Earnest Men See The Danger
God-fearing men in different denominations, who see the trend of the times, fear the consequences. Dr. A. C. Dixon says:FAFA 306.3
“The purpose of this ‘Inter-church’ movement seems to be to make a great ecclesiastical machine which will dominate all smaller bodies. It is an attempt to form a papacy without a pope; and, if evangelical truth is to be sacrificed or compromised, such a papacy without a pope mill be no improvement upon the present ecclesiastical machine which has its center in Rome.” — A front-page article in the “Baptist Messenger,” June 23, 1920. Oklahoma City, Okla.FAFA 306.4
Dr. George A. Gordon, Pastor of Old South Church, Boston, says:FAFA 307.1
“The church was united once, the holy Catholic Church throughout the world, and what was it? - An ineffable tyrant, denying freedom over its whole broad domain, and crushing the intellect and the spirit into a dead uniformity.... Your one holy Catholic Protestant American Church would give me much uneasiness if it should come into existence tomorrow.” — “The Review and Herald, May 11, 1913.
How clearly these God-fearing men, and many others we could have quoted, see the trend of the Protestant church in forming “an image to the beast” and even seeking the aid of the Papacy in their efforts to form a “holy Catholic Protestant American Church,” that could control the state as the papal church did during the Middle Ages!FAFA 307.2
As long as a church has a living connection with Christ, its true Head, and is loyal to His written word, she is supplied with divine power to do His bidding (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 5:32; Romans 1:16 - John 1:12), and feels no craving for the power of the state to enforce its teachings. But when apostasy has robbed it of its divine power, and the power of love (2 Corinthians 5:14) has been exchanged for the love of power, it usually seeks the aid of the civil arm. All attempts to secure the enforcement of religion by civil laws is therefore a confession of apostasy from apostolic purity.FAFA 307.3