SPURIOUS CONVERSIONS
Men love security. Other things being equal, they give decided preference to the safe side. They spare neither pains nor expense to guard against possible calamities. For this reason, insurance companies of all kinds carry on a profitable business.
There is generally an instinctive fear of the future. Upon the brink of eternity the boldest stand and tremble with an indefinable dread of their impending doom.
"Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us;
'Tis heaven itself that points out a hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Eternity! -- thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
Through what variety of untried being,
Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me;
But shadows, clouds and darkness rest upon it!"
Such is the sentiment of humanity as expressed by a favorite poet. Any system that gives plausible promise of carrying a man safely through this darkness into the unclouded light of eternal day, will have its votaries. The more plausible the promise, and easier the conditions, the greater will be the number of adherents. Modern spiritualism, which is but the worship of demons revived under a new form, claims a greater number of followers than Christianity did in the same length of time. Francis Xavier, the celebrated Jesuit missionary, made more converts in one year than John Wesley did in the whole course of his ministry. Make the standard of Christianity sufficiently low, and you can very easily multiply adherents. Give to men an assurance of heaven, without requiring them to deny themselves, and to take up their cross daily and follow Jesus amid reproaches and persecutions, and many will be found eager to embrace the advantageous offer.
That many who profess religion may yet fail of being truly converted to God is apparent--
1. From the declarations of our Saviour: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. -- Matt. 7:23. Mark this language. He does not say, You have backslidden; but, I NEVER KNEW YOU. Then, of course, they were never converted. (1) This class is very numerous -- "Many." (2) They make a high profession of religion. (3) They were deceived to the last. "Many will say to me in that day (the day of Judgment), Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name have done many wonderful works?"
The same lesson is taught us in the parable of the ten virgins. The foolish virgins did not lose their oil -- they did not take it. They had the lamp -- the profession -- but the grace they never had. They, too, were not flagrant hypocrites, but were self-deceived. If there is any truth clearly taught in the gospel, it is the very great liability of being deceived in regard to our being converted to God. "The foolish man who built his house upon the sand," stands as a representative of those who spend their lives as respectable members of the church, but who build their high professions upon unconverted human nature as the foundation.
2. Many of those who profess to be converted never bear the marks of conversion. "By their fruits ye shall know them," is the criterion which the Master Himself gave, for the purpose of ascertaining here who are His true followers. It is not "judging," in the sense in which it is forbidden, to apply to ourselves and others the test which He has given.
But that many conversions are spurious is evident, because--
1. The so-called converts do not truly repent of their sins. They have no godly sorrow -- no deep, sincere sorrow because of their transgressions. They never exclaim, like Paul, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" -- Rom. 7:24. They never cry out, like David, "There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine auger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head; as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me." -- Psa. 38:3-4. You never hear anything like this from them. On the contrary, they act more like patrons than penitents. Their whole bearing would seem to indicate that they think they are conferring a great favor upon the Almighty. They go forward for prayer, and perhaps kneel; they make no confession of their sins, never shed a tear, nor utter a cry for mercy, nor manifest in any way the earnestness of a soul longing to be delivered from the danger of hell. Where they have wronged others, they make no restitution. A few prayers are offered for them, interspersed, if they are persons of wealth or position, with compliments; they "feel better," join the church, sleep on with others, and finally wake up in hell!
2. The subjects of these spurious conversions do not have any real victory over sin. In this respect, they are the same as they were before. If they were fretful and impatient before, they are fretful and impatient still. If they were the slaves of tobacco, they still defile themselves with its use. Those who were the devotees of fashion, in any degree, before their so-called conversion, remain, to the same extent, "conformed to the world." The word of God does not possess sufficient authority with them to induce them to discontinue, for the sake of Jesus, "the wearing of gold, or pearls, or costly array." If before their profession they were fond of the light, Satanic literature of the day, they read it still with as much avidity as ever. The grosser vices which would injure their respectability they avoid.
3. They are strangers to the joys of salvation. When they see others "rejoicing, with joy unspeakable and full of glory," it looks to them like the wildest fanaticism. They do not know what it means to have the blessing of the Lord upon their souls. What the joy of the Holy Ghost consists in, they have not the remotest conception. The same things which made them happy before their supposed conversion makes them happy now; and they feel their loss just as keenly as they did before.
4. They have no love for closet duties. If they read the Bible and pray in secret, it is not because they have a relish for these means of grace. They hurry through them, and are heartily glad when the unpleasant task is finished. Close, pointed, searching preaching disturbs them; and they seek the ministry of those who speak with enticing words of man's wisdom.
