Reds Seek Bible Passages «3* The Communist regime in Czecho slovakia has recently set up a work ing committee to search the Bible and religious texts for extracts suitable for Communist propaganda. Its pur pose is to reinforce the Red govern ment in its struggle against the Rom an Catholic Church. A major objective will be to persuade the highly reli gious Czech peasants that the regime’s land collectivization projects have a sort of Divine sanction. We are sure of one thing, and that is, whether used by the Reds or not, the Word of God can defend itself and will accom plish not the Communist’s purpose, but the purpose of God who wrote it. Mechanical Heart «3* Almost ready for trial on human beings is a new surgical wonder term ed the mechanical heart. Its first use will probably be to revive a person whose heart has stopped beating, or one who is clinically dead. It seems the machine can completely detour all the blood around the body’s own heart in order to give time to repair the dam age, or give a tired heart a. chance to rest. This is without doubt a great invention, but you may be sure of one thing, when God calls either the saved or unsaved, no amount of ma chinery will ever be able to prolong life even for a moment, for God still holds the keys of life, no human be ing knowing the day nor the hour of his death. This teaches us to live every day as if we might look into God’s face on the morrow. Costs of Slaughter <3* Rather ironic, but nevertheless true is the fact that it costs tremen dously more today to kill people than it did a number of years ago. For in stance, the cost of basic military equipment has increased enormously. Ten years ago the B-17 bombers which then were the last word, cost the government about $300,000.00. To day’s improved bomber B-36 costs more than $3,000,000 for each one. De stroyers which the sailors used to call “ tin cans” formerly cost about $7,000,- 000.00 each. Now the amount necessary to produce a destroyer is $40,000,- 000.00. Just five years ago at the peak of World War II we could equip an infantry division for less than $15,- 000,000.00. Now it costs $75,000,000.- 00. Underneath all this is the blunt fact that this stupendous bill for munitions o f war is made necessary simply because the heart of humanity is wrong. If human hearts could be changed there would be no need for weapons of warfare.
20 times as much on clothing acces sories and jewelry as it did on religion and welfare, about 2 and one-half times as much on drink as it did on medical care, and three times as much on tobacco as it did on private educa tion and research. Figures do not lie and God is quite cognizant of these expenditures. If in our prayers we ask God to bless our land of America, we ought to bear in mind the problem which God faces. How can He bless a land which does not bless Him. Back To Japan <3* Louis Zamperini ditched his plane off Oahu, Hawaii, during World War II and after drifting 2,000 miles was picked up by a Japanese vessel. Dur ing his two years as a prisoner, he was starved and tortured by his cap- tors. When he was rescued in 1945 he left Japan with hatred in his heart, but last year he was saved in one of Billy Graham’s meetings in Los An geles. The result is that Zamperini made a recent visit to Japan with a list of his guards and captors in an endeavor to win them for Christ. If this is not a miracle of the grace of God, then we do not know what con stitutes a miracle. Signature No. 33,466 <3* President Truman recently affixed his signature to a huge twofold Good Will Book which the American Bible Society is sending to the archives of the Japan Bible Society as a symbol of friendship between the peoples of the two nations. The signatures come from more than 14,000 cities and are from persons who have contributed to a fund which will enable the Japan Bible Society to print and distribute Scriptures in the Japanese language. These two volumes weigh 176 pounds and contain 533 pages. They are bound in blue morocco and engraved in gold.
Increased Chaplain Corps <3* With the present increase of armed forces to a possibility of 3,000,000 men the government has agreed that because of the increasing importance of the Chaplain’s service, additional chaplains will be sought to make one chaplain to every 850 men. According to Rev. Percy Hall, commanding the Chaplain’s Training Group, the im portance of this religious service has been recognized by the government due mainly to the experiences of the last war. Here is a tremendous oppor tunity for men of God finding a place of service that will really count in human lives. Men of our armed forces are more than willing to listen to a servant of God who has a message for their hearts. Kill All *3* In a recent Associated Press arti cle, Dr. Gerald Wendt of the Pennsyl vania State College spoke gloomily of the future. He says that mankind can either blow his world to bits, scorch it with invisible rays to kill all living things or use it to build a plentiful paradise. The world, he believes, is at the crossroads of a new renaissance or doomsday. Dr. Wendt suggests that the H-bomb could bring total de struction ten miles in each direction from its explosion center. What will actually happen, this savant does not say. The Scriptures, however, seem to indicate that God will not allow man to totally destroy himself. How America Spends The Commerce Department of our government keeps a close tab on how our citizens spend their money. Last year United States citizens spent a staggering total of $178,732,000,000. About a third of this total went for food, which is somewhat of a com mentary. The nation also spent about
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