Putnam Studios
"Bless the Lord, all his wor\s in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul”
P R E S I D E N T P A U L W . R O O D J O I N S R I O L A H O N O R R O L L
Chicago, B B H September 7, 1
M
D r Loms T. T albot 536 South Hope Street I ^ h
11 ■ 11 ■ i n W S B B B H m B ^ ,or 11 ■ m m f ffl fflB m
'"po,totte
)
t H U —until the institute
£ ei certain- * urge every f« en the right U H and to g i v e - of the M B m P 7 friend Q{ ^ th l i feel
contribution, although l o r D ’S way
R E G U L A R ^
(or weeHy) co
It is the Scriptural o r d e n ^ ^ 1^ an understanding °r not necessarily f f cr students as
from
made out in my “ “ “ •
I „ o r e t r u l y a
m BSM
H I fSM parts 0 *
m £ e a H H H inyestment in
Certainly
I tire I H i S
Indmetwelltnad
’
Yours in His servrce,
J
*A BEAUTIFUL CERTIFICATE (6" x 9") SUITABLE FOR FRAMING, SENT TO EACH HONOR ROLL MEMBER.
The Scroll of the Law
S h e t W a ^ ^ î n e Motto: "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood .”— R ev . 1 :5.
Volume XXVI
September, 1935
Number 9
TABLE OF CONTENTS • New President of Biola Holds Confidence of Outstanding Leaders ....... 322 Around the King’s TablaS-Louis T. Talbot—............................ ......324 Learning, Living, Looking—Vance Havner....................... 325 The Romance of Personal Evangelism-—R. W. Hambrook........... 326 The Christian Minister’s Danger of Too Much Secular Reading—Wilbur M. Smith....................................................... 328 J The Renaissance of “An Amazing Race”-gLouis S. Bauman......... 330 Bible Institute Family Circle.............. .336 Junior King’s Business^-Martha S. Hooker..................... :.............. 337 International Lesson Commentary..;iiiisS^fesL;,„...j.......... ............. 339 Our Literature Table......................................................................... 347 Notes on Christian Endeavor—Nadine K.Warner....................... 348 Evangelistic Notices............................................... 353 Daily Devotional Readings................................. 354
T he Scroll is th e most Sacred thing in th e Jewish Synagogue. C hrist read His i n t r o d u c t o r y m e s s a g e from th e scroll in the Synagogue. Every Bible Student ought to have one of these miniature scrolls. Our Offer We want you to read The Chosen People, edited by Joseph Hoffman Cohn, son of ExRabbi Leopold Cohn, and considered by many Bible students the most help ful paper on prophecy and the Jew published in America. It gives you inspiring reports of the world-wide activities of the American Board of Missions to the Jews, Inc. Also, we want you to read the life story of ExRabbi Leopold Cohn, written by himself in a sixty- page booklet—one of the most thrilling stories you have ever read. Jews are really accepting the Lord Jesus Christ. The price of the Scroll is 50 cents, and The Chosen People is 50 cents a year. Mr. Cohn’s auto biography is 30 cents. Send us $1 and we will mail you ALL and enter your name for a year’s sub scription for The Chosen People; if not satisfied we’ll return your money without a question. And may we remind you also of the continuous need of our Mis sionary undertakings? Our work merits your every confidence. It is a program of world-wide Gospel testimony to the Jews. Your fel lowship in prayer and gift is ah ways welcomed and appreciated. The Chosen People is of course sent to all contributors. American Board of Missions to the Jews Inc. 31 Throop Aye., Brooklyn, N. Y.
I N F O R M A T I O N F O R S U B S C R I B E R S
T E R M S: Single Copies.............................................. 15c Annual Subscription.....................................................$1.50 Two-year subscription or two annual subscriptions. 2.50 Five annual subscriptions................................................ 5.00 Eleven annual subscriptions...........................................10.00 Subscriptions'in countries outside of U. S. require 25c extra, R E M IT T A N C E : Should be made by Bank Draft, Ex press or P. O. Money Order, payable to “Bible Institute of Los Angeles." Receipts will not be sent for regular subscriptions, but date of expiration will show plainly each month, on outside wrapper or cover of magazine. CH A N G E OF A D D R E S S : Please send both old and new address at least one month previous to date of de sired change.
A D V E R T IS IN G : For information with reference to advertising in THE KING’S BUSINESS, address the ADVERTISING MANAGER, 558 SOUTH HOPE STREET, LOS ANGELES, CALIF., or our eastern representative. Religious Press Association, 825 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, Pa., or 333 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Entered as Second Class Matter November 17, 1910, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, California, jinder the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage pro vided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized October 1, 1918. M A N U SC R IP T S: THE KING'S BUSINESS cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to manuscripts sent to it for consideration.
PO LIC Y A S D E F IN E D BY T H E BO ARD OF D IR EC T O R S OF T H E B IB L E IN ST IT U T E OF LOS A N G E LE S (a) To stand for the infallible Word of God and its great fundamental truths, (b) To strengthen the faith of all believers, (c) To stir young men and women to fit themselves for and engage in definite Christian work, (d) To make the Bible Institute of Los Angeles known, (e) To magnify God our Father and the person, work and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and to teach the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our present practical life, (f) To emphasize in strong, constructive messages the great foundations of Christian faith.
