NOV 196
’ - ISSP
Kg .-. ■-■
i g r a - ■B '-fr v ■■B■ ^B B *--'l,:*--
a f e
H
H
H
ü ' >■*'..•
|«£1
N o gift is more in keeping with the spirit o f Christmas .'*&§. Every Cambridge Bible is bound by the careful hand o f a skilled craftsman. Every Cambridge Bible is covered by an Unconditional Guarantee. King James Version. All are printed on fine India paper and contain center references. Concordance, pronouncing aids, and maps. 23 carat gold edges. Some styles have the words of Christ printed in red. Concord. Large print edition, su X 8-5/16" 16X — French Morocco binding. $11.95; 16XRL — Red Letter printing. $12.50 26XRL — Morocco binding. Red Letter printing. $17.50
26XD3 — Handgrained Morocco binding, leather lined. $21.00 Compact. Palm size edition, -t*s%" 61X — Ariston binding. $5.95 W61X — White Ariston binding. $6.95
B
63X — Handgrained Morocco binding, leather lined. $12.00 Cameo. Easy-reading edition. 4%x6%» 75X — French Morocco binding. $8.95; 75XRL — Red Letter printing. $9.50 23XD3 — Handgrained Morocco binding, leather lined. $18.50 with 160 page Bible Dictionary 30X - Spanish Morocco binding. $12.50; 30XRL — Red Letter printing. $12.95
A sk for these Bibles at your bookstore.
It you have no bookstore dose by, let us know, and we will put you in touch with the one nearest you. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The w orld's oldest Bible publisher 32 EAST 57TH ST., N Y C .
\
¡paji l
'/V* jMíDKty
r v
080
Pays $100Weekly From First Day, Even ForLife! FREE! Ball Point Pen SOUVEN IR OF VALLEY FORGE Actually writes in Gold Ink! Mailed to you with No Obligation Information SOUVENIR Of VALLEY FORGE, PA. We offer you this attractive, useful gift FREE for letting us send you, with no obligation, complete details about the low-cost GOLD STAR hospitalization plan for folks who don't drink. Your pen will be mailed as soon as we receive your name and address on the attached card.
A S a non-drinker, GOLD STAR offers you special con- f * - sideration. If you are carrying ordinary hospitalization insurance, your premiums are helping to pay for accidents, illnesses, and hospital bills of drinkers. Alcoholism is now our nation’s No. 3 health problem, ranking immediately behind heart disease and cancer. Until now, your insurance cost as much as those who drink. Now, with rates based on the superior health records of non-drinkers, GOLD STAR rewards you for not drinking! GOLD STAR pays you $100.00 per week (or $14.28 per day ), from your first day in the hospital, and as long as you are there, even for life! Claim checks are sent directly to you, for you to spend as you see fit — for hospital or doctor’s bills, mortgage payments, food — anything you wish. And the present low rate on your policy can never be raised as you grow older, no matter how many claims you file, but only if the rates for all policyholders are changed! Can You Afford To Be Sick? One out of every seven people will spend some time in the hospital this year. A fall on the stairs or on the sidewalk, a sudden illness or operation could put you in the hospital for weeks, even months. Could you afford a long siege in the hospital, with costly doctors’ bills, expensive drugs and medicines? Many people lose their savings, their cars, even their homes. Don’t take chances! Remember — once the doctor says it’s your turn to enter the hospital, you can’t buy coverage at any price. Find out NOW how much this great GOLD STAR Policy NLH (Rev. 3-64) saves you. Then later, if you do want a policy, we’ll even send it on a 10-Day Money-Back Guar antee— to be checked by your lawyer, doctor, or other trusted advisor. TIME IS PRECIOUS! If you don’t drink, act quickly. Without cost or obligation, get this card into the mail TODAY.
Compare These Important GUARANTEED Benefits
No Age Limit. Same liberal benefits whether you are 1 or 101! Only You Can Cancel! That’s right — you may renew your policy for your entire lifetime if you so desire. The company can never cancel your policy because you have too many claims or because you grow older. Of course, if there is deception in making application the policy may be ineffective. No Waiting Period. That’s right. There is no waiting period before your coverage goes into full effect, and GOLD STAR pays from the very first day you enter the hospital. No Salesman Will Visit You. Your policy is mailed to your home. Claim checks are sent via mail, directly to you. Effective Anywhere In The World. GOLD STAR has satisfied policyholders in all 50 states and in many foreign countries. You Pay Only For Protection. No policy fees or mem bership dues! Up To $6000.00 Benefit for accidental loss of eye sight or limbs. Only Conditions Not Covered: Every kind of sickness and accident is covered, except hospitalization caused by the use of alcoholic bev erages or narcotics, mental or nervous disorders, any act of war, pregnancy, or conditions existing prior to issuance of policy. Everything else IS covered! These proper exceptions help to keep GOLD STAR rates lower for YOU!
The GOLD STA R Plan policies, available, effective and paying claim s in all 50 states, are underwritten by the NATIONAL LIBERTY LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY Valley Forge, Pennsylvania which is licensed solely under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and which carries full legal reserves for the protection of its policyholders.
READ WHAT THESE LEADING AMERICANS SAY: S. S. KRESGE, founder of the S. S. Kresge Co., with over 800 stores: " I ’m delighted that non-drinkers are now rewarded by insurance with the Gold Star Plan H O N . F R A N K CARLSON, U. S. Senator, Kansas: “As a teetotaler, I am delighted that Arthur De M o ss has worked out a practical plan to provide hospitali
F IL L OUT AND M A IL THE POSTAGE-PAID CARD NOW! Full Information will be MAILED to you . . . absolutely FREE! NO SALESMAN will visit you . .. now or ever M A I L T H I S . CA RD T O D A Y
at substantial savings. Gold Star’s popu larity indicates that it is the right answer to the question of drinking and hospitali zation." zation for non-drinkers at a reduced cost. I would urge those who are concerned about their financial security to take ad vantage of this excellent opportunity.” GOLD STAR is the only hospital plan endorsed and recommended by over 50 nationally known leaders.
