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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I NE S S
“May I have another?” he asked. “I have been in the same barracks with this same bunch of men for six months, and I know that a number of them are reading Testaments for the first time—copies you gave them.” A married sergeant stopped me. one day to say, “Chaplain, my wife and I read the Testament you gave me on the rifle range. She’s gone to the hos pital to have a baby, and we decided that she should take the book with' her.” A man who had come to my tent on bivouac one night in great spiritual
anxiety found the Lord and took with« him a Testament. Several days later he returned to tell me how God was speaking to him personally through His Word. “Look,” he said, “what God has shown me about myself”—and he pointed to verses‘he had underlined. Over a period of five months I was privileged to distribute over 8,000 New Testaments. The Test of Varied Problems ’
activity. He makes himself available for private counseling, and men share with him a wide-variety of needs. For example, a youngster j u s t eighteen came with a question that was clearly a smoke-screen for.loneli ness. It is hard for a soldier to ac knowledge nostalgia, and I felt I could spare him added agony by merely suggesting offhand that on occasions many people in situations like his had found it helpful just to cry things out. That word was all he needed; he broke into weeping, and before long the ten sion was eased and he felt better. We knelt in prayer to thank the Lord for home and loved ones and to rejoice in the precious fellowship we had. with them in Christ—something that can be neither dimmed nor disturbed by separation or distance. I have found that whatever diffi culty it may be that leads a man to the chaplain’s office, it can be made ultimately an opportunity to present the Lord Jesus to him. A soldier came once whose buddies had all been shipped, and he won dered why he was being so greatly de layed. We checked with the proper authorities and, after getting the de sired information, turned logically to the larger question of God’s leader ship in every detail of one’s life. "Are you a Christian?* I asked him. "I don’t understand just what it im plies,” he answered. . He needed someone to explain things to him. How happy I was to open the Scriptures and lead him to a personal faith in Jesus Christ! We knelt in prayer to confirm the com mitment, and as we arose from our knees he took my hand and said, “This means a lot to me.” With grateful heart I assured him that it also meant a lot to me. •I re membered that heaven echoes with song over one sinner who repents. The chaplain’s influence reaches an ever-widening circle as, by the grace of God, he gives himself to the work. But here too he is tested; for even to him, there is a course of least resist ance. If he will, he touches the lives of his men in the chapel, on the rifle range, and at bivouac. He contacts the people in t h e nfearby towns through services in the local churches, and he reaches out, through corres pondence, to the families and friends of soldiers who are far scattered. This • latter ministry is especially gratifying. In my chapel services I regularly ask men to give me the names and addresses of parents, wives, pastors, or Sunday school teachers to whom they would like me to send word— just a mimeographed letter—telling of their attendance at the service that day. From the sheaf of replies I quote two that are typical. [Continued on Page 119]
The public ministry of the chaplain —important as it is—is not his only Dr. Talbot's Question Box
Questions for answer in this depart ment should be sent to the Editorial Department, THE KING'S BUSINESS, 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles, 13, Calif. QUE.: My Sunday school teach er often illustrates the lesson with» stories t a k e n from the “ better type” movies. Is it right for the Christian to attend the movies? To illustrate any portion of God’s Word from outside sources is need less. The Bible is the most up-to- date book in the world, and there is no human experience of today for which a parallel cannot be found within its rich store of incidents and facts. The Scripture is a commentary on itself, and the greater mastery one gains of the truths contained therein, the more fascinating the study will become, the greater the personal blessing, and the more spiritual fruit the teaching will bear. If one musi resort to choosing illustrations from current movies, it is questionable whether his appreciation of the Word of God is very deep. Furthermore, the length of time given to the actual study of the Word in the majority of Sunday schools is forty minutes or less. This brief peri od is all the time which the average student gives to a contemplation of the Scriptures! Therefore, to fill the hour with the presentation of God’s sacred truth should be the aim and accomplishment of every born-again teacher. It may be argued that class room discussion of the movies is no more than the utilizing of a point of contact—a principle of teaching which Jesus Himself employed. But there is this difference: When Christ spoke of familiar things, the subsequent teach ing always led to Christ as Saviour: Light (John 8:12); Bread (John 6:35), etc. Can the “movie story” likewise 1pad one auicklv to the Saviour?
This comment does not purport to be a criticism of movies, as such. Neither does it attempt to distinguish between the “better type” and any other kind. We point out only that the movies, as a whole, are produced by people who disregard the Lordr His Word, His commandments, and His standards. Any fair-minded person would agree that they are “of the world.” The honest Christian cannot afford to allow his personal relation ship to Christ (cf. 1 John 3:1), his “holy” calling (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Thess. 4:7; 1 Pet. 1:15, 16), and his respon sibility of influence among men (cf. 1 Cor. 8; Rom. 14:21-23), to be dam aged by carelessness or willfulness in regard to so-called worldly amuse ments. QUE.: What does the B i b l e teach about the fallen angels? Two New Testament passages speak plainly: “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Pet. 2:4). “The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6). It has been conjectured that perhaps the fallen angels sinned when Satan exalted himself as God, and wanted to be worshipped as God. He evidently had a following in these now fallen angels. We do not know, because the Bible does not tell us. Therefore, we dare not go beyond the revealed truth of God’s Word. Matthew 25:41 would lead Us to associate these fallen an gels with Satan: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, De part from me, ye cursed, into ever lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
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