July, 1939
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
276
Discontent. They constantly murmured against God or His chosen leaders. When God gave them bread from heaven, they craved flesh from Egypt and wished they could again breathe the congenial atmos phere of that land—forgetting the terrible bondage of those days. The wilderness Christian is occupied with his own troubles rather than with fighting God’s battles. There are no really contented Christians in the wilderness. Pruitlessness. It is true Israel fought and won battles in the wilderness, but it did not advantage them anything, for they did not gain any territory thereby. They merely gained the right to pass through the enemy’s territory. At the end of forty years’ marching and fighting, they were as poor and landless as when they began. There are no fruitful Christians in the wil derness. Negative living. The main virtue of the Israelites was that they were not doing Egyptian things, although secretly they longed to do them. There was nothing positive or aggressive about their lives. Many wilderness Christians do not go to pictures, dances, theaters, do not drink, smoke or swear, but having said that about them you have said all. You look in vain for the aggressiveness of a spiritual war rior. There are no positive Christians in the wilderness. Vacillation. They alternated between the two borders of Egypt or Canaan. When with worldly people, wilderness Christians would delight to join in their worldly pur suits were it not for what others would say. Occasionally, when away from home or observation, they will guiltily make a secret excursion into Egypt. At a special mission or Bible camp they journey across to the Canaan border, and long to enter in, but they always shrink back at the thought of the cost. One day they enjoy sweet communion, and the next doubt their sal vation. There are no stable Christians in the wilderness . . .Is this what you desire as your experience? Do you not long for a better experience? You do not long to obtain it half as much as God longs to be stow it.— S elected . II. W hat K ind o f C hristian A re Y o u ? There is the great outer circle of non- Christian people— they know. Many of them are poorly informed regarding the Christian life: hungry for something they have not, and know not just what it is; with high ideals, though vague, of what a Christian life should be. And they look eagerly to us for what they have thought we had, and are so often keenly disap pointed that our ideals, our life, are so much like others who profess nothing. And when here and there they meet those whose acts are dominated by a pure, high spirit, whose faces reflect a sweet radiance amid all circumstances, and whose lives send out a rare fragrance of gladness and kindliness and controlling peace, they are quick to recognize that, to them, intangible some thing that makes such people different. The world—tired, hungry, keen and critical for mere sham, appreciative of the real thing-^ the world knows what kind of Christians we are. Do we know?- —S. D. G ordon .
AUGUST 13, 1939 WILDERNESS CHR ISTIANS
COLOSSAL CULT AMAZING Mass Meeting held in Los Angeles; secret plans laid for taking over the nation, unreported by any paper. B et ter read JU LY issue P R O P H E C Y MONTHLY without fail. Bottomless dupli city of Stalin; Hitler’s “Blueprint for Hell,” Euthanasia to relieve relief burden; Fea ture article, “Bridge of Tears” by Morris Gordin, converted Jewish Communist; Composite sign of the age end. W rite im mediately for this issue. Free 50c book, “From Top Down,” choice Bible study, if you send $ 1 for year with this advertise ment a t once. PROPHECY MONTHLY Box BB, Sta. E.R. • Los Angeles, Calif.
N um bers 13:26 to 14:34*; 1 C orinthians 10:1-6, IT Meditation on the Lesson
In contrast to the faithful servants of the Lord considered in our last study, there are the unfaithful or "-wilderness” Chris tians. Instead of serving, they are mur muring; instead of rejoicing, they are complaining; they are up one day and down the next. Have we not all been there? God grant that we may not remain there, but may go on into the Promised Land of our inheritance in Christ. Our picture, of course, is drawn from the experience of the Israelites who, after sprinkling the blood of atonement, were led out of Egypt (which parallels the "world"—the “world-system” of which Sa tan is the ruler), through the Red Sea, through the wilderness to the very thresh old of the Promised Land, which through unbelief they failed to enter. "Now these things were our examples” (1 Cor. 10:6). The journey from the Red Sea to Kadesh-Bamea is a necessary and legitimate "wilderness" experience for the child of God (that time from conversion to the realization of our inheritance in Him), but the sad and tragic experiences of the subsequent wasted years of wander ing is a warning to us. May we heed the warning! May we search our hearts to see whether His Word is more precious now than when we first believed, to determine whether that quiet time with Him is more of a delight than a duty. Are we murmuring for "the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic” (Num. 11:5) of the old life, or are we dis covering the treasures of the new? May God search our hearts and show us where in we have failed through unbelief. Helps for the Leader I.
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