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THE K I K BUSINES
1942
AUGUST
Official Organ of THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES. Incorporated
Preacher's Number
U/ho 5 oevet u/iLL, Let him take the usatez ofi Life feeeLy , (Kw. 2 2 : 17 )
BILHORN “THE ORIGINAL’’ Folding Organ
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ CULTER ACADEM Y Accredited SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KINDERGARTEN PURPO SE. . . To provide an Academic School for young people where tile teach ing is free from atheism, evolution and communism; where there will be scholarship with a true Chris tian atmosphere; where thorough ly trained teachers of the highest Christian character will personal ly be interested in and concerned for each boy and girl. INTERDENOMINATIONAL COEDUCATIONAL Culter Academy * Offers a complete College en trance academic course of study of the very highest scholastic standard from Kindergarten to College. *Gives carefully planned, unde nominational, daily Bible instruc tion, holding that the Bible is the Divinely inspired Word of God. ♦Holds forth by precept and by example the highest standards of clean, consecrated daily living. MUSIC * ART * SPORTS PRE- CIVIL ENGINEERING MECHANICAL DRAWING HOME ECONOMICS, ETC. Apply At Once CULTER A C A D E M Y 332 So. Virgil Aye., Los Angeles Phone EX. 1134
P a ten ted in U. S. A . and oth er countries. F a m o u s th e w o rld o v er fo r fi f t y years.
• S w eet ton e • Astonishing volume • E a s ily ca rried • In ex p en sive S u ita b le fo r M issions, Camps, Sunday Schools, H om es, etc. Write for descriptive folder and prices, GEO. BILHORN & CO. 1414 M cLen n A ve., D ept. K , C h icago, 111. Have you heard God’s challenge to labor in home or foreign field? Training at B IO T A w ill equip you for effective service. See page 282.
After high school-what? There's an answer for every young Christian . . . Moody Bible Institute. If you're going on to college, get established in your faith first. If you're planning on business, take a year off and study your Bible. If you expect to be a preacher or a missionary, investigate the longer specialized courses. Tuition is free, with living ex penses and private music lessons at reasonable rates. Write for details. Next term, Sept. 9.
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The War and
Your Boy’s Schooling “How docs the war change my plans for my hoy's education?" This is a question you are asking^ if you are a parent of a boy of junior or senior high school age. Talk with the leaders in educa tion, the government, the church, and here is what you will probably conclude: 1. This may be a long war, perhaps three to five years, with the problems of peace almost as disrupting as war in its effect on education. 2. Boys now twelve to eighteen years o f age may have little opportunity for college education of the type we have prized. Soon after graduation from secondary school either they will be in the armed services or they will be in college on accelerated schedules. 3. Only in an independent boarding school can a boy find the cultural values that he would have found in his liberal arts college. 4. While high school work is necessarily interrupted by war demands, the private school continues to emphasize thorough, con scientious academic work. 5. The boarding school still gives sound basic training in mathematics, languages, and science, all o f which we are emphatically told by Army and Navy officers, are very much needed by officer candidates. 6. Last but not least, now, more than ever, a boy needs the character-building influences of a Christian school of Stony Brook’s type.
Sounds impossible? Give and receive at the same time? Not at all—not when you read “A Gift That Lives!’ That’s the title of a little book which has brought peace of mind and freedom from worry to thousands of men and women. You too may find in its pages just the Plan for you. Find out how you can receive an American Bible Society check regularly as long as you live—how you can at the same time further the work of distrib uting the Bible throughout the world. Annuity Agreements of the American Bible Society have proven a sound program for nearly 100 years and they stand today as firm and strong as ever. Every Christian should learn all the facts. Send for the booklet “ A Gift That Lives!’ MA I L THE C OU P ON TODAY Please send me, without obligation, your I booklet K B -2 4 entitled “ A G ift That Lives!* | Name ............... .........................................■j Address ...................................................... I City . .State American Bible Society, Bible House, New York, N . Ÿ .
If, before the war, you had planned on college for your boy after high school, ask yourself if every argument does not indi- cate a good boarding school for A Stony Brook catalogue and the bulletin, STONY BROOK EDUCATION IN WARTIME, on request. him THIS FALL.
I
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c J tonyBrookJchool Frank E. Gaebelcin, Litt. 1)., Headmaster Stony Brook, lo n g Island, New York Please mention King’s Business
Write or phone today for complete information.
