genuinely Biblical and that he under stood the meaning of the Scriptural phrases which he was using. In spite of political differences of opinion there is real necessity for the Christian people of our beloved America to constantly lay before the throne of grace the needs of our President and those who are in authority. At least three times on the pages of the New Testament Christians are exhorted not to fail in their duty to intercede for those in authority. First of all, there is the passage in Romans 13:1-7 where it is clearly and definitely stated that those in authority are ordained of God, and for the child of God there is to be no argument regarding the paying of tribute of custom or honor. Again in First Timothy 2:2 the matter of prayer is taken up with the promise of peace and quiet being obtained through this medium. A third passage in First Peter 2:13-15 points out that the Christian should live a life of honest submission to those in authority, the effect of which would be to put to silence the ig norance of foolish men. We believe there could be demonstra tion of national prosperity and peace never before obtained in the h5story of the land through the medium of Chris tian people praying for those who are in authority over them. Our observance has been that far too often both in pub lic and private prayer the child of God fails to lay before the throne of grace the needs of our government officials. If God’s Word is true, and we know that it is, the ills of government and the blunders of officialdom can be cured by concerted prayer. National problems will be decided rightly after Christian people have besought Almighty God for special wisdom to rest upon our elected officials. In other words, the problem narrows down to this: the goodness or evil of government depends upon the prayers of Christian people. The Christian and Tobacco A VERY fine, fair and factual article appears in the January issue of The Readers’ Digest on the subject of the smoking habits of the American people. Such an article has long been needed to present documentary evidence of the physical and mental hazards in volved in this habit which has such an amazing hold upon our nation. It is not our purpose to discuss the arguments pro and con relative to the use of tobacco by unsaved people; that is already well- covered in the afore-mentioned article. What The Readers’ Digest could not deal with was the matter of the Chris tian’s attitude toward the use of tobacco. For those who believe in the Bible as the Word of God, questions concerning the Christian life should not be decided alone on the basis of whether or not they are harmful to the body. An answer to these questions will be the deciding factor: “ Will this habit advance my spiritual life? Will what I am doing magnify the Lord? Can I do this to the T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Let us suppose that there were 200 members in each of the 700 churches co operating! That would mean a total of 140,000 professed Christians. Let us suppose that each one in this army of church members could be used of God to lead a soul to Christ during 1950 with full 365 days to testify to sinners and 365 nights to pray for His wisdom and help’. What an impressive total this would be, with 140,000 new born-again children of God in Southern California! Or, suppose this were possible: that each one of the members of the 700 co operating churches led an additional soul to Christ in eight weeks which was the length of the Graham meetings and that this soul-reaching campaign ex tended through the days of the new year! The number of new Christians would reach the fantastic total of 840,000 never-dying souls. One of the real weaknesses in the. church of Christ today is a subconscious conviction of the necessity of organiza tion before Christian work may be ac complished, whereas, in apostolic days, there was none of this. Rather, the church grew by leaps and bounds merely through the personal unadorned testi mony of non-professional, yet deeply sincere, Christians. It is time for us to reassure our own hearts that the Holy Spirit of God, without whom no soul can ever be saved, is ready, willing and anxious to use even the weakest Chris tian as a channel of the truths of God to needy sinners. Thank God for mass evangelism, the public preaching of the Word of God, the concerted prayers of Christian peo ple and the united efforts of churches. The day of mass evangelism has not passed as the Los Angeles campaign readily demonstrates. But along with this there should be the constant, steady rehearing of the individual Christian’s testimony in the ears of lost men and women. Never will the church of Christ grow as it should until both of these efforts are fulfilled completely.
Dr. Louis T. Talbot Returns A FTER an extended tour of four months in which he visited many of the major mission fields of the world, talked with scores of Biola missionaries, and preached through an interpreter to thousands of native Christians, Dr. Louis T. Talbot returned to Los Angeles on January 7. Dr. Talbot brought back approximately 7>000 feet of colored mo tion pictures taken on this trip. During the early months of spring, Dr. Talbot will be showing these pictures and tell ing of the needs of the various mission fields at the great Sunday afternoon rallies at the Church of the Open Door. After Easter, he plans an itinerary along the Pacific Coast, and pastors interested in having him in their churches are asked to write to Dr. William W. Orr, Extension Department of the Bible Insti tute of Los Angeles, 558 S. Hope Street. It is now nearly two months since the close of the evangelistic campaign re cently conducted in Southern California by Dr. Billy Graham under the auspices of the Christ for Greater Los Angeles organization. There is no doubt but that a real work for God was done by this consecrated young man and his splendid corps of helpers and musicians. The city of Los Angeles, which is some what inured to unusual happenings, was genuinely stirred by the impact of the faithful and fearless preaching of the Word of God. The statistical re port showed that, with 700 churches co operating, there was a total attendance of 350,000 with 3,000 people professing Christ as personal Saviour. For these 3,000 we are profoundly grateful to God, and our confidence in the power of mass evangelism to sweep folks into the Kingdom of God has been restored. What now? We understand that a further campaign is planned in the fu ture for a neighboring Southern Cali fornia area, but must we wait for the erection of a tent and the smell of saw dust on the floor before more souls may be touched for Christ? Should not the spark of this accomplishment light fires in individual hearts to bring results far outdistancing the consequences of the campaign? Page Four Evaluating The Billy Graham Meetings
Don’t Neglect To Pray For The President
We were rather impressed with the Thanksgiving message of President Truman. Again, as in various other mes sages, he exhibited a certain understand ing of the Bible which seemed to indi cate that his early training had been
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