207
June, 1945
tion of the gospel. And with what consecrated zeal we should exhort the Church of Christ to turn from unim portant and petty things, to the great est task in all time, that of preaching the matchless story of the grace of God. Now is the time to think, to plan, to organize. Soon the peace will be upon us, then to work for Christ as never before. God give us wisdom and courage for we need it today as never before. ★ ★ Value Demonstrated One of the unforeseen benefits of sending the young people of America to various and far-flung battle fronts all over the world has been that there with their own eyes they have had a sight of foreign missions in action. They have beheld the effect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ upon the stony hearts of pagans. In some' sections, according to first-hand reports, our boys have been disgusted beyond measure at the filth and degradation of untouched barbarism. For con trast, they have been amazed at wit nessing the transformation of many of the worst into clean, intelligent, obedient and upright citizens, through the appropriation of Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and Lord. Writes a soldier from New-Guinea, “ I had a few mental reservations as to the value of foreign missions, but now I have had all my doubts erased.” An officer stationed in the South Pa cific confessed, “These people who were head hunters not long ago are so changed it might be beneficial for them to come over and evangelize our civilized western world a bit.” This is not new to us who have long known and loved the cause of foreign missions. But we should be happy to see that as a result of the uncovering processes of war the mis sionary enterprise would be vindi cated. Certainly these astonishing tales from mission lands have shed a spotlight on many obscure, and often despised, missionaries. Now is the time to promote mis sions as never before. Now is the time to take advantage of the public interest. Now is the time for the church of Christ to awaken and to press the battle with all the energy at our command. This mpy be our last chance before Christ returns to set up His kingdom in all of the lands of earth. Let us then not fail God in prayer for the missionaries; let us not be niggardly about investing our money in His cause; and let thè young peo ple among us consider the call to go in person!
gospel to the ends of the earth ere Jesus returns? ★ ★ What Shall We Do With Peace? With surprisingly little celebration, and admirable gravity and under standing, the people of these United States received the long awaited news of “V-E” day, and the cessation of hostilities on the European continent. Today the lands of our enemies are now being occupied by the victorious troops of the United Nations. The war criminals are being ferreted out, and the vast task of reconstruction begun. One of these days the wires will crackle with the further announce ment that Japan has capitulated, and that entire peace ha^ been declared. Undoubtedly, many will “go wild" with this news. We earnestly trust, and feverently pray that this day may be soon. But look here—what are we going to do with the peace? What is our country going to do with the peace? Do you think that God will bring about a cessation of hostilities merely in order that we may revert to the manufacture of more ca»s, more re frigerators, more gadgets? Have we not in peace as well as in war a solemn obligation to fulfill? In these years of war, God’s mercy to us has been marked. Not a bomb has landed on our shores. Our fields have brought forth abundant harvests. Our natural resources of coal and iron and oil have not failed even when we have had to satisfy the voracious appetite of war. On the other hand, our enemies are suffer ing from lack of these requisites for successful combat. When peace comes, shall we forget God? Shall we turn to our selfish ways and multiply to ourselves the means of pleasure, ease, and sin? Shall we fail to remember that God is primarily interested in righteous ness and in the propagation of the gospel? Shall we turn a deaf ear to the cry of the millions who never heard that Christ died and rose again? God is giving America the greatest opportunity in her history not only to be a leader of nations, but to be His “mouthpiece” to the world. Oh, that the coming of peace would mean that we would set ourselves to do the will of God! Many students of the Word of God feel that if complete peace once again returns, it may be the very last peace before the events surrounding the re turn of Christ. If this be true, how dead in earnest we should be to make every minute count for the propaga-
The San Francisco Conference In our neighboring city, by the Golden Gate, representatives of nearly fifty nations are assembled to draw up a blue print for the peaceful set tlement of disputes among nations of the earth. The envoys to this confer ence are serious minded men con vinced that something must be done if civilization is to endure. During the last few weeks the sorriest page of human history has unfolded. Innocent victims of war—the starved, the beat en and the slain in concentration camps have passed before their eyes in the columns of our newspapers and magazines. In a sense, the San Fran cisco delegates are desperate meri. They must either get together on this matter of peace, or international chaos will ensue. This conference challenges every Christian to pray mightily that God will give wisdom and under standing. He alone is able to bring results from this meeting. At the same time we ask ourselves, "Can this meeting succeed?" In all the milleniums of human history, there have been very few years when war has not been raging somewhere. Have we now arrived at a state of civiliza tion which is able to outlaw war or has this last most terrible, most costly war, forever sounded the death knell to the myth that civilization can in itself cause wars to cease? Our belief is that, while these men are sincere and while we certainly pray for them, there can be no peace between men and nations until the heart of man, which the Bible de clares to be deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, is changed, made over, metamorphosed into a new heart. This can only take place by a miracle of God’s grace. Thank God it does-happen when men and women receive the Son of God as their per sonal Saviour! But will nations ever be converted? No, we believe not. But God also has an answer for this, and at a time known only to Himself, He will call a halt to this whole holocaust of blood shed, and send His beloved Son to bring order out of chaos. Another con ference will be set up at that time and none other than the Son of God will occupy the permanent chairman ship. Then we shall see that of which the prophets wrote centuries ago. Na tions shall learn war no more and righteousness and peace shall cover the earth as waters cover the sea. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! But as Christians, and even with the knowledge that the effort must be a futile one, we must,—and we repeat, we must not fail to pray for leaders and all who are in authority-. Who can tell, but that this will be God’s method to open doors for another priceless opportunity to preach the
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