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August, 1942
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The King' s Bu s i ne s s Volume XXXIII August, 1942 Number 8 The True-to-the-Bible Family Magazine Motto: “ Unto him that loved us. and washed us. • from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5). TABLE OF CONTENTS • Coyer view photographed in Yosemite by Ansel Adams Ransom D . Marvin, Staff Artist Around the K ing’s Table — Louis T . Talbot ____ __________________...... 283 Significance of the News —Dan Gilbert ...... _______ ........ 284 Wasted— A M illion Sermons — William Herschel Ford. ............. ......... 285 Fighting the Stars —Robert P . Shuler ______ .......__ ...........__..i.............. 28$ A T a le of T w o Preachers— Anonymous. ............... ........... ¿¿¡& 288 When a Preacher Is Angry — Clarence Edward Macartney _______ ....... 290 Parable of the Vine —Alice Bishop Kramer and Albert Ludlow Kramer...... ............ ...................................291 Reaching Them Now — Bethel France... ____________________4_____ .___ 292 Junior K ing’s Business —Martha S. Hooker. ..... ................................ 293 International Lesson Commentary__.......__ .......___ .......................__... 295 Notes on Christian Endeavor — Ruth H . Walter, Adelaide W . Locher, Lois Uhlinger, and I della Sieben ____________________________________ 307 Daily Devotional Readings..... ....................... .....................___ .......____ 311 Bible Institute Family Circle.™______ _________ ____ _________........____ __316 Our Literature Table.............. ........................________ ..................__ _ 319 S U B S C R IP T IO N P R IC E ! “ Th e K in g ’s Business" is published m onthly, $1.00— one year- $1 50— tw o yea rs; 50 cents— six m onths; 10 cents— sin gle copy. Clubs o f th iee or m ore . a t special rates. W r ite fo r details. Canadian and fo re ig n subscriptions 25 cents extra. I t requires one m onth fo r a change o f address to becom e effe ctive. JPiease send boty old and new addresses. R E M IT T A N C E — P a ya b le in advance, should be m ade b y 'b a n k dra ft, express or post o ffic e m oney order payab le to “Th e K in g ’s Business.” D ate o f expiration w ill show p la in ly each m onth on outside w rapper or co ver o f m agazine. A D V E R T IS IN G — F o r in form ation w ith referen ce to a d vertisin g in “ Th e K in g ’s Business,_ address the A d ve rtis in g M anager, 568 South H ope Street. Los A n gales. GaUL’ or our eastern rep resen tative. R elig iou s Press A ssociation, o l jn o . 62nd St., Ph ilad elph ia, Pa. M A N U S C R IP T S— “ Th e K in g ’s Business'* cannot accept respon sibility fo r loss or dam age to m anuscripts sent to it fo r consideration. as .second-class m atter N ovem ber 7,'.1838, at: the post o ffic e a t Los ^ ng.el * Si . F ai lf.0rni.a’ un
A-Millennial? Pre-Milennial? Post-Milenial?
I f you are a pre-millenarian, I have a message of supreme value for these dark days. I advertised this same message some time ago. The re sponses from those who had sent, for it were filled with gratitude to God for a new revelation that had come to them; almost every one said in effect: “This should be read by every Christian in America.” So I am m a k i n g t h e s a m e announcement once again: I want to reach every true Christian who is longing for the coming of the King, and I am doing my part to accom plish it. Whether I reach you de pends on yourself. Just enclose 10c (stamps will do) in a letter and say, “I am a pre- millenarian; send me your message.” I f you are not a pre-millenarian, please do not answer this advertise ment. And may I remind you also of the continuous needs of our missionary undertakings? In the spirit of Isaiah 40:1-2, we stand astride the world and seek to bridge the gulf between a misrepresented Christianity and a misled Judaism. In this ministry of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:18) your faithful, prayerful undergirding is needed far more than you will ever know this side of .eternity. Our work merits your every confi dence. It is a program of world-wide Gospel testimony to the Jews. Yottr fellowship in prayer and in gift is always welcome and appreciated. Our monthly p u b l i c a t i o n , THE CHOSEN PEOPLE , is of course sent to all contributors.
’ ^ V W W V w w w w w w w w w w w
J. Hoffman Cohn, American Board of Missions to the Jews, Inc. 31 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.
Dear Brother : I am a pre-millenarian ; herein I enclose 10c; send me your message. I also joyfully enclose — ............ as my fellowship with you in your wbrld-wide (Jospel ministry to-Israel.
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Address
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August, 1942
THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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“ Preparation for new heights tomorrow is the right use of today ” HEIGHTS NEW
RISE ABOVE the godless spirit of the age through adequate knowledge of the whole Word of God.
The BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES is equipped to lift you to greater heights in daily consecration and Christian training, leadership, and service. Young men and women arriving this September will be those taking advantage of the spir itual privileges found at Biola, a Bible-centered school, dedicated to the task of training youth, that each may take his God-appointed place. Biola enters its thirty-fifth year as an Institute which was conceived in prayer, founded by faith. It continues to mold character of young people according to the Word of God through its faithful, consecrated faculty. DAY SCHOOL Registration—September 8 and 9 Three-Year Courses General Bible Christian Education Music • Write for Free Catalogue Four-Year Courses • No tuition for courses in Day and Evening School Bible Collegiate (degree) Christian Education o Nominal registration fees. (degree) MuSic Collegiate (degree) Missionary EVENING SCHOOL Three nights a. week (Eve ning School Registration, Sept. 8) CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL Nineteen different courses Enroll any time Gain power—maintain power— by thorough grounding in and comprehensive grasp of the Bible.
THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES Incorporated
Los Angeles, California
558 So. Hope Street
August, 1942
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Around the King's Table LOUIS T. TALBOT, Editor-in-Chief
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What I Owe My Minister RESPECT. I owe my minister respectful attention. He is the ambassador of God. COOPERATION. I owe it to my minister to search the Scriptures daily to see whether what he preaches is God's truth, and to obey it if it is (Acts 17:11). GENEROSITY. 1 owe my min— ister generosity. If his methods seem strange to me, I must not- be so narrow as to insist that he change them to conform to mine. TRUST. I owe my minister trust. He should be able to serve the church unhindered by idle fault-finding. TIME. I owe my minister time to s e r v e In t he work of the . church, when and where he needs me. ENCOURAGEMENT. I owe my minister encouragement. He has more vexations and annoyances than the average person. PRAYER. I owe it to my min ister to pray for him every day. that God will teach him deeply , in the Word, and that he in turn . may teach others. If my minister is not what I wish he would be, I am probably more than a little to blame. ^ ----- on a part-time basis for the last two and one-half years, is resigning from a very successful pastorate in which he has ministered for eight •years, that of the Second Brethren Church of Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and the Brethren Theological Semin ary. At the University, a graduate teaching fellowship in the field of biological science added to his back ground for helping Christian youth to deal with the claims of modern science in the light of God’s Word. In the second place, the Linguistic* Department at the Institute is to be extended in scope and ministry. Pre viously only courses in Phonetics and Spanish in a d d i t i o n to the Bible languages were taught. Expansion in this department is in line with the latest scientific discoveries in the field of linguistics as developed at Camp Wycliffe and its Summer In stitute of Linguistics which is now in session on the campus of the Uni versity of Oklahoma. This summer’s session of Camp Wycliffe has been attended not only by 130 young people [Continued on Page 318]
Shall Preaching Cease? An Associated Press news release recently publicized the suggestion of a moratorium on preaching. The per son responsible for the idea was the retiring president of the general synod of the Reformed Church in America. He was not intimating that there should be any, limitation of free speech in America, but he implied that his plan might be a good way to combat “ endless talk that says nothing"—talk of which even preach ers are often guilty. Asserting that many a m i n i s t e r “spreads himself out too thin” in his endeavor to be an expert on every line, this plain-spoken preacher de clared: “The time may not be ripe for speech-rationing, b u t t h e r e is value in the idea.” There is much that passes for “preaching" that is not preaching at all in the Bible sense of the Word. This pseudo-ministry brings no one face to face with the Word of God or the claims of Christ. It does not attack sin or warn of hell or point to heaven. Though its language may be beautiful and its subject inspiring, this kind of preaching is, in reality, simply “ endless t a l k t h a t s a y s nothing.” This issue of THE KING’S BUSI NESS has been designated a Preach er’s Number. It is sent forth with the earnest hope that every reader—not only the preacher but the layman as well—may feel a new urge to the more diligent pursuit of “ the old paths, where is the good way” ;Jer. 6:16). Whoever walks those p a t h s with God has something vital to say. “The Honor of His Name” Exposure to a continual din of pro- ,fanity is not the least of the hardship's of Army life to young men to whom the name of the Lord is precious; To find that sin in many forms is simply taken for granted—and this almost' universally—is a new experience to those who heretofore have found their associates chiefly among Christian yojfng people. The letter below was written by a young man who was called by the draft to leave a fruitful work as voung neonle’s director in a city church. From a huge Army training camp he wrote to one of the young
people in the home church as fol lows: “I had a chance to talk briefly to a fellow this morning right after breakfast. He was showing me his new prayer book. He was proclaiming its nicety, using pro fane terms even in that. I asked him why. Except for the few really out-and-out C h r i s t i a n s , these Army f e l l o w s all take swe’aring merely as an inevitable factor in life and count (t only as a bad habit. I told the one this morning that I thought it was an insult to God’s power to say, ‘Oh, it’s just a habit I can’t break —I don’t mean what I say.’ But they continue in the same manner and think they are excused. “Have you s o m e t h i n g with which I could convict them? In other words, they think that as long as they don’t get angry, it’s all right to swear. And then, gambling. O n e f e l l o w w o n seventy dollars off his comrades. Nobody was angry, a n d e a c h iperely said, ‘Oh, I’ll win it back.’ What can you do to convict guys like that? “The whole trouble seems to be in the fact that each guilty signer has too many of . his own kind about him to bind him to his sin ful ways. One who seeks to loose him is thoroughly respected and gains attention, but that’s as far as it goes. I’ve prayed a lot about it and been as plain as a Chris tian attitude would allow. I know that any labor in the Lord is not in vain, but how I would glory in His name if I could see some immediate fruit of the Spirit!" ' A man’s closeness of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ determines, in direct ratio, the degree of his sen sitiveness to sin and his burden for lost souls. Shall men be won to Christ by the victorious witness of Christians in the armed services? Then let Christians everywhere pray. New Courses at Biola The faculty of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles is to be enlarged this fall. First, it is gratifying to report that Paul R. Bauman is to become a full-time professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology. Dr. Bauman, who has been serving the Institute
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Significance of the News By DAN GILBERT Washington/ D. C.r and San Diego, California ___________' •' ---------- -------------
THE "BE-DISCOVERY OF HELL"i • Voltaire said, “If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent one.” If there were no hell, it would be necessary to invent one! This is the conclusion to which even our un believing editors and magazines seem to be driven. When Heydrich “ the hangman,” torturer and murderer of innocent peoples, was slain, one of our most “ liberal” journals published an edi torial on the subject, “Heydrich in Hell.” Another p u b l i s h e d a long article under the caption, “Heydrich Died and Went to Hell.” The implication, whether fully ac knowledged by the writers or not, was that there had to be a hell to take care of persecutors and torturers. Yet It was only a few years ago that these liberal journalists were telling us, “No civilized person believes in hell” ; “The idea of eternal punish ment even of the most wicked of men is barbarous,” and “There is no room for a hell in a universe controlled by a loving God.” Those who argue against the ex istence of hell on “humanitarian” grounds are sentimentally concerned to make the hereafter pleasant and comfortable for those who willfully reject Christ. But God’s concern is to make eternity safe and secure for those who love Him and His right 1 eousness and His truth. An eternal, escape-proof hell is n e c e s s a r y to maintain the moral integrity of thè universe. In the midst of conditions which have unleashed upon mankind almost unprecedented waves o f S a t a n i c cruelty and inhumanity,^ thoughtful men are “re-discovering” Sell, and are coming to a new realization of the justice and necessity of its existence as a final abiding place for the ene mies of the God of truth and right eousness.
