67
February, 1946
IN THE NEWS
THE
BI BLE
the Scriptures.
An Interpretation of World Affairs in the Light of
impress upon the commercial moving picture companies the fact that this country is still predominantly Prot estant. The trials of the war criminals are still going on in Nuremberg, Ger many. News magazines and newspa pers recently carried group pictures of the accused prisoners, minus their uni forms, medals and other trappings. Their arrogance too seems to be miss ing. The pictures reveal à sorry lot of poor human clay. We wonder as we look at them how it could have been that a short time ago a large portion of the world’s population was bowing and scraping before them. Surely egotism is a baseless and senseless thing, without reason and without value. How true the admonition of the Word of God. that “pride goeth before destruction!’ ! 1 That dry sentiment is progressing in this country is happily true. This tendency is shdwing up particularly in the Southern part of the land. There we find that of a total of 1,310 counties, 774 voted for prohibition, and many of the wet counties have laws which make them partially dry. The real impetus for the cause of pro hibition is the appalling traffic fatal ity figures. Our legislators may be forced to regulate liquon more' strictly in order to keep our population from being exterminated through traffic deaths. News reaches us from Japan that since their defeat at the hands of the United Nations, the Emperor and his household have been seriously study ing Christian theology. Coupled with this . is the prediction by Professor Shigeru Nambara, president of the Imperial University of Tokyo, t h a t soon Hirohito himself will embrace (Christianity. » We thrill to think of the recovery that could come to that stricken nation if their ruler were really to accept Jesus Christ as his personal S.aYiour.
We learn from news sources that the conservative Church of England plans to spend four million dollars on advertising. The Bishop who rec ommended this action pointed out that this was a “missionary invasion of the modern agencies of propa ganda,” and that it was impossible to exaggerate the greatness of the gulf between the Church and the ordinary life of the English people. “Half ... are worse than heathen in that they believe in nothing—not even in them selves.” Perhaps there is need for this expenditure, but we cannot but be lieve* that the best advertisement that any church can have is the reputation that God dwells there, and that there real comfort, Christian'help and new hope can be found. In order to be thus useful to the needy world, the Church must be in the center of God’s will. National leaders from all walks of life are expected to attend the great evangelistic services to be held in Washington, D. C., under the sponsor ship of the National Fellowship for Spiritual Awakening, May 12-19, 1946. This campaign was first planned for January 13-19, but postponement was thought to be necessary; however, an abbreviated p r o g r a m for the time previously scheduled will be carried out. The central message is the Gospel, of the Lord Jesus Christ; a national hook-up for broadcasting will be provided, and a Youth Rally held. Nearly every evangelical or ganization in the land will be repre sented. Surely this is a call for the united prayers of all the people.of God, and may be the beginning of a real, Heaven-sent revival. ^ A new entry into the vastly im portant field of visual education is the Protestant Film Commission, an or ganization of major denominations and interdenominational a g e n c i e s . Their first objective is the raising of one million dollars for the production of non-profit religious films for show ing in churches. It will also seek to
^ According to a recent news re lease, the Youth for Christ movement has crossed the ocean to begin the establishment of youth organizations in foreign lands. In Tientsin, China, a converted Chinese actor has started meetings. 1In Japan, the Youth for Christ organization is already under way. An inquiry into this matter of youth evangelism has been received from Greece. A number of lea'ders in this field, including Torrey Johnson, Charles Templeton and Billy Graham, áre contemplating a conference in London with British Youth leaders. It is now believed that t h e r e are nearly seven h u n d r e d Youth for Christ groups on the American con tinent. A décision handed d o w n by Superior Court Judge Charles E. Bur nell of Los Angeles supports the Cali fornia religious education law in its first court test. The cáse in point was a suit brought by an individual claim ing that the law violated certain principles.' The decision of the court included the statement: “The Federal Constitution merely guarantees free dom of worship. I do not see how this law violates that provision.’’ The Cali fornia law permits pupils to spend one hour each week at a religious in stitution, with the parents’ consent. Other states have similar laws. An exceedingly rare news dis patch is found in a recent issue of the Los Angeles Times. Not often does the press tie up with the appalling figures of automobile accidents, their most direct cause—drink. Exceedingly plain are the words of Arizona’s At torney General, John L. Sullivan; he states -that liquor is the real traffic problem and that nearly all accidents are caused by drunkenness. That liq uor is thé culprit in the majority of cases has long been known to those opposed to this drink traffic. Honest statistics are seldom published, being generally suppressed by the brewing and distilling interestSj
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