SAD REAPING There’s an ancient story about a poor farmer who received a special letter from the rich prince of the hamlet. He en closed a large check promising that if the man spent the money wisely he would receive more later. There was one added note at the bottom of the page. The prince asked him if he would give a similar letter and check to his neighbor. With all his new-found money the farmer still began to feel pangs of greed and selfishness. He reasoned, “That fellow doesn’t deserve the gift like 1 do. Ob viously the prince made a mistake.” The letter was slipped into his Bible. He never thought more about it until his eyes occasionally looked at God’s Book. While he considered delivering the note to his neighbor that day never came. Weeks lengthened into months and final ly years until the day came when he re ceived word that the man had died, and of all things, had perished from starva tion. Convicted and sorrowful the selfish farmer took the yellow-edged letter from the Bible’s pages, and dropped to his knees crying, “O, Lord forgive me!” Yet he seemed to hear the stem words echo, “His soul shall be required of thee!" The legend asks, “And, isn’t this farmer you and me?” The answer is “yes" if we are holding back the good news of salvation from anyone entrusted to our care. It may be a member of our own household, a friend next door, a neighbor or one with whom we work. God has told each of us, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature!" * The school of suffering graduates rare scholars. M ARK S OF CHR IST IAN ITY Several adventurers were lost in the jungles of Africa. They struggled with a haunting fear of being pounced upon by wild beasts or some savage tribe. You can imagine how they breathed a sigh of relief coming to a mountain crest which overlooked a valley, and they saw a small native village. In the center of it was a welcome site. Although crudely built, it was a little church. One of the men shouted with relief, “Civilization at last!" While our Biola-trained mission aries don’t bring the message of the social Gospel, yet when men’s hearts are redeemed, a supernatural transforma tion takes place, no matter what con tinent of the world. * *
PAYMENT DATE Do you have any bills coming due which you would like to postpone? Be cause of all of the financing and time- payment plans we are fast becoming a nation, not of the free, but of the en cumbered and indebted. Most people try to keep current with their debts and have every intention of paying. Not like the man who borrowed money from a kind friend who generously gave him the privilege of writing in the date when the amount would fall due. The lender was shocked beyond words when the note was returned. On the line for the due date the man had facetiously, . but inten tionally, written in “payable on the day of judgment.” You can be sure that this was the end of that friendship. Since the money had already been given, it seemed a hopeless case. The otherwise kindly man who had loaned the money was so infuriated that he took the mat ter to court. The judge was asked to give his opinion on the case. The jurist immediately realized the trickery of the man who had received the funds. He thought he had an iron-clad case and was not concerned about the outcome. To him, the day of judgment was far away. You can imagine his shock when he heard the stem words from the bench directed to him as the judge sternly de clared, “This is your day of judgment. The note is now due.” Thinking of this reminds us of those who continually put off making a decision for Christ, fool ishly feeling they have plenty of time when they get older. Sometimes men are also punished for their sins in this life. Yet the Bible clearly tells us that the day of accounting is ahead. Scripture states, “Everyone of us shall give account of himself to God." “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." * * * When God bolts the door, don't try to get in through a window. * * * FALSE TEACH ING It was the German scholar, Albrecht Ritschl, who has been known as the fa ther of modernism, who wrote, “It is right and proper, in order to allay the fears of conservatives, to express new theological ■o p in io n s in old familiar words.” How insidious the attack of Satan. Men seek to bring in false here- ies by making their declarations sound as close as possible to the real truth of the Word of God. 20
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