What About I •.
Re-discovery of sin Re-discovery of hell
THE "BE-DISCOVERY OF SIN"! • A thoughtful Senator recently ob served: “ In the midst of the indescrib able horrors of this incredible war, we have ‘re-discovered’ the awful fact of sin. That, at least, is a positive gain.” For two decades, the so-called civi lized peoples of the world have lost sight of sin. In our schools, it has been explained away as a rtiere by product of ignorance, which would inevitably be dispelled as scientific knowledge increased. Modern psychologists, denying the Satanic origin of sfn, maintained that misbehavior is wholly the result of “ complexes,” “ emotional immaturity,” “ glandular disturbances,” “bad en vironment,” “ lack of proper person ality-integration,” “ unbalanced ado lescent orientation,” etc. By the very technical words employed, the idea was conveyed that sin is some sort of mental or bodily maladjustment which is to be corrected by glandular extracts, vitamins, psychoanalysis, ed ucation, or social reform. It was slightly le s s .than fifteen years ago that a noted university pro fessor proclaimed, “What is called sin is simply a temporary phase of ado lescent emotional development.” The “ experts” might differ in their defini tions and descriptions, but they were agreed that sin was not to be taken seriously, that the advance of sci ence and culture were certain to effect the emancipation of humanity from its grip. As a malady mainly a f fecting youth, sin was viewed as a minor ailment, c o m p a r a b l e with measles or whooping cough. The misconception of scientists and educators regarding the nature of sin was largely due to their blind accept ance of the evolutionary theory that man is only a highly developed ani
Re-discoyery of the devil Re-discovery of the Bible
mal. According to this view, sin is supposed to be the manifestation of our “ brute inheritance.” Those who take this view are uniformly opti mistic over the future of mankind. They argue that as man evolves fur ther and further away from the jungle from which he originally sprang, he w ill slough off or leave behind ,more and more of the elements of his “ ani mal heritage.” But the war has upset all these conceptions of the character of sinful, unregenerate human nature. Com mentators still describe the tortures and outrages of the Gestapo as “ bes tial’.’ or “ brute-like” savagery. But could beasts be so brutal or savages be so savage? Only “ civilized” men, with highly trained minds and highly developed imaginations, possessed of all the devices of- modern science, could be so ingeniously fiendish. The conduct of the Nazis in Czecho slovakia and of the Japanese in China is not “ brute-like” ; it is Lucifer-like. It is not “ bestial” ; it is diabolical. It is not “savage”.; it is'Satanic. It is-not the outworking of an “ animal nature” ; it is the result of original sin. It is not the manifestation of “a heritage of animalism” ; it is the man ifestation of an inheritance of sin. , Unregenerate man misbehaves as he does, not because he “ belongs to the animal kingdom,” but because he belongs to Satan. The vicious deeds that he commits are not those of re mote “ animal ancestors” ; they are the deeds of his father, the. devil.
THE “RE-DISCOVERY OF THE DEVIL":
• “ Intellectual” m e n h a v e 1 0*1 g laughed at those who have been old- fashioned enough to believe in a personal devil, a literal hell, and original sin. As there is a revival ofTbelief in sin and hell, so is there [ Continued on Page 292]
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Wasted—A Million Sermons By WILLIAM HERSCHEL FORD* Jacksonville, Florida
M Y VACATION l a s t summer was s p e n t in a pleasant lakeside retreat in one of our I was there, I attended the churches near by. One Sunday morning I went to the First Church in a city of about ten thousand population. There were about fifty people present The min ister was a cultured and well-edu cated man. He had a good delivery and a pleasant smile. . He talked of international relation ships, about national policies, and about the troubles between capital and labor. As he spoke about the war and the troubles across the Atlantic, I looked around at the congregation and won dered what that small group could do about it. I could see the needs of life clearly written on the faces of his listeners. I knew that they needed Jesus Christ more than they needed anything else in the world. They needed to know Him as Saviour and Lord and Master. But they heard noth ing that would bring them closer to God, nor that would help them to live a Christian life during the week. The next Sunday morning I went to the First Church in a city of sixty thousand population. T h e r e were about 125 people present that morn ing, and the pastor talked at length about the preservation of democracy. Again I felt that a preacher had lost an opportunity by failing to bring a message centered in Christ, our only Hope. Sermons That Miss the Mark Webster defines a sermon as "a discourse on a text of Scripture.” If that definition is correct, these two sermons missed their mark. We are * Pastor,.Southsidt Baptist Church.
