November, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
379
¿Present -CDay ¿fulfillment o/pg-OPHECY '■ . . . By Louis S. B auman
still can choose their own dictator; but how long even that privilege shall be left them is a serious question. Now the United States o f America is the greatest experiment in all the ages o f an attempt by a people to govern themselves— “ a government o f the people, by the people, and for the people.” Its failure can only mark the approaching end of any such system o f human government. If democracy can not succeed in enlightened America, it will succeed no where. Last February, Hon. Senator J. J. Hughes, speak ing in the Canadian Senate at Ottawa, said: We know from the public records and the news of the day what the material conditions are like: the richest nation in the world, the creditor nation o f the world, the most self-contained nation in the world, the potentially strongest nation in the world, having more hunger, naked ness, destitution and discontent than any other nation in the world. Destitution follows spiritual infidelity and
N . R . A ., The Sign, and Its Spiritual Significance I f f an y one would have suggested but five brief years ago that, in the year 1933, the United States o f America would see initiated into power a political party which would give to a President dictatorial power surpassing that o f any other dictator in all the world, and that this President would approve a mark, without which, when carried to its ulti mate conclusion, no man might buy or sell, such a sugges tion would have been looked upon as emanating from an unbalanced mind. But just that has come to pass. From letters that have come to just one little desk, it is evident that many thousands o f America’s people are appre hensive o f the outcome, not only from the political and com mercial standpoints, but also from the religious viewpoint. While recognizing the fact that our American dictatorship
is very benevolent up to date, and that the National Recovery Act (N .R .A .) is regarded as a purely emergency measure necessitated by a world-wide “ depression,” yet many Americans are anxiously asking: “ If our demo cratically elected representatives go to Washington and toss away the consti tutional powers which our fathers in tended for them and for the people to possess, what guarantee have we that they will be returned?” The liberty
moral decadency. In all these re spects the United States is but an intensified replica of all the other Christian nations. What will be the outcome? Nebuchadnezzar, in his famous dream of a great image, beheld not only the march o f empire through “ the times o f the Gentiles,” but he saw the Collapse o f all human government at the close o f those “ times.” The feet and toes o f that image “ were part
Spiritual dynamics, rath er than corkscrew me chanics, are the greatest need o f a wrecked world.
loving American people should be reminded that the road to every autocratic government is plainly signposted: “ This way to tyranny, persecution, oppression, coercion, slavery and martyrdom.” Don’t be fooled there! But it is not with the political nor with the commercial aspects o f the new American dictatorship and its ensign, N. R. A., that we are here concerned. W e are concerned as to its religious aspects. These aspects should be examined by believing Christians in the light o f the unfailing Word o f God. Failure o f Democracy N . R . A . is significant o f the failure o f democracy as a form o f human government, which, o f itself, is a thing o f tremendous spiritual import. N. R. A. represents the spirit o f autocracy, not democ racy. Representative James W . Wadsworth, o f New York, in the House o f Representatives on May 26, 1933, during the consideration of the legislation that gave birth to N. R. A., said: Individualism in America will come to an end if legis lation of this type and character is placed upon our statute books and kept there. I cannot help but believe that this means the end o f real liberty and the substitution of bureaucracy;—the hard, heavy, cold hand o f bureaucracy— upon the daily lives of millions and millions of Americans. The substitution o f bureaucracy for democracy in the House o f Representatives was, in itself, a confession on the part o f the nation’s most representative body, that, as a form o f government, democracy, for us, has failed. Its tacit acceptance by the people themselves is an admission that they are unable to govern themselves. O f course, they
o f iron [autocracy], and part o f clay [democracy].” The divine explanation is: “ So the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken” (Dan. 2:41, 42). “ Broken,” the clay— and “ broken” is right! If you do not believe it, inquire o f a once fabulously rich old gentleman, familiarly known as “ Uncle Sam.” Millions o f his children, by virtue of unemployment, are face to face with pauperism; tens o f thousands actually are in the “ bread lines,” while “ Uncle Sam” himself even stoops to return to his alcoholic spew in an effort to balance his budget. The thing to note is that immediately when the brittle clay in the feet breaks, the underpinning o f all Gentile governments (represented by the image) collapses, for all go crashing down— broken in pieces together, and become “ like the chaff o f the summer threshing floors,” so “ that no place was found for them.” The failure o f the world’s greatest democracy, then, it would appear, may well be regarded as the signal that the “ Stone” is about to fall. That “ Stone” shall become “ a great mountain,” and shall fill the earth (Dan. 2 :35). All o f which was interpreted to Daniel to mean that “ the God o f heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” (Dan. 2 :44 ). Come down, O Stone o f God, come down ! Failure o f Natural Man N. R. A . is significant o f the failure and inability of the natural man to govern and save himself from his own corruption. Adam is the figure o f Christ (Rom. 5 :14 ). Eve, “ the mother o f all living,” stands for mankind. Eve was cre ated to be “ a help meet” for Adam—mankind a “ help meet” for Christ. When Eve separated herself from Adam, though dwelling in an Eden, she quickly gave evidence of
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