The prospect of the dawn of a new millennium four and a half years hence is beginning to exercise the minds of a great variety of people. Those who humbly and prayerfully seek to discern the signs of the times in the light of the Word of God are taking note of the event. Others, whose religious affiliations are such that no true Christian, in our view, could possibly have fellowship with them have their own “millenarian visions” and yet others described by one writer as “wild-eyed prophets” and “self-serving politicians” are also giving expression to their prognostications.
The Pope, as the same writer points out, has been “relatively quickly off the mark with his own millenarian ambitions: his recent encyclical, Ut Unum Sint, appeals for Church unity and urges the Orthodox churches of the east to join with the Roman by the end of the millennium.”1 Whatever way it may be promulgated or worded, the Roman Catholic Church’s aim and long-term strategy is clear: by the year 2000 it hopes to achieve universal supremacy with the Pope acknowledged as the world’s Christian leader and head. The absorption of the Eastern Orthodox churches would be a major step in that direction. They already have much in common and the remaining difficulties in the way of reconciliation are far from being insurmountable. Even now the Orthodox are willing to regard the Pope as rightfully “the chief bishop of Christendom” and if that is acknowledged then the qualification that he is only “first among equals” and that he does not possess universal jurisdiction can easily be removed and without much loss of face.
In the forementioned encyclical Ut Unum Sint (“that they may all be one”) the Pope makes clear that there is no question of “altering the deposit of faith” and if that means anything it must mean that his claim to be “the vicar of Christ on earth” is non-negotiable. Yet we find him calling on leaders of other churches to engage with him “to find new forms of exercising his ministry as Bishop of Rome so that it might be accepted by all.” But if a previous Pope, Boniface VIII, speaking ex cathedra in his bull Unam Sanctam, made this infallible pronouncement — “Every human creature is subject to the Roman Pontiff, — this we declare, say, define, and pronounce to be altogether necessary to salvation,” — where is there room for dialogue or negotiation?
An editorial in “The Times” views it an “intriguing possibility” that “if the two churches (Orthodox and Roman) surmount their divisions, the trickle of conservative Anglicans seeking communion with Rome, and Constantinople, will become a flood.” It is easy to make that prediction when we find it reported that the Archbishop of Canterbury responded warmly to the encyclical and pledged himself to face the remaining difficulties, looking forward to “exploring more deeply, the ministry of unity which belongs to the Bishop of Rome.”2 This response, in itself, is an indication of the weak state of Protestantism and how that is being exploited to the full by the Church of Rome. Opposition to Popery is now portrayed in the media as a lunatic fringe activity and there is now no occasion for Rome to hide her aims and intentions. Everything seems to be going her way. But: “Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not.” Babylon may well have risen to a great height by 2000 but that shall only make her fall all the greater and the more spectacular.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is not to be excluded. He called for “a special effort to mark the year 2000 by reviving the Church of Scotland and joining with other Christians in the celebration.”3 He was but echoing the aspirations of Cardinal Winning who, in addressing the General Assembly, expressed the hope that, “beginning today, these next five years will be a period of intense ecumenical activity . . . and that our ever deepening fellowship will bring, with the dawn of a new millenium, — an Assembly of all Scottish Christians — a new beginning for a shared proclamation of the gospel of life.”4 We wonder what all these “evangelicals” who are now supposed to be so numerous in the ranks of the Church of Scotland’s ministry and reputed to be faithful to the Westminster Confession of Faith think of the Cardinal’s address and visit? Are they in agreement with the Assembly’s Principal Clerk who said that he shared the Cardinal’s vision himself and that he hoped it was widely shared in the Church of Scotland? The Cardinal himself did not lose any time in suiting action to his words and as an “ecumenical activity” visited the Free Church of Scotland General Assembly hanging on to the skirts of Her Majesty’s High Commissioner.