told by the Holy Spirit to "preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2), not the matters of political strife, nor governmental trends, nor current events. The old, old. story, of Jesus and His love Is al ways current, it is always new, it is always fresh, it Is always needed. The average preacher delivers one hundred sermons a year. If ten thou sand preachers in America are preach ing a modernistic, social message, that means that a million sermons are wasted every year—sermons which, if of another kind, might have won men to Christ and blessed many lives. The average preacher feels that, in order to show to his congregation that he is abreast of the times, he must center his sermons in current happenings. Thus the pulpit, like the newspaper, becomes largely a bureau of war news. After glancing at a daily paper, a little girl said, “Daddy, what did the newspapers, write about when we, didn’t have a war?” One wonders what some preachers t o d a y would talk about if they could not talk about the war. Not long ago a certain newspaper article stated that "the churches were
responsible for this present war." If my church is carrying out its mission in the world, it has nothing to do with the conflict in Europe or in Asia or anywhere else in the world, except in its missionary obligation to send the gospel to every creature. That is not to say, of course, that the Christian w ill fail to give sincere loyalty and cooperation to his government, in peace time and certainly in war. But the mission of the true church of Jesus Christ is not to set up a new social order, but to proclaim Christ in such a way that men w ill be drawn to Him for salvation arid for service, for only when the “government shall be upon his shoulder” (Isa. 9:6) will righteous peace be maintained. 4 The Preacher's Twofold Task As a minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, I must never preach; a sermon which does not have a defi nite twofold purpose. First, I am to preach Christ to those who are lost, to warn them of their sin, to tell them of the Saviour who can redeem and transform their lives and give them hope of heaven. Secorid, I am to preach gospel sermons, leading those who already know Christ as Saviour to surrender everything to Him as Lord; I must impress them with the value of Christian service to them-; selves, to others, and to the cause of Jesus Christ; I must lead them to know that the happiest and best life j is the one spent in Christ's service. \ Oh, preachers, the time is short, and the responsibilities upon us are heavy!* Let us not waste our time and prosti tute our opportunities by preaching on any other theme than "Jesus Christ, * and him crucified.” That is the only message we have. It is the only mes sage we need. It is the only message that gets abiding results.
Northern states. On the Sundays that
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By ROBERT P. SHULER* Los Angeles, California
than Robert E, Lee. The son of a Yankee soldier recently has written an American history and declared Robert E. Lee the greatest all-round man of his generation. He was scholar, statesman, Christian, soldier, strate gist, patriot, neighbor, man. Then why did he not win? Answer: His cause could not win with God in the field. The cause of Robert E. Lee was his embarrassment. My wife handed me a quotation the other day. Here it is: “ The wisdom of the ages is to find out which way God is moving and move with Him.” That’s what Sisera did not do. That’s what Robert E. Lee did not do. But some good Southerner may say, “The South fought for states’ rights.” Yes, that’s the way it started, but not the way it ended. Slavery got into the pic ture. We might have moved with God down South on states’ rights, but not on slavery. The moment slavery was involved,' God was going in the other direction. I recently heard a man say that if the military strategists of the world would write down the name of the greatest military man of all history, they possibly would write the name of Napoleon. Yes, the little Corsican possibly would head the list. And yet he lost at Waterloo to a man virtually unknown then and unknown now irt
I think any military strategist would have chosen Sisera over Barak. What was also on the side of Sisera was the fact of chariots and horsemen and organized armed forces. He had the war machine. So you w ill.write Sisera’s name above that of Barak on the score card as the two men face the coming battle. It is certain that Sisera was not as false and diabolic as Jael, the woman who found the fleeing general weary and famished and invited him into her tent, only to drive a nail through his temple while he slept. However unworthy Sisera may have been, no such crime had ever been recorded against him. And yet the battle went against Sisera. He was a defeated man before the battle started, though he knew it not. The prophetess, Deborah, knew it. I heard the Christian Chinese, I. Hsin Liu, once say; “When God is involved, the battles of the centuries are not necessarily won with chariots.” And in the battle recorded in Judges 4, God was very definitely involved. The Background for Defeat The character of Sisera’s cause was hie downfall. I am a Southerner, and according to my way of thinking, no greater man came out of the civil war
"The stors in their courses iought against Sisera" (Judg. 5:20). ■ OUNG MEN and young women, have you learned how to keep in step 'with the stars—how to ters of Judges tell the story of a man who stumbled over the stars. Sisera ^was not worse than Barak. Indeed, he, was a greater general. He was a vic torious general. His armies had been * the winning armies. Not so Barak’s. Moreover, Barak was a coward; he would not go up to battle unless the . prophetess, Deborah, went with him. *Pastor', Trinity Methodist Church,
move in line with the mighty hosts t , of heaven? The fourth and fifth chap
