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ated.” Let me ask you to remember that Biola shall live and not die. W e recognize, as has been pointed out, our need of divine wisdom. Therefore, we turn to the promise o f God in James 1 :5 : “ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” W e recognize and accept the challenge o f Jeremiah 3 3 :3 : “ Call unto me, and I will an swer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Let me say*very frankly—you have called me to the place o f leadership, to a place o f responsibility. Believing that the call has come from God, through you, I accept the position, and with it the authority that belongs to the office. R emaining T rue to the O riginal V ision Why was this Institute founded? It was founded be cause Lyman and Milton Stewart had a vision of God’s plan and program, and because they were not disobedient to that heavenly vision. They put knowledge, time, prayer, and money into this institution. They recognized that Los Angeles is the most strategic center in all the world. They believed that the Pacific Coast would play an important part in the future of the nation. They knew that from Los Angeles such regions as Central America, South America, and the Orient were easily accessible. And they knew that this location makes Los Angeles an important place for a great spiritual lighthouse. The early leaders realized two things. They knew that the apostasy was approaching, if it had not begun already, and they realized that the return o f the Lord was imminent. Therefore, they obeyed the call of God to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. They inscribed over the portals o f this building these words: “ For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” And to that vision and to that standard we are determined to be true. They placed upon the corner stone these words: “ Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” And that is the message that we are to teach, to proclaim, to preach, to send to the uttermost part of the earth. W hat W e B elieve We believe in an infallible Bible that not only contains the Word o f God, but is the Word o f God. It is without error or contradiction. W e believe that Christ is God, born o f a virgin without a human father, very God o f very God, God manifest in the flesh, living a sinless life, never sinning in thought, word, or deed, never making a mistake. We believe in the miracles o f Christ. W e believe that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. His death was substitu tionary, We believe in His bodily resurrection from the dead. W e believe that that body had flesh and bone, that He thus took something back with Him to heaven that He did not have when He left heaven—a human nature; that He is now sitting on the right hand o f the Father where He ever liveth to make intercession for u s ; that He is coming back to raise the saints that have died and the saints that are alive, to catch them away unto Himself; and that He is coming to reign eventually here upon the earth. W e believe in the personality and the deity of the Holy Spirit. W e believe in the lost and undone condition o f man in his natural state. W e believe that the human understanding is darkened, that man is alienated from God, that every man must be born again. He must experience the miracle of regeneiation if he is going to reach heaven. W e believe in eternal hell, and we believe in an eternal heaven. These are the rudiments, the doctrines to which we are committed. We are determined to be positive and not negative. W e are dogmatic, but we are not going to emphasize the
be o f good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.” This is God’s work. This work was founded by God. This work has been sustained by God. And I find myself in perfect and full agreement with the speaker who said that if this were not the work o f God, it would have been destroyed. The death notice has gone out from time to time regarding the Bible Institute o f Los An geles. When the death notice went out concerning Mark Twain some years before he died, he sent this cable from London: “ The reports of my death are greatly exagger-
A TASK BOTH DIVINE AND DIFFICULT
By W ILLIAM EVANS
T HE new President has come to assume the headship of a work that is divine, for the "Bible Institute" conception of today is of Sod as truly as was "the schools of the sons of the prophets" of Bible times. We oft hear it said that if the church had not been divine, the faults and weaknesses of men would have wrecked it long ago. The fact that this Bible Institute is still here, in spite of assaults from without and difficul ties from within, is, to me, evidence that God, who moved its founders, has been, and still is with those who seek to carry it on. And it is because God is in this work and, therefore, it is divine, that upon divine help it must rely absolutely. God must be its help and its hope, for without that divine aid, vain must be the help of man. O f such divine help, Mr. President, you are assured. God said to Abra ham, "I am El-Shadda) ; God All-mighty; God All-sufficient; I can do the humanly impossible. And He did— as the history of Abraham shows. That same'God is still yours. He will be your helper, Mr. President. Con sidering your need for this work, and conditions in this Institute as I see them, there is no verse in the Bible that should be of greater comfort and inspiration to you than this word of God to Abraham. Let your responsibility, then, be but your response-to-His-ability. Believe in God. All things are possible to him that believeth. But, this work to which the new President has been called is not only a divine work; it is a most difficult work. As divine— it needs the aid of God; as difficult— it calls for the cooperation of the people of God, both within the Institute and through the Christian world. No President of a Bible Institute was ever inducted into his office with responsibilities as taxing, as onerous, and as challenging as those that are to rest upon the shoulders of Dr. Paul Rood. True it is that the depression has dealt terrific blows to all such institutions as this, but none, it seems to me, has suffered more severely and finds itself in such dire need as this Bible Institute in particular, and therefore its very need necessitates that the people of God everywhere bear it upon their hearts. No man will need your prayerful, sympathetic, and financial help for this work more than its new President. The unswerving loyalty of a wise and discerning Board of Directors, the efficient teaching ability of a loyal faculty, and the con secrated acumen of a faithful business organization, a student body loyal to the core in its adherence to the school, and a Christian public synrpathetic, prayerful, and financially helpful— with such aids and forces as these at command— which I feel certain you may depend upon— you are entitled, Dr. Rood, to take courage and go forward to victory. The greatest need of this Institute, in my judgment, is not one of finances, although that is tremendous; the need is spiritual rather than financial. Let the Christian world know that this place shall be a very Bethel; a very dynamo of spiritual power, centripetal and centrifugal, with avenues reaching to the uttermost parts of the earth; a school for the real training of Christian men and women truly meet and prepared for every good work of God; create this confidence in the minds of the Christian public, and the financial problem will, under God, be met. I love Bible Institutes. No man in this world has more cause to love them than I have. My heart goes out to them everywhere. And, Dr. Paul Rood, I give you my hand, my heart, and my prayer, in assurance that you may count on me to aid you in every possible way to make this Institute a mighty blessing to the Christian world, even greater than its revered founders and those of us who have worked in and with it since then can ask or think.
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