From Greenville, South Carolina, we present Let the Bible Speak. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, preaching Christ in all His fullness. We're delighted that you've joined us for another broadcast of Let the Bible Speak, featuring messages preached by Dr. Alan Cairns, the founder of Let the Bible Speak Radio Ministries. As he continues this series of studies in the book of Judges, Dr. Cairns brings the next portion of a message entitled, When Thieves Fall Out, employing the account of Abimelech usurping the throne of Israel to illustrate the threat of apostasy in our day. Dr. Cairns will be with us in just a few minutes. Before he comes, we invite you to enjoy this devotional thought from Faith's Checkbook by C. H. Spurgeon. Our devotional for today is entitled, Promise of a Future Meeting. The text is John chapter 16 and verse 22. I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice. Surely He will come a second time, and then when He sees us and we see Him, there will be rejoicings indeed, oh, for that joyous return. But this promise is being daily fulfilled in another sense. Our gracious Lord has many agains in His dealings with us. He gave us pardon, and He sees us again and repeats the absolving word as fresh sins cause us grief. He has revealed to us our acceptance before God, and when our faith in that blessing grows a little dim, He comes to us again and again and says, Peace be unto you, and our hearts are glad. Beloved, all our past mercies are tokens of future mercies. If Jesus has been with us, He will see us again. Look upon no former favor as a dead and buried thing to be mourned over, but regard it as a seed sown, which will grow, and push its head up from the dust, and cry, I will see you again. Are the times dark because Jesus is not with us as he used to be? Let us pluck up courage, for he will not be long away. His feet are as those of a roe or young heart, and they will soon bring him to us. Wherefore, let us begin to be joyous, since he says to us even now, I will see you again. When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling tide, when the bright and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side, and His smile will be the first to welcome me. Redeemed by His side I shall stand. I shall know Him. I shall know Him by the print of the nails in His hand. I shall know Him. I shall know Him. By the print of the nails in his eye. Oh, the soul-thrilling rapture when I view His blessed face and the luster of His kindly beaming eye. How my full heart will praise Him for His mercy, love, and grace that prepare for me a mansion in the sky. I shall die, I shall die, I shall die, I shall die, I shall die, By the print of the nails in his hand. I shall know him by the print of the nails in his hand. Every so often here on Let the Bible Speak, we've mentioned Q&A with Alan Cairns. These are video clips of Dr. Cairns giving biblical answers to a variety of questions. These include, Why did Christ have to become a man? Why does a good God allow suffering? Or, What is the unpardonable sin? In all, Dr. Cairns responds to over 50 such concerns. All of these video clips are available on the ltbsradio.com website. In addition, we're happy to be able to provide you, free of charge, a DVD containing all of these video portions, about five hours of guidance from God's Word for problems which face the 21st century Christian. You may have a copy simply by requesting it. Just ask for the DVD, Q&A with Alan Cairns. You may email us at info at faithfpc.org. That's info at faithfpc.org. You may call us at 864-244-2408. That's 864-244-2408. Or if you wish, you may write us at Let the Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, South Carolina 29615. Again, that's Let the Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, South Carolina 29615. Here's an excellent way to provide scriptural answers to family and friends regarding the challenging questions facing believers in this day. you you you On today's broadcast, Dr. Cairns continues a message entitled, When Thieves Fall Out, part of his series in the Book of Judges. In chapter 9, following the death of Gideon, his illegitimate son Abimelech murdered all but one of Gideon's seventeen legitimate sons, and proclaimed himself king. He was aided in this coup by the men of Shechem. Jotham, the lone survivor of the purge, employed a fable to declare God's curse upon those traitors, likening Abimelech's pact with the Shegemites to the trees of the forest appointing a bramble to be their king. He prophesied the destruction of the trees by fire from the bramble. And as it turned out, that prophecy came true. for the Lord sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, ultimately resulting in Abimelech's death. Dr. Cairns is using this historical narrative to call attention to the great crime of apostasy, the characteristics of which are clearly revealed in this chapter. Now Dr. Cairns continues this message when thieves fall out. Very interesting here that apostasy revolves around a city. of ancient identification with wickedness, the city of Shechem. In Genesis 34, Shechem was the city where the virgin daughter of Israel lost her purity. Interesting. Even more interesting, when we turn over to the last book of the Bible, the book of the Revelation, And in the 17th chapter we find that the great apostasy of the last days is centered on a great city, which in chapter 18 is referred to as a cage for every unclean bird. A city of ancient identification with wickedness, with immodesty, with immorality, and with sorcery and demonism of every kind, and mostly with great political power. The city is identified for us. I laugh when I read the vain attempts of even so-called Protestant scholars to get out of the identification of the city in Revelation chapter 17. It is, says John, that great city which rules over the kingdoms of the earth. There was only one city that ruled in John's day, only one. But then they tell us, well, that's just speaking of imperial Rome. But it's very obviously not merely speaking of imperial Rome. It is very obviously using the city as the basis of a religious movement. Dr. Haldeman, great American preacher. In passing, I can say a man who's preaching, at least on paper, has a fascinating and Very, very attractive style. Speaks like a lawyer. Wish I could learn his style. Every sentence brief and pointed and powerful, building one upon the other until he hits the climax and you all go home. You'd like that, wouldn't you? Haldeman's dead. Won't take the call here. Some of his prophetic views, in fact, many of them I would reject. But he has a A very interesting parallel between the church and Rome, identified in Revelation 17. The church is spoken of as a woman. So is this apostate organization. The church is spoken of as a city. So is this apostate organization. What we are dealing with here is a false church that stands at the head of our great apostasy. It becomes a cage for every impure and unclean bird. apostasy removes the moral restraint from a nation. It is very clear here. Let me tell you, the moral decline in this nation or in England or wherever the Church of Jesus Christ has ever had a strong voice is not attributable finally to social and economic pressures, it is attributable, finally, to the presence and persistence and activity of an apostasy that has set aside God, his Christ, and his word, and has enthroned the system of Antichrist in his place. For this is the heart of apostasy, as you'll see. It is to raise God's enemy to the place of kingship. Anti-Christianity does have in it the idea, necessarily, of being against Christ and Christianity. But it is against them because it takes their place. Anti-Christ is one instead of Christ. Anti-Christianity is a religion instead of Christianity. Now watch it carefully, they not only are setting a false king, which is really what Antichrist is all about, but this apostasy runs on the fuel of religious compromise, of religious ecumenism, and indeed, to use the technical term, syncretism, that is the coming together of disparate religions. Look very carefully at what we have here in Judges chapter 9. First of all, in verse 4, notice the word, the house of Beel Bereth, the God of the covenant. Only it's not Jehovah they're talking about here, it's Beel. Keep that in mind. Now turn to verse 28. Ga'al the son of Ebed said, who is Abimelech and who is Shechem that we should serve him? Is not he the son of Jerubal and Zebul his officer? Serve the man of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for why should we serve him? Very evidently, the man of Shechem, the city of Shechem, was made up of Israelites and those who were the ancient Canaanite stock, the children of Hamor. Go back to the book of Genesis, you'll find them. Here's a city partly made up of professors of the true religion, partly made up of those who were ancient Canaanite idolaters. Now come down to verse 46. And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into the hold of the house of the God Bereth. The words the God Bereth in the original scriptures are El Bereth. El is the name of the God of Israel. They had already called their house Beel Bereth. Now see what they're doing. They're bringing Baal worship and they take the name of the God of Israel and they bring them together in one temple and one house and one religion and one worship. They will take Israelites and they will take Canaanites and they will bring them together in the embrace of one system. And that is the heart and the essence of ecumenical apostasy. Men and women, I tell you, Judges 9 is having a reenactment in the day in which we live. We are living to see this come to pass, that fueled by religious compromise, fueled by an ecumenical spirit, And the great apostasy is proceeding to its climax. There's a lot of attention given recently to the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury to Rome to seek to negotiate the coming together of the Church of Rome and the worldwide Anglican communion. Robert Runcie went cap in hand. willing to go, as the newspapers in Britain said, farther than any other archbishop before him, willing to go further than any other so-called Protestant leader that there is today to bring about this ecumenical union. We have watched this happen for years, that the papacy has held this dangling carrot of church union, and these foolish men go nibbling after what seems to be an offer, but it never materializes. And when Runcie got to Rome, he found that all that you have to give is not enough. The apostasy will let you compromise, but ultimately, Rome will only have you on her terms, no other. Today, Martin Luther's church, the Lutheran church, has agreed with Rome on baptism, on the priesthood, on the Eucharist, which is the mass, and even on justification. Incredible as it sounds, the major Lutheran bodies worldwide have made their peace with Rome and are ready, having compromised all that is precious, to forge the final great apostasy. The Anglicans have done the same. Anglicans were burned. Bishop Rye's great little book that deals with why the Anglican bishops were burned makes this clear. They were burned because they would not accept the blasphemy of the Popish mass. Now, it's embraced. Presbyterians are not one whit better. In fact, I think they're an awful lot worse because if anybody ought to know better, it would have been those who were given the greatest Protestant heritage of them all. But they're not one whit better. John Knox said, I fear one mass more than 10,000 French soldiers. Today, they embrace the mass. Religious compromise is fueling the great apostasy. And the saddest part of it all is this. This is not just being done by the liberals. But in the Anglican Communion you have J.I. Packer, known as a leading Reformed theologian. His books on many subjects are among the best ever written on those subjects. His insights are valuable. J.I. Packer is now of the belief that we should pursue union with Rome. J.R. Stott, probably the leading clergyman in the Church of England among the evangelicals. Stott is now openly saying that evangelicals should be pursuing union with Rome. Helping to fuel it all by their compromise is the charismatic renewal. charismatic delusion. David Watson, one of the charismatic Anglican leaders in England, put it very bluntly when he said the Protestant Reformation was the greatest tragedy in history. There is a great crime of apostasy going on today. There is a tremendously accelerated movement towards the production of the last of Abimelech's line. I want to tell you, when these foolish evangelicals have gone the full way, they will find that Abimelech never changes. He will root out all opposition Antichrist is always a persecutor. Potpourri is drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus and will drink more deeply yet of their blood. It's the great cry. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. Founded by Dr. Alan Cairns, Let the Bible Speak is also heard in many parts of the world through the international radio outreach of Let the Bible Speak, produced in Northern Ireland. The Free Presbyterian Church stands without apology for the absolute inerrancy of the Bible, emphasizing preaching that centers on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and is militant in its stand against the ecumenical apostasy and the efforts of the world to infiltrate the Church. For further information about the Free Presbyterian Church, you may email info at faithfpc.org. That's info at faithfpc.org. You may call us at 864-244-2408. Or you may write, Let the Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615. Again, that's Let the Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615. Also, we encourage you to visit the website of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America at www.fpcna.org. That's www.fpcna.org. This is Charles Kelsch saying thank you for listening and inviting you to join us again as we Let the Bible Speak.