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out and escorted Israel over into their land of promise? The whit ened bones of Pharaoh and his rusty chariot wheels lay along the sands of the Red Sea to testify to the sea. gulls and the great white cranes that the days of the Pharaohs were numbered; He failed to discover the. march of God and to fa ll in line. * What a roll I could call of those who truly did join the stars! Abra ham, Moses, Paul, Luther, Wesley, Moody, Billy Sunday. It would fag and exhaust a dozen voices to call that roll. Men who sensed the direc tions of God. Men who dared to take God’s path. Men who walked with Him. And what does this direction taken by the "stars” mean to you young men and young women who have just had these years of opportunity in the Word of God? The supreme choice is yours, individually. Solemnly I warn you that all your background and preparation arid previous usefulness -w ill lje absolutely worthless if you fa il to move in line with God’s pur pose from this moment onward. God could set you aside in ’ an instant, and you would learn what it means to fight against the stars of God. But all the powers of earth and all the prin cipalities in the heavenlies cannot - keep you from success if you set your w ill in line with God’s will. Victory with God “ The stars in their courses fought . . .” ! And thus it !was that the prophetess, Deborah, s t o o d u p o n Mount Tabor and surveyed the broken chariots of Sisera. She claimed no credit. She had n!ready -told Barak that the victory did not belong to him. But her heart was full of song. A great hallelujah was in her throat. It may have been a moonlit night, at the end of the day’s battle. She looked aloft and'saw 1 God’s stars marching. And then came her song, I know a man who has made his tory. He has taken a defeated people [ Continued on Page 311]
tangled world is a moment ’ to de termine the direction of God and to catch step. Pivotal Moments in History There have been great moments in history. It was a great moment when Christ stood before Pilate. A million mothers might have named their babies Pontius Pilate, after one of the greatest judges of all history, had he only joined the stars that day. I do not propose now to discuss the deeper meaning of those moments, but I do mean to say that when Pilate turned the Lord Jesus Christ over to the mob, he found the stars bearing down upon him. Pilate was doomed. He had failed to discover which way God was moving and to catch step. Certainly, Jesus was on His way to the cross and to the redemption of mankind, but Pilate had his chance upon the judgment seat just the same. And it was really Pilate who was on trial. What a moment! Not what a moment for Jesus and redemption. That had been settled yonder in the garden, in His fixed purpose to pay the penalty of mankind’s sin. But what- a moment for Pilate! The stars were marching his way. , What a moment when Paul stood before King Agrippa! The old king almost joined the stars that day. What a moment when Nebuchadnez zar saw three Hebrew heroes come un singed from a furnace of fire! Nebu chadnezzar professed belief in their God. He was oh the edge of the heavens where the stars march, and yet he lived to eat grass like an ox, an outcast from God, defeated. He did not quite catch step with the stars. What a moment when Pharoah stood before Moses, with blood in the rivers and frogs hopping around in the butter plates! Once Pharaoh actu ally seemed to have decided to let God’s people go. But no. His feet would not keep step. Who knows what history’s narrative would have been if he had marched his chariots
the field of military strategy. And right there, some of us have made a discovery^ We have discovered that it was not the Duke of Wellington who defeated' Napoleon at Waterloo. The trouble with Napoleon at Waterloo was that God was moving in the other direction. The Invisible Conflict Possibly the world’s greatest puzzle is what happened to the Roman Em pire in the early centuries of the Christian era. We have a habit of say ing almost lightly that the primitive Christian church, unarmed, overthrew the Roman Empire, proud mistress of land and sea. Historically, that is true. Do you know why it is true? The early Christians had no swords. From the day that Peter put his weapon in the scabbard at the garden gate, we read of no Christian sword lifted against Rome. But Rome crashed as though ten thousand bombers had emptied 'tons of explosives upon her. Rome undertook to stand in the way of an invincible army, that once a prophet prayed the eyes of his servant might behold. The thing that Rome could not understand was that her generals could not see that army as it marched. Rome was marching one way, and the invisible hosts of God w,ere marching the other way, and they met. That’s all. And so it was with Sisera. He knew his chariots. They were superior to the chariots of Barak. He knew his army. His army was a better army than the one which followed Barak. Sisera knew his own record. Behind him were victories. Behind Barak’s army was defeat. But Sisera did not know the direction God was taking that historic day at Mount Tabor. And now I see him fleeing afoot, fleeing for his life, with certain death lurking ahead. And Deborah the prophetess is tuning her harp. The song is in her throat. Listen to her sing: “They f o u g h t f r o m heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.” “The stars”—not the h e a v e n l y
b o d i e s , but the G o d of heaven Himself — fougjit against His ene mies! There are some t h i n g s I would like to know to day. Are we fight ing from London or fighting f r o m heaven? Are we f i g h t i n g from Washington o r from h e av e n 7 Which way is God m o v i n g ? That settles it. T h i s great moment in the history of a
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W HERE CAN I find some good material that w ill help me to understand the Book of Obadiah?” , This question was put to me a short while ago by a very busy pastor in one of our larger cities. I was, at the time, staying in his home, having been invited to his church to give some Bible lectures. Though he him self was not bringing sermons to his congregations those days, each morn ing of my stay he had gone to his study to work on messages to be used in the futufe. It was upon his return to his home at noon one day that he asked me this question.
