August, 1933
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the human medium of words ? Through self-expression in prayer, the believer is led into a deeper realization of the unsurpassed love o f God and the working power o f the Holy Spirit. By this means, the followers o f Christ Jesus are cemented together. Satan has won a victory when pray ing is heard no longer by the unbelieving world. A M ixed C ompany Our Lord Jesus knows how many o f His own spiritual body were among those earnest men and women. Some were there with their fertile background of religious expe rience, knowing the saving power of Jesus Christ and the fullness of truth. In this new movement, their fundamen tal belief was unaltered, but through it they found the way open for self-expression and experienced new power in emphasis upon the living, working individual. One must bear- in mind, however, that there is serious danger to be encountered in a broad-thinking group o f this type which does not lay sufficient stress upon the fundamental doc trines o f Christianity. Without well-organized teaching along these lines, the new believer (or “ changed” indi vidual o f the Oxford Group) is not properly fortified and grounded in faith, and will more frequently than not cease to grow and fail to enter into the fullness o f Christ. The general impression derived from the meetings left a sense of incompleteness. Whole-hearted worship and glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ seemed to be lacking. The atmosphere was permeated with a determined human effort to pattern after Christ in thought and above all in mode o f living among one’s, fellows. The body of Christ Jesus is not made up of those who merely try to live as Christ did while on earth, but of those who obtain a vision of their sinful state, realize their need, and find in Christ a personal Saviour and Lord. He is able to claim believers as His own, because He died for them. Identification with Christ in His death, resurrection, and present glory at the right hand of God is a blessing and comfort to His loyal followers. W e do not sense our need o f a Saviour until we come to a realization of our sin, and we cannot know a personal Saviour until we become aware o f the atoning, power o f the work on the cros,s. The way has been opened for all men to become an integral part of Christ, members of the body of which He is the Head, and to share equally with Him in glory. Could God’s mercy and love be any greater than this? The Holy Spirit was sent to man to dwell within the heart for the purpose o f preparing soil for truth, o f crowd ing out hardening influences, of teaching, guiding, and com forting believers in Christ Jesus. “ Being guided” is inad equately expressive of the sustaining, teaching, directing, and growth-producing power o f the Holy Spirit. Strange Hoarding We talk a good deal these days about economy in this and that, but there is one expenditure that, before God, we dare not curtail, and that is money spent on God’s Word and its distribution. Hoarding Bibles, gospels, and tracts has its dangers, especially so to those who look for the Lord’s coming or are near the end of their natural span of life. One dear saint recently had two family Bibles, of the approximate age o f 100 years, rebound and sent to the Bible Institute, so that they could go on their way to fur ther usefulness and blessing. There may be others who wish to do likewise. The Institute will be glad to assist in the matter of placing any such gifts in the hands of those who will make good use o f them.
group is elevated to a position o f unusual importance, and many discover for the first time in their close association with one another, as required by the group, the expanding mental power o f one human upon another. Man has a deep-seated hunger and drive for ego-satisfaction. Many authorities consider this to be the most fundamental moti vating force of man. The sense o f self-importance to be acquired from this new “ individual” movement has a draw ing and holding power o f extensive proportions. The self- analysis, self-evaluation, sharing, confessing of one’s own sins, and the belief that one’s own efforts pave the way for forgiveness all contribute to the ever-present, deep-rooted yearning for satisfaction of that inner self. “ Sharing,” as the confessional in the Catholic Church, represents a concretely objective way of dealing with human problems; but one must bear in mind that it also furnishes vicarious pleasure by giving the opportunity for reliving sinful acts in recounting them to other human beings. Pain ful experiences, interpreted by psychological fact, haye a decided pleasure-giving influence upon the human mind. The most effective relief measure for mental stress employed by the physician is so-called “ mental catharsis,” or the sharing o f experiences, feelings, and thoughts with some one else. The Oxford Group has made use o f this idea, but it did not originate it. It has been used and found to be of utmost practical value for many centuries, By relating one’s problems, the individual is placed in a posi tion o f better control over the occurrences of his own life, and problems are met in an objective rather than a purely subjective way. By externalizing one’s experiences and feelings, the acuteness of the subjective reactions to them is moderated, and new strength and deeper understanding are furnished to the individual. The German school of psychoanalysis claims this method for its basic principle. Every thought is expressed without censorship to another human, the psychoanalyst, to whom the patient is emotion ally attached by the mechanism of “ transference.” The simple act o f telling all works the cure. T he C ounterpart for C hristian S cience In the Oxford movement may be seen a counterpart for Christian Science, which goes to the opposite extreme of denying the existence o f sin, the former giving undue prominence to sin in all of its grewsome detail, with the hope held out for forgiveness and eradication through con fession. There is tremendous appeal and subtle danger in reducing the whole problem of sin to human evaluation, whether in denying its existence or recounting it for a higher purpose. “ Surrender” and “ resurrender” were dominant expres sions in the conversation of the testimonal meeting. Some presented their reasons for not surrendering, others had surrendered before and took occasion to “ resurrender” again. The leader commented that one must live a life of constant and daily “ resurrender.” The acceptance of Christ as Saviour and Master, once and for all, becoming His from that moment on and forever, was not given con sideration. “ Resurrender” is a poor substitute for the promised spiritual growth into Christ through the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. U ndervaluing A udible P rayer The meeting was opened with a “ quiet time” during which all persons in the room prayed silently. At no time did the leaders lift their voices in supplication and praise to the Father in heaven or His Son, our Saviour. No offense was registered if a visiting minister, after his usual habit, took a few moments to pray audibly. Christ taught us to pray so that we might be understood by one another. How could we be inspired by the marvelous prayers o f Paul in Ephesians and Colossians were they not expressed through
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