The expectation of the New Age Movement is that there is to be “a release of new spiritual energies as mankind moves into the twenty-first century. The roots of this idea lie in astrology.”5 Dr David Samuel sums up its aspirations as follows: “The New Age movement concentrates upon the year 2000 and it alleges that the year 2000 will mark the beginning of a New Age, the Age of Aquarius, and that the era that will then dawn holds out a great hope and prospect for the spiritual utopia of mankind, passing from one age to another. New Agers say we shall pass from the age of Pisces, the fish, which was the symbol of Christianity, into the New Age of Aquarius, the water-bearer. This is a New Age of group psychic spirituality. Man is casting off the old beliefs and the old ideas of Judaeo-Christian monotheism and its ethic. There will be a radical shift in understanding and emphasis at this time as we approach the year 2000. Man will evolve into maturity for the first time in his existence. Man will become fully human, and indeed fully divine. He will cast off the old deities. He will cast off the subjection to the idea of a God who is transcendent and he will become conscious of the divinity within himself. Man will become God.”6 We could afford to be dismissive of such views were it not that New Age thinking is becoming increasingly influential. “The New Age Movement is not just a cult which has suddenly blossomed at the end of the twentieth century. Neither is it confined to a small number of naive idealists in search of a spiritual utopia. For it has pervaded a great many areas of cultural life today — science, the arts, the media, medicine, education, churches, business and world government — and is ardently promoted by Princes, Presidents and Prime Ministers of many lands.”7
“New Agers” we are informed, “are encouraged by current trends in the world. Much of Christendom is in disarray with prominent clergy publicly denying the foundation beliefs of Christianity . . . New Age writer Lola Davies has praised the World Council of Churches, which she says ‘has potential to serve as a source of unity among a diversity of religions. The West is becoming more familiar with the eastern religions because of the efforts of their spiritual leaders’ . . . Rome too, appears to be moving down this path. Leading New Ager, Benjamin Creme, has said, ‘Pope John-Paul II is one of the few leaders who has consistently proclaimed the same message as Maitreya the Christ.’ Significantly the Pope’s New Year message in 1990 called on humanity to build “the hoped-for civilisation of love”, not for Christians to build the kingdom of God. There are many danger signs in the Pope’s enthusiasm for world peace and unity that are very similar to New Age objectives of one world government and one world religion. On October 27th, 1986, the pope organised the Assisi “World Day of Prayer”, involving amongst others, the Dalai Lama, Hindus, Sikhs, Moslems, Bahais, Shintoists and pagan cult leaders, including snake worshippers from Togo. Commenting on this Michael de Semlyen says, ‘Rome’s leadership of both the peace movement and the multi-faith advance towards religious unity parallels her central role in the quest for the political unity.’ Ecumenism — Where is it leading us? (p25). Parallel to this desire for world peace, visions of Mary are being claimed by Roman Catholics all over the world, especially in Eastern Europe and the messages bear a strong resemblance to New Age messages about a coming age of peace and light.”8 There seems then to be a connection between Rome and the New Age Movement! We ought not to be too surprised on discovering that; they are, after all, both of Satanic origin and thus pursuing the same objectives.
What are our own expectations with regard to 2000? If we accept Ussher’s chronology as correct, then the year 2000 will mark the beginning of the seventh millennium of the world’s history, and if we use the divine time-scale — “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” — then the coming millennium will be the seventh ‘day’ from the creation. John Morison, the Harris blacksmith, whose bardic compositions were so well-known throughout the Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland in days gone by, makes use of this in his forty-six stanza poem on the Millennium:
| Is e nis an seathamh là dhuinn | (This is now the sixth day with us, |
|——————————–|————————————-|
| Na bitheamaid lapach, | Let us not be inactive |
| Dh’ullachadh do ‘n t-sàbaid | To prepare for the sabbath |
| Bhios air an t-seachdamh. | That shall be on the seventh.) |
Morison was converted under the preaching of Dr MacDonald of Ferintosh and was widely revered as a man of God. It may safely be asserted that his view of the Millennium as expressed above was that commonly held by the godly in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Seventy-eight years ago, the Rev Donald MacFarlane was exercised in regard to the same matter and expressed himself thus: “One may ask when the Millennium is to begin? Many students of unfulfilled prophecy are strongly of the opinion that it shall begin at the end of the two thousand years of the Christian era. There are yet eighty-three years of that period to run, and this is, to say the least, very probable, for something very remarkable took place at the end of every two thousand years since the beginning of the world. At the end of the first two thousand years from the creation, Abraham, in whose seed all the families of the earth were to be blessed, was called. And at the end of the second two thousand years Christ came in human nature to this world, and as the Millennium is a remarkable event it is very probable it shall begin at the end of the third two thousand years since the creation of the world . . . In the Churches we have the darkest day since the Reformation, and the same may be said of the state in our own nation, and in all the other nations to which the Reformation brought the light of the Gospel. It is said that the darkest time of the night is a little before the dawn of day.”9
- “The Daily Telegraph” 02/06/95
- “The Daily Telegraph” 31/05/95
- “The Herald” 27/05/95
- “The Herald” 26/05/95
- “The New Age Movement” — Clifford Denton p3
- FOCUS — Spring 1995
- The Serpent and the Cross — Alan Morrison p14
- The Serpent and the Cross — Alan Morrison p14
- Sermons — Rev Donald MacFarlane p174.