study on the following Sunday. At the morning worship period each week, I give the summary of the contents of that particular book, at the same time calling attention to lessons found therein for us. Last Sunday we studied Amos, and now we will study Obadiah the first Sunday after you have com pleted your ministry here.” Immediately I wanted to know something about the results of this effort. Here are some of the things I learned, both from the pastor and the members of the congregation. Many of the'people began from the very first to read the book of the week, and many more had joined this group in
When Paster and Congregation Study, After we had talked for some time about the prophecy of Obadiah and its message for our day, I ventured to ask him why he wanted informa tion on this particular book. Here is his answer: - “ Sometime ago I announced to my congregation that I would preach through the Bible at the Sunday morning services, giving one message on each of the sixty-six books. I also urged the members, in as far as pos sible, to read a book of the Bible each week, all reading the one we would
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same time the first-mentioned church was hardly reckoned with at all. Yet this man was undoing all that had been done ahead of him and was k ill ing the work. We noted several things -here also. This man spent far too little time in prayer. He had not that intimate' acquaintance with h is L o r d that should characterize God’s true pasters. Instead of praying for his flock and praying with them, he argued with and rebuked them, and no pastor can expect to see his work grow while he follows these practices. (We do not say there are not times when the true pastor must reprove, for such is a part of his work, but he must do it in the spirit of Jesus Christ.) Furthermore, during these t h r e e weeks of the special meetings, he went to his study, as we recall, only at the end of each week, and that was for the purpose of makifig his weekly calendars which he distributed on Sundays. He was required to do no teaching or preaching while we were with him, and hence he did no study ing either. There was no order to things in his study. The few books he did have were very poorly chosen and in no order whatsoever. The notes he made for his messages were very meager, and he had no system of keeping them for the future. He gave the impression that he worked only to make a living and not to do the great service of the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, we remember that during the three weeks he made only one call. He wanted us to meet a certain indi vidual who was confined to a wheel chair. Otherwise he did not take us into the homes, either of members or of prospects. We urged him to make out a list so we could make some con* tacts with the gospel plan of salva tion; But he heeded not. A Matter of Attitude What made the difference? Both of these men c l a i m e d to have been [Continued on Page 319]
many book;; but those he does have are well ch)Sen and carefully studied. In his stuc'y everything is order. He has careful y filed away the notes of every mess ige he has delivered, and of every B'.ble class he has taught. When given but a short notice for a message, he can refer, either back to one of thes; messages he has already used, and which was fully developed in his notes, or he can quickly put the finishing tcuches on a message he has been preparing for future use. Conse quently, he is much in demand out side of his own congregation. (He a l ways has something worth saying, which he says and then quits.) Thirdly, he is a pastor in every sense of the word. He and his wife (and a real pastor’s wife she is) spend several afternoons each week in per sonal calls, for which the members of his flock look with much anticipation, and from which they all receive pas toral and spiritual help. He wastes not his time in the home on the passing things of life. O, that his clan might be increased! A Contrast Remarkable as is the experience of this young pastor, it is made more so by way of contrast with this expe rience of another pastor, into whose congregation we were invited, for a three-weeks’ campaign of evangelism. A short while before we arrived on this field, a fellow pastor had told us some things of the church and its pastor. He told us that the congrega tion was decreasing at an alarming rate, that this man’s salary was not being paid with any regularity, and that he tried desperately to get an other pastorate, but to no avail. This second church home was better located, as to surrounding conditions, than was the one of the former story. The building was just as fine, if not finer. The congregation was strong and in a fine condition when this man had become its pastor. In fact this had been one of the leading congregations in the denomination at about the
the months they had been following this plan; their love for God’s Word was increasing daily; their spiritual and Godward growth was remarkable; their fellowship was sweetened; their church finances were at the highest tide; and best of all, souls were being saved regularly.- The people were regular in attending the Services of the church ,so as not to miss any of these studies. The pastor told us the plan of study had paid big dividends, spiritually,' but that it had meant plenty of hard work for him. The Background Then we remembered the history of this Congregation. A little over twelve years prior to this, some of the leaders of the denomination were willing to abandon this church as a failure. A series of misfortunes of various sorts had made it a most unpromising place to work. But a m o n g t h o s e who thought otherwise was a young minis ter, who was then in his first pastor ate. Because of his stand, he was offered this difficult pastorate—a pas torate over a few disunited families. But he saw the future and accepted the challenge as from his God. He answered God’s call, and God has an swered his faith. During his tenth year he was offered another church. After consider ing the fact that he had been long in this charge, as pastorates go, he ac cepted the new call. But the church refused to accept his resignation. In stead, they produced a statement, signed by practically every adult member, asking him to reconsider and to remain with them. He prayed much over the matter and then made his decision to stay. This experience did much to unite the church, and they have now posted, in a prominent place in the church building, this statement with their signatures affixed thereto, to remind them of their covenant with their pastor. And why should it not be this way? Had he not taken a church that some would have abandoned and had brought it back to a quality of spiritual life in a matter of less than ten years that had made it one of the leading congregations within the de nomination? The Secrets of Success The key to this man’s .success lay in three things, as I see it, after know ing the history of the church and after being for a time in his home. First, he is a man of prayer. He lives humbly before h}s God. He knows the Lord and knows how to take his own and the problems of his flock to Him. Secondly, he is a man who studies the Word. As already , indicated, he spends several hours five mornings a week in his study. He does not have
Sermons are mere tools; and the business you have in mind is not making sermons or preaching sermons— it is saving men.— HENRY WARD BEECHER.
