November 1932
B u s i n e s s
T h e
K i n g ’ s
474
o/PROPHECY . . . B y L ouis S. B auman
C 0 resen i-d)ay
upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:15-18). An end. Yes! But “ after this”— well, for a very dreary, weary, helpless, hopeless world, “ his rest shall be glorious (Isa. 11:10). Come quickly, Lord Jesus. D. M. Panton, of England, editor of The Dawn, re cently wrote: “ The symptoms of a changing epoch are such that the very word— ‘dispensation’— slips from unaccus tomed lips.” Thereupon he quotes Mr. Edwin Osborne: There are long stretches of time, showing but little deviation from a general course; then there come periods cataclysmic in their suddenness, thoroughness of change, and introduction of new characteristics and emphases, marking an end to one dispensation and ushering in an other. / think we have come into such an age of transi tion, dramatic, convulsive, epochal, and world-revolu tionary in its influence. Why the Curtain Must Fall Athwart Our Age Not the only reason by any means, yet outstanding among the many reasons for the fall of tbe curtain athwart our age, is the fact that the salt of the earth is fast losing its saltness. “ Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under the foot of men” (Matt. 5:13). The great Master gives no encouragement that salt, once having lost its “ saltness” (Mk. 9 :50 ), by any possibility will be re stored to its saving power. “ Thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out" is the positive declaration. The “ salt of the earth” for the nineteen centuries past has been found to be those who have borne the name of Christ upon their banners. The strength of these legions has ever been due to the fact that, having been born from above, they were also borne along in the power of the Holy Ghost. Confessing their need of a Saviour from sin, cleansed by their acceptance of His atonement by blood, yielding their bodies as instruments for service within the eternal counsels of God, the Spirit of God took possession —“ the salt o f the earth” ! For nearly two thousand years, this “ body of Christ,” though opposed by all the forces at hell’s command, has been a restraint against the world’s utterly bogging in lawlessness and corruption. But if this “ salt” shall once lose its “ saltness,” corruption “ as in the days of Noe” will come on apace. Great Apostasy W ill Signal the Fall of the Curtain That professing Christendom would depart from the faith, and by that departure would lose its saving power, is one of the clearest testimonies of the prophetic Word. After reminding the Christians at Rome that an apos tate Israel was “ broken off” that the Gentile believers “ might be graffed in” (Rom. 11:19), the great apostle warns these same Gentile ingraftments never to forget that “ because o f unbelief” the branches of Jacob “were broken off.” Therefore, take heed, and “ be not highminded, but fear,” lest the God who “ spared not the natural branches, . . . also spare not thee.” “ Toward thee, goodness,” cried the messenger of God to the Gentiles, “ if thou continue in
Approaching a Big Climax C oigns , signs , signs everywhere— for those who have eyes to see! Our age is fast drawing to its close. A new dispensation is at hand. Men of the world unite their voices with men of the church to declare that a great change, an age-closing change, is rapidly approaching. They may not know the meaning o f it all, hut they do know that the world cannot go on as it is, and that stupen dous, world-convulsing events are just ahead. The false optimism of a few years ago is strangely missing from most of the prophecies o f the merely earth-born. Many o f their prophecies are dire indeed. Recently, one of the world’s reputable thinkers said: We can hear in the near distance the thunder of Niagaran cataracts down which no man and no civilization may pass and live. What is at stake is not any minor issue of history, or the fortunes o f one particular class or na tion, but the fate of civilization itself. Rather a dark picture, that! While we are not sympathetic with the political doc trines of The Chicago Daily Tribune, yet it must be admit ted that that great newspaper is not usually afflicted with wild hysteria. In calm! judgment, it affirms: •Never before in time of peace, and seldom in war, has i the future o f this country appeared as dark as today. The Federal Council Bulletin, organ of the Federal Council of Churches in America, an organization claim ing to (mis)represent twenty million church members in America, has just come to my desk. Editorially, it issues a call to all Christians to go to their knees and unite in penitence and prayer. It begins this call with a quotation from Hugh Redwood, night editor of The London News Chronicle : You can’t live in Fleet Street these days and let the news of the world pass through your hands without being convinced that we are rapidly approaching a big climax. If one did not believe in the reality of God, one would feel as helpless, as hopeless, as straws on the edge of a whirlpool. Not “ Helpless” Nor “ Hopeless” We, too, firmly believe that “we are rapidly approach ing a big climax,” and you cannot make that “ big” too big. But we also absolutely believe in “ the reality of God.” We know something of the prophetic revelations He has given us. In those revelations, we have the assurance that while the “big climax” will be intensely cataclysmic, it will not be disastrously catastrophic. Personally, we hail with joy the approach o f the “ big climax.” It will close another age o f human failure, out o f which, nevertheless, the ambas sadors of our Christ will have gathered “ a people for his name” (Acts 15:14). . . “ And to this agree the words of the prophets: as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it u p : that the residue o f men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles,
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