Published monthly by The Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc., 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles, California 90017. Second-class postage paid at Los Angeles. California.
5
T i n e P C i n g f ® A PUBLICATION OF THE BIBLE INSTIUTEOF LOS ANGELES, INCORPORATED Louis T. Talbot, Chancellor • S. H. Sutherland, President • Ray A. Myers, Board Chairman NOVEMBER, in the year of our Saviour Vol. 55. No. 11 Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-four Established 1910 Dedicated to the spiritual development of the Christian home m THE GARM EN T OF PRAISE — Winola Wirt .............................. 11 T IM E FOR THE COMM ON M A N — William Ward Ayer .............. 12 CHR IST IAN EDUCATION IN TODAY 'S WORD — Jack MacArthur 16 T IMO TH Y THE T IM ID — Vance Havner .................................. 19 THE END OF RICHES — Spiros Zodhiates .................................. 20 THE CH ILDREN 'S STORY — James Clavell .............................. 22 AN OPEN LETTER — Mabel MeFall ......................................... 24 IF YOU HAD PRAYED — Fred Acord ..................................... 27 THE HEART OF AN ORPHAN — Virginia Schwepker ................. 28 GLOSSALALIA — Herbert H. Ehrenstein .................................. 31 REACH ING AN OPEN HEART — A. C. Hanna ......................... 42 IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANK S — Joyce Landorf ................... 47 MOTTOS FOR THE MASTER ............................... ................... 48 JONATHAN 'S BIG DAY — Betty Bruechert .............................. 56 GOD ANSWERS PRAYER — Arnold Peterson ............................ 58 fatium MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR — Samuel H. Sutherland .............. 8 DR. TALBOT'S QUESTION BOX — Louis T. Talbot ...................38 TA LK ING IT OVER — Clyde M. Narramore ............................ 40 PERSONAL EVANGELISM — Benjamin Weiss .......................... 41 CULTS CRITIQUE — Betty Bruechert ....................................... 44 BOOK REVIEWS — Arnold D. Ehlert ............................ .......... 50 WORLD NEW SGRAMS — James O. Henry ................................ 52 SCIENCE A N D THE BIBLE — Bolton Davidheiser ....................... 53 UNDER THE PARSONAGE ROOF — Althea S. Miller ............... 55 M
"M Y LIFE AND I" One million readers want this book—the astonishing autobiography of Paul Hutch ens, author of the world-famous Sugar Creek Gang series. . . . Nothing like it ever written before and it may be the Lord’s instrument to lift you out of leth argy and spiritual aimlessness into a life of radiance and fellowship with God. Com forting, challenging, faith-inspiring. . . . A just-right gift^book for any occasion-- and a MUST for'every Christian worker’s library. Billy Graham says of it: ■“ / hope it trill have an even wider ministry than the Suyar Creek books." Get it now at your Christian bookstore or. autographed, from SUGAR CREEK PRESS Box 88 Cascade, Colorado Regular hardback edition ................$2.50 Paperback ............................. only $1.50
HOW CAN THE
JEWknowCHRIST STIMULUS
A Jewish man heard the witness'from an A. M. F. Missionary in Florida. Patiently, with an open Bible the worker focused upon the need for peace in the human heart. Then pointing out some of the 333 prophecies about the Messiah, which were fulfilled in Jesus, he turned to Isaiah 53. RESPONSE The Jewish man read of the one who was “wounded for our transgressions” . . . and by whose stripes “we are healed.” Amazed that this was not the New Testament, but his own Jewish prophet Isaiah, his preju dice was overcome. He found his own condition portrayed. Best of all he found the One upon whom the iniquity of all was laid. 365 days of the year by personal contact, by tracts, and by radio, A. M. F. missionar ies are reaching Jewish people with the message of salvation. Archie A. MacKinney, Director AMERICAN MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP 7448 N. Damen Ave., Chicago 45, III.
" N O T I M E ! "
Cobimiu READER REACTION ................................................................. 7 PEOPLE IN THE NEWS ........................................................... 60
Personal Evangelism Personal Commitment to Christ Time— 42 minutes Rental: Color— $17.50 Catalog on request (Give name of clinrcli)
— A ll R igh ts Reserved —
6045 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, Calif. 90028 HOIlywood 3-3155
S. H. SUTHERLAND: Editor A L SANDERS: Managing Editor BETTY BRUECHERT: Copy Editor
PAUL SCHWEPKER: Controller
JANE M. CLARK: Circulation Manager
VIRG IN IA SCHWEPKER: Production Manager EDITORIAL BOARD: William Bynum, Bolton Davidheiser, Arnold D. Ehlert, Charles L Feinberg, James O. Henry, Martha S. Hooker
M EM BER
E V A N G E L IC A L PRESS A S S O C IA TIO N
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION — "The King's Business" is published monthly. U.S., its possessions, and Canada, $3.00 one year; $1.50 six months, 30 cents, single copy. Clubs of three or more at special rates. Write for details. Foreign subscription 75 cents extra. It requires one month for a change of address to become effective. Please send both old and new addresses. REMITTANCES — Should be made by bank draft, express, or post office money order payable to "The King's Business/'
ADVERTISING — for information address the Advertising Manager, The King's Business, 558 South Hope Street, Los Angeles 17, California. MANUSCRIPTS — "The King's Business" cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to manuscripts mailed to us for consideration. Second-class postage paid at Los An geles, California. Printed in U.S.A. by Church Press, Glendale, California. ADDRESS: The King's Business, 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 17, California.
