jesus is everything for them in all things, and everywhere. Such men, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, are real helps for the children of God; they will not contend for a place, or a distinction, or for authority, among the scattered flock. The communion of a man with God about the Church will show itself in a willingness to be nothing in himself, and such a one will rejoice in his heart to spend and to be spent.
Many thought of the Church, but it was rather the Church in power. There is great instruction in the conduct of Zerubbabel, recounted in the book of Ezra.
Although heir of the place which Solomon had occupied in days of prosperity and glory, he spoke not of his birth, nor of his rights. However, he is faithful in all the path of separation, of sorrow, and of conflicts he is obliged to pass through.
If we speak of our testimony upon the earth, it will soon be evident that all is but weakness, and, like the seed lost upon the wayside, the testimony will likewise end to our shame.
J.N.D.

Editorial
And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast.... And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls.... And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Such is the language in the Revelation given to the Apostle John. Who is the woman? How and when does she get the power to mount the beast?
Last month's issue of Christian Treasury identified the beast as the revived Roman Empire and the imperial personal head of it. This month we consider what Scripture makes known about the woman that rides the beast.
Upon the woman's forehead is written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. It is a picture of Rome as a religious system. Rev. 17 presents Babylon as a woman and chapter 18 as a city. She is the false church. She is, at the end, all of the profession of Christianity that is left upon the earth after the rapture of the true Church to heaven.
The general character of ecclesiastical Babylon is that of the great active Idolatress that has gained power over the mass of nations.
The last decade, the 1980's, has revealed a marked increase in the power of Vatican City. Pope John Paul II has traveled extensively and has received the heads of states of powerful nations at his sixteenth-century Apostolic Palace. In his meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev he was able to chat with him in Russian without using an interpreter. The near breakdown of communism in Eastern Europe has opened the way for popery to gain much power, and Rome is even trying to attract the Eastern Orthodox Catholic branch back to Rome after one thousand years of separation.
Sometimes great events cast their shadows ahead of them even as the first rays of dawn are seen in the eastern horizon ahead of the sunrise. The unrest in much of the world and the desire for some great spiritual leader to take over is even now directing the masses of the people to be ready to receive the seduction of the great Corruptress.
The coming judgments are for a period of seven years. The last three-and-a-half years the beast pursues his career. During the large part of this forty-two months is the time when the woman rides the beast.
This shows that she has the first three-and-a-half years to gain control.
The heavenly saints will be taken away before the judgment falls upon Babylon. They are not referred to in the exhortation in Rev. 18:4, "Come out of her, My people." This is spoken to God's earthly people in that coming day. However, its principle fully applies now, for the essence of Babylon is the union of the world with the name of Christ. What is directly written to us is, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." 2 Cor. 6:17.
For a better understanding of "the woman" and a particular description of her and of her judgment, we suggest reading Revelation from chapter 16:17 through chapters 17 and 18.
Ed.