Ask for our fre e booklet on Jewish Mission Annuity Bonds.
558 So. Hope St., BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles, California
322
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
September, 1935
Dr. R o o d an d his family. Standing, left to righ t: Don ald, Bonevieve, Rodney, W o o d row . Seated, le ft to ric|ht: Dr. Rood, Pauline, Mrs. Rood.
PAUL W. ROOD ILew President
B I OL A Holds Confidence of Outstanding Leaders M essages of congratulation and greeting are being received at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles from all parts of the country. These cordial letters and telegrams" as a mighty bulwark of the faith in the perilous times and priceless opportunity of today. I rejoice in his call to this great service. C harles G. T rumbull
come from men and women who know the Institute and its traditions and who are also well acquainted with the Presi dent-elect, Rev. Paul W. Rood, D.D., who, on September 16, accepts the responsibility which Rev. Louis T. Talbot, D.D., has faithfully borne. The writers know, first of all, the school. They are familiar with its record of more than a quarter of a century of Bible teaching; its provision of instruction without tui tion charge; its emphasis upon evangelism; its widespread influence through the printed page; its graduation of thou sands of high-caliber, consecrated men and women who, at the Lord’s command, have found places of honor and large usefulness in the world vineyard. And the friends who write know also the man who, it is verily believed, has been divinely chosen and equipped of God to lead the Institute to fresh victories to be achieved in the name of the Lord. F rom t h e E xecutive S ecretary of t h e W orld ’ s C h r is t ia n F undamentals A ssociation Paul Rood, the newly chosen President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, is, and for many years has been, my intimate and trusted friend. In the closest fellowship with him, I have found him lovable and dependable, sound in the faith and a successful preacher of the gospel, and an altogether loyal spirit. Biola’s family will love him, I am sure. W. B. R iley F rom t h e E ditor of t h e “ S unday S chool T im e s ’’ My beloved friend Paul Rood brings to his great responsibilities in the Bible Institute a life consecrated to the Lord, a rich experience in Bible teaching and evangel ism, sound practical common sense, personal acquaintance with the Pacific Coast and many sections of America, inti mate fellowship with outstanding Christian leaders, and deep conviction of the strategic place of the Bible Institute
F rom t h e P astor of t h e M oody M emorial C h u r c h , C hicago , I llino is I am praying earnestly that God may set His seal in a wonderful way upon the selection of my beloved friend and brother, Dr. Paul W. Rood, as President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. His international reputation as a thoroughly sound and evangelistic preacher should, it seems to me, mean a great deal to the work of the Institute, assuring its friends everywhere that Dr. Rood will ever seek to maintain the Institute’s high Scriptural standards. H. A. I ronside F rom a P rom in en t P h y s ic ia n , A uthor , and B ible T eacher I am delighted to know that Dr. Rood has been selected as President of the Bible Institute. It seems to me that he is just the man for this important position at this time. He has unusual intellectual gifts combined with rare spiritual ity and splendid organizing ability. He is well acquainted with the problems of youth, and young people always find in him a sympathetic and understanding leader and friend. He is a Christian gentleman of the highest type, fervent in prayer and possessed of unusual platform gifts. He is absolutely sound in the faith, with a wide knowledge of the Bible, and is both gracious and courageous in his defense of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Under his able leadership, I am sure that the greatest measure of success will come to Biola. The importance and influence of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles cannot be exaggerated. Everywhere I meet young men and women who have gone out from its class rooms and are being used by God wherever they are located. Such a center is an absolute necessity, and I pray that great things may be in store for you. A r thu r I. B rown
September, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
323
F rom t h e P resident of t h e M oody B ible I n stitu te , C hicago , I llino is My congratulations and good wishes are extended to the Bible Institute of Los Angeles on its new leader, Dr. Paul Rood. He is a man of God and is true to the faith once de livered. He is a preacher of ability, and I am certain will win friends for himself and the school. May God give you a great ministry together. W il l H . H oughton F rom t h e P resident of W heaton C ollege , W h ea ton , I llino is I wish to express my heartiest good wishes and con gratulations as my dear friend, Mr. Paul Rood, assumes the great responsibility of heading up your magnificent work. Our most earnest prayers will be with you all, and we are confident that the blessing of the Lord will rest upon you. J . O liver B u sw ell , J r . I have 'just learned that Rev. Paul W. Rood, D. D.; has been chosen President of the Bible Institute of Los An geles. I am delighted. He is a true Christian, a real evan gelist with a burning passion for souls. He is an able preacher, an untiring worker, an uncompromising de fender of the faith delivered once for all to the saints, and is in every way worthy of your confidence. He was for years a pastor in Seattle. My fellowship with him as a copastor was most delightful. I pray for him unlimited success. You are to be congratulated on securing his serv ices. He has my best wishes and every moral support I can give him. M . A. M atth ew s F rom t h e E ditor of t h e L eading S w ed ish P ublica tion s in A merica — “M issions V a n n e n ” and t h e “M ission F riend ” I have known Dr. Paul W. Rood since he was a young Ji student at the Theological Seminary at North Park College in Chicago, and following his career from that time rather closely, I have found him to be first of all a very sincere and earnest Christian, having always a clear testimony of his experience with his Lord and Master and his faith in Him and His Word. He has grown to be a mighty preacher and expounder of the gospel, having served with great suc cess several of our large churches in the Swedish Evangel ical Mission Covenant of America. In different parts of the country, he has also led great revival campaigns, in which many souls have been won for the Lord. Dr. Rood has always shown an untiring zeal and great ambition in the Christian service, never sparing himself. He is a diligent and fundamental student, striving to grasp more knowledge and acquiring a deeper insight into God’s revelation, especially the prophetic word, comparing it with the signs of the times. His stand as a stanch fundamentalist is well known all over the country. We congratulate the Bible Institute of Los Angeles up on its new President. O tto H ogfeldt The expression of honor that is shown in these letters is no mere polite gesture. These men know whereof they speak. For twenty-four years, Paul W. Rood has been observed as a pastor and. executive, and the record of those years shows him to be a man of prayer, of hard work, and of Scriptural balance in matters of Bible teaching and F rom a L eader of P resbyterian F orces in t h e P ac ific N orthwest
Swedish Tabernacle, Seattle, Wash., where a church debt of over $30,000 was liquidated during Dr. Rood’s pastorate.