6
THE KING'S BUSINESS
it does makea
diference whereyou train! Valuable on-the-job
M ISSION A R Y 'S THANK S Ever since we received our first copy o f THE K ING ’S BU SINESS we have meant to write to you. W e had not heard o f it before then. W e do not know who sent this subscription to us, but we certainly are glad to have it, and wish to thank the one responsible fo r it. It is an excellent magazine and one which we are pleased to have in our home. It is a magazine that we feel free to let our Filipino people read because it stands true to the W ord o f God. Keep up the good work. Rev. and Mrs. Frank Morse, Manila, Philippines E ditor ’ s N o t e : Subscriptions to THE KING’S BUSINESS make excellent gift-remembrances for missionaries. ISRAEL I have so enjoyed Dr. Talbot’s article on Israel in the June issue o f THE K ING ’ S BUSINESS, and have passed it along to a pastor-friend who is giv ing a prophetic series in his church. Mrs. Mary Lyons, West New York, New Jersey JUDGMENT AN YH OW How interesting the idea o f being frozen and stored in a deep freeze somewhere near the South Pole! (See Editorial, July KB .) But even so, we cannot postpone the judgment. That day will be by divine appointment. Far more interesting to us is the Christian hope o f resurrection. Praise God, we shall some day come back from the grave and then we shall be more alive than we have ever been. Lucy Hammond, Long Beach, California PRESENTING THE MESSAGE I want to thank you fo r the fine Christian friend that comes into our home each month — THE K ING ’S BUSINESS. It is filled with so many fine articles o f eternal value. W e use the Bible study outlines fo r presenting the message in our Methodist Youth Fellowship. The young people really receive a blessing out o f this study from God’s Word. I hope and pray that you will continue including this important phase on Bible study in each month. Rev. Clarence Landis, Blockton, Iowa M EM O R IA L GIFT Recently a friend o f ours passed away and since this gentleman’s w ife introduced us to THE K ING ’S BUSI NESS about 35 years ago, I thought it fitting fo r us to send an offering to pay fo r some missionaries’ subscriptions in memory o f this man. Mrs. Charles Connell, Alamo, Texas
experience is combined with classroom theory to provide well-rounded training at LeTourneau
I f you’re looking for a 4-year co-educational college with a vital Christian emphasis and a more practical academic program—one that goes far beyond mere classroom theory—then you’ll want to consider LeTourneau . . . the Liberal Arts College with the new concept in engineering and missionary preparation.
• F A A (Federal Aviation Agen cy) a p p ro v e d f lig h t t r a in in g fo r a ll qualified students • Active inter collegiate sports program • Moder ate c o s t s — u n iq u e “ A lt e r - d a y " w o r k -stu d y p lan e n a b le s upper classm en to “earn while they learn” — gain valuable on-the-job experi e n c e • A c a d e m ic a n d a t h le t ic scholarships available Wide choice of courses: ARTS AND SCIENCES ENGINEERING Bible Industrial Business Administration Mechanical Chemistry Education (Secondary Welding and Elementary) TECHNOLOGY English Aeronautical History Construction Mathematics Electrical Mechanical WRITE TODAY Missionary for more information Welding Office of Admissions Dept. KB104 Linotype
LeTourneau College ^ L O N G V I E W , T E X A S
7
NOVEMBER, 1964
V -VN
\ . V-vV) e
WHAT HAPPENS whenpeopleuse SCRIPTUREPRESS Sunday School lessons?
a message from the editor
BY DR. SAMUEL H. SUTHERLAND THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, INC.
STIFLING FREE SPEECH
. D m o n t h of July, 1964, there appeared another blatant and utterly indefensible effort on the part of the federal government to further its program of governmental control over every facet of American life. This creeping control of everything that we in America hold dear to our hearts is coming to pass so gradually and subtly that we hardly realize it. Any single in cident would not be worth noticing or making an issue of. But, alas, there is being fashioned by governmental agencies and trends a sizeable rope which is being used to strangle the very liberty and life of America as it has been known through its previous history. We are moving rapidly into a totalitarian type of govern mental control which is frightening in the extreme. There appeared in the April or May issue of The Nation, an article titled, "Hate Clubs of the Air.” Some of these so-called "hate clubs” are extreme in their denunciation of present admin istration policies and practices. Other of the "hate clubs” listed are not nearly so extreme, but all have one thing in common — namely, they are making an honest effort to alert the Ameri can people concerning dangers, both present and potential, so far as trends are concerned. These spokesmen for these so- called “ hate clubs” buy time over hundreds of stations through out the United States. Late in the month of June, an undated letter went out from the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D .C . It was signed by the "Deputy Chairman of Public Affairs” and read in part, " I thought it would be of interest to you . . . that all of these programs (referred to in The Nation article) have repeatedly attacked the candidates, programs and policies of the Democratic party. In view of the political campaign I thought you should be aware both of the content of these programs and the claims for time to which these attacks can make you liable.” Biola’s radio station, KBBI, received a copy of this letter. On July 2nd, KBBI received another letter from the Deputy Chair man for Public Affairs of the Democratic Committee which stated, in part, " I have been informed that your station broad- u r i n g t h e
• Interest soars! • Attendance increases! • Lives change! • Teachers grow! . . . Want these results in your Sunday School? Ask for sam ples, and examine Scripture Press lessons for yourself.
W%
.Sunday School
O Youth
' A Children's ^
. Propams^
Church «2 V I
SCRIPTURE PRESS J f L W heaton, Illinois
See your Christian bookstore or send coupon to ..
