262
T h e K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
June 1932
C^reseni-CI)av
of PROPHECY . . . B y L ouis S. B auman
will herald the coming of that wondrous new creation of our God, in which “ the voice of weeping shall be no more heard . . . nor the voice of crying” ; when “as the days of a tree [earth’s oldest living thing] are the days of my people” ; when “ they shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble” ; when “ the wolf and the lamb shall feed together” ; when “ they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord” (Isa. 65:17-25). The World’s Moral Collapse Every dispensation hitherto has ended in a night of moral collapse. So will end this dispensation of grace. “ And as it was in the days of Noe. . . Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot. . . Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Lk. 17:26-30). This can mean only that the “ Son of man” will return from heaven in a time of a great moral collapse in the world of men. The very mention of Sodom instantly brings the idea of a complete moral breakdown. And the minute portrayal of “ the last days,” given us by the Holy Spirit, means nothing less than a similar breakdown of the moral fiber of the whole human race. Here is the picture: “ This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to par ents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce- breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of god liness, but denying the power thereof: . . . which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins) led away with divers lusts, . . . men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith . . . But evil men and se ducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3 :1-13). Some Sure Evidences of Moral Collapse eferring to the magazine o f which we have already spoken, there is sufficient testimony in one single issue to prove that this prophetic picture of the close of our age is meeting with complete fulfillment in the events of the hour. And not only this one, but all the current newspapers and magazines teem with the records of pro phetic fulfillment, and they know it not. “Where,” do you ask, “ is the promise of His coming?” Where, we ask, are not the promises of His coming ? God, in His mercy, seems to be working overtime to warn those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, lest judgment overtake them unawares. Were our Lord to come as of old, He would have to cry again: “ O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Matt. 16:3). 1. Here is an article referring to the kidnapping of the famous Lindbergh baby. One quotation only, from The Troy [N. Y .] Times :
Good Cheer! Good Cheer!
H ere we are , seeking a bit of rest, on a Hoosier farm, back from the busy traffic arteries of a feverish world. A good place to b e ! The woodlands are about to burst forth into resurrection glory. Just now, about the liveliest creature hereabout is a gorgeously flaming redbird. He dashes hither and thither, now to the topmost limb of some great sycamore, then to a swing on the lowly sprouting willow. And Gene Stratton’s interpretation of his cry was right: “ Good cheer! Good cheer!” Little redbird, this old world needs your song today! Thanks be to our Heavenly Father for this gift also—the cardinal! (W e mean, of course, the bird cardinal!) The One True Source of Good Cheer A few minutes ago, we picked up from a stand a magazine well known for its weekly review of world events. Rambling through its pages, we were struck with the fact that, in its wide review of the most recent doings in man’s world, it fails to sound a single note of good cheer. It contains little but wails of a despondent old world. Crime! Failure! Discouragement! Pessimism! Depres sion ! And “ no way ou f’ ! Thinking but unregenerate men seem on the verge of utter despair. Laying down those pages of gloom, there leaped to our lips the Psalmist’s cry to his soul in a time of stress, “ My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him” (Psa. 62:5). Verily, amidst the terrifying shades of the night, in which the souls of men seem to be haunted by a thousand fears, the true, believing Christian stands serene and unafraid. He possesses “ a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn.” It is even the “ sure word of prophecy” (2 Pet. 1:19). His “ expecta tion” is from God, and that “ expectation” is glorious. The morrow has no terrors. He calmly waits. I N “ L ocksley H all ,” Tennyson sang, “ Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs.” Prophecy is a revelation of the purpose of Omnipotence. In the events of the present hour, the “ increasing purpose” of our God is running as true to the centuries-old revela tion thereof, as the needle runs true to the pole. It faileth not in one iota! The unregenerate man is doomed to failure in all his works, because his works are godless. In the purpose of God, unregenerate man must first come to a full end of himself. Then “ he that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37). Man may fail. God never fails. It is written, “ He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth” (Isa. 42 :4). The one true source of good cheer these days lies in the fact that, as it was “ in the beginning,” so it is in the end—darkness but precedes the day. “Wars and rumors of wars . . . famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:6-8). But the Greek word translated “ sorrows” is better translated “ birth pangs.” And birth pangs an nounce the near arrival of a true woman’s greatest joy-— her own wondrous new creation! Even so, “ birth pangs”
It presents the shameful spectacle of criminal su premacy, under which the forces o f the law stand power less, blocked and thwarted. . . . That the entire forces o f crime detection in the nation—perhaps never before
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