Beulah Tabernacle, Turlock, Calif.— the building erected during the period of Dr. Rood's ministry there.
Beulah School, formerly Turlock High School, acquired, renovated, and equipped for Sunday-school while Dr. Rood was pastor in Turlock, Calif. evangelism. These dominant characteristics were striking ly evident in all of his pastorates and other connections. His work in Seattle, Wash., and Turlock, Calif., was especially significant. C hu r ch D ebt C leared D ur ing D r . R ood ’ s P astorate During seven years of rich fruitfulness, Dr. Rood served the Swedish Tabernacle in Seattle. When he came to this pastorate, in 1915, he found his congregation worshiping in a comparatively new and commodious building not far from the downtown district. At the time of its erection, the [Continued, on page 360]
THE
September, 1935
K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
324
G r o u n d the K ing’s Tables By Louis T . T a lb o t
bition to be “well-pleasing unto him” may be realized even though one’s life is spent in the home or in the office or in the shop or in the schoolroom. Paul was ambitious to be well pleasing to Jesus Christ, whether he was preaching to the multitudes or speaking to one soul or making tents. Verily, this is a worthy ambition! In the next place, this ambition greatly simplifies one’s life and service. Just one Person to please! To please people is a difficult thing. To please everybody is impos sible. Then, too, human nature is so changeable that what pleases a person at one time will not please at another. But the case is not so with our blessed Lord, for He is “the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Heb.'13:8). A more or less familiar story is told of the gateman at a railroad station, who was demanding that the passengers show their tickets before boarding the train. Because the night was bitterly cold, this regulation occasioned much grumbling and faultfinding on the part of some of the pas sengers. In the group was a Christian man who, having noticed the attitude of the others, said to the gateman, “You don’t seem to be very popular around here tonight.” The gateman replied, “Well, if I can be popular with the man who put me here, that’s all I want.” How greatly that aim simplified the man’s life and work! One man to please! And whether others were pleased or not was a secondary matter. So will it be with us in our relation to Jesus Christ. To be ambitious to be well pleasing to Him will greatly simplify our life and serv ice. Our relationship toothers will be involved, of course. We must not assume an attitude of indifference or antag onism with regard to other people. But our chief aim should be that of pleasing Him first of all. Consider, in the next place, that the carrying out of this amibtion means blessing, not bondage. Of our Lord it is recorded : “I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Psa. 40 :8). And our Lord Himself said that His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him (John 4:34). To do the will of the Father is to be Well pleasing to Him. And in the fulfillment of the Lord’s will, men and women, young and old, down through the ages have found delight and satisfaction. The realization of selfish ambition has often been at the expense or the ruin of others. But no one can live a life that is well pleasing to Jesus Christ and not be a blessing and help to other people. Paul was motivated also by an ambition to do. That desire, as we have seen from Romans 15:20, was to make Christ known to those who had never heard of Him, This truly is an altogether worthy ambition. You will note that Paul made this statement at the close of his third missionary journey. He had fully preached the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and “having no more place in these parts,” he was planning to go as far west as Spain (Rom. 15:19,23, 24). Those years of service had involved much of trial and suffering, a sum mary of which we find in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. In spite of these great hardships, Paul was still pressing on to new territory, consumed with the ambition to make Jesus [Continued on page 347]
A Worthy Ambition B y J ohn A. H ubbard
“Wherefore also we are ambitious, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto him” (2 Cor. 5 :9, R. V. margin). “Yea, being ambitious to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation” (Rom. 15:20, R. V. margin). W e give the above renderings of these passages to bring out the fact that Paul had a twofold ambition—an ambition to be and an ambition to do. Ambition being “an aim, eager desire, or steadfast pur pose to achieve something,” and having “primary reference to the award or approval of others,” it is described as “the eager desire for power, fame, or something deemed great or eminent, and viewed as a worthy prize.” It is clear that if one’s ambition is to “be realized, other things must give way; they must be brushed aside. For example, if one’s goal is the obtaining of an education, many things must be sacri ficed. And the case is similar in the spiritual realm. In order to realize his ambition, Paul counted all loss for Christ. Whatever stood in the way of the attainment of this ambition, he counted as refuse (Phil. 3 :7, 8 ). In connection with the twofold ambition which was the consuming passion of the Apostle Paul, let us consider four things. First, it is a worthy ambition. Second, it greatly simplifies one’s life and service. Third, it results in bless ing. And fourth, it is a goal which is possible of attain ment. First of all, this ambition to be well pleasing to the Lord is altogether worthy, because it is Christlike. It has its parallel in the earthly life of our Lord, and it strikes at the very root of selfishness. “Even