September 1927
557
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
The Revival We Need B y E vangelist A. B. O st
Evangelist A. B. Ost, of Minneapolis, has just caused to be printed a series of talks on “The Revival We Need.” His little book (35c) we wish might be read by every preacher and evan gelist. We are reproducing herewith some words of timely import to Christians in general. IRST and foremost we need a revival that means §Tjfj| a return to, and a renewed and continued, sus- I M L tained, interest in, and practice of, Bible read- ing and Bible study, private and public, indi- vidual and collective. ija§ The writer has often suggested, to the chagrin of many of his hearers, that to carry a portion of the Scriptures on one’s person at all times ought certainly not to be more difficult than to tote a case of Copenhagen, a horseshoe plug, a grown-up’s sucker or corn cob—or a vanity case with its’powderpuff and perfume containers, lipsticks, browpencils and innumerable junk. We need a revival that will take the dust off the Bible and leave it off the face. We need a revival that will make the Bible or Testament more indispensable than the material smut of filthy habits. We need a revival that will make the Bible more desirable than the novel, the magazine and the everlasting daily. We need a revival that will begin with the Bible, go on with the Bible and stay with the Bible. A whole book could be written on our neglect of the Bible and our infinite need of returning to it. But every one knows his and her deplorable neglect and will no doubt agree that this is' our first and primary need in the line of a revival. You know how infinitely little time you spend with the Book. You know how sparingly you use it in your own devotion and for your own spiritual edifi cation and enlightenment. You know how unsatisfactory is your use of it in your family worship. How casual and superficial is your attention to its saving truth and its unique and eternal rules for daily contact! And how shallow your appreciation of its life-giving essence! T h e W ord I n R evivals Study every moral, ethical and spiritual (not to say nationalistic) revival of Old Testament times, and you will quickly discover how it began with the prophet’s “Thus saith the Lord,” the angel’s message from Jehovah or the reading of the law and the prophets. Likewise, study revivalism in the New Testament, and you will not be long in finding what a primary and prominent part the Word of God played. In fact, there is no exception, from the first revival at Pentecost to the last one recorded for this dispensation. For that matter, the Word of God always precedes His creative acts. The same observation holds true in all the mighty re vivals since apostolic . days. Remarkably prominent do we find the place of God’s Word and saving truth in the revivals that swept the nations about the middle of the last century and continued until two or three decades ago. This is preeminently and primarily the revival we need: a revival of the interest in the Word of God in the home and in the church, as individuals, family groups and congregations. How long, dear reader, is it since you spent a precious hour alone with your Bible? H qw long since you had your family altar? How long since you carried a copy of God’s book on your person to work or even to church ?
Above all, how long since you experienced any burning love for it in yout; soul? Don’t you need this revival ? R evival of S criptural C onsistency The second great phase of the revival we need is that of lives of consistency in confessing believers. Holy lives delivered from the tragedy and hprt of self-contradiction. The writer feels keenly the need of surrendered, melted, consecrated, God-honoring lives in believers everywhere. It seems there is so much actual mockery, so much hypocrisy, so much inconsistency that we can hardly hope to make any impression upon an unsaved outsider. The category of gluttony, fashions, pleasure, pastimes, luxuries, habits, warped home lives and church lives, world-conformity and world-alliances, possessions, mate rialism, and a whole dictionary of additional Spirit-griev ing conditions among “God’s elect”—it all strikes fear and awe into the heart of every wide-awake servant of God. Isn’t this true? Take, for instance, our church choirs. How often they appear to be more of a “fashion show” than a group of sanctified believers fit for the service of God ! Before going up into the choir loft and pews, instead of being on their knees beseeching God for power and purity to sing His praise, they are lined up before their mirrors “dolling up” their exterior, vain appearance. The beautv parlor effect of many a choir’s room would sicken the hearts of simple folks who later are to sit down and listen to the tinkling cymbal and the sounding brass. Robed choirs ? That’s beside the question. We need a revival that will make robes unnecessary. A cloak more or less is precious little consolation. Why not a Klan hood while at it? What we need is not robed choirs, but saved, revived, sanctified such. S h e ik s A s W ell A s F lappers Nor are the men with their fashion crazes one bit to be preferred to the women. The worm of vanity has eaten its way into the core of manhood as well. Knee skirts, bare arms and backs and bosoms, bobbed heads, powdered and painted faces, rouge complexions and per fume-soaked, transparent nothingness in or out of church, are Sodomite evils. But so are the greases, pompadours, powderpuff complexions, Oxford balloons, peacock ap parel and furtive demeanor of a number of empty-heads called “men.” Poor, unfortunate preacher and prophet of God, who has to have this sort of “backing” while declaring the un searchable truths of God and wielding His penetrating, two-edged sword! What do you say—don’t we need somewhat of a revival of consistency in these matters? Or—why don’t you clean house? As a matter of incontrovertible fact; our church life is getting to be a Babylonian farce and a source of ridicule (not persecution!) among the masses of the world. Nor is our home life and our person-to-person contact in gen eral much better. And yet thus far we have touched upon confessing Christianity from the edge of vanitv alone. Other evils there be that are just as prevalent and equally as harmful,
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