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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 1933
epigram that has more than a grain of truth in it. The Ger manic way o f accepting or rejecting what it pleases of the Bible and opposing its knowledge to the authority of the apostles became more and more the custom of the leading theologians of the three ruling nations-f^Britain, America, and Germany. Within the last ten years, and perhaps more definitely within the last five, the trend has become very much more pronounced. Modernism has raised its voice in a greater tone of authority than ever before, until the danger arises that the untaught Christian church will follow its leaders as blind follow the blind, into a state of terrible apostacy. How Is it E xpressed ? This trend away from the Scriptures is expressed, first o f all, in a waning evangelical fervor. The evangelical pas tor today who makes the winning of the lost his supreme business, who draws in the net at the close of every ser
sacrificial death o f Christ; so He Himself has diverted millions o f dollars from the larger denominations to mis sions o f faith all over the world. As a result, our denominations are retrenching, and the cry for a union has arisen in the land—a union of collapsing enterprises, each leaning against the other, seeking to stave off the inevitable. The plan o f God has never provided for such a union. The early chapters of Acts record the fact that the church, with its glowing fire, was scattered abroad -—dissected, rather than unionized-—and wherever it was scattered, it began a new conflagration by the Holy .Spirit. W e have seen with our own eyes the results o f union izing and the subsequent loss of some of our finèst churches. God apparently still calls for separation rather than for amalgamation. W h y Is th is T rend w ith U s ? I believe there is a threefold reason for modernismi : First, it is predicted in Scripture. 1 Timothy 4 : 1 and 2 and 2 Timothy 3 :1 to 5 speak of the peril ous times in the last days, when many shall depart from the faith and shall follow cunningly devised fables. Second, there is confusion caused by knowledge, or science so-called. To every one, especially to those who are pursuing a course of study in college in this day, I would recommend the frequent reading of 1 Corinthians 1 :18 to 31. It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the preaching o f the cross is to them that perish fool ishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God. Third, there is lack pf separation. Sep aration has ever been the price of power. In the local church today, the inroads of the world have caused the withdrawal of the power pf the Holy Spirit. It is a terrible thing that the world should be battering the doors o f the church, asking entrance for various reasons— for business, for social po sition, or for any one of many other things—but it is a more terrible thing that the church should be battering down the walls o f its own fortress from the inside, in order to get out to the world. W h ither W ill M odernism L ead the C hurch ? placed in our Constitution by prayerful men. Modernism opens the door to. Socialism. Norman Thomas, Socialist candidate for President, spoke in many modernist pulpits in his recent campaign. Socialism leads to communism, and communism is virtually atheism. Nineteen hundred years ago, at the beginning o f thè church age, Christians died for their faith. It is quite pos sible that before Christ comes again, similar conditions will prevail, and the few who cling to the fundamental beliefs will be suffering martyrdom. Today it hàs begun. It will not diminish ; it will increase. But with the vision of the Conqueror before us, we will gladly endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, knowing that if we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified together, for “the sufferings o f this present time are not worthy to be com pared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” We are living in strenuous days. The recent general election was the most tremendous shock the Christian church has had in the last hundred years. W e were faced with the staggering fact that it is possible for the entire population o f the United States to vote down everything that is of God, calling for the repeal of those righteous laws
" B r e t h r e n . b e n o t c h i l d r e n i n u n d e r - s t a n d i n g - b e m e n ? I CO R. 14:SO
vice, is referred to by his modernist brother as “ using.Sal vation Army methods.’!® A few years ago, I was teaching at a summer confer ence in one o f our large denominations' I found the atmos phere among the leaders whojwere sent to that conference from eastern headquarters was more nearly Unitarian than anything I had ever known. The young people began coming to me, asking if there was no longer such a thing as regeneration; one minister had told them that one must be educated into the kingdom of God, and not regenerated. This incident suggests a second characteristic of mod ernism : It is an exaltation of man, with a magnifying of his powers and a more or less unconscious minimizing of the power and personality o f the Holy Spirit. In the face o f this slighting o f the Spirit, God will not allow His prayerful servants to give their money, which is their life blood, to support that which is so far removed from the
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