Christ pleased not him self” (Rom. 15:3). Our Lord’s own testimony was that he did always the things that were pleasing to His Father (John 8:29, R. V.). It is very significant that during the earthly life of our Lord, there came from heaven the voice of the Father, saying : “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well plea ;ed.” That voice was heard at the transfigura tion, which occurred near the close of our Lord’s public ministry, after He had wrought great miracles and had given expression to much of His marvelous teaching. But this was not the only, nor was it the first occasion on which that voice was heard. At the baptism of Christ, before He had wrought any miracles or given any public teaching, the voice came from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The years preceding this testimony had been spent in the humble home at Nazareth, when the Lord Jesus was occupied with the common, ordinary, hum drum things of life. We emphasize this fact for the encour agement of those who may not be called to what we term “ full-time service.” It is wonderful to know that the am- [To the group of students most recently graduated from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and to others who gathered to hear the baccalaureate address, Dr. John A. Hubbard spoke on “A Worthy Ambition." This message, which appears in abridged form on these pages, is gladly shared with readers of the K ing ’ s B usiness . —L. T. T.]
September, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
325
Learning
L iv in g
Looking
B y VANCE HAVNER* Charleston, South Carolina
a B.A. degree—Born Again—but still we must learn. Our Lord promised to give rest to those who came to Him (Matt. 11:28). But in the very next verse He says : “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” There is a sthse.iin which His rest is an obtainment and another sense in which it is an attainment. We receive His rest when we receive Him ; but only as we learn of Him and practice His presence do we realize His rest. One finds a kindred thought in Hebrews 4:10, 11 : “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest.” Grace, does not involve anything we may earn, but it involves rnuch that we may learn. “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). Luke tells us that his Gospel was a record only of what Jesus began to do and teach (Acts 1:1). Paul says: “We speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth” (1 Cor. 2 :13). We must be disciples if we are to be doers. Through the Word, through prayer, through meditation, through worship and books and. conversation and godly teachers and daily experiences, God teaches us by the Spirit, and blessed is he that heareth. Let us give heed to the “things . . . written for our learning” (Rom. 15 :4). Let us not be among those “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” We are to continue in the.things we have learned (2 Tim. 3 :14). We are to learn to main tain good works (Tit. 3:14) and, like Paul, to learn in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content (Phil. 4:11). T aught to L ive for C h r ist But there is a definite purpose in the words of our pas sage: “Teaching us th a t. . .” We are taught in order that we may do something. Our Lord told His disciples they were to go forth “teaching them to observe all things what soever I have commanded you.” It is not enough to teach nor to learn the things commanded. We have not really learned them until we have learned to observe them. Thus learning must be translated into living. “Teaching, us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”* You will observe that the negative side is given first : “deny-- ing ungodliness and worldly lusts.” There is something to shun in the Christian life, in spite of all this modern insist ence that we should not preach on the “don’ts.” It is true that salvation is spelled neither “do” nor “don’t,” hut [Continued on page 333]
Truly blessed Is our threefold experience. There is Someone from whom to learn, Someone by whom and for whom to live, Someone for whom to look. Between His advents of grace and glory, let us learn, let us live, let us lookl N ow and then in the New Testament one finds the great outstanding doctrines of our faith compassed within a very few verses. Such a passage is Titus 2 :11-14. One might think of verses 11 and 14 as a frame for verses 12 and 13. In this mighty framework notice what tremend ous truths are set forth. “The grace of God,” “salvation,” “hath appeared to all men”—there is the incarnation; “who gave himself for us” g-there is the atonement; “that he might redeem us”4S there is redemption; “and purify unto himself”—-there is sanctification; “a peculiar people”—there you have separa tion; “zealous of good works”—there you have works. There are few other passages where two verses tell so much. Within this wonderful frame we find in verses 12 and 13 the Christian experience set forth. It is as though what our Lord has done for us is presented in verses 11 and 14, and then what we are to do by and for our Lord is shown in the verses between. Notice also that the two advents are given, the first appearing to all men in verse 11 , and the second, “the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,” in verse 13. Between this advent of grace and the advent of glory, our duty is set forth, the practical side of our experience within the framework of these eternal truths. You will observe that our experience is threefold: It is an experience of learning, of living, and of looking. T augh t by t h e S p ir it of G od It is first an experience of learning. “Teaching us” implies that we must learn. Perhaps “disciplining us” would be a better translation. The Christian life begins with
*Pastor, First Baptist Church.