SCRIPTURE PRESS PUBLICATIONS, INC. Wheaton, Illinois 60188 Please send me FREE: KBAl 14 □ Sample Sunday School lessons and papers for ages___________ □ Brochure about the Total Church Program □ Information about free filmstrips
Name_________ _______— -----------------
Address____________________ — ---------------
City, State, Zip § ----------------------------------- —
Church______— ---------------------------
THE KING'S BUSINESS
■
cast today a recorded program . . . which attacked me personally as well as the Democratic National Committee of which I am Deputy Chairman. . . . I trust that you will immediately transmit to me the text of this broadcast and the offer of your facilities for an adequate response. In the event that you do not do so, the matter will be brought to the attention of the Federal Communi cations Commission.” Two facts stand out, (1) The Democratic National Committee demands free time at least equal to that which was paid for by the opposition in order to defend its own position, and (2) in the event the radio station does not see fit to provide that free time, the matter will be brought to the atten tion of the Federal Communications Commission with the obvious implication that it will bring pressure to bear upon the FCC to revoke the station’s license or at least to restrict severely its opera tion. And the FCC appears to be moving in exactly this direction under the pressure of these administration’s policies. Recently the Honorable Craig Hosmer presented a statement to the House of Representatives, and for the records, in which he declared, "One of its most restrictive measures is the Federal Communications Commission’s ordering radio and television sta tions carrying paid broadcasts on public issues of current import ance to offer free time to so-called responsible groups within the community to argue against what was said . . . this ruling of course has the effect of stifling criticisms of federal government policies . . . its rulings must be considered as calculated moves to manage the flow of news and to violate the constitutional guaran tees of freedom of speech. Inevitably this means that people will be given only the news and only the interpretations of the news which meet with approval o f the central government in Wash ington. And that is the same exact way in which communications are managed behind the Iron Curtain. I f this issue and these trends were purely of a political nature, and only that, the problem would not in the least be appropriate for the pages of this magazine. But it is our deep-rooted convic tion that the situation today which is being evidenced in political circles is vastly more than "mere politics” ; it strikes at the very roots of our beloved country. The trend is heading toward and, indeed already is, striking at the very heart of our religious life and liberty. A governmental policy of maintaining such a soft attitude toward Communism and such a hard attitude toward those who are opposed to this nefarious ideology is in large meas ure the cause of the chaos that we are seeing all about us in so many areas of our national life. The race riots which took place a few weeks ago in Harlem, New York, in New Jersey, in Rochester, as well as in areas of the Southern part of our country have been traced repeatedly to Communistic leadership. The actual names of known Communistic rabble rousers have been published in the papers, and absolutely nothing has been done by way of legal measures to thwart their activities. Instead, we have read in the public press that governmental authorities are plead- (continued on page 39)
S E C U R I T Y for you and a loved one in MOODYSURVIVORSHIP ANNUITIES When you enter into a Survivorship An* nuity Agreement with the Moody Bible Institute you are: . . . guaranteed a generous fixed income for yourself and a loved one during your lifetime together. ••. assured of the same generous income for the survivor as long as he or she shall live. . . . enabled to have a continuing share in the Lord’s work through the minis tries of the Moody Bible Institute. . . . secure in the knowledge that behind this agreement are the resources of the Moody Bible Institute . . . in business for God more than three- quarters of a century. Moody Annuities bring you returns up to 8 % per cent, depending on your age. Re member, too, they are not subject to the ups and downs of economic or market conditions. Since the plan was adopted more than 55 I years ago, not a single payment has been missed, or even late. While you are enjoying this lifetime in come, your annuity funds are at work for the Lord, making possible the training of conse crated young men and women for Christian service, and spreading the gospel through radio, literature and science films.
JOIN THE HUNDREDS of annuitants who write us of their satisfaction in this double-dividend investment of their funds, both in single and survivorship agreements. Write for free booklet giving full details. Clip and Mail Coupon Today!». WRITE: Annuity Department Dept. 11K4
MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE 820 N. LaSalle Street * Chicago 10, llllnoti O P lease send m e, w ithout obligation, DOUBLE dividends , story of Moody Annuity Plan. □ Please send folder, w here THERE'S A WILL, relating to stewardship. AAJrm ----- City- -Zone ___ State— Moody Annuities are Safe, Sound and Satisfying
9
NOVEMBER, 1964
A boy from Switzerland and a girl from Montana find reality amid the glitter and excitement of the New York World's Fair In the Billy Graham Pavilion at the Fair an unusual motion picture, “Man in the Fifth Dimension/' is challenging men and women of many backgrounds and cultures to an encounter with Jesus Christ. This is the heart-warming story of two young people who shared that experience.
