148 T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S a living hope. “ Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, ’L—a new 'life given to each individual who trusts Jesus Christ as his sin bearer and Lord. Isn’t it refreshing to turn away from these monkey and parrot systems to the real person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who said, “ I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father but by me?” “ I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” —W. H. P. SKIN -DEEP Religion ✓ The Japanese people wanted to know, so they sent a special mission to this country to study and report upon the influence of Christianity on the lives of the American people. They came; and gave our religion the same sort of careful investigation that they have applied to industrial develop ment, education and everything else. And what did they find out about us? The gist of a statement made, by Bishop Tucker of Kyoto is that there is little evidence that the Christian religion is regarded as important by most of the people. In other words, their impartial opinion is that it is just a genteel embellishment—nothing vital. That little report should make some of us think. We have been spend ing millions to remove the mote from the heathen’s eye, and are not con sidering the beam that is in our own eye. It is getting so the heathen don’t believe in us. - Does God believe in us? Is it going to be necessary for Japan, China and Africa to send missionaries over here in order that our people may hear the pure Gospel and be made new creatures? How much of this condition is due to the fact that the higher criticism, and some other things that are a good deal worse, take the place of the old Gospel that used to be proclaimed from the pulpits ? We have church buildings by the thousands. We hire thousands of cultured men to preach for us. We raise giddy millions for missionary work of one kind and another. We pour millions into some seminaries that are mere religious pest houses. Such colossal religious movements were never before known in our history. Yet a Japanese mission comes over here and reports, after careful investigation, that we have education, commerce, industry, yes, but religion—not much. To make a long story short— “ a form of godliness without the power thereof. ’’ The modernized Christianity is only skin deep. It is not the old Holy Ghost religion. It has no time to bother with those vital teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sermon on the mount—why even some of our prominent Bible teachers tell us there is nothing in it for the church. No wonder the Japanese say that our Christianity is merely a decorative adjunct of our civilization—simply a desirable background like art or music, but not a vital, palpitating necessity. Hasn’t the time come when the Church of God needs to go to God for itself, before it tries to go to God for a lost world? The church of the New
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