September, 1935
326
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
D aily O pen in g s for S oul -W in n in g ’ : Opportunities ordinarily come to us every day to point some one to Christ. Just recently I had occasion to go out from New York City to Roosevelt Field. It was necessary for me to take a taxicab from the station to the airport. In conversation with the taxicab driver, I found that he had a wife and daughter who attended church regularly, but that he himself seldom went. Upon being asked whether he was a Christian, he said, “No,” and gave as part of his reason the fact that his occupation called for work on the Lord’s day. Matthew 6 :33 was used to point out that faiths fulness to God results in supplying all our need. We talked over the matter on the way, and then upon arrival at the field, I asked him whether he did not think that the day be fore Easter would be an excellent time for him to receive Christ as his Saviour according to John 1:12. He hesi tated, but finally gave in, and there in the front seat of that taxicab he prayed to God, accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. One morning; driving down to my office, I picked up a colored man. He said that he was attending a church in Alexandria, Va., but that he was not a Christian. When the question was put to him, he said that he wished to be a Christian. We stopped the car at the side of the road, and he prayed with me, and thereby accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour. Then in his own words he thanked God that he had become a child of God. He was unable to read or write (not uncommon near the National Capitol), and I wrote his name in the front of a Gospel of John, putting the date and hour next to the name. He made his mark by the side of his name and said that he would have some one at home read the Gospel of John to him. The remain der of the way into Washington was spent in teaching him John 1 :12, the Scriptural basis of his conversion. One late afternoon I was waiting in Alexandria while the family shopping was being done. A young man ap proached me and asked for money with which to get some thing to eat. He said that he had a godly father and mother, but that he himself was not a Christian. Like many persons, he thought that being a Christian meant liv ing a good life and not harming anybody. The way of sal vation through the Lord Jesus was explained to him in a simple manner. On the streets of Alexandria, outside a restaurant, he acceptedGhrist as his Saviour and confessed Him openly. After this was done, his personal needs were supplied. He thanked me much for having led him to the Lord Jesus. ' *As an agent for the United States Office of Education, Wash ington, D.C., Mr. Hambrook travels extensively. On a business trip in December, 1934, he was a passenger on an air liner which met • with disaster after leaving Syracuse, N. Y. In zero weather, with scant protection and provisions, the men were ■ marooned for two days and two nights. The remarkable story of how God kept His child in perfect peace through intense physical suffering, and e n a b l e d him to lead to the Lord four men who might not otherwise have listened to the gospel, is told by Mr. Hambrook in his booklet, Under His Wings, which is avail able at ten cents a copy from the Biola Book Room, 560 South' Hope Street, Los Angeles, Calif., or from the Evangelical Pub lishers, 366 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario . i*
R. W . H A M B R O O K
T h e r e is no work that I can think of that has more ro mance in it than personal soul-winning. Any Chris tian active in soul-winning can tell many thrilling stories. Incidents such as those told here are common to any one who seeks to win souls to God personally day by day. There never was a greater need of personal evangel istic work than now. It is strange that many Christians would willingly stand and preach the way of salvation be fore large audiences, but hesitate to meet persons face to face with God's plan of salvation. God called Philip from speaking to large groups where many were being con verted, and told him to go down into the desert to meet an individual Ethiopian. Philip found the man waiting for the Scriptures to be explained, and ready to accept the sim ple way of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Philip never could know the full result of this personal work, as the Ethiopian went back home to pass on the good news to others. In telling the following incidents, I want to thank God for the privilege of bringing persons to Christ through individual work. At the same time I recall with much regret that so many unusued opportunities have gone by without persons being brought to Christ. It is surprising today- how often men and women respond to our simple presentation of the gospel. Many are thoroughly dissatis fied with life, and welcome joy and peace resulting from acceptance of Christ. In my recent experience in the Adi rondack Mountains* where it was my privilege to lead three pilots and one of our rescuers to Christ, I did what any born-anew person would have done. These men are standing firm. Within the past few weeks, the wife of one of the pilots has also been definitely converted.
THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S
September, 1935
Ï27
o f PERSONAL EVANGELISM B y R. W. HAMBROOK Washington, D.Ç.