For information contact our distribution office: WorldWide Pictures,1313 Hennepin Avenue,Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403
Premiering now in major cities coast-to-coast
10
T H E K IN G 'S BUSINESS
c v e e \ i t U ' \ \ ^ S s
G o o d g r i e f ! Talk about a camel’s going through a needle’s eye! Was this part of middle age, stab bing a moistened thread again and again at a sewing machine needle? Finally I pulled it through. I was star tled to hear the words, “ Thank you, Lord!” come aloud from my lips. Startled because I seemed somewhere along the line to have lost the art of spontaneous praise. My problems seemed to have enveloped me. I was ex periencing the shadows as never before. When had I let the negative thoughts, the cares and worries of this life, move in as tenants of my spirit? Satan must have managed it gradually, with great finesse. I was shocked when someone dear to me dared to say, “ You haven’t said a positive or cheerful thing all day.” I had looked at her and realized that it was true. “Not today nor for many days,” I agreed sadly. I felt completely appalled. What could I do? If the end results had been shown me when I indulged those first dismal thoughts, I should have avoided them as I would a con tagious disease or the narcotics habit. Oh, I’d dredged up the usual blessings that we in America are inclined to take for granted, and I’d gone through a form of lip service from a sense of duty. . . but when had I felt the words tumbling out of their own volition, “ Praise the Lord” ? A prominent Christian friend likes to indicate her gratitude to God in a crowded room when her witness or someone else’s is being effectively used, “ P.T.L.” Her lips silently forming the letters have lifted my spirits more than once. How could I experience the same effervescent joy? Or His quiet peace? I used to wonder when my husband would say some thing in his prayers, “Give us grateful hearts.” I had pictured myself as already possessing a grateful heart. Now through my times of depression I saw that it was possible to blot out that gratitude, to be filled with
“ the spirit of heaviness.” Where should I start again to climb the upward path? Obviously not in my own strength. I laid aside my sewing and reached for my Bible. The prophet Isaiah had a message for people like me, when he pro- claimbed the advent of Jesus Christ:
“ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the cap tives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound . . . to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:1, 3).
The Lord was ready to wrap me in “ the garment of praise.” Not so long ago I had spoken, taught and written the message of salvation. God had undergirded the witness. He had been my strength. He didn’t want me to present the image of a powerless, frightened, unhappy Christian. I would admit my own helplessness. I would learn to walk again, as my mother did after a severe child hood illness. “Walk in newness of life,” Paul called it (Homans 6:4b). “ That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strength ened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet [fit] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:10-14). I could hardly stop reading. “ Thank you, Lord!”
NOVEMBER, 1964
11
TIME FOR THE COMMON MAN by William Ward Ayer
N o v e m b e r :? is the high day of the American Com mon Man. The common man is that faceless, well- known, unknown, exploited, ridiculed, ridden, robbed, deceived, despised, applauded, flattered, coddled mortal. He is the grass roots of society; its prosperity, military strength; its wealth, goodness, badness, degradation, devoutness, virtue, vice, fame, fortune, faith and folly. This Common Man is to be “King for a Day!" We look squarely at this fantastic figure—America’s Common Man—endeavor to evaluate him, not in the light of the spread-eagle oratory of office seekers, but under the stern, yet benevolent, searching, merciful light of God’s Holy Word.
The collective Common Man of the nations is today troubled and vexed by the “ Prince of the Power of the Air” working through economic and social upheaval and religious apostasy. For more than fifty years, a vicious totalitarianism has been sweeping over the world. Nations have been in constant ferment, fulfilling the prophet’s word, “ The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isa. 57:20). While the movements under which totalitarianism inarches may have many different names and ideologies—fascism, communism, collectivism, socialism, or a headless democ racy—they are nevertheless one in purpose and result:
12
THE KING'S BUSINESS
there was a surplus; “ twelve baskets remained of the fragments.” Think of it! Plenteous provision without a financial deficit! The hungry, tired people were sent home refreshed. We read that after the feeding of the five thousand, “ Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore per ceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone” (John 6:14-15). But Jesus again knew their hearts and the next day said to those who continued to seek Him, “ Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26). It is as if He said, “ I’m not going to continue to feed you lazy people; this is not my purpose in the world.” Jesus had no modern-day poverty program. His challenge, “ Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life” was a blast to their self-seeking. Our materialistic day is learning sadly that if we look to political leaders to provide for our needs, we will eventually be made their slaves. This attitude displeased the crowd. They wanted free lunch. They knew Christ had power to supply, and working for a living was not easy. In disappointment and anger, they reminded Him that God had fed their fathers in the wilderness with manna when there was no other source of bread. Our Lord replied: “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. “ For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world . . . he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:32, 33, 35). But you can never satisfy the masses with spiritual food, so we are told that “ from that time many of his [temporary] disciples went back, and walked no more with him (John 6:66) because they were seeking, as the masses so often do. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING The last days of this age according to Christ’s “ Rev elation” will be marked by “ Laodiceanism” (the “ ruling of the people” ) or to be literal, “ the justice of the peo ple.” This is a false justice in which the people demand everything because they are the people. Laodiceanism is the final apostasy and it seems to be here! But we must look again at this faceless creature— the Common Man—and try to see what he really is. Lincoln said of the common people that “God must have loved them because He made so many of them.” And, foolishly, we little inconspicuous folk like to think this is so. It is true in a broad sense—God does love us —not because we belong to any social class, but because He loves all people. But if we think that special virtue resides in us simply because we belong to the nonde script mass, we are deluded. The devil propagates a big lie today: that the people are always right! We must always give the majority what they want. All virtue resides in the common peo ple: “ fifty thousand Frenchmen can’t be wrong!” “ The voice of the people is the voice of God!” But the voice of the people is usually just the voice of the people — that and nothing more! The Lord Jesus said that it was the “ little flock” who had found the truth. The rank and file of the people travel the “broad way” that leads to destruction while only a few find the “narrow way” that leads to life. Our God is usually the God of the minority, for usually it is only the minority