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„ T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S When a Preacher Is Angry By CLARENCE EDWARD MACARTNEY* Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
with the people and their wayward ness, Moses struck the rock twice, as if the rock had been the head of the people, crying out as he did so, “Hear how, ye. rebels.” This burst of rage cost Moses the promised land. It was for this transgression that Moses, in spite of his grand service and his pathetic pleading at the end of all Israel’s wandering, was not permitted to go into the land of Canaan. That was not th e ' first nor the last time that a land of promise and of happi ness has been lost through anger. The Angry Elder Brother ; One of the unforgettable characters of our Lord is an angry man, the elder brother in the great tale of the two sons. When the prodigal had come home from the far country, and his rags had been bqrned in the stable yard, and the best robe put on him and a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and the fatted calf killed, and every one had sat down at the table and the musicians had struck up a lively tune, the elder brother, coming in from the field, caught the sound of music and dancing. He learned from one of the servants what the music meant; he was angry and would not go in. His place was empty. At tjie table his seat ought to have been the second seat of honor, but he shut him self out from the banquet of reconcil iation and forgiveness. On what ought to have been, and could have been, the happiest day of his life, he was wretched and miserable and lonely— all because he was angry. In a burst of anger one can destroy and undo what one has been labo riously building through many years. One of the old saints, greatly pro voked, explained why he had not dealt more severely with wrongdoers who had been brought before him. “To tell you the truth,” he said, “ I feared to lose in a quarter of an hour the little gentleness that I have been laboring for twenty-two years to gather, drop by drop, like a shower in the vase of my poor heart.” Friend ships that are of long standing,' whose branches have borne pleasant fruits, can be blasted and withered by one unrestrained e x p l o s i o n of anger. Wounds can be inflicted and insults delivered, which, in a moment, the angry man would give all he pos-
wind began to blow, and Jonah, about to faint, again asked God to take away his life. Instead of doing so, God said in effect to Jonah, “Come now, let us reason together. Doest thou well to be angry?” Jonah is an example of how the character of a good and a great man can be marred by anger, and his use fulness impaired. His story suggests the folly, the danger, and the injury of anger. Anger is one of the most common sins, yet one of the most dangerous and injurious to the peace and well-being of man. More than any other sin, it blasts the flower of friendship, turns men out of Edén, de stroys peace and concord in the home, incites to crime and violence, and turns love and affection into hatred. The Word of God has a great deal to say by way of personal illustration and explanation about the havoc wrought in human life by the sin of anger. The first angry man who ap pears in the pages of the Bible was the first murderer, Cain. What hap pened to Cain in this .instance, how he went out from the presence of the Lord a fugitive and a vagabond on the face of the earth, is a piece of history which angry men have re enacted over and over again. Anger drives men out and separates them from their fellow men. The angry man is the loneliest man on earth. The folly of anger is illustrated in the prophet Balaam. When the angel of the Lord stood in the path with a drawn sword in his hand, Balaam did not see the angel. Enraged that the ass he was riding turned out of the path, he fell to beating her with his staff. What a picture that is of a man losing his temper when he is con fronted by adverse circumstances and venting his rage on even the brute creation! The real trouble was not with the ass, but with Balaam him self, for the angel of the Lord was there to rebuke him and to judge him. That is often the case; the man who is most violent in his anger at some one else is really the source of his own trouble and sorrow. Even Moses, in all his greatness and in spitg of his remarkable minis try, was injured by anger. When the people murmured and a s k e d for water, he was commanded to strike the rock at Horeb. Out of all patience
“Doest thou well to .be angry?" (Jonah 4:9). A MONG the prophets, apostles, , -/ \ and patriarchs who appear on 1 \ the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, there is none to whom Michelangelo gives a nobler countenance than to Jonah. Jonah was, i n d e e d , a great prophet, a l though, so far as his history goes, he made a poor beginning and a poor ending. First, he t r i e d to flee to Tarshish, and thus evade his com mission to preach repentance and judgment at the proud capital of the world’s empire, Nineveh; and at the end of his story, we see him pass from the stage of Old.Testament history in a fit of petulant anger. “ Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” was the text of Jonah’s sermon, as he walked through the streets of the great metropolis. Jonah did not expect, and, apparently did not hope, that the .Ninevites would re pent. But that is what they did. From the king of Nineveh on his throne to the peasant in his hut, the whole population covered themselves with sackcloth and sat in ashes and fasted. “ And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” Great Men Marred This .unexpected turn of events dis pleased Jonah and made him so angry that he asked God to take away his life. He said that when he was first commanded to go to Nineveh, but fled to Tarshish, it was because he knew that God was gracious and merciful and slow to anger. Now he had proved it. The sparing of Nineveh made Jonah feel that his preaching had been discredited. Angry with him self, with Nineveh, and with God, Jonah went out to a hill in the sub urbs of the city and sat down to see what would happen to Nineveh. To shelter him from * the sun, God provided him with a miraculous gourd, and the angry Jonah was much pleased with this shelter from the fierce glare of the Mesopotamian sun. But the next day, smitten with a worm, the gourd perished as quickly as it had arisen. Then the hot east *P
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