finance
I nconven iences T ha t R eveal G od ’ s G uidance Sometimes God arranges unusual circumstances to pro vide us with an opportunity to talk of salvation. I had gone over late in the afternoon from Buffalo, N. Y., to Niagara Falls to take photographs. By mistake, I stayed on the train as far as the lower bridge and then walked over to the Canadian side. My purpose was to take pictures of the falls from the Canadian side. It was necessary, there fore, for me to retrace my way up river. It being late in the day, the light would soon be insufficient for picture tak ing, and I therefore took a taxicab to a position overlook ing the falls. The young man who drove the taxicab, I found, was away from home, working every day in the week, and had lost his love for God. It was my privilege to point him back to God. I took some pictures and then went down to take some more from the road below. The wind blowing the spray from the falls made it difficult for me to reach the desired location without getting wet, but I walked on the grassi and back of a building and took pictures just above the Horseshoe Falls. The spray, however, became so heavy that I was unable to pass without becoming completely wet. I told the Lord that I should like to get back to the Falls View Bridge, and for a brief time the wind changed and I reached the front of the Table Rock Scenic Tunnel Build ing, but for nearly two hours it was impossible for me to leave the porch of this building. I discovered, however, that the Lord wished me to use the time in talking about Him to a policeman who was at that time being deceived by Christian Science. It was my joy to explain to him the fundamentals of salvation. At another time, I was driving between Washington and Lakehurst, N. J. Just before I reached Philadelphia, one of my tires, in good shape otherwise, slowly leaked air, and finally blew out because of rim cuts. I came to a stop directly opposite a country service station, my tire com pletely. ruined. It was necessary for me to purchase a new tire in Philadelphia later, but God had stopped me there to speak to the young man who changed my tire at this road side service station and to point him to the Lord. One morning last winter, with the weather around zero, my car would not start, even with a new battery pur chased the preceding day. I cranked the car, and tried every device to make it start, but without success. I knelt in the garage and asked for the Lord’s help, and He brought to my mind the suggestion that I call up a country garage near my home for assistance, so that I might have opportunity to talk to the garage owner about his soul, a thing I had not been able to do before. The Lord took care of the expense of this service through the old battery, which the garage owner said paid him for
ton, D.C., wrote a letter to a condemned Jew in the city jail. The condemned Jew passed the letter along to a con demned colored man, who wrote in reply to the converted Jew and asked for a personal interview. The letter was given to me with the request that I see the colored man. I was acquainted with the superintendent of the jail, and secured from him permission to talk with the prisoner. The colored man sat on a bench behind bars, while I sat on a seat separated from the bars by a close mesh screen placed a foot or so from the bars. Thus I talked to this man about the Lord Jesus and His power to save. I re ferred him to several verses in the first chapter of John,., including John 1:12: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.’5H put the question to him, as to whether he would receive the Lord Jesus as his Sav-r iour. He replied, “I will,” and there in that jail, he inside the bars and I outside, he prayed with me, telling God that he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. Then in his own words he thanked God for salvation. He wrote many joyful letters to me and to friends of mine after this: definite experience of God’s saving grace. The schedule called for his electrocution in the Dis trict of Columbia Jail on May 11, while I was in Seattle, Wash. A day or two before this date, I had sent him A by air mail a letter with an air mail return addressed envelope enclosed, and I had written also an air mail letter to the President explaining that my purpose in writing was to ask him to
make sure that this man was guilty before his life was taken; and to tell him that [Continued
Seeking to grasp every o p p o r t u n it y to lead o th e rs to C h rist, Mr. Hambrook has seen men accept the Saviour as he has talked with them in taxicabs, airplanes, ga rages, and on city streets.
starting my car. He refused to take any money. I explained to him the simple way of salva tion and expect him to be born anew as a result. A S umm on s from “ D eath Row” A converted Jew in Washing
September, 1935
328
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Much
Minister’s Danger o f Too Secular leading
The Christian
1 ¡81
/)
B y WILBUR M. SMITH Coatesville, Pennsylvania
of such men as H. G. Wells, Professor John Dewey, Julian S. Huxley, our humanists, our pagan philosophers, our unmoral essayists, and even, at times, our socialistic think ers ! One of the saddest things I have experienced in years was to discover, in a library of a famous theological seminary in the East (not, I am glad to say, one of my own denomination) where I was spending an hour, the students preparing papers for their classes, surrounded by volumes of the New York Times Current History, the Annalist, the Christian Century, and volumes on modern theories of education. There is not room for both in the student mind: Either he will graduate from the seminary
[Far from being prejudiced against wide reading as a valu able background for the Christian minister, the author of this article has a love for books and reading that has led to the accu mulation of a rich library of more than 6,800 volumes and has prepared him for his responsibility as editor of the annual volume of Peloubet’s Select Notes on the International Sunday-school Lessons. But he sounds a warning that will be welcomed with gratitude by many of the Lord’s people. In the previous install ment of this article, published in the August K ing ’ s B usiness , Dr. Smith discussed the circumstances which contribute to the min ister’s temptation to overemphasize secular reading. In this pres ent issue, he deals with the reasons for placing the primary stress upon the Word of God. —E ditor .] W hen we allow ourselves to be too much occupied with secular literature, we begin to preach on sub jects, rather t h a n
with a fundamental know ledge of th e Scriptures, or he will g r a d u a t e with a smattering of polit ical economy, educa tion , psycho logy , modern history, and a little bit of philoso phy-H bew ildered , confused, not know ing what G o d h a s said, and continually wondering what man is trying to say. S ome R easons W h y t h e B ible I s S uperior to A ll O th er B ooks The Bible is the most contemporary of all b o o k s . As Joseph P a r k e r said fifty y e a rs ago, in preaching in the City Temple, L o n d o n , when he began his great expository lec tures^, wh ich la te r
from the great pas sages of the Word of God. Our preaching becomes topical ra ther than expository. I have heard many ministers say that the reason they do not preach expo s ito ry sermons is that such messages demand too much time for prep aration, by w h i c h they meant that such preaching demands too much time given to the Scriptures and to volumes that in t e r p r e t the S c rip tures. They do not m i n d long hours of r e a d i n g and study, but they want to devo te them to secular subjects and not to Biblical ones.