the dictatorship of the proletariat, the “ totalitarianism of the Common Man.” Its promise is to emancipate him and make him personally and collectively strong, but plainly today, to bind him down with fetters, take away his God, his rights and his reason, and melt and mold him into a world instrument for the coming world leader of the great society, Antichrist, whose spirit is already operative in society. What conditions have brought the Common Man to this hour? The people are haunted by fear. The depres sion of the thirties brought us to a mental state wherein many would rather be subsidized and well-fed than free and possibly hungry. Certainly the tremendous things that are happening were anticipated by the Holy Spirit, and Christians should not be blind to the dangerous trend. Christ faced this basic problem during His earthly ministry. Christ was the true Common Man, and so remarkable is the revelation that God has given of Him in His Word, that there are few experiences of nations or individuals which have not been anticipated in the Book. Mark 12:37 tells of the earthly popularity of Christ with His people by stating, “ The common people heard Him gladly.” The words translated “ common people” (great crowds) might be translated “ the masses,” a term much on the tongues of reformers and revolution ists. But Jesus dealt much with the masses. When Christ officially presented Himself as Israel’s Messiah (Matt. 21:1-11), fulfilling the prophecy of Zech. 9:9, multitudes followed Him from Bethany to Jerusalem, spreading their garments and waving palm branches. They gave Messianic praise to the Son of God, crying “ Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” When, however, our Lord reached Jeru salem, He was rejected as Messiah and King by the nation’s leaders and sorrowfully He went out of the city. Christ paid little heed to the enthused masses as they cheered Him on His way, for our Lord knew what was in the heart of man. He knew that a few days later the same crowd which had cried “ Hosanna!” would be shouting “ Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” In a day when “ every trick in the bag” is used politi cally to move the masses, it is heartening to discover that Christ, in the dignity of His deity, made no per sonal use of the masses. Politicians try to capture the approval of the crowd, and having captured them, often ride mass psychology to personal victory. Jesus was no rabble-rouser. He did not envision crowds as sources of personal power. The record shows that “when He saw the multitudes, He had compassion upon them because they were sheep without a shep herd.” Crowds were not votes and channels to personal power to Jesus, but objects of His love and pity. He longed to help them. Christ would not have made a successful modern politician. FEEDING THE FIVE THOUSAND Christ kept Himself aloof from the tryanny of mass psychology. There is a revealing record of this in the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel, the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. The multitudes had followed the Son of God as He went from place to place, healing the sick and performing other miracles, and at day’s end found themselves very far from home. We read that Jesus lifted up His eyes and saw a great company and asked Philip, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Then He took a little lad’s five loaves and two small fishes and multiplied the bread until He fed the multitudes, five thousand men, not counting the women and children. Miracle of miracles!
NOVEMBER, 1964
13
\ \ ) V ^ c C \ 1 1 Christ knew that men often were unreliable as fre quently they labored under great delusion and a false sense of their virtues. Jesus had no such delusions. He knew the fickleness of the crowd which could cry “ Hosanna” one day and four or five days later cry “ Crucify!” It was the common people, stirred up by the nation’s leaders, who demanded that Christ be beaten almost into insensibility; and then the same common people, seeing Him in agony, started to weep for Him. But Jesus said, “Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves.” Christ had no delusions about virtue’s residing in the masses. Here is where the church, the ministry, the whole cause of God and government come into the picture. The common people must be evangelized, regenerated, taught in the ways of godly and moral living, if they are to be a stable force and not a destroying mob. The Common Man has uncommon power. World leaders know it. The dictators, the political charlatans, the deceivers, the rabble-rousers, the grafters and power-seekers always see a grand potential in the masses. Americans must know that in this crucial hour, for the strength or weakness of any democratic society is the lower middle class or the Common Man. So long as this middle class has freedom, so long as he seeks to live honestly in the fear of God, the nation is safe, even if corrupters sometimes get into high places. Awful tragedy with succeeding national calamity comes when the middle class lose their God-conscious ness and with it their moral integrity. Then they are fair game for the destroyers who know that they will fall for promises of prosperity and security to be handed them on a platter by a clever regime. That is happening today. In every nation, tyrants and woud-be tyrants seek to destroy faith in God in order that they may substitute themselves and their programs. If the middle class is put in bondage, it is easy for the destroyers to handle the comparatively few big fel lows in industry and religion. The only way to preserve democracy in America or anywhere is to keep the balance of power within the firm grasp of the middle class— the common people—and have that middle class divinely regenerated and taught godliness, morality, decency and democracy. If the common man is spiritually-minded, has faith in God, believes the Bible and in moral responsibility, the nation will be high and holy. If, on the other hand, he does not know these things, he may fall very hard for the philosophy of a government which offers secu rity : the promise of safety for everyone from the cradle to the grave. In many countries, this procedure has ended in criminal dictatorships. The Common Man must be brought to a saving knowledge of Christ. The Common Man’s great day was “ the Day of the Cross.” God never intended that the masses of men should be without the curbs, the checks and balances of redemptive religion. Just as an army of ants in the jungle can clean the carcass of an elephant more quickly than a dozen lions, so a thoughtless, godless, self-seeking, oratory-aroused, fact-starved, applauded, deceived and deluded electorate can destroy a nation more quickly than a succession of unprincipled kings. Of whom such is given, much is required. By God’s goodness and mercy America has (as yet) a free land, and the right and power to maintain it. But we can’t prosper if we take God’s gifts and turn our backs upon the Giver.
which is for God! History tells this truth. Who is the Common Man? He’s the farmer, pro ducing the world’s food; the factory laborer, producing the world’s goods; the office worker, the clerk, and the manager, directing the nation’s business. He’s the hus band, the father, and the provider for the millions of families. He’s the taxpayer who supplies revenue for government administration. He’s the man who suffers most from the graft, scandal and military waste. When government is corrupt, it is the Common Man who suffers. When war comes, the Common Man fights and dies for his country. He bleeds and dies for liberty and justice, and he bleeds and dies as well when wars of aggrandizement are created and when tyrants climb to power over the bleeding bodies of the slain. He fights and dies in what men call a just and holy war, but dies as readily in one (World War II) which Christian Commitment I had grown up in a home where church and the Bible were taken for granted. Beligion came very naturally to me. It was a religion of habit, not of commitment. I remember vividly the night in 1951, while I was sitting alone in my parents’ home. For months my words in the classroom as a teacher had been coming back to mock me. I was urging my students to stand up and be counted, but I was a silent and very comfortably seated Christian! That night in the quiet of my room, the choice was suddenly made very clear. I could not con tinue to drift along as I had been doing—going to church because I had always gone, or be cause every one else went. Either Christ was God, the Saviour and Lord, or He was not; if He were, then He had to have all my time, all my devotion, all my life! I made the choice that night. I realized too that this would mean many changes in my life. Prayer, for instance. If God hears prayer, then I must pray not only at 11 on Sunday morning, but first thing every morning, last thing every night, and many, many times between. And if the Gospel were true, then how could I be silent about it? It is one thing to talk about commitment, but it is another to demonstrate what it actually means! — M a r k O . H a t f ie l d , Governor of Oregon Winston Churchill called “ An Unnecessary War.” It is the Common Man and his wife and his family who have provided the 35,000 boys killed in Korea, and those now dying in Viet Nam. The Common Man tightens his belt and struggles on, meeting the high taxes and the needs of his family. Collectively, the faceless Common Man is today a hero, tomorrow, a fool; today a peaceful citizen, tomor row, a killer; this year, an angel of mercy; next year, a devil o f destruction. There’s only one place where the Common Man excels and that is when he trusts in God; when the common man puts his common and often calloused hand in the nail-pierced hand of Jesus Christ and walks life’s path way in His power. Then and only then can he be saved from tyrants and traducers.
14
THE KING'S BUSINESS
Let us pause, as our Pilgrim fa thers did so long ago, to give prayerful thanks. W e are thankful for the country in which we live and for the free enterprise system that has enabled Americans to produce and reap the greatest harvest the world has ever known. Three hundred and forty years ago a change was made — from Communism to CAPITALISM. Tor three years the P i lgr im s starved under a communistic
system of "from each accord ing to his ability to each accord ing to his need." Then, in 1623 Governor Bradford abandoned this communistic policy and parceled out land to each family under the capitalis tic system o f "from each accord ing to his willingness to each according to his contribution." The resulting God-given miracle of abundance called for 'THANKSGIVING DAY.’
V\ S c ^ V e r
Christian Education
in Today’s World
by Dr. Jack MacArthur
A c c o r d in g to the grace of God which was: given to me as a wise master-builder, I lay the foundation, and another is building upon, but let each man be careful how he builds upon it, for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 3:10, 11). Graduates from the Biola schools have had the unique privilege of attending a Christian institution of higher learning. This is a rare oppor tunity beyond one’s ability to appreciate fully. This is something inimitable to our culture, something to be prized highly, because it is rapidly being lost. In a recent book entitled, “ The Crisis of Western Education,” written by a Catholic historian of Harvard University, Christopher Dawson, this author reminds us that the heart of Western civilization is its Christian culture; that the Western heart is not beating at the center of things where it belongs, but is fluttering on the fringes; that Western civilization is sick with a bad case of secularism. One of the most serious symp toms which may well finish off the patient in the end is the loss of moral order. “ The Western world,” says Dawson, “has become so deeply secularized that it no longer recognizes any com mon system of spiritual values, while its philosophers have tended to isolate the moral concept from its cul tural context, and have attempted to create an abstract, subjective system of pure ethics. “ If this were all, we should be forced to conclude that modern Western society does not possess a civilization but only a technological order resting on a moral vacuum.” “ But such,” continues Dawson, “ is not the whole case. Christian culture still has a tenacious vitality, but it must be made available to the minds and hearts of the young. This means that in Western universities and colleges, secular and religious alike, a strenuous effort must be directed to the study of Christian his tory, Christian theology and Christian tradition.” It has been the privilege of Biola graduates to attend a Christian school in the clearest possible definition of the word Christian. As Calvin Seerveld says, “ A church- related college is not necessarily a Christian college. Many private American colleges today are church-relat ed simply because some devoted clergymen started them in the 19th century, and the historical relation has been maintained because the church, like a distant rich uncle,
puts up the desperately-needed money in the spring of the year—providing that the Bible department hasn’t gotten too far out of line, and any student immorality has been kept out of the headlines. Moreover, if a church has betrayed its centuries-old Christian confessions, the fact that the college is ‘church-related’ means little.” Obviously, and in the light of recent trends and court actions, Christian education has become increas ingly, if not exclusively, the responsibility of positively identified Christian institutions. It is our contention that there is an urgent need to uphold the integrity of liberal art courses competently taught, and at the same time maintain the dignity, the authority, the infallibility and the depth of the revealed Word of God. This is the synthesis that constitutes an education that is gloriously adequate and truly Chris tian, and this is precisely what the Biola schools have accomplished magnificently. Man’s hopeless future desperately demands an edu cational effort that is basically Christian. About 40 years ago, Albert Sweitzer said, “ It is clear now to everyone that the suicide of civilization is in progress.” What becomes fascinating is that at the time Sweit zer wrote these words, this fact was certainly not clear to very many. What is amazing is that a lonely man, living not in the industrial heart of Europe, but on the edge o f the African jungle, should make such a state ment. It is now the general feeling everywhere that we are preparing for the most ghastly war in human history, a highly-mechanized, technical, scientific war where slaughter, death and devastation will be so wholesale that even to contemplate it staggers our imagination. It does appear from a purely humanistic point of view that we are getting into the vortex of possible extinc tion. In his book, “ The Predicament of Modern Man,” Dr. Trueblood says, “The awful truth is that our wisdom about ends no longer matches our ingenuity about means. And this situation, if it continues, may be suffi cient to destroy us, because, just at the moment of his tory, when the technical conditions for the oneness of the globe have finally appeared, we are woefully lacking in the moral conditions that are required if this situa tion is to be a blessing. . . . Because of a lack of moral direction, what might have been a blessing becomes a
16
THE KING'S BUSINESS
terrible curse, and the predicament of modern man is that he has built up a complex civilization, but he may lose it, because in his proud hour of achievement he has so largely lost, or never developed, the inner resources that are needed to keep a possible boon from becoming a calamity.” Then this distinguished scholar makes the obvious point that the problem with man today is spiritual, and he says, “Unless the spiritual problem is solved, civiliza tion will fail. . . . The truth is that man’s inherent sel fishness and propensity to evil is such that he will use instruments of power for evil ends, unless there is something to instruct him in their beneficent uses.” This is what former President Eisenhower meant when he said, “Unless our generation experiences a moral regeneration, we are about to disappear in the dust of a thermonuclear explosion.” Such moral regeneration is the exclusive promise of the Christian concept, and peculiarly the end which Christianity purports to accomplish. Apart from this possibility, the situation does appear to be absolutely hopeless. This is precisely what General MacArthur referred to when, on several occasions, he stated, “ Basically, the problem is theological. Unless we experience a spirit ual recrudescence to meet our almost matchless ability in science, we are going to destroy ourselves. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.” To put it tersely, the predicament of modern man is that he is smart and wicked, and if left to his own resources, might well destroy himself and his world. He is totally lacking in moral absolutes, and morality has become relative. The problem is not our physical world; the problem is man, and man is increasingly demonstrating himself to be, in the prostitution of his genius, both depraved and ruthless. The Scriptural diagnosis of man’s sinful nature is historically accurate. The heart of man is desperately wicked. Many are of the opinion that man has taken his final examination and failed; that Western civilization is over the hill, and the pall of pessimism is settling over a submerged and helpless humanity. We frankly admit that we cannot depend upon the academic atmosphere of our secular institutions to pro mote the moral climate that is essential to the salva tion of Western civilization. Christianity has been the basis of Western culture, and it is the spiritual heritage of our civilization and particularly and peculiarly of our own nation. President Coolidge avowed that “ America was born in a revival of religion—back of that revival were John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Francis Asbury.” This fact, however much ignored or obscured by secular historians, will stand the test of patient, accu rate research. In the conclusion of his excellent documentary en titled, “ This Freedom Whence?” J. Wesley Bready says, “Our own generation, amid prevailing skeptism and materialism, has little appreciated the glorious leg acy of spiritual attainment which, under God, be queathed its freedom.” The only institutions that are left in our culture to give a proper interpretation of our heritage and ex pression of it, and to give to man any semblance of hope as he looks into his uncertain future, are those that are distinctively Christian in character and pur pose. If we are going to challenge our rapid spiritual decline, our appalling moral disintegration, our ever growing sense of futility and despair, undoubtedly the most basic effort must be made in the area of Christian education.
The emphasis on technology desperately demands an educational effort that is basically Christian. There are those who are telling us that if we would save the world we must have a new emphasis upon scientific and technological education. They feel that the true answer to the catastrophe that faces us is more scientists who can build better missiles and bigger bombs. This is the Russian passion in education. Hence, once again, we are putting the emphasis on technological ability with out regard for the morality which determines how that ability shall be used. As Dr. Trueblood says, “ The paradox of failure at the moment of success is by no means a condemnation of technological progress, for such progress is morally neutral. It gives us the surgeon’s knife, but it also gives us the gangster’s weapon. Man . . . is peculiarly in need of something to buttress and guide his spiritual life. . . . The beasts do not need a philosophy or religion, but man does, and at this strategic moment it becomes nec essary that we put our best thought into the elabora tion and promulgation of an adequate faith, and this brings us to the incontrovertible fact that our public education system has become completely secularized, and I might add that secular education is the handmaid of the Communist philosophy.” J. Edgar Hoover warns, “ Communism, like crime, advances and takes hold because men ignore God.” I believe that much of the effort of education today is, first of all, to propagandize and then systematically to demoralize, and finally, to paganize utterly our youth. True, the technological progress of science in recent decades has been indeed staggering. But even scientists despair of the future, and grimly warn men of science’s monstrous power to wipe humanity from the earth. Not through politics, secular education or science, but only through spiritual renewal can a nation’s soundness and wholesomeness be established. Righteousness alone ex- alteth a nation. Vitally Christian institutions can give young people the living knowledge of the spiritual sources of our civil ization, and a personal faith that gives to life meaning, direction, purpose and fulfillment. The sheer emptiness of modern man demands an educational effort that is basically Christian. A college girl, robbed of her faith in God, and of her spiritual heritage, finally came to the place where her life was no longer worth living. When dying, a suicide left this testimonial to the world, “ My professor took God out of my heart; that is why my life is no longer worth living.” By the way, one hundred thousand people in the United States attempted suicide last year. Nearly twenty thousand succeeded in severing the cord that plunged them into eternity. Of particular note is the fantastic increase in suicides among students in Japan. Much of the teaching in many of our modem and secular institutions is not only non-Christian; it is anti-Christian, and sometimes venomously so. The cry of the hour in education is “ Liberty!” but the peril of the hour is “ License.” We hear much today about deep educational currents, but we have an intellectual- ism that is entirely superficial if, in its view of the universe and man, it does not find God, does not reveal God, and does not in any way relate man to God and God to man. Education is priceless in its value and no one wants its benefits abused or its values vitiated. But an edu cation that is hot Christian in content fills the head but misses the heart, and morality and spiritual direction, personal relevance and true adequacy for life are deter mined by the heart. The Holy Book says, “ As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” We who believe the
NOVEMBER, 1964
17
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter