Catholic merit system. These peo ple, whose souls are precious in God’s sight, are ofttimes buried in as deep paganism as the benighted heathen of backward lands. Perhaps the best way of reaching individual Roman Catholics today is to urge them to study carefully their own Roman Catholic Bibles, pray ing meanwhile that the Spirit of God, whose mission it is to convince of sin, will do His work in their hearts. —W.W.O. Can This Really Be True? The news was from Waterloo, Iowa, and concerned a will which set up a $70,000 trust fund with the income to be distributed to “ Persons who believe in the fundamental principles of the Christian religion and who are endeavor ing to promulgate the same.” The will was contested and the court sought to ascertain just what constituted a Chris tian. The amazing thing was that seven Iowa pastors testified that there was no real agreement among Christians on the subject of “What is a Christian?” They said furthermore that this issue had been debated for centuries and that world churches have consistently dis agreed on interpretations of the Bible. There is no question as to the differ ences of opinion on doctrines of Scrip ture but concerning the question of “What constitutes a Christian” there can be no reasonable doubt. The amaz ing part is that seven supposed pastors in so-called Christian churches in Iowa should be unable to agree readily on the most basic teaching of the entire Word of God. Nor does this require great theological erudition or profound ecclesiastical con sent. A Christian is merely a Christ man, one in whose heart dwells the liv ing Son of God, one who has come into personal, vital relationship with the cru cified and risen Saviour, one who has known that miracle of spiritual grace which God performs in the hearts of those helpless, bankrupt sinners who call upon Him. This brings to mind the touching re plies of seven people who were asked by a New York newspaper reporter, “What are your chances of going to heaven when you die?” The entire seven re vealed by their answers, some facetious, some serious, that they knew almost nothing of the grace of God offered to the sinner on the basis of the finished work of Christ. All of this is a reveal ing commentary to Christians of today. Far too many people have not the slight est understanding of God’s great and glorious plan of salvation and because of their pathetic ignorance are on their way to an eternal hell as surely as the sun rises. The personal work of Chris tian people should be directed along ex ceedingly simple lines, pointing out very primary principles of man’s hopeless condition and the simplicity of becom ing one of God’s children through per sonal faith in Calvary’s Christ. —W.W.O. Page Five
archy with the result that the rosy dreams of liberal-minded churchmen of today, along with the deeply-laid plans of Roman Catholic diplomats, will be fully realized by the growth of a huge world church largely along the lines of the present Roman Catholic system. Coincident with this will be the sud den emergence of the world’s great po litical leader whom the Scriptures call “the beast,” who is more familiarly known as the Antichrist. Seeing an ad-
Him glad by reiterating our surrender to Him on this day. We will be very busy but let us not be too busy to take the time to be present at some little service of worship and devotion somewhere on Christmas day. Together with this, in the solitude of our own devotions, let us tell Him once again that we love Him with all our hearts. If we will do this there will be a sweet ness and a joy about Christmas which we have never known before. —J.HJ. Coming Torrey Conference J UST as there are some outstanding feasts and holidays in our secular year, there are also some outstanding feasts of spiritual things each year on our spiritual calendar. One of these is the marvelous time of fellowship and Bible study known as the Torrey Me morial Bible Conference, which will take place in Southern California beginning Sunday, January 13, and continuing through the following Sunday, January 20. The main sessions will be held in the spacious auditorium of the Bible Insti tute and Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles. Sessions will also convene in the new Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena; First Brethren Church in Long Beach; and the Faith Bible Church in San Bernardino. Speakers will include: Dr. Vance Havner, Dr. Herbert Lockyer, Rev. Angelo LoVallo, Dr. John G. Mitchell, Dr. Walter M. Montano, Dr. Clarence S. Roddy, Dr. Gordon H. Smith, Dr. J. A. Huffman, Rev. J. Arthur Mouw, Dr. Louis T. Talbot, and others. Further information concerning subjects and meetings may be obtained in a folder supplied by the Extension Department of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, 558 S. Hope St., Los Angeles 17. —W.W.O. Coming Roman Catholic Predominance Tens of thousands of impassioned words are currently being written with regard to the President’s proposal to send a full-fledged ambassador to the Vatican. The position of The King’s Bus iness is that it is irrevocably opposed to any siitch procedure, feeling, along with most other Protestants, that it is un- American, unwise and definitely unscrip- tural. Reams of material are being pub lished to show the why and wherefore of such reasoning. What we would like to point out concerns the inevitable com ing of Roman Catholic fullness. The order of further events as we see it looks forward first to the rapture of the Church, that thrilling event when the Lord Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom, returns for the church which is His bride with the meetingplace in the air and the result which is joy forevermore for believers (1 Thess. 4:13, 18). With the true church removed, there will be but the great hollow shell of for mal Christendom remaining. This un doubtedly will be dominated by" the strength of the Roman Catholic hier- D E C E M B E R , 1 9 5 1
J^o Christmas map be merrp J?o ijeart map trulp sing 3Snttl tfje Cfjrtsit of Cfjrigtmag f&t crotoneb tte 3Lorb anb Hing vantage in union, the Antichrist will link up with the world church or, as the Scripture puts it, the church will “ sit” upon the new political system. All goes well as the Antichrist works out his aims and the church ostensibly carries on worship to God. But not for long. Perhaps in the middle of the Tribulation Period the political and mili tary world leaders will turn savagely upon the church, destroying it utterly in favor of open emperor worship which is in reality the worship of Satan. This is, in brief, the Scriptural picture of the fall of the great Roman Catholic system. However, let it be well remem bered that in the Roman Catholic church there are some born-again Christian people. This has been made possible not through the church but in spite of the church. These true Christians will not suffer the persecution of the Tribulation Period but, along with all of God’s children, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air at the time of the rap ture. Earnest Christians today should do whatever possible to reach those who are in the deep darkness of the Roman
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