S ermons tha t B reathe “T h e W isdom of M en
A t work in his study in Coatesville, Pa., Dr. Smith finds that for the greatest pleasure and profit no amount of secular reading can take the place of the study of the Book of books.
were published as The Speaker’s Bible: “My conviction deepens that the Bible is the most modern book. It is the newest book, just published, just out from heaven and from God’s heart. Our biography is in it. I have thought of taking this as a permanent tex t: ‘Is it not written in the Book of Chronicles?’ The modern newspaper is nothing but Moses and the Prophets reproduced. The Book is not a mere record of things that have been, but of things that are happening and must always happen. It was written be fore the world began. It is the anticipation of events. The Bible is mysteriously divine, because it is mysteriously
When a man has spent most of the week in reading history, philosophy, science, art, and the latest theories in economics or sociology,, he is bound to bring to his people, on Sunday, one of these subjects, which he attaches to some text which then becomes for him a pretext. How many hundreds of published sermons today have absolutely no connection with the Word of God, but are only the echoes of the latest verdicts of some of the leading secular minds of our age! What a shame for men who have the Word of God in their hands to allow themselves to be the channels for the promoting of the ideas, many of them de structive and anti-Biblical, and some of them blasphemous,
September, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
329
human. I see all kinds of people reading it, and every man finds it was written for him alone. Show me one phase of life that the Bible has not anticipated and ad dressed. It puts our thoughts into words; it fills our needs; and it teaches us the only prayers that God can answer.” R ic h e s U n end ing The Bible is inexhaustible. I was told once that the greatest authority on Plato in the modern world, a professor in one of our greatest universities, whose name I do not choose to mention, confessed to an intimate friend of his that, after forty years, he could not say that Plato gave him the thrills and the satisfaction that he had found in this philosopher’s pages in middle life. Sir Robertson Nicoll said that he could no longer read the Waverley Novels, because, before he turned a page, he knew exactly what was to be found there. The very author of the Waverley Novels himself once said of the Bible: ■“The most learned, acute, and intelligent student cannot, in the longest life, obtain an entire knowledge of this one volume. The more deeply he works the mine, the richer and more abundant he finds the ore; new light continually beams from this heavenly knowledge, to direct the conduct and illustrate the work of God and the ways of men; and he will at last leave the world confessing that the more he studied the Scriptures, the fuller con viction he had of his own ignorance and of their inestimable value.” The greatest expository preacher of the English world today, Dr. G. Camp bell Morgan, said, some time ago: “If you should live and preach for half a cen-: tury, or a century, you would never be able to exhaust the thing that is yours as a deposit.” The late Professor David Smith, with whose views we dó not, of course, always agree, but who has left us many beautiful chapters on the Gospel records, shortly before he died, made this remarkable confession: “Tor forty years the study of the Holy Scriptures has been my daily employment; and it is wonder ful to me how their glory has shone ever brighter in my eyes. Even as each suc- ■cessive generation since the world began has discovered fresh wonder in the Book of Creation, so has fresh light kept break ing from the pages of the Book of Grace, and there is still, for eyes illumined by the Holy Spirit, even larger light to break through. What other literature could one study for a lifetime, only to realize that he has touched but its fringes? Where else could one find, week after week, for a quarter of a century, messages of com fort and hope and peace for all the diverse need of the human heart ? The Scriptures háve grown more precious to me with every passing year, more truly divine, more surely the living Word of the liv ing God.”
We search the world for truth, we cull The good, the pure, the beautiful, From graven stone and written scroll, From the old flower-fields of the soul, And, weary seekers for the best, We come back laden from our quest, To find that all the sages said Is in the Book our mothers read. — J O H N G REEN LEAF WHITTIER. The first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man . . . What is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the Word of God; and here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts. — G EO RG E MULLER. All that I have taught of art, everything that I have written, every greatness that has been in any thought of mine, what ever I have done in my life, has simply been due to the fact that when I was a child my mother daily read with me a part of the Bible, and daily made me learn a part of it by heart. That I count confidently the most precious and, upon the whole, the one essential part of all my education. — JO H N RUSKIN. e One of the wonders of the Bible is its inexhaustibility. It is like a seed. You can tell how many acorns are on an oak, but vou cannot tell how many oaks are in an acorn . . . . The depth of the Bible in infinite; its height is infinite. Millions of readers and writers, age after age, have dug in this unfathomable mine, and its depths are still unex hausted. Age after age it has generated, with everincreasing creative power, ideas and plans, and schemes, and themes, and books . . . . Another wonder is its nonimprovableness. You cannot gild gold. You cannot paint rubies. You cannot bright en diamonds. And no artist can touch with final touch this finished Word of God. This proud-pinnacled century can add nothing to it. It stands as the sun in the sky . . . . It has the Glory of God. — C A N O N DYSON HAGUE.