5. They are sadly wanting in genuine humility. However great an effort they make to appear humble, and however depreciatingly they may talk about their attainments and doings, still there is so much of self in all they do and say, that it is really painful for a spiritual person to be with them. Their very confessions are full of self. They try at times to be humble, but the effort is always unsuccessful. They need to be converted to God, and then there will be at all times a subdued, meek manner about them.
6. They oppose Bible holiness. Let the necessity of entire consecration to God be pressed upon their consciences, and the opposition of their hearts will be manifested at once. For a superficial, fashionable holiness they may have sympathy, but they manifest bitter hostility against true holiness. Do they give up worldly associations? They would leave the church before they would the lodge l Secret societies have a stronger attraction for them than the house of God! Worldly pleasures draw them with far greater force than does the beauty of holiness, or the social means of grace.
These are some of the marks of a spurious conversion. Beloved, will you apply them to your own experience, and see whether you have truly passed from death unto life Be honest. Be thorough. A mistake here, if not corrected in time, will involve the loss of the soul to all eternity. Be sure that you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. If, through false teaching, or any other means, you have taken up with anything short of a real conversion to God, have the honesty and the courage to confess the mistake; and begin anew, and obtain, at any sacrifice, a Bible experience. Will you lose your soul through false shame? God forbid.
Are you engaged, either as a preacher or a laymen, in promoting the work of God? Beware, above all things, how you "heal slightly" those who are wounded by the Spirit of God. You may do it through sympathy. But let the old Adam die, no matter how painful the process. By reporting a large number of converts, you may for the time being obtain honor of men; but God will call you to account for the manner in which your work is done. Remember it is written, "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully," or, as it reads in the margin, "negligently."
Do you hesitate to deal faithfully with awakened souls, for fear they will become discouraged and turn back? If they are truly awakened there is not the slightest danger. If they are not, they had better turn back than go in the road of self-deception.
Did not our Saviour tell us (Luke 14:28) that we should count the cost at the very outset? O ye, who promote superficial conversions among men, hear the word of the Lord: "Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace, and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar: . . . Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it. So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I am the Lord." -- Ezek. 13: 10-14. -- Rev. B. T. Roberts, in Earnest Christian.
Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, in Entire Devotion, gives the following striking case, and illustrative of the superficial experience many have:--
E_____ had a friend who did not believe that the injunctions, "Come out from among them and be ye separate," "Be not conformed to the world," and kindred passages, have anything to do with the external appearance of the Christian. She was united in church fellowship with a denomination who do not recognize these things as important, and she had been heard to speak contemptuously of those contracted views that would induce one, in coming out in a religious profession, to make such a change in external appearance and habits as to excite observation.
We should be far from favoring an intimation that E____'s friend was hypocritical; she was only what would be termed a liberal-minded professor, and was no more insincere than thousands who stand on what would be termed an ordinary eminence in religious profession.
The wasting consumption gradually preyed upon the vitals of this friend, and E____, who lives in a distant city, went to see her. E____, though not at the time as fully devoted herself as she might have been, was concerned to find her friend as much engaged with the vanities of the world, and as much interested about conforming to its customs as ever, and she ventured to say, "I did not suppose you would think so much about these things now."
Her friend felt somewhat indignant at the remark, and observed: "I do not know that I am more conformed to the world than yourself, and the denomination to which you belong regard these things as wrong, but our people do not think that religion has anything to do with these little matters."
The hand of withering disease continued relentlessly laid on E'____s friend, and as she drew nearer eternity her blissful hopes of immortality and eternal life seemed to gather yet greater brightness. Her friends felt that her piety was more elevated than that of ordinary attainment. Again and yet again her friends gathered around her dying couch, to hear her last glowing expressions, and to witness her peaceful departure. Such was her composure that she desired her shroud might be in readiness, so that she might, before the mirror, behold her body arrayed for its peaceful resting-place.
Her friend E____ was forced to leave for the city a day or two before her dissolution, and called to take her final farewell. "We shall not meet again on earth," said the dying one, "but doubtless we shall meet in Heaven. On my own part I have no more doubt than if I were already there, and I cannot but hope that you will be faithful unto death. We shall then meet." They then bade each other a last adieu.
The moment at last came, when death was permitted to do his fearful work. The devoted friends had again gathered round the bed of the dying fair one, to witness her peaceful exit. Respiration grew shorter and shorter, and at last ceased, and they deemed the spirit already in the embrace of blissful messengers who were winging it to paradise. A fearful shriek! and in a moment they beheld her that they had looked upon as the departed, sitting upright before them with every feature distorted.
Horror and disappointment had transformed that placid countenance, so that it exhibited an expression indescribably fiendish. "I can't die!" vociferated the terrified, disappointed one. "I won't die." At that moment the door opened, and her minister entered. "Out of the door, thou deceiver of men!" she again vociferated -- fell back, and was no more.
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