347
June 1928
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
God, both home-life and community-life would be alto gether changed. Pleasures of the home can be so arranged that they do not become questionable. Wholesome games, exercises and pastimes for children, are abundant today. Outdoor sports o f all kinds can find a large place in the life o f youth to day, thus ministering to their physical, social, and educa tional needs, and keeping them away from sinful amuse ments. There must be parental discipline and children must be taught how to work in and about the home. “ The iniquity of Sodom was pride, fulness o f bread,- and abun dance o f idleness . . . . neither did she strengthen the hand o f the poor and needy” (Ezek. 16:49). Many of the youth o f today fail to learn how to work and are un equipped for responsibility when they are required to assume the duties o f home-life. Work is one o f ,the great est secrets o f success and blessing when coupled with godliness, faithfulness, perseverance and intelligence. Christ must be made the head o f every Christian home ; the Holy Spirit must be given His abiding place there. Love will then reign supreme; life will be made sweeter by little kindnesses and much forbearance. The earthly home will then become the foretaste of heaven. Let us beware o f these modern enemies o f the home. Let us not wreck the home, for it is the heart of the community and of the nation. It is the thing for which men will work and fight' unto death. I f your home is just a stopping place; seek unto God, build up the family altar, receive Christ in His fulness and ask Him daily to honor your home with His presence and to make it a blessing, P ray M uch for R ussia W e should put Russia on our prayer-list. It is a land o f strange contradictions. In revolting from Czar- ism, with its oppressions, it has become subject to a system which is seemingly still more repressive. Throwing off the power which kept its jails full, it now finds itself in need of more buildings in which to house its prisoners. It proclaims liberty for the masses, but still restricts it to its own favored classes. Yet no generalizations are possible in so vast a popu lation. I f we say the Bolsheviks restrict religious liberty, we aré bound at the same time to declare that many mil lions of Russians have openly avowed their faith in Christ within recent years. If it be said there is religious liberty in Russia, we must also make it plain that the teaching of religion to young people under sixteen years o f age is punishable—perhaps by imprisonment or death. If it should be said that preachers go unhindered upon their missions, it is necessary that that statement be qualified by the records of imprisonment and banishment in recent years. I f it be observed that the Bolsheviks have not at any rate entered upon a wholesale massacre o f evan gelical Christians, it must be remembered that Bolshevism is anti-Christian and that its young people are being taught to hate God, to hate Christ and all that pertains to the name and work o f the Redeemer. No statement as to whether there is or is not religious liberty in Russia can cover the conditions in so large a country: the FACTS must speak for themselves.
were carrying on in a questionable way. This was all in one evening between ten and twelve o ’clock. Bolshevism and Socialism teach laxity in marriage relations, and some of our “ great thinkers” now openly advocate “ free-love” without permanent marriages. Surely this is contrary not only to Scripture, but to all civilized social practices. Such systems and such teachings are bound to break down the home. W here P arents B reak D own The laxity of parents in conducting family altars with their children is one of the root causes of these conditions. Prayer and Bible study in the home will do what nothing else can do. God’s fury is ready to be “ poured out upon the families that call not on His name” (Jer. 10:25). We would be amazed if we knew what a miserably small pro portion o f all Christian homes in America conduct family devotions morning and night. They are too busy, too worldly, or too careless and unspiritual to do so. They have lost their first love for Christ. There will remain nothing that can be called home in the future unless we get back at once to the old family altar and learn to love, to serve, and to worship the true and only living God at the fireside. Worship o f God, singing spiritual songs, praying with one another, the reading o f the Bible, should be the normal practice in any Christian home. The reading of good Christian books and periodicals should also find a place in «very Christian home. If people would learn to read, to study, to think, to pray, to act according to the Word of i T is perilous to be active in Christian work in Rus sia today. From E. E. Shields, Home Director for the Russian Missionary Society, we learn of the unjust treatment accorded five workers—--two pastors and three evangelists o f Leningrad. These men, all men with families, were arrested and imprisoned by the Bolsheviks some months ago. No charge was brought against them, but now after having been so long in prison, they have been sent into exile for two years in the far North near the White Sea. In the early dawn of February 8th, this year, these earnest Christian leaders were taken from prison to the train. Christian brethren were on hand but dared not speak to the prisoners. Lines of soldiers allowed no one near, but seeing friendly faces in the crowd was a great comfort to these innocent men who are being persecuted for faithfulness to Christ, friends with whom they had often knelt in prayer and whose hearts had grown to gether in brotherly love. The “ hard labor” imposed upon the exiles is usually fatal. A definite amount o f work has to be done each day. If someone is ill and unable to accomplish his por tion, he is punished. For instance, he may be compelled to spend the whole night outside, and in the Northern cold this means something. Friends were able to have some warm clothing provided, but unless they are able to send them support each month, the chances of their return are small, for the maxim by which they are given food is, “ Too much to die, too little to live.” The spiritual state of the Church is improved. Seeing their leaders thus suffering “ for righteousness’ sake” has made them more bold and sincere.
The Land of Strange Contradictions
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