A dequate to t h e D eepest N eeds The Word of God alone convicts of sin. The Word of God alone is able to make us wise unto salvation, and bring us into a living 1 knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God alone is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our pathway in the hour when sin has dark ened our life, in the hour when the doubts and criticisms of men have darkened our mind, in the hour when death draws a curtain, and when we long to know some thing of the life to come. It has no rival. No book has ever been published and no book ever will appear that will ever satisfy men as does the Word of God, because it is that which alone can speak with authority to us concerning the deepest problems of life. Men will come back to it, if the Lord tarries. Just as Belshazzar found all of the wise men of his kingdom unable to interpret the awful sentence of doom written upon the wall of his palace the night of his death, and was compelled to call in Daniel, in whom was the Spirit of the living God, so will men today be compelled to listen to the prophets of the Lord if they are ever to find a solution for the mysterious interrogations that con tinually confront contemporary man in a confusion which is deepening and fear- begetting. G uarding A gainst S a ta n ’ s W iles We are living in times.of deception, religious deception, moral deception, the latter days of this Age of Grace. These deceptions are born of Satan himself. They are promoted through his evil agents. They are propagated by men who, though they may not even believe in him, are his subjects and his mouthpieces (cf. 1 Tim. 4:1, 2), There is deliverance, from the deceptions today of false Christs, false prophets, and false teachers, of the denial that Christ has come in the flesh, only in the Word of God. As temptations multi ply and a life of holiness becomes increas ingly difficult, as the world presses more and more severely upon us, we need, against the principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, the very sword of the Spirit, which is nothing else than the Word of.. God (Eph. 6 : 10-17). Surely it must be al ways the foundation of our church. Surely it must be the truth which we alone ex pound. Surely it must be first in our thinking and first in our reading. We must be more than conquerors in this subtle temptation of our modern day to warp our thinking, to starve our own souls, to secularize our viewpoint, to im poverish our people, to expose them to dangers they cannot resist, this temptation to give first attention to the books of men, and a minor place in our daily program to the eternal Word of God. [Continued on page 334]
September* 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
330
Mary Leighton Floyd, the last survivor of the first contingent of American Christian Zionists to enter Palestine, is shown receiv ing at her home a visitor to Palestine, A. F. Futterer of Edendale, Calif. Mrs. Floyd's death in November of 1934 marked the close of a life of wide influence.
Courtesy, Palestinian Exhibition, Edendale, Calif.
o f ”AN AMAZI
The ^Renaissance
B y LOUIS S. BAUMAN* Long Beach, California
cording to the authoritative voice of the incarnate God Himself, “cannot be broken” (John 10:35). E zek ie l ' s V ision of t h e V alley of D ry B ones : The prophet Ezekiel was “carried . . . out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set . . . down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones . . . and, lo, they were very dry” (Ezek. 37:1, 2). It was a valley of absolute death. The Lord asked : “Son of man, can these bones live ?” The per plexed prophet replied : ' “O Lord God, thou knowest” ! Then Omnipotence commanded His prophet to “prophesy upon these bones," saying to them that they shall live ! Thus the prophet declares : So I prophesied as I was commanded : and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sineiys and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above : but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophe sied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceed ing great army (Ezek. 37:7-10). What an astonishing, bewildering, breath-taking scene it must have been! If Ezekiel had possessed a drop of the blood that supposedly flows beneath ebony skins, he would have disappeared from that scene with an appalling speed. But he stood his ground, and the Lord gave to him a mar velous revelation: Then he [the Lord God] said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel : behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost : we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of
poet, Crabbe, wrote of An amazing race, deprived of land and laws, A general language, and a public cause; With a religion none can now obey, With a reproach that none can take away; A people still, whose common ties are gone; Who, mixed with every race, are lost in none.
Need any one ask who this “amazing racé . . . mixed with every race . . . [and] lost in none,” may be? It is the race of whom the eternal God hath said: “This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise” (Isa. 43:21), and ‘‘ye. shall be named The priests of the Lord: men shall call you The ministers of our God” (Isa. 61 :6). Assuredly, a people of whom the most high God could thus speak, could not be other than “an amazing race,” pe culiar, wonderful, and indestructible. T h e N ational R esurrection of “A n A mazing R ace ” Without' controversy, the most stupendous event this terraqueous globe of ours has ever seen was seen on that memorable morning when the Son of David crashed through the theretofore impregnable gates of death and hell, and triumphed over the mightiest foes of our fallen race. The resurrection of Jesus Christ brought forth the assurance of endless life to despairing humanity. But, we are wondering whéther the world of men is utterly oblivi ous to the fact that today, in this very hour, another resur rection, buoyant with a glorious hope for the despairing sons of men, is taking placé before our very eyes? The resurrection of which we speak is set forth by the prophets of God in words so plain that the simplest child can read and understand—set forth in the Scriptures, which, ac- *Pastor, First Brethren Church.
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 44Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker