suffering and blood , is but little valued . The Bible is within the reach of all , but there are few who really accept it as the guide of life . Infidelity prevails to an alarming extent , not in the world merely , but in the church . Many have come to deny doctrines which are the very pillars of the Christian faith . The great facts of creation as presented by the inspired writers , the fall of man , the atonement , and the perpetuity of the law of God , are practically rejected , either wholly or in part , by a large share of the professedly Christian world . Thousands who pride themselves upon their wisdom and independence regard it as an evidence of weakness to place implicit confidence in the Bible ; they think it a proof of superior talent and learning to cavil at the Scriptures and to spiritualize and explain away their most important truths . Many ministers are teaching their people , and many professors and teachers are instructing their students , that the law of God has been changed or abrogated ; and those who regard its requirements as still valid , to be literally obeyed , are thought to be deserving only of ridicule or contempt .
In rejecting the truth , men reject its Author . In trampling upon the law of God , they deny the authority of the Law-giver . It is as easy to make an idol of false doctrines and theories as to fashion an idol of wood or stone . By misrepresenting the attributes of God , Satan leads men to conceive of Him in a false character . With many , a philosophical idol is enthroned in the place of Jehovah ; while the living God , as He is revealed in His word , in Christ , and in the works of creation , is worshiped by but few . Thousands deify nature while they deny the God of nature . Though in a different form , idolatry exists in the Christian world today as verily as it existed among ancient Israel in the days of Elijah . The God of many professedly wise men , of philosophers , poets , politicians , journalists — the God of polished fashionable circles , of many colleges and universities , even of some theological institutions — is little better than Baal , the sun-god of Phoenicia .
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